Trunking inter-switch links
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of routing a flow through a switch in a fibre channel fabric comprising:
- receiving traffic at a port coupled to said switch;
identifying said flow from said traffic using header information;
determining at least one path operative for routing said flow through said fibre channel fabric; and
rerouting said flow from a first link in said at least one path to a second link in said at least one path based upon operating performance information in addition to topology information.
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for routing frames through a fiber channel fabric to make the most efficient possible use of redundant inter-switch links between neighboring switches. The inter-switch links may have different bandwidths. The flow between adjacent switches is monitored to determine various local usage statistics and periodically adjust routing tables to move data flows from congested links to lightly loaded links.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. A method of routing a flow through a switch in a fibre channel fabric comprising:
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receiving traffic at a port coupled to said switch;
identifying said flow from said traffic using header information;
determining at least one path operative for routing said flow through said fibre channel fabric; and
rerouting said flow from a first link in said at least one path to a second link in said at least one path based upon operating performance information in addition to topology information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of routing a flow on at least one path in a fibre channel fabric, said at least one path comprising a source switch and a destination switch, wherein at least one switch pair in said at least one path is coupled by a plurality of links, said method comprising:
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determining said at least one path between said source switch and said destination switch;
routing said flow over a first link coupling said at least one switch pair in said at least one path, said at least one switch pair having the same originating switch; and
rerouting said flow to a second link coupling said at least one switch pair based upon operating performance information in addition to topology information. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
assigning a cost to each of said plurality of links, wherein said cost is proportional to a reciprocal of bandwidth; and
determining one or more links from said plurality of links that provides a lowest cost.
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16. The method of claim 11 wherein said flow comprises a plurality of data frames arriving on a receive port associated with said switch pair, wherein said data frames are to be routed based upon header information and receive port information.
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17. The method of claim 16 wherein said header information comprises a portion of said destination identification.
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18. The method of claim 11 wherein said operating performance information comprises a congested link condition.
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19. The method of claim 18 wherein said congested link condition comprises a first condition resulting in said first link exceeding a first congestion threshold, wherein said first congestion threshold defines a percentage of bandwidth on said first link in relation to the total available amount of bandwidth on said first link.
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20. The method of claim 11 wherein said operating performance information comprises a metered off first link condition.
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21. The method of claim 20 wherein said metered off first link condition comprises a condition resulting from a portion of time that said first link is unable to transmit due to lack of available resources to handle said flow.
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22. The method of claim 21 wherein said lack of available resources is measured by credits, wherein said credits determine the number of frame buffers available in the receiving port of said first link.
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23. The method of claim 11 wherein said operating performance information comprises a condition where the delay of said first link exceeds a predetermined threshold.
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24. A method for routing a plurality of packets through a switch in a packet-switching network comprising:
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identifying a flow from said plurality of packets;
determining at least one shortest path operative for routing said flow through said packet-switching network, wherein said at least one shortest path comprises a first link and second link; and
rerouting said flow from said first link to said second link based upon operating performance information in addition to topology information.
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Specification