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US 7,460,527 B2Granted
Port aggregation for fibre channel interfaces
AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsKalyan Ghosh, Praveen Jain, Shankar Subramanian, Rajesh Bhandari, Prabesh Babu Nanjundaiah
Life of this patent
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Abstract
According to the present invention, methods and apparatus are provided to allow efficient and effective aggregation of ports into port channels in a fiber channel network. A local fiber channel switch can automatically identify compatible ports and initiate exchange sequences with a remote fiber channel switch to aggregate ports into port channels. Ports can be aggregated synchronously to allow consistent generation of port channel map tables.
Claims31
A method for aggregating ports in a fibre channel fabric, the method comprising:
- determining that a plurality of local ports at a local fibre channel switch are compatible by running compatibility checks evaluating compatibility parameters including trunking mode;
- sending identifiers for the plurality of local ports to a remote fibre channel switch, wherein the remote fibre channel switch determines if a plurality of remote ports are compatible, the plurality of remote ports corresponding to the plurality of local ports;
- wherein the plurality of local ports and the plurality of remote ports are locked during the compatibility checking so that compatibility parameter values cannot be changed until the compatibility checking is completed
- receiving an indication that one or more of the remote physical ports are compatible;
- creating a port channel including one or more of the local ports corresponding to the compatible remote ports.
2 more elements
A fibre channel switch, comprising:
- memory;
- a plurality of local ports coupled to a remote fibre channel switch through a plurality of remote ports;
- a processor configured to determine that a subset of the plurality of local ports at a local fibre channel switch are compatible by running compatibility checks evaluating compatibility parameters including trunking mode and send identifiers for the subset of the plurality of local ports to a remote fibre channel switch, wherein the remote fibre channel switch determines if a subset of the plurality of remote ports are compatible, the subset of the plurality of remote ports corresponding to the subset of the plurality of local ports;
- wherein the plurality of local ports and the plurality of remote ports are locked during the compatibility checking so that compatibility parameter values cannot be changed until the compatibility checking is completed.
1 more element
A fibre channel network, comprising:
- a local fibre channel switch including a plurality of local ports;
- a remote fibre channel switch including a plurality of remote port;
- wherein the local fibre channel switch aggregates a compatible subset of the plurality of local ports and sends identifiers for the compatible subset of the plurality of local ports to the remote fibre channel switch, wherein the remote fibre channel switch determines if a subset of the plurality of remote ports are compatible by running compatibility checks evaluating compatibility parameters including trunking mode, the subset of the plurality of remote ports corresponding to the compatible subset of the plurality of local ports;
- wherein the plurality of local ports and the plurality of remote ports are locked during the compatibility checking so that compatibility parameter values cannot be changed until the compatibility checking is completed.
1 more element
An apparatus for aggregating physical ports in a fibre channel fabric, the apparatus comprising:
- means for determining that a plurality of local ports at a local fibre channel switch are compatible by running compatibility checks evaluating compatibility parameters including trunking mode;
- means for sending identifiers for the plurality of local ports to a remote fibre channel switch, wherein the remote fibre channel switch determines if a plurality of remote ports are compatible, the plurality of remote port corresponding to the plurality of local ports;
- wherein the plurality of local ports and the plurality of remote ports are locked during the compatibility checking so that compatibility parameter values cannot be changed until the compatibility checking is completed
- means for receiving an indication that two or more of the remote physical ports are compatible;
- means for creating a port channel including two or more of the local ports corresponding to the compatible remote ports.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.