Creating and configuring virtual fabrics in storage area networks

• US 8,060,630 B1
• Filed: 11/27/2002
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Operating Corporation (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: Rabe, Bruce R., Jancaitis, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Gilles; Jude Jean
• Application Number:
  US10/306,211
• Time in Patent Office: 3,275 Days
• Field of Search: 709/213, 709/214, 709/223, 709/229, 711/111, 711/162, 711/163, 713/201, 707/10, 707/9
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/35 Switches specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/356 for storage area networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/70 Virtual switches
• 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

Embodiments of a mechanism for creating and configuring virtual fabrics in Storage Area Networks (SANs). Embodiments may provide a vendor-neutral mechanism for creating and configuring virtual fabrics in physical SAN fabrics that may include heterogeneous switches. Each virtual fabric may include its own name service, management service, fabric configuration service, zoning service, and/or other fabric services. A vendor-neutral virtual fabric utility may be provided for creating and managing virtual fabrics. In one embodiment, switch ports, switch slots and/or switches may be selected and added to new or existing virtual fabrics using the virtual fabric utility. In one embodiment, SAN components coupled to fabric switches (e.g. hosts, HBAs, HBA ports, storage devices and storage device ports) may be displayed for selection and assignment to the virtual fabric. Switch ports coupled to a selected SAN components may be automatically determined by the virtual fabric utility and added to the virtual fabric.

Claims

1. A storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a plurality of SAN components comprising;

a plurality of storage devices;

a plurality of storage device ports;

one or more host systems;

one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs); and

a plurality of HBA ports;

a SAN fabric comprising a plurality of switches each comprising a plurality of switch ports configured for coupling the host systems to the storage devices;

a system configured to implement a virtual fabric utility, wherein the virtual fabric utility is configured to;

select one or more of the SAN components for assignment to a virtual fabric on the SAN fabric;

automatically determine one or more of the switch ports of one or more of the switches which are coupled to the selected one or more SAN components; and

add the determined one or more switch ports of the one or more switches to the virtual fabric.

2. The SAN as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of the plurality of SAN components coupled to switch ports in the virtual fabric form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

3. The SAN as recited in claim 1, wherein the virtual fabric utility is further configured to provide a user interface for creating virtual fabrics and for selecting SAN components for assignment to the virtual fabrics.

4. The SAN as recited in claim 1, wherein the system is further configured to implement a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing the plurality of SAN components and the plurality of switches, and wherein the virtual fabric utility is configured to be accessed through the SAN manager.

5. A storage area network (SAN), comprising:

a plurality of SAN components comprising;

a plurality of storage devices; and

one or more host systems;

a SAN fabric comprising a plurality of heterogeneous switches each comprising a plurality of switch ports configured for coupling the host systems to the storage devices, wherein two or more of said plurality of heterogeneous switches have different management interfaces;

a system configured to implement a virtual fabric utility, wherein the virtual fabric utility is configured to;

select one or more switch ports of two or more of the heterogeneous switches for assignment to a virtual fabric on the SAN fabric; and

add the selected switch ports to the virtual fabric.

6. The SAN as recited in claim 5, wherein the plurality of SAN components further comprise one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), a plurality of HBA ports, and a plurality of storage device ports, and wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of the plurality of SAN components coupled to switch ports in the virtual fabric form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

7. The SAN as recited in claim 5, wherein the virtual fabric utility is further configured to provide a user interface for creating virtual fabrics and for selecting switch ports for assignment to the virtual fabrics.

8. The SAN as recited in claim 5, wherein the plurality of SAN components further comprise one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), a plurality of HBA ports, and a plurality of storage device ports, and wherein the virtual fabric utility is further configured to display one or more of the SAN components coupled to the switch ports.

9. The SAN as recited in claim 5, wherein the system is further configured to implement a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing the plurality of SAN components and the plurality of switches, and wherein the virtual fabric utility is configured to be accessed through the SAN manager.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

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

select one or more of a plurality of Storage Area Network (SAN) components of a SAN for assignment to a virtual fabric on a fabric of the SAN;

wherein the SAN components comprise a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of storage device ports, one or more host systems, one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), and a plurality of HBA ports;

wherein the SAN fabric comprises a plurality of switches each comprising a plurality of switch ports for coupling the host systems to the storage devices;

automatically determine one or more of the switch ports of one or more of the switches which are coupled to the selected one or more SAN components; and

add the determined one or more switch ports of the one or more switches to the virtual fabric.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of the plurality of SAN components coupled to switch ports in the virtual fabric form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to provide a user interface for creating virtual fabrics and for selecting SAN components for assignment to the virtual fabrics.

13. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to implement a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing the plurality of SAN components and the plurality of switches.

14. A system, comprising:

a processor;

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

select one or more switch ports of two or more heterogeneous switches of a fabric of a Storage Area Network (SAN) for assignment to a virtual fabric on the SAN fabric, wherein two or more of the heterogeneous switches have different management interfaces;

wherein the SAN fabric comprises a plurality of switches including the two or more heterogeneous switches each comprising a plurality of switch ports configured for coupling one or more host systems of the SAN to storage devices of the SAN; and

add the selected switch ports to the virtual fabric.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the SAN comprises a plurality of SAN components including the one or more host systems, the storage devices, one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), a plurality of HBA ports, and a plurality of storage device ports, and wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of the SAN components form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

16. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to provide a user interface for creating virtual fabrics, for selecting switch ports for assignment to the virtual fabrics, and for adding the selected switch ports to the virtual fabric.

17. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the SAN comprises a plurality of SAN components including the host systems, the storage devices, one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), a plurality of HBA ports, and a plurality of storage device ports, and wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to display one or more of the SAN components coupled to the switch ports on a display device of the system.

18. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to implement a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing the one or more host systems, the storage devices, and the plurality of switches.

19. A system for creating and managing virtual fabrics comprising switch ports from heterogeneous fabric switches in a fabric of a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

means for determining one or more switch ports of two or more heterogeneous fabric switches of the fabric to be assigned to a virtual fabric on the fabric of the SAN; and

means for adding the determined one or more switch ports of the two or more heterogeneous fabric switches to the virtual fabric, wherein two or more of the heterogeneous switches have different management interfaces.

20. A system for creating and managing virtual fabrics comprising switch ports from fabric switches in a fabric of a storage area network (SAN), comprising:

means for determining one or more of a plurality of components of the SAN to be assigned to a virtual fabric on a fabric of the SAN;

means for determining one or more switch ports of one or more of the fabric switches which are coupled to the selected one or more components of the SAN; and

means for adding the determined one or more switch ports of the one or more fabric switches to the virtual fabric.

21. A method, comprising:

displaying a plurality of switch ports of a plurality of switches of a fabric of a Storage Area Network (SAN), wherein two or more of the switches are heterogeneous switches, wherein two or more of the heterogeneous switches have different management interfaces;

selecting one or more switch ports of two or more of the heterogeneous switches for assignment to a virtual fabric on the fabric; and

adding the selected switch ports to the virtual fabric.

22. The method as recited in claim 21, further comprising:

displaying a plurality of SAN components coupled to the switch ports of the plurality of switches, wherein the SAN components comprise a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of storage device ports, one or more host systems, one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), and a plurality of HBA ports;

wherein said selecting one or more switch ports of two or more of the heterogeneous switches to be assigned to a virtual fabric comprises;

selecting one or more of the SAN components for assignment to the virtual fabric; and

automatically determining the one or more switch ports of the two or more heterogeneous switches which are coupled to the selected one or more SAN components.

23. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of a plurality of SAN components coupled to switch ports in the virtual fabric form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

24. The method as recited in claim 21, wherein said displaying, said selecting, and said adding are performed by a virtual fabric utility implemented by a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing a plurality of SAN components and the plurality of switches.

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

displaying a plurality of switch ports of a plurality of switches of a fabric of a Storage Area Network (SAN), wherein two or more of the switches are heterogeneous switches, wherein two or more of the heterogeneous switches have different management interfaces;

selecting one or more switch ports of two or more of the heterogeneous switches for assignment to a virtual fabric on the fabric; and

adding the selected switch ports to the virtual fabric.

26. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further computer-executable to implement:

displaying a plurality of SAN components coupled to the switch ports of the plurality of switches, wherein the SAN components comprise a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of storage device ports, one or more host systems, one or more Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), and a plurality of HBA ports;

wherein, in said selecting one or more switch ports of two or more of the heterogeneous switches to be assigned to a virtual fabric, the program instructions are further configured to implement;

selecting one or more of the SAN components for assignment to the virtual fabric; and

automatically determining the one or more switch ports of the two or more heterogeneous switches which are coupled to the selected one or more SAN components.

27. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 25, wherein the virtual fabric and one or more of a plurality of SAN components coupled to switch ports in the virtual fabric form a virtual SAN within the SAN.

28. The computer-accessible storage medium as recited in claim 25, wherein said displaying, said selecting, and said adding are performed by a virtual fabric utility implemented by a SAN manager of a SAN management system, wherein the SAN manager is configured to provide a user interface to the SAN management system for discovering and managing a plurality of SAN components and the plurality of switches.