Apparatus and method for preventing disruption of fibre channel fabrics caused by ReConfigure Fabric (RCF) messages
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- at a Fibre Channel Switch of a Fabric of a storage area network, receiving a request to configure one or more Ports of the Fibre Channel Switch to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages; and
configuring the one or more Ports of the Fibre Channel Switch to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages,wherein the Fibre Channel Switch prevents the Fabric from being disrupted by configuring the one or more Ports to reject the ReConfigure Fabric messages; and
wherein the storage area network is configured to enable a plurality of clients to access the Fabric.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method for preventing the disruption of Fiber Channel Fabrics caused by ReConfigure Fabric (RCF) messages is disclosed. The apparatus includes a storage area network and a plurality of Fiber Channel Switches arranged in a Fabric. Each of the plurality of Switches includes logic to selectively configure their Ports to either reject or accept RCF messages. When configured to reject RCF messages, the Switch Port that receives an RCF message will generate a reject message along with a reason code explanation “E_Port Isolated”, and then transition into an Isolated state. When the Switch that generated the RCF message receives the reject message, its Port also transition into the Isolated state. In accordance with the method of the present invention, either a Storage Service Provider or a client can access the Switches of the Fabric through either a command line interpreter or a management application. Once access to the Fabric is established, the logic of the Ports of the Switches can be selectively configured to reject or accept RCF messages as described above.
37 Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising:
-
at a Fibre Channel Switch of a Fabric of a storage area network, receiving a request to configure one or more Ports of the Fibre Channel Switch to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages; and configuring the one or more Ports of the Fibre Channel Switch to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages, wherein the Fibre Channel Switch prevents the Fabric from being disrupted by configuring the one or more Ports to reject the ReConfigure Fabric messages; and wherein the storage area network is configured to enable a plurality of clients to access the Fabric. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method comprising:
-
at a Fabric of a storage area network, supporting a plurality of Switches; transmitting communications to and from a plurality of clients who use the Fabric; and denying the clients the ability to disrupt the Fabric when performing actions that invoke ReConfigure Fabric messages, wherein the denying the clients the ability to disrupt the Fabric includes configuring the Ports of the Switches of the fabric to reject the ReConfigure Fabric messages. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
-
-
14. A method to configure a plurality of Fibre Channel Switches arranged in a Fabric of a storage area network, comprising:
-
at a Fabric of a storage area network, permitting an administrator to establish a connection to the Fabric, the Fabric including a plurality of Switches; and transmitting messages from the administrator to the Switches requesting that the Switches configure one or more of their Ports to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages, wherein the Fabric prevents itself from being disrupted when an ReConfigure Fabric message occurs by transmitting requests to the Switches to configure the one or more of the Ports to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. An apparatus comprising;
-
a storage area network with a Fibre Channel Fabric; and a plurality of Switches arranged in the Fabric, each of the Ports of the plurality of Switches including; logic to selectively reject ReConfigure Fabric messages, wherein the logic for the Switches is further configured to substantially prevent the Fabric from being disrupted by ReConfigure Fabric messages when the logic is selected to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A Switch configured to be included in the Fabric of a storage area network, the Switch comprising:
-
Switch ports; and logic to selectively reject ReConfigure Fabric messages, wherein the logic of the Switch is further configured to substantially prevent the Fabric from being disrupted by ReConfigure Fabric messages when the logic is selected to reject ReConfigure Fabric messages. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
-
Specification