MANAGEMENT OF A DISTRIBUTED FABRIC SYSTEM
First Claim
1. A computer program product for managing a distributed fabric system in which a plurality of scaled-out fabric coupler (SFC) chassis is connected to a plurality of distributed line card (DLC) chassis over fabric communication links, each fabric communication link including a plurality of lanes for carrying cells, the computer program product comprising:
- a computer-readable nonvolatile storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising;
computer-readable program code configured to detect, by a fabric element chip of each SFC chassis, connectivity between the fabric element chip of that SFC chassis and a fabric interface of a switching chip of one of the DLC chassis;
computer-readable program code configured to send connection information corresponding to the detected connectivity from each SFC chassis to a central agent; and
computer-readable program code configured to construct a topology of the distributed fabric system from the connection information sent to the central agent by each SFC chassis.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A distributed fabric system has distributed line card (DLC) chassis and scaled-out fabric coupler (SFC) chassis. Each DLC includes a network processor and fabric ports. Each network processor of each DLC includes a fabric interface in communication with the fabric ports of that DLC. Each SFC includes at least one fabric element and SFC fabric ports. A fabric communication link connects each SFC fabric port to one DLC fabric port. Each fabric communication link includes cell-carrying lanes. Each fabric element of each SFC detects connectivity between each SFC fabric port of that SFC and one DLC fabric port over a fabric communication link. Each SFC includes program code that reads connectivity matrix from fabric element chips and sends connection information corresponding to the detected connectivity from that SFC to a central agent. A network element includes the central agent, which, when executed, constructs a topology of the distributed fabric system from the connection information sent from each SFC.
51 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A computer program product for managing a distributed fabric system in which a plurality of scaled-out fabric coupler (SFC) chassis is connected to a plurality of distributed line card (DLC) chassis over fabric communication links, each fabric communication link including a plurality of lanes for carrying cells, the computer program product comprising:
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a computer-readable nonvolatile storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code comprising; computer-readable program code configured to detect, by a fabric element chip of each SFC chassis, connectivity between the fabric element chip of that SFC chassis and a fabric interface of a switching chip of one of the DLC chassis; computer-readable program code configured to send connection information corresponding to the detected connectivity from each SFC chassis to a central agent; and computer-readable program code configured to construct a topology of the distributed fabric system from the connection information sent to the central agent by each SFC chassis. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A distributed fabric system comprising:
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at least one distributed line card (DLC) chassis, each DLC chassis including at least one network processor and a plurality of DLC fabric ports, each network processor of each DLC chassis including a fabric interface in communication with the DLC fabric ports of that DLC chassis; and at least one scaled-out fabric coupler (SFC) chassis, each SFC chassis including at least one fabric element chip and a plurality of SFC fabric ports, each SFC fabric port being connected to one of the DLC fabric ports by a fabric communication link, each fabric communication link including a plurality of lanes by which to carry cells, each fabric element chip of each SFC chassis detecting connectivity between each SFC fabric port of that SFC chassis and one of the fabric ports of the at least one DLC chassis over one of the fabric communication links, each SFC chassis further including a processor and memory storing program code configured to send connection information corresponding to the detected connectivity from that SFC chassis to a central agent; and a network element including a processor and memory storing the central agent, the central agent includes program code configured to construct, when executed, a topology of the distributed fabric system from the connection information sent from each SFC chassis. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 16, 17)
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14. The distributed fabric system of claim 14, further comprising a user interface through which an administrator interacts with and modifies features of the graphical display of the topology in order to modify the topology of the distributed fabric system.
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15. The distributed fabric system of claim 15, wherein the fabric element chip of each SFC chassis further detects a status and bandwidth of each fabric communication link, wherein the status and bandwidth of each fabric communication link is displayed in the graphical display of the topology of the distributed fabric system.
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18-26. -26. (canceled)
Specification