Methods, systems and apparatus for the interconnection of fibre channel over ethernet devices

Inactive Publication Date: 2012-07-12
JEDA NETWORKS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0012]Methods, apparatus and systems are provided for creating virtual links between Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) nodes. FIP Discovery Advertisement frames are received from multiple FCoE device interconnection apparatus (FIA). The FIP Discovery Advertisement frames preferably includes source Ethernet MAC addresses, a destination Ethernet MAC address of All-ENode-MACs, Fabric FP descriptor, and a Priority FIP descriptor. A list is stored of one or more of the source Ethernet MAC address, FIP Priority descriptor, and FIP Fabric descriptor for each unique FIP Discovery Advertisement frame received as indicated by the Fabric descriptor. The Name Server is queried for each source Ethernet MAC address in said storage. For all FCoE devices that match in more that one Name Server, connect to those FCoE devices using the highest priority Ethernet MAC address from matching list items.

Problems solved by technology

Converging the LAN and SAN networks has created additional complexity in the management, control, and data switching areas.
Singly, the Fibre Channel switch fabric protocols are very complex and have shown to be not very interoperable between the small number of vendors who build products that support them.
Mapping the Fibre Channel switch fabric protocols over Ethernet has resulted in a dizzying amount of new standards that have inhibited the market acceptance of the Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) mapping over this new converged network.
These disadvantages include but are not limited to: the requirement for the ENode to choose a unique Media Access Control (MAC) address for each VN_Port, the requirement for the ENode to choose a unique Fibre Channel address identifier for each VN_Port, the lack of visibility into the network's supported maximum frame size or other capabilities, the lack of standardized discovery of specific ENode types such as Storage targets, the lack of the ability to automatically and dynamically create Fibre Channel zones or access control lists (ACLs) for intermediate Ethernet bridges, the lack of visibility to load balance across several paths from a source ENode to a destination ENode based on FCIDs, and the increased complexity to scale to hundreds of ENodes which requires error prone manual configuration.
Due to the lack of Fibre Channel fabric control, these emerging ideas and standards target smaller networks of ENodes, which are impractical in today's Data Center.

Method used

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  • Methods, systems and apparatus for the interconnection of fibre channel over ethernet devices
  • Methods, systems and apparatus for the interconnection of fibre channel over ethernet devices
  • Methods, systems and apparatus for the interconnection of fibre channel over ethernet devices

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ACRONYMS

[0063]ACE Access Control Entry[0064]ACL Access Control List[0065]ACLE Access Control List Entry[0066]BPDU Bridge PDU[0067]CNA Converged Network Adapter[0068]DA Destination Address[0069]DCB Data Center Bridging[0070]DCBX DCB Exchange protocol[0071]EISS Extended Internal Sublayer Service[0072]ENode FCoE Node[0073]ETS Enhanced Transmission Selection (IEEE 802.1Qaz)[0074]FC-MAP FCoE Mapped Address Prefix[0075]FCF FCoE Forwarder[0076]FIA FCoE device and Fibre Channel node interconnection Apparatus[0077]FCF-MAC FCoE Forwarder Media Access Control[0078]FCID Fibre Channel address or port identifier[0079]FCoE Fibre Channel over Ethernet[0080]FCoE Device Another term for ENode[0081]FCoE_LEP FCoE Link Endpoint[0082]FDF FCoE Data Forwarder[0083]Fibre Channel device Another term for Fibre Channel node[0084]RP FCoE Initialization Protocol[0085]FME Frame Match Entry[0086]FPMA Fabric Provided MAC Address[0087]IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers[0088]IP Internet Protocol[0089

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Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems are provided for forwarding Fibre Channel Initialization Protocol (FIP) frames and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) frames by a FCoE device interconnection apparatus (FIA) and with a Fibre Channel over Ethernet device interconnection apparatus controller (FIAC). An FCoE frame received by the FIA from the FCoE device includes at least destination and source Ethernet MAC address fields which are replaced, such as where the destination Ethernet MAC address is replaced by the MAC address assigned to a remote FCoE device, such as the desired end port. The frame is forwarded to the destination FCoE device. Preferably, first and second ports are coupled to the connectivity apparatus, which are then coupled to first and second FCoE devices.

Description

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Claims

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Application Information

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Owner JEDA NETWORKS
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