US 2015/0312172 A1 · SYNCHRONIZING OUT-OF-SYNC ELEMENTS IN A DISTRIBUTED FIBRE CHANNEL FORWARDER

Abstract

Techniques are provided for synchronizing, in a distributed Fibre Channel fabric or a distributed FCoE fabric in which FC frames are encapsulated in Ethernet frames, a controlling FCoE forwarder (cFCF) with the FCoE data-plane forwarder (FDF). The operation includes entering a recovery mode at the FDF. The FDF is modified based on a route distribution message provided by the cFCF which includes fabric-provided MAC addresses (FPMAs). The FDF notifies the cFCF of differences between the FPMAs supplied by the route distribution message with the FPMAs known by the FDF. The FDF leaves the recovery mode and sends an acknowledgement to the cFCF.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A system for managing a Distributed Fibre Channel Switch, the system comprising:

a processor;
and
a memory containing a program, which when executed by the processor is configured to perform an operation for synchronizing the Distributed Fibre Channel Switch, the operation comprising:
responsive to determining by a Fibre Channel Data Forwarder (FDF) an out of sync state with a controlling Fibre Channel Forwarder (cFCF), entering a recovery mode at the FDF;
modifying the FDF based on a N_Port_ID Route Distribution (NPRD) received from the cFCF;
Notifying the cFCF of differences between a fabric-provided MAC address (FPMA) supplied by the NPRD with the FDF;
transmitting a sync end to the FDF from the cFCF;
and
leaving the recovery mode at the FDF and sending an acknowledgement to the cFCF.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Synchronizing out-of-sync elements in a distributed fibre channel forwarder

Life of this patent

Synchronizing out-of-sync elements in a distributed fibre channel forwarder

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims15