SAN fabric discovery

• US 7,885,256 B1
• Filed: 05/30/2003
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Kawakami, William, Yenamandra, Rekha
• Primary Examiner(s): Ngo; Ricky
• Assistant Examiner(s): Samuel; Dewanda
• Application Number:
  US10/449,797
• Time in Patent Office: 2,811 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224, 709/220, 709/209, 370/254, 370/252, 370/422, 370/401, 370/400, 370/389, 370/398
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• 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]

Abstract

System and method for discovering Storage Area Network (SAN) fabrics and mapping switches to the fabrics. Embodiments may collect switch information from one or more sources and examine the collected switch information to determine interconnections among the switches. From this information, one or more SAN fabrics of which the switches are components may be determined, and the switches mapped to the SAN fabrics of which they are components. Embodiments may use an out-of-band protocol such as SNMP to collect switch information for all switches that can be discovered, either from individual switches or from a central switch management server, and then traverse the switch information to construct a map of how the switches are connected. From the map, one or more SAN fabrics, and which switches are connected in the same fabric(s), may be determined.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

obtaining, on a computer device, switch information for a plurality of switches, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from a server that maintains switch information about switches in two or more distinct Storage Area Network (SAN) fabrics;

traversing the obtained switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, wherein the interconnection information includes information about how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices, and wherein said traversing comprises determining which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric; and

generating SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, wherein the SAN fabric information includes information indicating which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric; and

displaying at least a portion of the SAN fabric information on a display device.

2. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from the switches.

3. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained over a network separate from the SAN fabrics.

4. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein said obtaining switch information for a plurality of switches comprises:

obtaining one or more IP addresses; and

obtaining the switch information from SAN components indicated by the IP addresses.

5. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1, wherein said traversing the switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches comprises, for each switch for which there is switch information:

generating a switch object for the switch;

inserting the switch object in a map of switch objects according to the switch'"'"'s interconnection with others of the switches;

if the switch is a primary switch of a SAN fabric, generating a fabric object representing the SAN fabric and adding the fabric object to a list of fabric objects each representing a SAN fabric; and

for each port of the switch, if the port is connected to another switch, obtaining switch information for the connected switch and adding the switch information for the connected switch to the obtained switch information for the plurality of switches.

6. The computer-implemented method as recited in claim 5, wherein said generating SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information comprises, for each fabric object in the list of fabric objects:

getting a switch object representing the primary switch of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object from the map of switch objects;

indicating in the fabric object that the primary switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object; and

for each switch interconnected with the primary switch according to the map of switch objects, indicating in the fabric object that the interconnected switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object.

7. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions, wherein the programming instructions are executable by the processor to;

obtain switch information for a plurality of switches, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from a server configured to maintain switch information about switches in two or more distinct Storage Area Network (SAN) fabrics;

traverse the obtained switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, wherein the interconnection information includes information about how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices, and wherein to traverse the obtained switch information the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to determine which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric; and

generate SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, wherein the SAN fabric information includes information indicating which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein, to obtain switch information for a plurality of switches, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to obtain at least a portion of the switch information from the switches.

9. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein, to obtain switch information for a plurality of switches, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to obtain the switch information over a network separate from the SAN fabrics.

10. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein, to traverse the switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to, for each switch for which there is switch information:

generate a switch object for the switch;

insert the switch object in a map of switch objects according to the switch'"'"'s interconnection with others of the switches;

if the switch is a primary switch of a SAN fabric, generate a fabric object representing the SAN fabric and add the fabric object to a list of fabric objects; and

for each port of the switch, if the port is connected to another switch, obtain switch information for the connected switch and add the switch information for the connected switch to the obtained switch information for the plurality of switches.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein, to generate SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, the programming instructions are further executable by the processor to, for each fabric object in the list of fabric objects:

get a switch object representing the primary switch of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object from the map of switch objects;

indicate in the fabric object that the primary switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object; and

for each switch interconnected with the primary switch according to the map of switch objects, indicate in the fabric object that the interconnected switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object.

12. A system, comprising:

means for obtaining switch information for a plurality of switches, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from a server configured to maintain switch information about switches in two or more distinct Storage Area Network (SAN) fabrics;

means for traversing the obtained switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, wherein the interconnection information includes information about how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices, and wherein said traversing comprises determining which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric; and

means for generating SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, wherein the SAN fabric information includes information indicating which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric.

14. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 12, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from the switches.

15. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 12, wherein the switch information is obtained over a network separate from the SAN fabrics.

13. A computer-accessible storage medium, comprising program instructions, wherein the program instructions are computer-executable to implement:

obtaining switch information for a plurality of switches, wherein at least a portion of the switch information is obtained from a server that maintains switch information about switches in two or more distinct Storage Area Network (SAN) fabrics;

traversing the obtained switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, wherein the interconnection information includes information about how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices, and wherein said traversing comprises determining which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric; and

generating SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, wherein the SAN fabric information includes information indicating which of the plurality of switches are in each distinct SAN fabric and how each of the plurality of switches is connected to other devices in its respective SAN fabric.

16. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 13, wherein, in said traversing the switch information to determine interconnection information for the plurality of switches, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement, for each switch for which there is switch information:

generating a switch object for the switch;

inserting the switch object in a map of switch objects according to the switch'"'"'s interconnection with others of the switches;

if the switch is a primary switch of a SAN fabric, generating a fabric object representing the SAN fabric and adding the fabric object to a list of fabric objects each representing a SAN fabric; and

for each port of the switch, if the port is connected to another switch, obtaining switch information for the connected switch and adding the switch information for the connected switch to the obtained switch information for the plurality of switches.

17. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 16, wherein said generating SAN fabric information describing a plurality of distinct SAN fabrics each comprising one or more of the plurality of switches from the determined interconnection information, the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement, for each fabric object in the list of fabric objects:

getting a switch object representing the primary switch of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object from the map of switch objects;

indicating in the fabric object that the primary switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object; and

for each switch interconnected with the primary switch according to the map of switch objects, indicating in the fabric object that the interconnected switch is a component of the SAN fabric represented by the fabric object.