Methods and apparatus for characterizing a route in fibre channel fabric
First Claim
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1. A method for providing route characteristic information in a fibre channel fabric, the method comprising:
- providing a fibre channel frame at a source fibre channel switch, the fibre channel frame identifying the source fibre channel switch and a destination, wherein the fibre channel frame includes a loopback field indicating that the fibre channel frame should be looped back to the source fibre channel switch;
transmitting the fibre channel frame downstream toward the destination;
receiving the looped back fibre channel frame at the source fibre channel switch, the loopback fibre channel frame including time stamp information associated with a plurality of fibre channel switches between the source fibre channel switch and the destination, wherein the time stamp information provides information for determining characteristics associated with upstream and downstream transmission between the source fibre channel switch and the destination.
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Abstract
Methods and apparatus are provided for determining characteristics associated with routes in fibre channel networks. Techniques are provided for inserting time stamp information into frames transmitted from a source to a destination and back to the source. Time stamp information allows a supervisor associated with a source to determine characteristics such as round trip times, latency between hops, and connectivity to a destination for specific routes.
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method for providing route characteristic information in a fibre channel fabric, the method comprising:
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providing a fibre channel frame at a source fibre channel switch, the fibre channel frame identifying the source fibre channel switch and a destination, wherein the fibre channel frame includes a loopback field indicating that the fibre channel frame should be looped back to the source fibre channel switch; transmitting the fibre channel frame downstream toward the destination; receiving the looped back fibre channel frame at the source fibre channel switch, the loopback fibre channel frame including time stamp information associated with a plurality of fibre channel switches between the source fibre channel switch and the destination, wherein the time stamp information provides information for determining characteristics associated with upstream and downstream transmission between the source fibre channel switch and the destination. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for providing route characteristic information in a fibre channel fabric, the method comprising:
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receiving a fibre channel frame at a core fibre channel switch, wherein the fibre channel frame comprises a loopback field, a source identifier, and time stamp information, the time stamp information associated with a plurality of fibre channel switches the fibre channel frame passed through between the source and the core fibre channel switch; and determining whether to forward the fibre channel frame or to loop back the fibre channel frame. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for providing route characteristic information in a fibre channel fabric, the apparatus comprising:
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means for providing a fibre channel frame at a source fibre channel switch, the fibre channel frame identifying the source fibre channel switch and a destination, wherein the fibre channel frame includes a loopback field indicating that the fibre channel frame should be looped back to the source fibre channel switch; means for transmitting the fibre channel frame downstream toward the destination; means for receiving the looped back fibre channel frame at the source fibre channel switch, the loopback fibre channel frame including time stamp information associated with a plurality of fibre channel switches between the source fibre channel switch and the destination, wherein the time stamp information provides information for determining characteristics associated with upstream and downstream transmission between the source fibre channel switch and the destination. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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25. A fibre channel switch in a fibre channel fabric, the fibre channel switch comprising:
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a processor operable to provide a fibre channel frame, the fibre channel frame identifying the source fibre channel switch and a destination, wherein the fibre channel frame includes a loopback field indicating that the fibre channel frame should be looped back to the source fibre channel switch; an output interface coupled to the processor, the output interface configured to transmit the fibre channel frame downstream toward the destination; and an input interface coupled to the processor, the input interface configured to receive the looped back fibre channel frame at the source fibre channel switch, the loopback fibre channel frame including time stamp information associated with a plurality of fibre channel switches between the source fibre channel switch and the destination, wherein the time stamp information provides information for determining characteristics associated with upstream and downstream transmission between the source fibre channel switch and the destination. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification