Brocade Communications Systems, Inc.

Agere Systems Inc.

Robert Norman Snively

Dennis Hideo Makishima

Daniel Ji Yong Park Chung

Edward D McClanahan

Steven L Wilson

Lane Allen Smith

Suresh Vobbilisetty

Anoop Ghanwani

John Lewis Hufferd

Ezio Valdevit

Glenn Wenig

Robert D Brink

Ali U Ahmed

Boris Zemlyak

Alberto Lutgardo

Sandra Snively, Legal Representative

Methods and devices to allow multiple operating system images to simultaneously access a Fiber Channel fabric through a common host bus adapter port are described. For each requesting operating system image, a fabric switch maintains a unique port identifier value and a unique fabric channel address so that each operating system image may be uniquely identified across the fabric.

Fibre channel virtual host bus adapter

A duplicate address discovery process detects duplicate MAC addresses or duplicate unique port identifiers within the network, alerts attached devices of the duplicates, and takes action to avoid data corruption that might be caused by such duplicate addresses.

Discovery of duplicate address in a network by reviewing discovery frames received at a port

A Fiber Channel router used to join fabrics. EX_ports are used to connect to the fabrics. The EX_port joins the fabric but the router will not merge into the fabric. Ports in the Fiber Channel router can be in a fabric, but other ports can be connected to other fabrics. Fiber Channel routers can be interconnected using a backbone fabric. Global, interfabric and encapsulation headers are developed to allow routing by conventional Fiber Channel switch devices in the backbone fabric and simplify Fiber Channel router routing. Phantom domains and devices must be developed for each of the fabrics being interconnected. Front phantom domains are present at each port directly connected to a fabric. Each of these is then connected to at least one translate phantom domain. Zoning is accomplished by use of a special LSAN zoning naming convention. This allows each administrator to independently define devices are accessible.

Interfabric routing header for use with a backbone fabric

A method of initializing a Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) link between a Fiber Channel over Ethernet node (ENode) and Fiber Channel Forwarders (FCFs) in a network by discovering the presence of FCFs available to the ENode and other FCFs, assigning second MAC addresses to the ENode corresponding to each available FCF, and converting from a management and initialization process using the first MAC address to normal Fiber Channel operation using the second MAC addresses. The implementations described herein may additionally distinguish management and initialization processes from normal Fiber Channel operation using separate Ethertypes.

Address assignment in Fibre Channel over Ethernet environments

Multifabric global header

In a communication system comprising first and second nodes, a transmit adaptive equalization technique is implemented utilizing ordered sets. The first and second nodes may communicate over a Fiber Channel link or other medium. The first and second nodes comprise respective transmitter and receiver pairs, with the transmitter of the first node configured for communication with the receiver of the second node and the receiver of the first node configured for communication with the transmitter of the second node. The first node is operative to receive from the second node information specifying an adjustment to one or more equalization parameters of the first node. The information is received in designated portions of one or more ordered sets transmitted from the second node to the first node in conjunction with initialization of a communication link between the first and second nodes. The first node adjusts the equalization parameter(s) in accordance with the received information.

Transmit adaptive equalization using ordered sets

Growing community of inventors

Morgan Hill, CA, United States of America

Robert Norman Snively