Method and apparatus for transparent communication between a fibre channel network and an infiniband network

A method of routing FC frames to an IB network, the method comprising:

• detecting IB channel adapters in the IB network;
• creating a virtual FC target for each IB channel adapter in the IB network;
• and
• converting any non-fabric FC frames directed to the virtual FC targets into IB packets directed to the corresponding IB channel adapter.

A gateway to connect Fibre Channel (FC) and Infiniband (IB) networks, wherein the gateway comprises:

• one or more FC ports configured to couple to FC networked devices;
• one or more IB ports configured to couple to IB networked devices;
• and
• a protocol conversion engine coupled between the FC and IB ports,
• wherein the engine is configured to provide transparent communication between at least one of the IB networked devices and at least one of the FC networked devices.

A computer network that comprises:

• a Fibre Channel (FC) network that includes at least one FC target device configured to transmit and receive FC frames;
• an Infiniband (IB) network that includes at least one IB target device configured to transmit and receive IB packets;
• and
• a gateway coupled between the FC network and the IB network,
• wherein the gateway is configured to provide transparent communications between said at least one FC target device and said at least one IB target device.