Method and system for path building in a communications network

• US 7,068,667 B2
• Filed: 10/26/2001
• Issued: 06/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Dorsett, Michael A., Foster, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin, Wellington
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fox, Jamal A.
• Application Number:
  US10/046,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20020159451A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,705 Days
• Field of Search: 370/398, 370/399, 370/395.31, 370/395.32, 370/395, 370/422, 370/229, 370/231, 370/392, 370/401, 370/390, 370/389, 370/351, 370/397, 370/357, 370/396, 370/235, 370/466, 370/352, 370/412, 370/354, 370/388, 370/385, 370/476, 370/463, 370/359, 709/223, 709/239, 709/202, 709/205, 709/238, 709/245, 709/246, 709/225, 709/226, 709/249, 709/250, 709/220, 709/230, 709/231, 709208-216, 709/217, 709/232, 713/201, 713/200, 710 5- 7, 710/4, 710/52, 710 22- 28, 710 36- 51, 710/305, 710/33, 710/105, 710/301, 710/310, 710/263, 710/3
• US Class Current: 370/398
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/101 using crossbar or matrix
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/357 Fibre channel switches
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/552 by ensuring the integrity of packets received through redundant connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0236 Filtering by address, protocol, port number or service, e.g. IP-address or URL
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0245 Filtering by information in the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1031 Controlling of the operation of servers by a load balancer, e.g. adding or removing servers that serve requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method and system for managing an interconnect fabric that connects nodes. A network manager manages an interconnect fabric or network of routing devices (e.g., interconnect fabric modules, switches, or routers) to allow source nodes to transmit data to destination nodes. The network manager receives registration requests from source nodes to send data to destination nodes, configures the routing devices of the network to establish a path from each source node to its destination node, and provides a virtual address to each source node. The virtual address identifies a path from the source node to the destination node. The source node sends the data to its destination node by providing the data along with the virtual address to a routing device of the network.

Claims

1. A method in a computer system for establishing a path between a source node and a destination node, the method comprising:

identifying ports of switches forming a path between the source node and the destination node, each switch of the path having a source-side port and a destination-side port;

identifying a virtual address for sending data from the source node to the destination node such that the virtual address is not currently used by any of the source-side ports; and

setting each of the source-side ports to switch data sent to the identified virtual address through the destination-side port of its switch, wherein the switches are Fibre Channel, wherein the data is changed from an InfiniBand frame to a Fibre Channel frame.

2. The method of claim 1 including:

identifying a virtual address for sending data from the destination node to the source node such that the virtual address is not currently used by any of the destination-side ports; and

setting each of the destination-side ports to switch data sent to the identified virtual address through the source-side port of its switch.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each port of each switch has a virtual address table for mapping virtual addresses to another port of the switch.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein when data is received at a port of a switch, the virtual address of the data is used to retrieve an indication of another port and the data is sent out of the switch through the other port.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein a path is established between the source node and each of a plurality of destination nodes by identifying ports of switches for each path.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the data is a Fibre Channel frame.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the switches are interconnect fabric modules.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein when a port of a switch receives data with a virtual address that has not been set for the port, the port does not forward the data.

9. A method for establishing a path between a source node and a destination node through a network of routing devices, the method comprising:

identifying ports of routing devices forming a path between the source node and the destination node, each routing device of the path having an identified source-side port and an identified destination-side port;

identifying a virtual address for sending data from the source node to the destination node; and

setting each of the identified source-side ports to route data sent to the identified virtual address through the identified destination-side port of its routing device, wherein the data is an InfiniBand frame, wherein the InfiniBand frame is changed to a Fibre Channel frame.

10. The method of claim 9 including:

identifying a virtual address for sending data from the destination node to the source node; and

setting each of the identified destination-side ports to route data sent to the identified virtual address through the identified source-side port of its routing device.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein a routing device is a switch.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein each routing device has a virtual address table for mapping virtual addresses to another port of the routing device.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein when data is received at a port of a routing device, the virtual address of the data is used to retrieve an indication of another port and the data is sent out of the routing device through the other port.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein a path is established between the source node and each of a plurality of destination nodes by identifying ports of routing devices for each path.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the routing devices are interconnect fabric modules.

16. The method of claim 9 wherein when a routing device receives data with a virtual address that has not been set for the routing device, the routing device does not forward the data.

17. The method of claim 9 wherein the identified virtual address is not currently used by any of the identified source-side ports.

18. The method of claim 9 wherein the identified virtual address is currently used by an identified source-side port when part of the path is shared by two source nodes sending data to the same destination node.

19. The method of claim 9 including providing the identified virtual address to the source node for use in sending data to the destination node.

20. A network manager for establishing a path between a source node and a destination node through a network of switches, comprising:

a component that identifies switches forming a path between the source node and the destination node;

a component that identifies a virtual address for sending data from the source node to the destination node through the identified switches; and

a component that configures each of the identified switches to route data sent to the identified virtual address through the identified switches from the source node to the destination node, wherein the data is an InfiniBand frame wherein the InfiniBand frame is changed to a Fibre Channel frame.

21. The network manager of claim 20 including:

a component that identifies a virtual address for sending data from the destination node to the source node; and

a component that configures each of the identified switches to route data sent to the identified virtual address through the identified switches from the destination node to the source node.

22. The network manager of claim 20 including:

a component that identifies switches forming a path between the destination node and the source node.

23. The network manager of claim 22 wherein the path from the source node to the destination node includes one port that is not in the path from the destination node to the source node.

24. The network manager of claim 22 wherein the path from the source node to the destination node is different from the path from the destination node to the source node.

25. The network manager of claim 20 wherein each switch has ports with a mapping of virtual addresses to another port of the switch.

26. The network manager of claim 20 wherein when data is received at a port of a switch, the identified virtual address is used to retrieve an indication of another port of the switch through which the data is transmitted.

27. The network manager of claim 20 wherein a path is established between the source node and each of a plurality of destination nodes by identifying ports of switches for each path.

28. The network manager of claim 20 wherein the switches are interconnect fabric modules.

29. The network manager of claim 20 wherein when a port of a switch receives data with a virtual address that has not been set for the port, the port does not forward the data.

30. The network manager of claim 20 wherein each switch has a source-side port and the identified virtual address is not currently used by any of the source-side ports.

31. The network manager of claim 20 wherein each switch has a source-side port and the identified virtual address is currently used by a source-side port when part of the path is shared by two source nodes sending data to the same destination node.

32. A network manager for establishing a path between a source node and a destination node through a network of routing devices, comprising:

means for identifying ports of routing devices forming a path between the source node and the destination node, each routing device of the path having an identified source-side port and an identified destination-side port;

means for identifying a virtual address for sending data from the source node to the destination node; and

setting each of the identified source-side ports to route data sent to the identified virtual address through the identified destination-side port of the routing device wherein the data is an InfiniBand frame, wherein the InfiniBand frame is changed to a Fibre Channel frame.

33. The network manager of claim 32 wherein a routing device is a switch.

34. The network manager of claim 32 wherein each port of each routing device has a means for mapping virtual addresses to another port of the routing device.

35. The network manager of claim 32 including means for, when data is received at a port of a routing device, retrieving an indication of another port using the identified virtual address and sending the data out of the routing device through the other port.

36. The network manager of claim 32 including means for establishing a path between the source node and each of a plurality of destination nodes by identifying ports of routing devices for each path.