1268 results about "Fibre Channel" patented technology

A fibre channel storage area network (SAN) provides virtualized storage space for a number of servers to a number of virtual disks implemented on various virtual redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices striped across a plurality of physical disk drives. The SAN includes plural controllers and communication paths to allow for fail-safe and fail-over operation. The plural controllers can be loosely-coupled to provide n-way redundancy and have more than one independent channel for communicating with one another. In the event of a failure involving a controller or controller interface, the virtual disks that are accessed via the affected interfaces are re-mapped to another interface in order to continue to provide high data availability. In particular, a common memory storage device is connected to the back-ends of every controller to provide a storage area. In this manner, the common memory storage device can be accessed via operations similar to those a controller already uses to presently access the physical disks which are connected to the back-end of the controllers.

An intelligent network processor is disclosed that provides a PCI express (PCIe) host bus adapter with firmware selectable hardware capabilities and firmware enabled emulation of capabilities not supported by hardware. Support for Fibre Channel (FC) and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) protocols are provided through the same fabric ports, including multiple port trunking for both protocols. On chip protocol conversion is provided for switching and routing between FC and GbE ports. Switching using the same crossbar module is provided for both FC and GbE protocols. The crossbar module is coupled to directly access external DDR memory so that messages from FC, GbE, and PCIe interfaces may be switched directly to the DDR memory.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a first port configured to receive Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) traffic; a second port configured to receive Fiber Channel (FC) traffic; and a third port configured to transmit received TRILL or FC traffic based on a Fiber Channel over IP (FCIP) protocol.

A fiber channel storage area network (SAN) provides virtualized storage space for a number of servers to a number of virtual disks implemented on various virtual redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices striped across a plurality of physical disk drives. The SAN includes plural controllers and communication paths to allow for fail-safe and fail-over operation. The plural controllers can be loosely-coupled to provide n-way redundancy and have more than one independent channel for communicating with one another. In particular, respective portions from each of the back-end physical disk drives within the SAN are used as one of these alternative communication channels to pass messages between controllers. Such an alternative communications channel provides even further redundancy and robustness in the system.

A Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) transport for fabric backplane enterprise servers provides for local and remote communication of storage system information between storage sub-system elements of an ES system and other elements of an ES system via a storage interface. The transport includes encapsulation of information for communication via a reliable transport implemented in part across a cellifying switch fabric. The transport may optionally include communication via Ethernet frames over any of a local network or the Internet. Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) and Direct Data Placement (DDP) protocols are used to communicate the information (commands, responses, and data) between SCSI initiator and target end-points. A Fibre Channel Module (FCM) may be operated as a SCSI target providing a storage interface to any of a Processor Memory Module (PMM), a System Control Module (SCM), and an OffLoad Module (OLM) operated as a SCSI initiator.

A system and method for managing the allocation of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) timeslots in a network switch. The network switch may use a TDM cycle comprising multiple timeslots to manage shared resources and to schedule data ingress and egress through the ports of the current configuration, wherein each port is assigned one or more timeslots. The network switch may be reprogrammed to support one of multiple timeslot assignment schemes for one of multiple port configurations. The network switch may support configurations with varying numbers of ports, e.g. 8- and 16-port configurations. A network switch may also support configurations where two or more ports are combined to form one port, for example, a 2 Gbs Fibre Channel port. To meet the requirements of the various configurations, the timeslot assignment scheme may be reprogrammed to meet the scheduling requirements of each of the possible port configurations.

A hardware switch for use with hypervisors and blade servers is disclosed. The hardware switch enables switching to occur between different guest OSs running in the same server, or between different servers in a multi-root IOV system, or between different guest OSs running in the same server in single-root IOV systems. Whether embedded in a host bus adapter (HBA), converged network adapter (CNA), network interface card (NIC) or other similar device, the hardware switch can provide fast switching with access to and sharing of at least one external network port such as a Fibre Channel (FC) port, 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) port, FC over Ethernet (FCOE) port, or other similar port. The hardware switch can be utilized when no hypervisor is present or when one or more servers have hypervisors, because it allows for switching (e.g. Ethernet switching) between the OSs on a single hypervisor.

A method and system for routing high-speed data to and from SANs (Storage Area Networks and Server Area Networks) via optical burst-switched (OBS) networks. OBS network components, including edge nodes and switching nodes, are coupled between SAN islands. In one embodiment, the OBS network comprises a photonic burst-switched (PBS) network. Under one scheme, a PBS edge node and SAN gateway are co-located at the interface to the SAN, while a plurality of PBS switching nodes are deployed between the PBS edge nodes. Under another scheme, PBS switching / edge nodes are co-located at respective SANs. This scheme employs an external gateway protocol (EGP) for routing data via selected route segments. Data going to and received from a SAN is packaged as Fibre Channel Frames. Data transmitted via the PBS network is converted into PBS frames having encapsulated Fibre Channel Frames. The schemes also support interfaces with legacy networks, such as LANs and WANs.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a first port configured to receive Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) traffic; a second port configured to receive Fibre Channel (FC) traffic; and a third port configured to transmit received TRILL or FC traffic based on a Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) protocol.

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.

A fiber channel storage area network (SAN) provides virtualized storage space for a number of servers to a number of virtual disks implemented on various virtual redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) devices striped across a plurality of physical disk drives. The SAN includes plural controllers and communication paths to allow for fail-safe and fail-over operation. The plural controllers can be loosely-coupled to provide n-way redundancy and have more than one independent channel for communicating with one another. In the event of a failure involving a controller or controller interface, the virtual disks that are accessed via the affected interfaces are re-mapped to another interface in order to continue to provide high data availability. In particular, deadman timers, heartbeat signals internal to each controller, and heartbeat signals between different controllers are used to detect controllers that are no longer communicating with other controllers in order to identify those controllers which are failing or have failed.

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.

Methods and devices are provided for non-disruptive monitoring of network traffic through one or more ports of a Fibre Channel network device. Preferred embodiments of the invention are used in conjunction with the switched port analyzer (“SPAN”) and / or remote SPAN (“RSPAN”) features. SPAN mode operation allows traffic through any Fibre Channel interface of a network device to be replicated and delivered to a single port on the same network device. Ingress SPAN allows the monitoring of some or all packets that ingress a specified port or ports. Egress SPAN allows the monitoring of some or all packets that egress a specified port or ports. RSPAN allows the delivery of the replicated traffic to a port on a remote network device. Filtering may be applied, for example, to SPAN packets having selected virtual storage area network numbers.

Storage tiering uses file system awareness of storage class for storage allocation or migration of a storage object from one class of storage to another. For example, the storage object is a production file system, a logical unit number (LUN) of storage, or a snapshot copy of the production file system or LUN. Each storage class may comprise a different back-end disk type, such as Fiber Channel, ATA, etc. Storage allocation or migration is based on storage class to implement a storage policy, such as: (a) move snapshots off the class of storage of the production object and onto a different class of storage; (b) direct new writes to a specified class of storage; or (c) writes targeting a particular storage object are targeted to a particular class of storage.

One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates congestion management in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. During operation, the system determines a threshold data rate on an outgoing link coupled to an FC switch. The system further determines the number of sources that send data to the outgoing link and an aggregate arrival rate of data for the outgoing link. Next, the system determines an injection data rate for a respective source based on the threshold data rate on the outgoing link, the number of sources transmitting data to the outgoing link, and the aggregate arrival data rate for the outgoing link. Subsequently, the system communicates the injection data rate to the source, thereby allowing the source to throttle its data injection in the FC network to prevent network congestion.

An integrated management mechanism of a storage area network (SAN) integrates and manages a traditionally dispersed security system from a single source and automates security management in the SAN. The integrated management mechanism integrates and manages the SAN, and is configured so that access relationships of the host computers and the storage devices of the SAN are managed using the integrated management mechanism. An access path on the integrated management mechanism, including a region of the storage devices to which access is attempted from the host computer, the fiber channel adapters used when accessing that storage, and the host bus adapters (HBA) are configured. Based on the access path information configured, the integrated management mechanism establishes respective storage settings, zoning settings, and accessible region permissions for a SAN management mechanism of the host computer, a zoning settings mechanism of the switch, and a storage management mechanism of the storage device.

Methods and apparatus for encapsulating a packet or frame for transmission in a storage area network are disclosed. A packet or frame compatible with a standard protocol employed in the storage area network is received or generated. The packet or frame is then encapsulated with a virtual storage area network identifier. The packet or frame may further be encapsulated with at least one of a TTL value, MPLS information, and a type of traffic to be carried by the packet or frame. For instance, the type of traffic to be carried by the packet or frame may include Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and Infiniband. Once encapsulated, the encapsulated packet or frame is sent over the storage area network. For instance, the encapsulated packet or frame may be generated as well as transmitted by a switch over an inter-switch link in the storage area network.

A data optimization engine disposed inline with a first communication channel and a second communication channel. The data optimization engine comprises a transmit interface circuit configured to receive a first data stream from the first communication channel and to obtain a first data file from the first data stream. The data optimization engine further includes an optimization processor coupled to the transmit interface circuit for receiving a second data file from the transmit interface circuit. The second data file represents the first data file after the first data file has been processed by the transmit interface circuit into a format suitable for optimization by the optimization processor. The optimization processor performs one of a compression and an encryption on the second data file, thereby obtaining all optimized data file. In one embodiment, the first data file is a Fiber Channel data frame. In another embodiment, the first data file is encoded using 10-bit encoding, the format suitable for optimization by the optimization processor is an 8-bit encoding protocol.

A disk array connected to a storage area network via a fiber channel has one or more ports each controlled by a processor. Even the disk array with one port and one processor executes online processing and backup processing at the same time while considering an online processing load. A port controller not only accepts a request from a host computer but issues a request to other storage controllers to allow online processing and backup processing to be executed at the same time. In addition, the disk array, if provided with a plurality of ports, selects ports or schedules processing depending upon the load to prevent backup processing from affecting online processing performance.

A technique is provided for facilitating information management in a storage area network. The storage area network may utilize a fibre channel fabric which includes a plurality of ports. The storage area network may also comprise a first volume which includes a first mirror copy and a second mirror copy. The storage area network may further comprise a mirror consistency data structure adapted to store mirror consistency information. A mirror consistency check procedure is performed to determine whether data of the first mirror copy is consistent with data of the second mirror copy. According to one implementation, the mirror consistency check procedure may be implemented using the consistency information stored at the mirror consistency data structure.

Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling congestion in a network such as a fibre channel network. Techniques are provided for characterizing traffic flow at a congested network node. The congested network node can generate various instructions such as quench messages to control traffic flow towards the congested network node. The quench messages can optionally include information about the characteristics of the congestion. The instructions are distributed to other nodes in the network. The other network nodes can interpret the instructions and control traffic flow towards the congested node.

An Ethernet / Fibre Channel network interface device which can be configured by a user to operate on an FC SAN, a CEE network or both. In one embodiment the configuration can be done using jumpers or connections to the pins of a chip, thus allowing a manufacturer to only inventory one device for use with either or both networks. In a second embodiment the configuration can be done in software by setting registers and memory values on the device. This embodiment allows the device to be changed between configurations without removing it from the server or blade. The devices according to the preferred embodiments further reduce power consumption by shutting down portions of the chip not needed based on the configuration of the device.

A fiber routing tray to hold, organize, and route fiber cables from external sources to other optical modules and optical components. The fiber routing tray mechanical device comprises a fiber entry block, fiber channel slot, retention bar with fiber clamps, fiber clamping slots, curved fiber routing fence, and a fiber exit opening. A retention bar with a contoured fiber retention clamps is used to hold fiber cables in place, provide a strain relief to a fiber cable, and distribute uniform clamping force on the fiber cable preventing insertion and return losses. Curved fiber channel slots with a preferable width help route fiber cables and prevent them from overbending. In addition, these fiber channel slots control the extension and retraction distance of the fiber cables during external fiber cable assembly. A curved fiber routing fence help route fiber cables and help prevent them from over-bending and tangling inside of the fiber reel tray. An exit opening allows fiber cables to drop below the fiber tray before the fiber cables are attached to the optical devices and optical modules.

The present invention is to provide a system for backing up cache memory in a double backup server structure, which comprises a first backup server having a first SAS controller; a second backup server having a second SAS controller; and a SAS channel for connecting said first and second SAS controllers; wherein said first SAS controller and said second SAS controller each having a sending end initiator defining a cache mirror command. When said first backup server received a write command and write data through a Fiber Channel or iSCSI channel into a first cache memory, said first SAS controller also establishes a first Command Descriptor Block (CDB) with an operation code of a cache mirror command as well as a first data header for the cache data. Said first CDB and first data header are subsequently transmitted through said SAS channel to said second SAS controller and said second backup server writes said data into a second cache memory of its own. Accordingly, with the higher bandwidth facilitated by the SAS channel, considerable amount of cache data can be processes in high speed to improve the storage efficiency in a double backup server structure.

In one embodiment, a system includes a software defined network (SDN) controller connected to SDN-capable switch(es), the SDN controller being configured to communicate with and program the SDN-capable switches, wherein each of the SDN-capable switches is configured to communicate with the SDN controller, one or more fiber channel forwarders (FCFs) connected to the SDN-capable switches, storage area network (SAN) fabric(s), and local area network (LAN) fabric(s), and at least one end node connected directly or indirectly to the SDN-capable switches and / or the one or more FCFs, wherein the SDN controller is configured to collect information from the one or more FCFs that corresponds with each of the one or more FCFs via fiber channel initialization protocol (FIP) advertisement frames, and create and manage a FCF database, the FCF database including the information that corresponds with each of the one or more FCFs.

When information on a device such as a server, storage, and an FC switch constituting a SNA system is input, these devices are displayed and arranged properly on a screen (S1, S2). When information on a physical path is input by a designer by using this display screen, a virtual SAN system in which the devices are connected by a fiber channel is displayed on the screen (S3). Furthermore, when information on an access path is input by the designer by using the construction image, the access path is additionally displayed on the construction image of the virtual SAN system (S5). Since the construction image of the virtual SAN system is displayed on the screen, the designer can easily create a design drawing while visually checking the SAN system. This can reduce the work load and time required for construction of the SAN system.

A fiber channel-interchangeable fiber optic connector includes an adapter, two connectors respectively rotatably mounted in respective axle holes at the front side of the adapter, a sub-assembly detachably attached to the adapter to stop the connectors from rotation and hold down the connectors in position, and a cable inserted through the sub-assembly and mounted in the adapter with two optical-fiber cores therein respectively inserted into ferrules of the connectors. Detaching the sub-assembly from the adapter allows rotation of the connectors and the sub-assembly through 180-degrees angle relative to the adapter to interchange the fiber channels.

A network handler uses a DMA device to assign packets to network processors in accordance with a mapping function which classifies packets based on its content, e.g., bits in one or more header fields. Preferably, the mapping function is implemented as a hash function, which uses a predetermined number of bits from packet as inputs. The result of this function specifies the processor to which the packet is assigned. To make implementation manageable in a high-traffic environment, each processor may be equipped with a queue, which holds pointer information. Such a pointer provides an indication of the area in memory where incoming packet resides. The network handler is particularly useful in a Fibre Channel environment, where the hash function may be implemented to assign all packets from the same sequence to the same processor, thereby resulting in improved processing efficiency.

A method and system is provided for in-order delivery of frames in Fiber Channel communication networks during topology change. When a topology change has rendered an old path between two switches or end devices infeasible, a new path is determined to replace the old path. To ensure in-order delivery of frames, the new path is activated only after the lapse of a hold-down period. The hold-down period may be calculated as the maximum time required for frames within the old path immediately prior to the topology change to reach the destination switch or device. The calculation may utilize information available from the Fiber Channel shortest path first (FSPF) protocol.