Simulated fibre channel trunking system

An Information Handling system (IHS), comprising:

• a plurality of Fibre Channel (FC) ports;
• a first FC PHY converter that is coupled to the plurality of FC ports;
• a processing system that includes an Ethernet switch processor that is coupled to the first FC PHY converter via a plurality of Ethernet links that include:
• a first Ethernet link that is mapped to a first FC port of the plurality of FC ports and that is provided between the Ethernet switch processor and the first FC PHY converter;
• and
• a second Ethernet link that is mapped to a second FC port of the plurality of FC ports and that is provided between the Ethernet switch processor and the first FC PHY converter;
• and
• a memory system that is coupled to the processing system and that includes instructions that, when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to provide a grouping engine that is configured to:
• group the first Ethernet link with the second Ethernet link to provide an aggregated interface that is associated with an aggregated interface identifier that is used to advertise the aggregated interface as a single interface;
• and
• load balance Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic, which is provided by the Ethernet switch processor to the aggregated interface based on the aggregated interface identifier, between the first Ethernet link and the second Ethernet link, wherein the load balancing of the FCoE traffic, the mapping of the first Ethernet link to the first FC port, and the mapping of the second Ethernet link to the second FC port causes a first portion of the FCoE traffic that is load balanced on the first Ethernet link and converted by the first FC PHY to first FC traffic to be provided on the first FC port, and a second portion of the FCoE traffic that is load balanced on the second Ethernet link and converted by the first FC PHY to first FC traffic to be provided on the second FC port.

A method of emulating Fibre Channel (FC) trunking:

• comprising:
• grouping, by a FC networking device, a first Ethernet link with a second Ethernet link that are provided between an Ethernet switch processor and a first FC PHY converter included in the FC networking device to provide an aggregated interface that is associated with an aggregated interface identifier that is used to advertise the aggregated interface as a single interface;
• load balancing, by the FC networking device using the Ethernet switch processor to the aggregated interface based on the aggregated interface identifier, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) traffic that is provided between the first Ethernet link and the second Ethernet link;
• converting, by the FC networking device using the FC PHY converter, a first portion of the FCoE traffic load balanced on the first Ethernet link to first FC traffic;
• providing, by the FC networking device, the first FC traffic to a first FC port that is coupled to the first FC PHY converter and that is mapped to the first Ethernet link;
• converting, by the FC networking device using the FC PHY converter, a second portion of the FCoE traffic load balanced on the second Ethernet link to second FC traffic;
• and
• providing, by the FC networking device, the second FC traffic to a second FC port that is coupled to the first FC PHY converter and that is mapped to the second Ethernet link.