Apparatus, System, and Method for Establishing Point to Point Connections in FCOE

An apparatus for establishing a point-to-point connection between a first computing device and a second computing device connected by a lossless Ethernet connection using Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol, the apparatus comprising:

• a discovery module configured to send a first FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) discovery solicitation to a predefined address;
• a point module configured to send a second FIP discovery solicitation comprising a point to point indicator;
• a receipt module configured to receive a FIP discovery solicitation comprising a point to point indicator from the second computing device;
• a response module configured to send a FIP discovery advertisement comprising a point to point indicator to the second computing device in response to the receipt module receiving the FIP discovery solicitation comprising the point to point indicator;
• and
• a login module configured to establish a point to point connection between the first computing device and the second computing device.

A system for establishing a point-to-point connection between a first computing device and a second computing device connected by a lossless Ethernet connection using Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol, the system comprising:

• a first computing device comprising a FCoE controller and an Ethernet port,
• the first computer further comprising:
• a discovery module configured to send a first FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) discovery solicitation to a predefined address;
• a point module configured to send a second FIP discovery solicitation comprising a point to point indicator;
• a receipt module configured to receive a FIP discovery solicitation comprising a point to point indicator from a second computing device;
• a response module configured to send a FIP discovery advertisement comprising a point to point indicator to the second computing device in response to the receipt module receiving the FIP discovery solicitation comprising the point to point indicator;
• and
• a login module configured to establish a point to point connection between the first computing device and the second computing device.
• a second computing device comprising a FCoE controller and an Ethernet port;
• and
• a lossless Ethernet connection connecting the Ethernet port of the first computing device directly to the Ethernet port of the second computing device.

A method for establishing a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) point-to-point connection between a first computing device and a second computing device that are connected by a lossless Ethernet connection, the method comprising:

• sending a first FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) discovery solicitation over the lossless Ethernet connection to a ALL-FCF-MACS group address;
• listening for one or more FIP discovery solicitations sent over the lossless Ethernet connection by one or more computing devices to the ALL-FCF-MACS group address for a timeout period;
• sending a second FIP discovery solicitation having a point-to-point indicator in response to determining that no FIP discovery advertisements were received within the timeout period;
• sending a FIP discovery advertisement to a Media Access Control (MAC) address of the second computing device that generated a FIP discovery solicitation received by the first computing device, the FIP discovery advertisement having the point-to-point indicator, in response to receiving a FIP discovery solicitation having the point-to-point indicator;
• and
• establishing a point-to-point connection with the second computing device according to Fibre Channel protocol.