Method and system for multi-initiator support to streaming devices in a fibre channel network

Abstract

A method and system are disclosed for processing multiple commands to a streaming target device through a SCSI router in a Fibre Channel network provisioned with one or more Fiber Channel hosts. The system and method are implemented in the SCSI router and include creating a FIFO queue, receiving a first command from one of the Fibre Channel hosts in the Fibre Channel network, and forwarding the first command to the streaming target device. When a subsequent command is issued to the streaming target device, the SCSI router can receive the subsequent command and determine whether the streaming target device has completed execution of the previous command. If the streaming target device has completed execution of the previous command, the subsequent command can be forwarded to the streaming target device. If the streaming target device has not completed executing the previous command, the subsequent command can instead be placed in the FIFO queue. Upon execution of the previous command by the streaming target device, the method of this invention can forward the subsequent command from the FIFO queue to the streaming target device. The method of this invention can repeat for any additional subsequent commands.