Dynamic load balancing of fibre channel traffic
AssigneeLSI Logic Corporation
InventorHoward Young
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods herein provide for load balancing Fibre Channel traffic. In this regard, a Fibre Channel load balancer may be operable to monitor Fibre Channel paths coupled to a host bus adapter and determine the speeds of the Fibre Channel ports within the Fibre Channel paths. The Fiber Channel load balancer may also be operable to determine certain characteristics of the Fibre Channel traffic being passed over the Fibre Channel paths. For example, a load balancer may determine Fibre Channel traffic sizes of pending requests and, based in part on the traffic sizes and operable normalized speeds of the Fibre Channel ports, adaptively route the pending original traffic across the Fibre Channel ports.
Claims16
A Fibre Channel load balancer coupled to a plurality of Fibre Channel paths, the Fibre Channel load balancer comprising:
- a detector operable to monitor Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths and identify Fibre Channel traffic characteristics and Fibre Channel path characteristics;
- and
- path selection logic operable to adaptively select the Fibre Channel paths for routing the Fibre Channel traffic based on the Fibre Channel traffic characteristics and the Fibre Channel path characteristics to balance the Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths,
- wherein the path selection logic is further operable to periodically update a list of the Fibre Channel paths from which the path selection logic adaptively selects the Fibre Channel paths to balance the Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths,
- wherein the Fibre Channel path characteristics comprise speeds of the Fibre Channel paths, and
- wherein the Fibre Channel load balancer further comprises a filter operable to filter the Fibre Channel traffic and generate a statistical model of the Fibre Channel traffic for input to the path selection logic, wherein the path selection logic is further operable to adaptively select the Fibre Channel paths for routing the Fibre Channel traffic based on the generated statistical model,
- wherein the filter is communicatively coupled to a port speed normalizer that is used to normalize the speeds of the Fibre Channel paths and wherein the filter is further operable to perform a moving exponential average of the Fibre Channel traffic after normalizing the speeds.
2-5. (canceled)
A method of routing Fibre Channel traffic, the method comprising:
- monitoring Fibre Channel traffic over a plurality of Fibre Channel paths;
- detecting characteristics of the Fibre Channel traffic;
- adaptively routing the Fibre Channel traffic over the Fibre Channel paths based on the Fibre Channel traffic characteristics, wherein the traffic characteristics comprise speeds of the Fibre Channel paths, and
- normalizing the speeds of the Fibre Channel paths.
9-10. (canceled)
The method of claim 10, further comprising filtering the Fibre Channel traffic of the Fibre Channel paths to generate a statistical model of the Fibre Channel traffic for use in adaptively routing the Fibre Channel traffic.
A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium embodying a computer readable program for balancing Fibre Channel traffic across a plurality of Fibre Channel paths, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computing device causes the computing device to perform the steps of:
- monitoring the Fibre Channel traffic over the Fibre Channel paths;
- detecting sizes of the Fibre Channel traffic;
- detecting speeds of the Fibre Channel paths;
- normalizing the speeds of the Fibre Channel paths;
- and
- adaptively routing the Fibre Channel traffic over the Fibre Channel paths based on the Fibre Channel traffic sizes and the speeds.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.