Method and apparatus for transferring data between IP network devices and SCSI and fibre channel devices over an IP network

• US 6,400,730 B1
• Filed: 02/08/2000
• Issued: 06/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nishan Systems, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mullendore, Rodney N., White, Joseph L., Latif, Aamer, Uchino, Brian Y.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran, Maikhanh
• Application Number:
  US09/500,119
• Time in Patent Office: 847 Days
• Field of Search: 370/465, 370/466, 370/395, 370/402, 370/409, 370/355, 370/401, 370/394, 370/396, 370/395.5, 709/200-201, 709/213, 709/217, 709/301, 709/230, 709/236, 710/100, 710/105, 710/128-129
• US Class Current: 370/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0601 Interfaces specially adapted for storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/06 Answer-back mechanisms or circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4604 LAN interconnection over a backbone network, e.g. Internet, Frame Relay
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/36 by determining packet size, e.g. maximum transfer unit [MTU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/169 Special adaptations of TCP, UDP or IP for interworking of IP based networks with other networks protocols for interworking, protocol conversion H04L69/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transferring data between IP devices (including, but not limited to, Gigabit Ethernet devices) and SCSI or Fibre Channel devices. The device interfaces may be either SCSI, Fibre Channel or IP interfaces such as Gigabit Ethernet. Data is switched between SCSI and IP, Fibre Channel and IP, or between SCSI and Fibre Channel. Data can also be switched from SCSI to SCSI, IP to IP and FC to FC. The port interfaces provide the conversion from the input frame format to an internal frame format, which can be routed within the apparatus. The amount of processing performed by each port interface is dependent on the interface type. The processing capabilities of the present invention permit rapid transfer of information packets between multiple interfaces at latency levels meeting the stringent requirements for storage protocols. The configuration control can be applied to each port on a switch and, in turn, each switch on the network, via an SNMP or Web-based interface, providing a flexible, programmable control for the apparatus.

Claims

1. In a network, a method of routing data packets in a switch device having at least three port interfaces, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a packet from a first network device at a first port interface of the at least three port interfaces of the switch device, wherein the packet is one of a SCSI formatted packet, a Fibre Channel (FC) formatted packet and an Internet protocol (IP) formatted packet, wherein the first port interface is communicably coupled to the first network device;

converting the received packet into a packet having an internal format;

routing the internal format packet to a second port interface of the at least three port interfaces of the switch device based on addressing information in the received packet;

reconverting the internal format packet to one of a SCSI formatted packet, an FC formatted packet and an IP formatted packet; and

transmitting the reconverted packet to a second network device communicably coupled to the second port interface;

wherein the first network device is one of a server and a storage device, and wherein the second network device is one of a server and a storage device.

2. A network switch device, comprising:

a) a first port interface including;

means for receiving data packets from a network device, wherein the receiving means receives one of a SCSI formatted packet and a Fibre Channel (FC) formatted packet from a first network device; and

means for converting received packets into packets having an internal format, wherein the received data packet is converted into a first packet having the internal format;

b) a second port interface including;

means for reconverting packets from the internal format to an IP format, wherein the first packet is converted into a packet having an IP format; and

means for transmitting IP packets to a network, wherein the IP formatted packet is transmitted to an IP network; and

c) means for routing the first packet to the second port interface.

3. The switch device of claim 2, wherein the IP network is an Ethernet network and wherein the IP formatted packet is encapsulated in an Ethernet frame.

4. The switch device of claim 2, wherein the internal format is an FCP-based format.

5. A network switch device, comprising:

a) a first port interface including;

means for receiving data packets from an IP network, wherein the first interface means receives a packet in an IP format; and

means for converting received packets into packets having an internal format, wherein the received packet is converted into a first packet having an internal format;

b) a second port interface including;

means for reconverting packets having the internal format to packets having the SCSI format; and

means for transmitting reconverted packets to a SCSI network device;

c) a third port interface including;

means for reconverting packets having the internal format to packets having the FC format; and

means for transmitting reconverted packets to a FC network device; and

d) means for routing packets between the first, second, and third port interfaces, wherein the first packet is routed to one of the second and third port interfaces;

wherein if the first packet is routed to the second port interface, the first packet is converted to the SCSI format and transmitted to the SCSI network device, and wherein if the first packet is routed to the third port interface, the first packet is converted to the FC format and transmitted to the FC network device.

6. The switch device of claim 5, wherein the IP network is an Ethernet network and wherein the IP format is an Ethernet format.

7. The switch device of claim 5, wherein the internal format is one of an FCP-based format and an IP format.

8. A storage area network (SAN) comprising:

a SCSI device capable of receiving and transmitting SCSI formatted data packets;

a fibre channel (FC) device capable of receiving and transmitting FC formatted data packets;

an IP device capable of receiving and transmitting IP formatted data packets; and

a switch device including;

a first port interface communicably coupled to the SCSI device, wherein the first port interface converts SCSI formatted data packets received from the SCSI device into data packets having an internal format, and wherein the first port interface converts data packets having the internal format into SCSI formatted data packets;

a second port interface communicably coupled to the FC device, wherein the second port interface converts FC formatted data packets received from the FC device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the second port interface converts data packets having the internal format into FC formatted data packets;

a third port interface communicably coupled to the IP device, wherein the third port interface converts IP formatted data packets received from the IP device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the third port interface converts data packets having the internal format into IP formatted data packets; and

a switch fabric for routing data packets having the internal format between the first, second and third port interfaces;

wherein when a first one of the SCSI, FC and IP devices sends a first data packet to a second one of the SCSI, FC and IP devices, the port interface coupled to the first device converts the first data packet to a packet having the internal format and routes the internal format packet through the switch fabric to the port interface coupled to the second device, wherein the port interface coupled to the second device reconverts the internal format packet into the format associated with the second device and sends the reconverted packet to the second device.

9. The SAN of claim 8, wherein the IP formatted data packets include one of Ethernet formatted data packets, ATM formatted data packets, FDDI formatted data packets, and Infiniband formatted data packets.

10. The SAN of claim 8, wherein the internal format is an FCP-based format.

11. The SAN of claim 8, further including an IP network coupling the IP device to the third port interface.

12. A network switch device for use in a storage area network (SAN), the switch device comprising:

a first port interface communicably coupled to a SCSI device, wherein the first port interface converts SCSI formatted data packets received from the SCSI device into data packets having an internal format, and wherein the first port interface converts data packets having the internal format into SCSI formatted data packets;

a second port interface communicably coupled to a FC device, wherein the second port interface converts FC formatted data packets received from the FC device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the second port interface converts data packets having the internal format into FC formatted data packets;

a third port interface communicably coupled to a IP device, wherein the third port interface converts IP formatted data packets received from the IP device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the third port interface converts data packets having the internal format into IP formatted data packets; and

a switch fabric for routing data packets having the internal format between the first, second and third port interfaces;

wherein when a first one of the SCSI, FC and IP devices sends a first data packet to a second one of the SCSI, FC and IP devices, the port interface coupled to the first device converts the first data packet to a packet having the internal format and routes the internal format packet through the switch fabric to the port interface coupled to the second device, wherein the port interface coupled to the second device reconverts the internal format packet into the format associated with the second device and sends the reconverted packet to the second device.

13. The switch device of claim 12, wherein the internal format is an FCP-based format.

14. The switch device of claim 12, wherein an IP network couples the IP device to the third port interface.

15. A network switch device for use in a storage area network (SAN), the switch device comprising:

a first port interface communicably coupled to one of a SCSI device, a FC device and an IP device;

a second port interface, wherein the second port interface is configurable to communicate with either a FC device or an Ethernet device; and

a switch fabric for routing data packets having an internal format between the first and second port interfaces;

wherein when the second port interface is configured to communicate with a FC device, the second port interface converts FC formatted data packets received from the FC device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the second port interface converts data packets having the internal format received from the switch fabric into FC formatted data packets, and wherein when the second port interface is configured to communicate with an Ethernet device, the second port interface converts Ethernet formatted data packets received from the Ethernet device into data packets having the internal format, and wherein the second port interface converts data packets having the internal format received from the switch fabric into Ethernet formatted data packets.

16. The switch device of claim 15, wherein the second port interface is self-configurable based on whether a FC device or an Ethernet device is coupled to the second port interface.

17. The switch device of claim 16, wherein the second port interface includes a means for determining whether an attached device is a FC device or an Ethernet device.

18. The switch device of claim 15, wherein the second port interface is configured by a user to communicate with one of a FC device and an Ethernet device.

19. The switch device of claim 15, wherein the internal format is a FCP format.

20. In a network, a method of routing data packets in a switch device having at least three port interfaces, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a packet from a first network device at a first port interface of the at least three port interfaces of the switch device, wherein the packet is one of a SCSI formatted packet, a Fibre Channel (FC) formatted packet and an Internet protocol (IP) formatted packet, wherein the first port interface is communicably coupled to the first network device;

converting the received packet into a packet having an internal format, wherein the internal format is an FCP-based format;

routing the internal format packet to a second port interface of the at least three port interfaces of the switch device based on addressing information in the received packet;

reconverting the internal format packet to one of a SCSI formatted packet, an FC formatted packet and an IP formatted packet; and

transmitting the reconverted packet to a second network device communicably coupled to the second port interface.