| Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. Patent applications |
| Patent application number | Title | Published |
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| 20120110411 | Content Addressable Memory (CAM) Parity And Error Correction Code (ECC) Protection - A memory system including a content addressable memory (CAM) array and a non-CAM array. The non-CAM array, which may share word lines with the CAM array, stores one or more error detection bits associated with each row of the CAM array. A state machine reads entries of the CAM array and corresponding error detection bits of the non-CAM array during idle cycles of the CAM array. Error detection logic identifies errors in the entries read from CAM array (using the retrieved error detection bits). If these errors are correctable, the error detection logic corrects the entry, and writes the corrected entry back to the CAM array (an updated set of error detection bits are also written to the non-CAM array). If these errors are not correctable, an interrupt is generated, which causes correct data to be retrieved from a shadow copy of the CAM array. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106957 | Single Virtual Domain Fibre Channel over Ethernet Fabric - The entire FCoE fabric is a single virtual domain, even though there may be multiple FCFs and FDFs. The virtual domain is a different Domain_ID than any of the FCFs. In certain embodiments there are multiple FCFs, of which one is selected as the master or designated FCF. The master FCF performs normal fabric configuration in conjunction with the Fibre Channel fabric. The master FCF assigns the virtual domain FC node IDs and controls development of subdomain IDs. Virtual links are instantiated between the master FCF and other FCFs, between top level FDFs and the FCFs and between the FDFs at each of various levels. FDFs connected to ENodes proxy the master FCF for most FIP operations. FIP FLOGI and FDISC operations are handled by the master FDF, but the FDFs convert the FIP FLOGI requests to VD_FLOGI requests, which include information about the FDF handling the transaction. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106572 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING METAZONES ACROSS DISSIMILAR NETWORKS - A system and method for creating and enforcing meta-zones that cross the interface between different network protocols are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of enforcing meta-zones comprises: (a) receiving an Infiniband (IB) packet destined for a Fibre Channel (FC) target device; (b) comparing a partition key in the IB packet to a partition key associated with the FC target device; and (c) converting the IB packet to a FC frame only if the partition keys match. The method may further comprise receiving FC frames destined for an IB target device and converting the FC frame into an IB packet having a partition key associated with the source of the FC frame. Also disclosed are a gateway configured to create and enforce meta-zones, and computer networks having such a gateway. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106365 | NETWORK PACKET LATENCY MEASUREMENT - A solution for network packet latency measurement includes, at a network device having a memory, storing a first time value indicating when an ingress port of the network device received a packet. The solution also includes storing a second time value indicating when an egress port of the network device received the packet for transmission towards another network device. The solution also includes storing a difference between the first time value and the second time value. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120106361 | System And Method For Detecting And Isolating A Remote Loop - A system and method are provided for enabling a first network to detect a loop in a second network connected thereto. The first network runs a first instance of a Spanning Tree Protocol and the second network runs either a different instance or no instance. The method includes sending a Remote Loop Detection Packet (“RLDP”) from the ports in bridges of the first network which are connected to the second network. The RLDP includes identifiers such as the source bridge, port and VLAN. The system and method further includes checking for receipt of the RLDP on the same bridge which sent the RLDP. If such a receipt occurs, a loop is detected and one of the ports of the receiving/sending bridge is blocked. | 05-03-2012 |
| 20120099602 | END-TO-END VIRTUALIZATION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates end-to-end virtualization. During operation, a network interface residing on an end host sets up a tunnel. The network interface then encapsulates a packet destined to a virtual machine based on a tunneling protocol. By establishing a tunnel that allows a source host to address a remote virtual machine, embodiments of the present invention facilitate end-to-end virtualization. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120099443 | PATH DIAGNOSIS IN COMMUNICATION NETWORKS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for mapping all possible paths between a source node and a destination node. During operation, the system receives a management frame, determines all possible next-hop nodes based on a destination address carried in the payload of the management frame. The system then selects one of the next-hop nodes, and modifies payload of the received management frame to include information associated with the next-hop nodes and the selected next-hop node. The system then forwards the modified data frame to the selected next-hop node. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120096310 | REDUNDANCY LOGIC - A network system provides network device having a secondary memory that mirrors the content of a primary memory maintaining data structure parameters entries. The integrity of each data structure parameter entry is tested as the entry is output from the primary memory, such as by using a parity test. If an error is detected in the entry, a corresponding entry from the second memory structure is select for use instead of the entry from the primary memory. The corresponding entries in each memory are then flushed, updated, synchronized, or overwritten from the each memory and processing continues using the new entries or other entries from the primary memory. In the rare instance that corresponding entries from both memories exhibit an error, then an error notification is issued. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120096166 | DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM SECURITY EXTENSIONS (DNSSEC) FOR GLOBAL SERVER LOAD BALANCING - Techniques are provided to enable a network device, such as a switch, to perform global server load balancing (GSLB) while operating as a proxy to a domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC)-capable authoritative DNS server. The network device preserves an original signature generated by the DNSSEC-capable authoritative DNS server for a resource record set contained in a DNSSEC reply. | 04-19-2012 |
| 20120087232 | LINK STATE RELAY FOR PHYSICAL LAYER EMULATION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a fault-management system. During operation, the system identifies a failure at a remote location associated with a communication service. The system then determines a local port used for the communication service, and suspends the local port, thereby allowing the failure to be detected by a device coupled to the local port. | 04-12-2012 |
| 20120076149 | Transmission bandwidth quality of service - A bandwidth limiting circuit provides limiting the bandwidth of a group of virtual channels at a transmitting port to a maximum value. A limiting circuit includes a register that is repeatedly incremented with a threshold value, which threshold value is related to the desired maximum bandwidth for the group. The register is decremented by the frame length, in bytes, of the frame transmitted from one of the virtual channels belonging to the group. A comparator enables frame transmission for the group if the register value is greater than zero. A bandwidth guarantee circuit provides at least the bandwidth specified by the limiting circuit. The guarantee circuit enables one of the groups for frame transmission based on a fairness algorithm when the outputs of comparators of each of the limiting circuit are low. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120075999 | DYNAMIC LATENCY-BASED REROUTING - A switch creates and dynamically updates a latency map of a network to adjust routing of flows. Further, the network is monitored to detect latency issues and trigger a dynamic adjustment of routing based on the latency map. In this manner, a flow can be routed along a route (i.e., a faster route) that provides less latency than other available routes. The latency map can be generated based on latency probe packets that are issued from and returned to the source switch. By evaluating many such latent probe packets that have traveled along many available routes (e.g., corresponding to various ports of the switch), the switch or associated administrative logic can dynamically adjust the latency map to updated latency information of available routes. Therefore, responsive to a trigger, the source switch can dynamically adjust the routing of a flow based on latency issues discerned from the network. | 03-29-2012 |
| 20120063333 | Manageability Tools for Lossless Networks - Manageability tools are provided for allowing an administrator to have better control over switches in a lossless network of switches. These tools provide the ability to detect slow drain and congestion bottlenecks, detect stuck virtual channels and loss of credits, while hold times on edge ASICs to be different from hold times encore ASICs, and mitigate severe latency bottlenecks. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120063329 | Manageability Tools for Lossless Networks - Manageability tools are provided for allowing an administrator to have better control over switches in a lossless network of switches. These tools provide the ability to detect slow drain and congestion bottlenecks, detect stuck virtual channels and loss of credits, while hold times on edge ASICs to be different from hold times encore ASICs, and mitigate severe latency bottlenecks. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120063316 | CONGESTION NOTIFICATION ACROSS MULTIPLE LAYER-2 DOMAINS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a congestion notification. During operation, the system receives a congestion notification message with a destination layer-2 address set as the receiving mechanism's layer-2 address. The system modifies a destination layer-2 address, a source layer-2 address, and optionally a VLAN identifier of the congestion notification message, and forwards the modified congestion notification message. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120063304 | Manageability Tools for Lossless Networks - Manageability tools are provided for allowing an administrator to have better control over switches in a lossless network of switches. These tools provide the ability to detect slow drain and congestion bottlenecks, detect stuck virtual channels and loss of credits, while hold times on edge ASICs to be different from hold times encore ASICs, and mitigate severe latency bottlenecks. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120063303 | Manageability Tools for Lossless Networks - Manageability tools are provided for allowing an administrator to have better control over switches in a lossless network of switches. These tools provide the ability to detect slow drain and congestion bottlenecks, detect stuck virtual channels and loss of credits, while hold times on edge ASICs to be different from hold times encore ASICs, and mitigate severe latency bottlenecks. | 03-15-2012 |
| 20120060050 | DISASTER RECOVERY - File system disaster recovery techniques provide automated monitoring, failure detection and multi-step failover from a primary designated target to one of a designated group of secondary designated targets. Secondary designated targets may be prioritized so that failover occurs in a prescribed sequence. Replication of information between the primary designated target and the secondary designated targets allows failover in a manner that maximizes continuity of operation. In addition, user-specified actions may be initiated on failure detection and/or on failover operations and/or on failback operations. | 03-08-2012 |
| 20120044934 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROUTING BETWEEN FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS - An interfabric link between two separate Fibre Channel fabrics so that devices in one fabric can communicate with devices in another fabric without requiring the merger of the two fabrics. The interfabric switch performs a conversion or a translation of device addresses in each fabric so that they are accessible to the other fabric. In a first embodiment the external ports of the interfabric switch are configured as E_ports. A series of internal ports in each interfabric switch are joined together forming a series of virtual or logical switches. In a second embodiment the external ports are configured as NL_ports and the connections between the virtual switches are E_ports. The virtual switches in the interfabric switch match domains with their external counterparts so that the virtual switches effectively form their own fabric. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120044933 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ROUTING BETWEEN FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS - An interfabric link between two separate Fibre Channel fabrics so that devices in one fabric can communicate with devices in another fabric without requiring the merger of the two fabrics. The interfabric switch performs a conversion or a translation of device addresses in each fabric so that they are accessible to the other fabric. In a first embodiment the external ports of the interfabric switch are configured as E_ports. A series of internal ports in each interfabric switch are joined together forming a series of virtual or logical switches. In a second embodiment the external ports are configured as NL_ports and the connections between the virtual switches are E_ports. The virtual switches in the interfabric switch match domains with their external counterparts so that the virtual switches effectively form their own fabric. | 02-23-2012 |
| 20120030321 | NETWORK MERGE TESTING - A method and system for performing network merge testing are disclosed. In one embodiment, the network merge testing method comprises: (i) gathering configuration information from at least two networks; (ii) comparing the configuration information; and (iii) displaying a report that indicates whether an attempted merge of the at least two networks would succeed. The report preferably identifies conflicts between the network configurations, and the method may further include automatic or guided resolution of the conflicts. The configuration information may include: zone names and memberships; domain and port names; security settings; inter-op modes; and long distance modes. A system for implementing the method is also disclosed herein. The system and method may advantageously prevent or diagnose causes of network segmentation. | 02-02-2012 |
| 20120023319 | PERSISTING DATA ACROSS WARM BOOTS - Techniques for persisting data stored in volatile memory across a warm boot. One or more portions (referred to as “warm memory”) of volatile memory of the system can be reserved and configured such that the data stored by these portions is not affected by a warm boot thereby resulting in the data stored being persisted across a warm boot. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120023309 | ACHIEVING ULTRA-HIGH AVAILABILITY USING A SINGLE CPU - Techniques for achieving high-availability using a single processor (CPU). In a system comprising a multi-core processor, at least two partitions may be configured with each partition being allocated one or more cores of the multiple cores. The partitions may be configured such that one partition operates in active mode while another partition operates in standby mode. In this manner, a single processor is able to provide active-standby functionality, thereby enhancing the availability of the system comprising the processor. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120023082 | Longest Prefix Match Using Binary Search Tree - Longest Prefix Match (LPM) is implemented using a binary tree based search algorithm. Masked entries are stored in a plurality of binary search engines, wherein each of the binary search engines stores masked entries of a corresponding mask length. A search value is applied to each of the binary search engines in parallel. The search value is masked within each of the binary search engines, thereby creating a plurality of masked search values, each having a masked length equal to the mask length of the corresponding binary search engine. Each of the masked search values is compared with the masked entries of the corresponding binary search engine. An LPM result is selected from the binary search engine that detects a match, and has the longest corresponding mask length. Alternately, each binary search engine stores masked entries of N mask lengths, and N consecutive comparisons are performed to identify the LPM. | 01-26-2012 |
| 20120016973 | CONFIGURATION ORCHESTRATION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a network device that facilitates configuration orchestration. During operation, the system interprets a configuration command and stores a data structure representing a set of business logic. The business logic can be triggered by the configuration command, a local condition, or both. Furthermore, the system configures the switch according to an outcome of the business logic. | 01-19-2012 |
| 20120011297 | Isolation Switch for Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks - An isolation switch blade Fibre Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fibre Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fibre Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The isolation switch blade may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fibre Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the isolation switch blade and “event storms” on the Fibre Channel fabric are avoided. The isolation switch blade presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port. | 01-12-2012 |
| 20120011246 | COOKIE INVALIDATION OR EXPIRATION BY A SWITCH - A switch may be used to force the expiration of a cookie on a user's system by inserting an expiration field into the cookie contained in a network response packet. Additionally, a mechanism is provided to delete or damage a cookie contained in a network request packet, so that server software is not disrupted by the receipt of a cookie. Deleting a cookie results in a cleaner request, but damaging a cookie may be more efficient in certain circumstances. By providing these features, an efficient cookie switching design is provided. | 01-12-2012 |
| 20120008635 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING NETWORK ROUTE REDUNDANCY ACROSS LAYER 2 DEVICES - Systems and methods are described for providing network route redundancy through Layer 2 devices, such as a loop free Layer 2 network having a plurality of switching devices. A virtual switch is coupled to the loop free Layer 2 network, the virtual switch having two or more switches configured to transition between master and backup modes to provide redundant support for the loop free Layer 2 network, the switches communicating their status through use of a plurality of redundancy control packets. The system also includes means for allowing the redundancy control packets to be flooded through the Layer 2 network. The means may include time-to-live data attached to the redundancy control packet which is decremented only when the packets are transferred through devices which are configured to recognize the protocol used in redundancy control packets. | 01-12-2012 |
| 20110307659 | Hardware-Accelerated Lossless Data Compression - Systems for hardware-accelerated lossless data compression are described. At least some embodiments include data compression apparatus that includes a plurality of hash memories each associated with a different lane of a plurality of lanes (each lane including data bytes of a data unit being received by the compression apparatus), an array including array elements each including a plurality of validity bits (each validity bit within an array element corresponding to a different lane of the plurality of lanes), control logic that initiates a read of a hash memory entry if a corresponding validity bit indicates that said entry is valid, and an encoder that compresses at least the data bytes for the lane associated with the hash memory comprising the valid entry if said valid entry comprises data that matches the lane data bytes. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110307447 | Inline Wire Speed Deduplication System - Systems for performing inline wire speed data deduplication are described herein. Some embodiments include a device for inline data deduplication that includes one or more input ports for receiving an input data stream containing duplicates, one or more output ports for providing a data deduplicated output data stream, and an inline data deduplication engine coupled to said one or more input ports and said one or more output ports to process input data containing duplicates into output data which is data deduplicated, said inline data deduplication engine having an inline data deduplication bandwidth of at least 4 Gigabytes per second. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110303278 | TRANSPARENT CONDUCTING OXIDE FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC DEVICES - One embodiment of the present invention provides a solar cell. The solar cell includes a Si base layer, a passivation layer situated above the Si base layer, a layer of heavily doped amorphous Si (a-Si) situated above the passivation layer, a first transparent-conducting-oxide (TCO) layer situated above the heavily doped a-Si layer, a back-side electrode situated below the Si base layer, and a front-side electrode situated above the first TCO layer. The first TCO layer comprises at least one of: GaInO, GaInSnO, ZnInO, and ZnInSnO. | 12-15-2011 |
| 20110299536 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LINK AGGREGATION ACROSS MULTIPLE SWITCHES - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a forwarding mechanism and a control mechanism. During operation, the forwarding mechanism forwards frames based on their Ethernet headers. The control mechanism operates the switch in conjunction with a separate physical switch as a single logical switch and assigns a virtual switch identifier to the logical switch, wherein the virtual switch identifier is associated with a link aggregation group. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299535 | NAME SERVICES FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch that facilitates name services in a virtual cluster switch. The switch includes a name service database indicating at least one media access control (MAC) address learned at a second switch. The switch also includes a control mechanism. During operation, the control mechanism distributes information on a locally learned MAC address to the second switch. In addition, the control mechanism receives information on a MAC address learned at the second switch. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299534 | VIRTUAL PORT GROUPING FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a port that couples to a server hosting a number of virtual machines. The switch also includes a set of virtual port grouping information and a virtual port grouping mechanism. During operation, the virtual port grouping mechanism determines whether a frame is traveling from a virtual port group to the same virtual port group. If the frame is not traveling to the same virtual port group, the virtual port grouping mechanism prevents the frame from being forwarded. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299533 | INTERNAL VIRTUAL NETWORK IDENTIFIER AND INTERNAL POLICY IDENTIFIER - Systems and techniques for processing and forwarding packets are described. Some embodiments provide a system (e.g., a switch) which determines an internal virtual network identifier and/or an internal policy identifier for a packet based on a port on which the packet was received and/or one or more fields in the packet. The system can then process and forward the packet based on the internal virtual network identifier and/or internal policy identifier. In some embodiments, the system encapsulates the packet in a TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) packet by adding a TRILL header to the packet. In some embodiments, the scope of an internal virtual network identifier and/or an internal policy identifier may not extend beyond a switch or a module within a switch. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299532 | REMOTE PORT MIRRORING - A switch that facilitates remote port mirroring is described. The switch can include an encapsulation mechanism and a forwarding mechanism. The encapsulation mechanism can be configured to encapsulate a copy of a first packet in a second packet, thereby preserving header information (e.g., a VLAN identifier and/or a TRILL header) of the first packet. The forwarding mechanism can be configured to forward the first packet using header information of the first packet, and forward the second packet using header information of the second packet. The second packet can be received at a destination switch which extracts the first packet from the second packet, and sends the first packet on a port which is coupled to a network analyzer. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299531 | FLOODING PACKETS ON A PER-VIRTUAL-NETWORK BASIS - Methods and techniques for flooding packets on a per-virtual-network basis are described. Some embodiments provide a method (e.g., a switch) which determines an internal virtual network identifier based on one or more fields in a packet's header. Next, the method performs a forwarding lookup operation based on the internal virtual network identifier. If the forwarding lookup operation succeeds, the method can process and forward the packet accordingly. However, if the forwarding lookup operation fails, the method can determine a set of egress ports based on the internal virtual network identifier. Next, for each egress port in the set of egress ports, the method can flood the packet if a virtual network identifier in the packet's header is associated with the egress port. Flooding packets on a per-virtual-network basis can substantially reduce the amount of resources required to flood the packet when a forwarding lookup operation fails. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299528 | NETWORK LAYER MULTICASTING IN TRILL NETWORKS - Systems and techniques for performing network layer multicasting in a TRILL network are described. Some embodiments provide a system that receives multicast packet that includes a network-layer multicast-address. The multicast packet can be received on a first multicast tree associated with a first virtual network. Next, the system can determine, based on the network-layer multicast-address, a second multicast tree associated with a second virtual network over which the multicast packet is to be forwarded. The system can then forward the multicast packet on the first multicast tree associated with the first virtual network, and forward a copy of the multicast packet on the second multicast tree associated with the second virtual network. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299527 | SUPPORTING MULTIPLE MULTICAST TREES IN TRILL NETWORKS - Systems and techniques for supporting multiple multicast trees are described. Some embodiments provide a system that determines an internal multicast group identifier based on a source address, a multicast address, and a multicast tree identifier field associated with a multicast packet. The system can then forward the multicast packet based on the internal multicast group identifier. Specifically, the system can determine a first set of bits based on the source address and the multicast address of the multicast packet. The system can determine a second set of bits based on the multicast tree identifier field of the multicast packet. Next, the system can combine the first set of bits and the second set of bits to obtain the internal multicast group identifier. In some embodiments, the scope of an internal virtual network identifier does not extend beyond a switch or a forwarding module within a switch. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299525 | Inter-Fabric Routing - A method and apparatus is shown for communicating Fibre Channel frames between distinct fabrics. A proxy zone is established in each fabric with a physically present local device and a remote fabric device. A router creates a proxy device in each fabric for every device not physically connected to the fabric. The proxy devices appear to be directly attached to the router. The router handles all address translations between proxy and physical addresses. When multiple routers are encountered, the ingress router does all address translation. No routing or encapsulation headers are used except when routing between two routers. The source ID and the originator exchange identifier are stored at the egress router for all link requests that require special handling. When replies pass through that router, the destination ID and originator exchange identifier are compared with the stored information. On a match, the reply is specially handled. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299414 | PRESERVING QUALITY OF SERVICE ACROSS TRILL NETWORKS - Systems and techniques for processing and/or forwarding packets are described. An ingress switch can use a QoS mapping mechanism to map a first set of Quality of Service (QoS) bits in a packet received from a customer to a second set of QoS bits for use in a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) packet which encapsulates the packet. The first set of QoS bits can be different from the second set of QoS bits. The TRILL packet can be processed and/or forwarded in the network based on the second set of QoS bits. At the egress switch, the TRILL packet can be decapsulated and the original packet with the original QoS bits (or QoS bits that are different from the original QoS bits) can be forwarded to the customer's network. In this manner, some embodiments of the present invention can preserve the QoS bits across a TRILL network. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299413 | PORT PROFILE MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes a port profile which specifies a set of port configuration information. During operation, a control mechanism within the switch detects a source MAC address of an incoming frame and determines that the MAC address is associated with the port profile. The control mechanism then applies the port profile to a switch port on which the frame is received. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299409 | REACHABILITY DETECTION IN TRILL NETWORKS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for testing reachability between two nodes within a network. During operation, the system transmits a network-testing request frame from a source node to a destination node, and in response to receiving a network-testing response frame corresponding to the request frame, the system determines reachability of the destination node. The network-testing request or response frame is not processed on an Internet Protocol (IP) layer. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299406 | PATH DETECTION IN TRILL NETWORKS - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for detecting a path between two nodes. During operation, the system transmits a network-testing request frame, which includes a time-to-live (TTL) field within a Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) header, from a source node to a destination node. In response to receiving a network-testing response frame sent from an intermediate node, the system increments the TTL value by 1 and re-transmits the network-testing frame to the destination node. In response to receiving a network-testing response frame sent from the destination node, the system determines a path between the source node and the destination node. The network-testing request or response frames is not processed on an Internet Protocol (IP) layer. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299402 | ADVANCED LINK TRACKING FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes a port that couples to a server hosting a number of virtual machines. The switch also includes a link tracking module. During operation, the link tracking module determines that reachability to at least one end host coupled to a virtual cluster switch of which the switch is a member is disrupted. The link tracking module then determines that at least one virtual machine coupled to the port is affected by the disrupted reachability, and communicates to the server hosting the affected virtual machine about the disrupted reachability. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110299391 | TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes one or more ports on the switch configured to transmit packets encapsulated based on a first protocol. The switch further includes a traffic management mechanism and a control mechanism. During operation, the control mechanism forms a logical switch based on a second protocol, receives an automatically assigned identifier for the logical switch without requiring manual configuration of the identifier, and joins a virtual cluster switch. | 12-08-2011 |
| 20110292947 | DISTRIBUTED CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a port to couple to a second switch. The switch also includes a control mechanism configured to maintain a set of configuration information for a virtual cluster switch which includes a number of member switches. The set of configuration information includes global configuration information for the virtual cluster switch and switch-specific configuration information for one or more member switches. In addition, the set of configuration information is replicated and stored at each member switch. | 12-01-2011 |
| 20110286357 | FABRIC FORMATION FOR VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes a port to couple to a second switch and a control mechanism configured. During operation, the control mechanism receives from the second switch a set of configuration information. Based on the received configuration information, the control mechanism invites the second switch to join a virtual cluster switch. | 11-24-2011 |
| 20110283100 | Determination and Display of LUN Encryption Paths - A management station which manages the encryption devices in a SAN to set up encrypted LUNs. In setting up the encryption, the source and target ports are identified, along with the target LUN. LUN serial numbers used to identify unique LUNs. As paths to a given LUN are defined, the management station compares the path to existing paths and provides an indication if there is a mismatch in the encryption policies or keys being applied to the LUN over the various paths. This allows the administrator to readily identify when there is a problem with the paths to an encrypted LUN and then take steps to cure the problem. By determining the paths and then comparing them, the management station greatly simplifies setting up multipath I/O to an encrypted LUN or access by multiple hosts to an encrypted LUN. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110280572 | CONVERGED NETWORK EXTENSION - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a first port configured to receive Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL) traffic; a second port configured to receive Fibre Channel (FC) traffic; and a third port configured to transmit received TRILL or FC traffic based on a Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) protocol. | 11-17-2011 |
| 20110276888 | Method and Apparatus for Displaying Network Fabric Data - The invention relates to graphical user interfaces for managing electronic networks, such computer networks, storage area networks (SANs), and the like. Specifically, the invention provides a simplified means of managing large numbers of parameters associated with devices in such networks. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides a method of displaying devices forming a network. In a first step, a computer system associated with a graphical user interface queries the network to determine what devices are present in the network, and the interconnections of such devices. The results of this determination are stored, as is the time of this determination. Later, a second query is performed and the results are compared to the first query. Symbols representing elements of the network are displayed on the graphical user interface. When changes are detected between the first and second network query, the changes are indicated by altering the manner in which the symbols are displayed that represent the elements of the network that have changed. | 11-10-2011 |
| 20110270966 | DYNAMIC PERFORMANCE MONITORING - A management server uses one or more performance monitoring data collectors to generate SNMP queries. Each collector can be configured to specify one or more performance parameters. Using each configured collector, the management server can collect performance parameter data for managed devices in a network. When the management server receives performance data, the management server traverses through each response to look for performance values associated with each performance parameter. The management server can dynamically create and destroy performance monitoring instances supported by each collector to accommodate components added to or removed from the devices in the managed network. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110268125 | VIRTUAL CLUSTER SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes one or more ports on the switch configured to transmit packets encapsulated based on a first protocol. The switch further includes a control mechanism. During operation, the control mechanism forms a logical switch based on a second protocol, receives an automatically assigned identifier for the logical switch without requiring manual configuration of the identifier, and joins a virtual cluster switch. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110268120 | FABRIC SWITCHING - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch system. The switch includes one or more ports on the switch configured to transmit packets encapsulated based on a first protocol. The switch further includes a control mechanism. During operation, the control mechanism forms a logical switch based on a second protocol, receives an automatically assigned identifier for the logical switch without requiring manual configuration of the identifier, and joins a Ethernet fabric. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110267983 | System And Method For Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol Domains In A Virtual Local Area Network - A system and method that modifies the behavior of the IEEE 802.1D STP standard to thereby decouple the one data domain from the one control domain involves managing multiple spanning tree protocol (STP) instances in a virtual local area network (VLAN). The method includes the step of assigning a unique set of ports within the VLAN to each of the multiple STP instances. Then, each of the multiple STP instances are managed to keep each of the multiple STP instances separate. Finally, when a topology change is detected in one of the multiple STP instances, entries that have been learned on the unique set of ports assigned to the STP protocol instance where the topology change is detected are fast-aged or transitioned from one state to another. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110267952 | DYNAMIC LATENCY-BASED REROUTING - A switch creates and dynamically updates a latency map of a network to adjust routing of flows. Further, the network is monitored to detect latency issues and trigger a dynamic adjustment of routing based on the latency map. In this manner, a flow can be routed along a route (i.e., a faster route) that provides less latency than other available routes. The latency map can be generated based on latency probe packets that are issued from and returned to the source switch. By evaluating many such latent probe packets that have traveled along many available routes (e.g., corresponding to various ports of the switch), the switch or associated administrative logic can dynamically adjust the latency map to updated latency information of available routes. Therefore, responsive to a trigger, the source switch can dynamically adjust the routing of a flow based on latency issues discerned from the network. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110267775 | SIDE-EXHAUST COOLING SYSTEM WITH EXTENSIBLE DUCT FOR RACK MOUNTED EQUIPMENT - A cooling device for rack mount equipment comprises an extensible side duct, open on its inner and rear-facing sides which redirects warm exhaust air exiting vents in the side of a chassis towards the rear of an enclosure holding the chassis. An apparatus incorporating the cooling device may be installed in a rack with the extensible side duct in a retracted position. The extensible side duct may extend under the influence of air pressure, forming a plenum in fluid communication with the interior of a chassis on which it is mounted such that warm air exiting the chassis is collected in the plenum formed by the extensible side duct and directed out towards the rear of the chassis. Use of the apparatus permits conventional front-to-back cooling airflow patterns to be maintained even with chassis having side exhaust vents. | 11-03-2011 |
| 20110264798 | HOST-LEVEL POLICIES FOR GLOBAL SERVER LOAD BALANCING - In a network, a user can configure host-level policies usable for load balancing traffic to servers of a domain. A global server load balancing (GSLB) switch provides load balancing to the servers, and is configured with the GSLB host-level policies. Users can define a host-level policy (alternatively or additionally to a globally applied GSLB policy) and apply the host-level policy to hosts in domains configured on the GSLB switch. Thus, the user can enable different policies for different hosts. This allows the user to have the flexibility to control metrics used for selection of a best address for querying clients, as well as the metric order and additional parameters used in the GSLB process, at the host level. | 10-27-2011 |
| 20110255533 | Remote F_Ports - Disclosed techniques allow for devices of a SAN to login to an F_port of a different switch than the switch to which the device is physically connected. These techniques allow moving some of the capability from an edge switch to another switch in the fabric, with the edge switch transporting incoming frames from the device to the other switch and thence across the SAN to the destination device, and similarly transporting outgoing frames from the more-capable switch to the edge switch for delivery to the device connected to the edge switch. In some embodiments, the edge switch may determine the other switch to which the device should login based on properties of the other switch. | 10-20-2011 |
| 20110246899 | SIMPLIFIED DISTRIBUTION OF SOFTWARE TO NETWORKED DEVICES - Virtual machine environments are provided in the switches that form a network, with the virtual machines executing network services previously performed by dedicated appliances. The virtual machines can be executed on a single multi-core processor in combination with normal switch functions or on dedicated services processor boards. Packet processors analyze incoming packets and add a services tag containing services entries to any packets. Each switch reviews the services tag and performs any network services resident on that switch. This allows services to be deployed at the optimal locations in the network. The network services may be deployed by use of drag and drop operations. A topology view is presented, along with network services that may be deployed. Services may be selected and dragged to a single switch or multiple switches. The management tool deploys the network services software, with virtual machines being instantiated on the switches as needed. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110243144 | NETWORK ARCHITECTURE WITH DISTRIBUTION OF PACKET SERVICES TO VARIOUS SWITCHES - Virtual machine environments are provided in the switches that form a network, with the virtual machines executing network services previously performed by dedicated appliances. The virtual machines can be executed on a single multi-core processor in combination with normal switch functions or on dedicated services processor boards. Packet processors analyze incoming packets and add a services tag containing services entries to any packets. Each switch reviews the services tag and performs any network services resident on that switch. This allows services to be deployed at the optimal locations in the network. The network services may be deployed by use of drag and drop operations. A topology view is presented, along with network services that may be deployed. Services may be selected and dragged to a single switch or multiple switches. The management tool deploys the network services software, with virtual machines being instantiated on the switches as needed. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110243143 | SWITCH WITH PACKET SERVICES PROCESSING - Virtual machine environments are provided in the switches that form a network, with the virtual machines executing network services previously performed by dedicated appliances. The virtual machines can be executed on a single multi-core processor in combination with normal switch functions or on dedicated services processor boards. Packet processors analyze incoming packets and add a services tag containing services entries to any packets. Each switch reviews the services tag and performs any network services resident on that switch. This allows services to be deployed at the optimal locations in the network. The network services may be deployed by use of drag and drop operations. A topology view is presented, along with network services that may be deployed. Services may be selected and dragged to a single switch or multiple switches. The management tool deploys the network services software, with virtual machines being instantiated on the switches as needed. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110243142 | INGRESS AND EGRESS SWITCH WHICH DETERMINES SERVICES RELATED TO AN INCOMING PACKET - Virtual machine environments are provided in the switches that form a network, with the virtual machines executing network services previously performed by dedicated appliances. The virtual machines can be executed on a single multi-core processor in combination with normal switch functions or on dedicated services processor boards. Packet processors analyze incoming packets and add a services tag containing services entries to any packets. Each switch reviews the services tag and performs any network services resident on that switch. This allows services to be deployed at the optimal locations in the network. The network services may be deployed by use of drag and drop operations. A topology view is presented, along with network services that may be deployed. Services may be selected and dragged to a single switch or multiple switches. The management tool deploys the network services software, with virtual machines being instantiated on the switches as needed. | 10-06-2011 |
| 20110235523 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EXTENDING ROUTING DOMAIN TO NON-ROUTING END STATIONS - A system is provided for facilitating assignment of a virtual routing node identifier to a non-routing node. During operation, the system assigns to a non-routing node coupled to a switch a virtual routing node identifier unique to the non-routing node. In addition, the system communicates reachability information corresponding to the virtual routing node identifier to other switches in the network. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110235518 | SOURCE-BASED CONGESTION DETECTION AND CONTROL - Congestion control techniques based upon resource utilization information stored by a network device. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a network device is configured to identify a data source causing congestion based upon information stored by the network device identifying a set of data sources, and for each data source, information identifying the amount of a resource of the network device being used for processing data received by the network device from the data source. | 09-29-2011 |
| 20110231578 | TECHNIQUES FOR SYNCHRONIZING APPLICATION OBJECT INSTANCES - Techniques for synchronizing data object instances between applications/processes in an efficient manner. In one set of embodiments, the techniques described herein can be implemented in one or more network routers to synchronize data between a process running on an active management processor and a process running on a standby management processor, thereby facilitating features such as non-stop routing (NSR). | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110231570 | Method and Apparatus for Mirroring Frames to a Remote Diagnostic System - Apparatuses and methods to mirror frames received at an input port or provided by an output port to a port not connected to the device performing the mirroring operation. A frame being sent to a diagnostic system has a mirror header added to allow the frame to be routed through any intervening switches in the same fabric. The final switch or the diagnostic system removes the mirror header. If the diagnostic system is attached in a different fabric, encapsulation and inter-fabric routing headers are added as needed to the frame containing the mirror header. This allows the frame to traverse multiple fabrics to reach the diagnostic system. The encapsulation and inter-fabric routing headers are removed as done normally. This allows a diagnostic system to be connected to any switch in the network, either in the same or a different fabric. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110228773 | SYNCHRONIZING MULTICAST INFORMATION FOR LINECARDS - In a network device comprising redundant management processors and one or more linecard processors situated on one or more linecards, a linecard processor maintains multicast information that is synchronized with multicast information, or a portion thereof, maintained by an active management processor. When a switchover is performed due to which a previous standby management processor becomes the new active management processor, the switchover is performed without interrupting any multicast routing services provided by the network device. For example, a switchover may be performed in order to upgrade a linecard processor to a new software version. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110228772 | PROVIDING MULTICAST SERVICES WITHOUT INTERRUPTION UPON A SWITCHOVER - Techniques that enable a network device such as a router to provide multicast routing services without interruption. These techniques enable the network device to provide non-stop routing (NSR) capability for multicast routing even in the event of a switchover. When a switchover is performed due to which a previous standby management processor in a network device becomes the active management processor, the switchover is performed without interrupting any multicast routing services provided by the network device. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110228771 | SYNCHRONIZATION OF MULTICAST INFORMATION USING BICASTING - Techniques that enable a network device such as a router to provide multicast routing services without interruption. Techniques are provided for using bicasting to synchronize multicast information maintained by a first processor and multicast information maintained by a second processor. A multicast protocol related event of packet is sent to both a first processor operating in active mode and a second processor operating in standby mode. Each processor then updates its multicast information based upon the bicasted event or packet. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110228770 | SYNCHRONIZATION OF MULTICAST INFORMATION USING INCREMENTAL UPDATES - Techniques that enable a network device such as a router to provide multicast routing services without interruption, even in the event of a switchover. An incremental updates technique is used to synchronize multicast information maintained by a first processor and multicast information maintained by a second processor. The first processor may be a management processor operating in active mode in a network device and the second processor may be a management processor operating in standby mode in the network device. The second processor may also be a processor on a linecard of the network device. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110228669 | TECHNIQUES FOR LINK REDUNDANCY IN LAYER 2 NETWORKS - Techniques for facilitating link redundancy using an enhanced version of Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP), referred to herein as VSRP2. In one set of embodiments, a group of Layer 2 and/or Layer 2/3 devices (switches) can act in concert as a VSRP2 virtual switch. A first switch in the group (a VSRP2 master switch) can forward, via a first link, data traffic to/from a network device in a connected Layer 2 network. A second switch in the group (a VSRP2 backup switch) can block, at a second link, data traffic to/from the same network device. If the first link fails or otherwise becomes unavailable, the VSRP2 backup switch can detect the link failure and begin forwarding, via the second link, data traffic to/from the network device. In this manner, redundancy can be provided at the link level between the VSRP2 virtual switch and the Layer 2 network. | 09-22-2011 |
| 20110225303 | FCIP COMMUNICATIONS WITH LOAD SHARING AND FAILOVER - An IP gateway device establishes distinct TCP sessions within a single FCIP tunnel, each TCP session being designated for a different priority of service (e.g., high, medium, low), plus a control stream. Each TCP session has its own TCP stack and its own settings for VLAN Tagging (IEEE 802.1Q), quality of service (IEEE 802.1P) and Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP). By distributing data streams assigned to different priorities of service into different TCP sessions within the FCIP tunnel, an IP gateway device can preserve the distinctions between the data stream priorities while the data traffic is within the IP network. By further distributing the data streams between different circuits and trunks by use of multiple circuits, failover and load balancing can occur within the FCIP tunnels. | 09-15-2011 |
| 20110216778 | MULTIFABRIC ZONE DEVICE IMPORT AND EXPORT - A Fibre 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 Fibre Channel router can be in a fabric, but other ports can be connected to other fabrics. Fibre Channel routers can be interconnected using a backbone fabric. Global, interfabric and encapsulation headers are developed to allow routing by conventional Fibre Channel switch devices in the backbone fabric and simplify Fibre 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. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110216769 | Dynamic Path Selection - A switch/router dynamically selects a path from multiple available paths between a source destination pair for a frame. A hash function generates a hash value from frame parameters such as source ID, destination ID, exchange ID, etc. The hash value is given as an input to a plurality of range comparators where each range comparator has a range of values associated with it. If the hash value falls within a range associated with a range comparator, that range comparator generates an in-range signal. A path selector module detects which range comparator has generated the in-range signal, and determines a path associated with that range comparator from previously stored information. The frame is transmitted via the selected path. The ranges associated with each range comparator can be non-overlapping and unequal in size. The number of range comparators can be equal to a number of selected multiple paths. | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110216672 | TECHNICAL ENHANCEMENTS TO STP (IEEE 802.1D) IMPLEMENTATION - An embodiment includes a method of minimizing the delay in convergence time for a complex STP topology following a topology change in the network system in the spanning tree protocol (STP) standard, including: | 09-08-2011 |
| 20110202650 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MONITORING DATA FLOWS IN A NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switching system that facilitates data flow monitoring at the logical-unit level. The switching system includes a traffic monitoring mechanism configured to monitor a data flow between a host and a logical unit residing on a target device. The switching system further includes a storage mechanism configured to store data-flow statistics specific to the host and the logical unit and a communication mechanism configured to communicate the data-flow statistics to a traffic management module. | 08-18-2011 |
| 20110196986 | Isolation Switch for Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks - An isolation switch blade Fibre Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fibre Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fibre Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The isolation switch blade may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fibre Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the isolation switch blade and “event storms” on the Fibre Channel fabric are avoided. The isolation switch blade presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port. | 08-11-2011 |
| 20110182294 | IN-ORDER TRAFFIC AGGREGATION WITH REDUCED BUFFER USAGE - One embodiment provides a system that performs in-order traffic aggregation from a number of low-speed ports to a high-speed port. During operation, the system receives at a low-speed port a packet, stores it in a store-and-forward FIFO associated with the low-speed port, extracts a sequence number associated with the stored packet, and stores the extracted sequence number in a sequence-number FIFO associated with the low-speed port. The system further generates an expected sequence number, which maintains a linear order with respect to sequence numbers associated with previously forwarded packets, and determines whether a front end of the sequence-number FIFO matches the expected sequence number. If so, the system removes the front end of the sequence-number FIFO buffer, retrieves a packet associated with it, forwards the retrieved packet on the high-speed port, and updates the expected sequence number by adding 1 to the packet number of the retrieved packet. | 07-28-2011 |
| 20110179315 | SERDES LINK ERROR MANAGEMENT - Techniques for dynamically measuring and monitoring error rate in Serializer/Deserializer (SerDes) links In one set of embodiments, a method includes polling a SerDes link status of a SerDes link at a predetermined rate. The method also includes storing a predetermined polling results in a memory, determining a number of polling results indicating one or more errors occurred in said SerDes link, determining an action to be taken if said number of polling results exceed a threshold. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110176541 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING E911 EMERGENCY SERVICES IN A DATA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK - A system, method and apparatus for supporting enhanced 911 (E911) emergency services, in a data communications network that includes Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephones. A network system includes a host network communicatively coupled to an E911 database management system, a network access device, and a VoIP telephone communicatively coupled to an input port of the network access device. The network access device is adapted to assign a physical location identifier to an input port, to authenticate the VoIP telephone, wherein the authentication includes receiving a unique device identifier from the VoIP telephone, and to transmit the location identifier and the unique device identifier to the E911 database management system. The E911 database management system is permitted to store the physical location identifier in association with the unique device identifier. | 07-21-2011 |
| 20110173609 | Method and Apparatus for Determining the Identity of a Virtual Machine - A hypervisor preferably provides VM identification, priority and LUN/LBA range information to the HBA when a VM is created. Alternatively, the HBA can determine that a LUN/LBA range is new and request VM identity, priority and LUN/LBA range from the hypervisor. The HBA creates a table containing the VM identification, priority and LUN/LBA range. The HBA then detects operations directed to the LUN/LBA range and does a lookup to determine VM identification and priority. VM identification and priority are then mapped into a field in a frame using a unique identifier. The unique identifier can either be placed using reserved bits on the existing Fibre Channel (FC) header or can use bits in an additional header, such as a modified IFR header. | 07-14-2011 |
| 20110173608 | Method and Apparatus for Providing Virtual Machine Information to a Network Interface - A hypervisor preferably provides VM identification, priority and LUN/LBA range information to the HBA when a VM is created. Alternatively, the HBA can determine that a LUN/LBA range is new and request VM identity, priority and LUN/LBA range from the hypervisor. The HBA creates a table containing the VM identification, priority and LUN/LBA range. The HBA then detects operations directed to the LUN/LBA range and does a lookup to determine VM identification and priority. VM identification and priority are then mapped into a field in a frame using a unique identifier. The unique identifier can either be placed using reserved bits on the existing Fibre Channel (FC) header or can use bits in an additional header, such as a modified IFR header. | 07-14-2011 |
| 20110158101 | HIERARCHICAL RATE COLOR MARKER - One embodiment provides a system that facilitates bandwidth-profile enforcement. During operation, the system indicates a packet's compliance with a bandwidth profile based at least on available high-compliance tokens and medium-compliance tokens. The system further converts, within different classes of service (CoSs), an overflow high-compliance token to a medium-compliance token, in a top-down or bottom-up fashion with respect to different CoS priorities. | 06-30-2011 |
| 20110134764 | CONFLICT IDENTIFICATION IN LABEL SWITCHED SERVICES - Administrative logic is configured to discover routers in a network providing one or more label switched services and evaluate the configuration information of the label switched services to identify conflicts in the label switched services (e.g., configuration information errors). By identifying conflicts for one or more label switched services, the administrative logic generates a notification identifying the conflict and potentially the type of conflict. In particular, in one implementation, the administrative logic can use the configuration information of a first router to identify one or more peer routers of the first router and compare the configuration information in the various routers to identify apparent conflicts. The administrative logic can also communicate commands to the appropriate router to correct the misconfiguration and, in certain circumstances, establish proper communications or otherwise resolve service inconsistencies (e.g., VLL name mismatches). | 06-09-2011 |
| 20110126196 | CORE-BASED VISUALIZATION - Techniques for providing core-based virtualization based upon cores provided by one or more processors of a system. A device such as a network device comprising multiple processor cores provides for core-based virtualization. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110122771 | SMOOTHING ALGORITHM FOR ROUND TRIP TIME (RTT) MEASUREMENTS - A smoothing algorithm for round trip time (RTT) measurements is provided to a network device to effectively deal with variations or other potential anomalies that may occur in RTT measurements. The algorithm involves: first determining what should be considered a very high or a very small value for a RTT sample. If a new RTT sample is in an acceptable range, then the network device performs a relatively basic smoothing. If the new RTT sample is much higher than a current RTT value, then the network device ignores the value of this RTT sample a few times. If the network device still detects this large value after ignoring that value for some time, then the network device factors this value into the current RTT value using an additive increase. Similarly, if the value of the new RTT sample is much lower than current RTT value, the network device ignores the value of the new RTT sample a few times. If the network device still sees this small/low value after ignoring that value for sometime, then the network device factors this value into the current RTT value using a multiplicative decrease. An effective RTT value results, which can be used singly or in combination with other metrics to load balance network traffic. | 05-26-2011 |
| 20110116245 | Tilted Printed Circuit Board Installation - A blade for a chassis-based system includes a printed circuit board (PCB) mounted at a tilt angle within the blade. The tilt angle provides space above or below the PCB at the front end of the blade, such that media interface modules can be flexibly positioned within the blade. A tilt angle that positions the PCB higher near the front end of the blade may enable media interface modules mounted in a belly-to-belly configuration on the PCB to be fitted within the front end of the blade. A tilt angle that positions the PCB lower near the front end of the blade may enable media interface modules mounted on the upper surface of the PCB to be fitted within the first end of the blade. The tilt angle also positions a backplane connector mounted on the PCB to properly engage a backplane when the blade is inserted into a slot. | 05-19-2011 |
| 20110110381 | AUTOMATIC SWITCH PORT SELECTION - Back pressure is mapped within a network, and primary bottlenecks are distinguished from dependent bottlenecks. Further, the presently disclosed technology is capable of performing network healing operations designed to reduce the data load on primary bottlenecks while ignoring dependent bottlenecks. Still further, the presently disclosed technology teaches identifying and/or suggesting a switch port for adding a node to the network. More specifically, various implementations analyze traffic load and back pressure in a network, identify primary and dependent bottlenecks, resolve the primary bottlenecks, collect new node parameters, and/or select a switch port for the new node. Further, a command can be sent to a selected switch to activate an indicator on the selected port. New node parameters may include new node type, maximum load, minimum load, time of maximum load, time of minimum load and type of data associated with the new node. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110110241 | PRESENTATION OF A SELECTED PORT - Back pressure is mapped within a network, and primary bottlenecks are distinguished from dependent bottlenecks. Further, the presently disclosed technology is capable of performing network healing operations designed to reduce the data load on primary bottlenecks while ignoring dependent bottlenecks. Still further, the presently disclosed technology teaches identifying and/or suggesting a switch port for adding a node to the network. More specifically, various implementations analyze traffic load and back pressure in a network, identify primary and dependent bottlenecks, resolve the primary bottlenecks, collect new node parameters, and/or select a switch port for the new node. Further, a command can be sent to a selected switch to activate an indicator on the selected port. New node parameters may include new node type, maximum load, minimum load, time of maximum load, time of minimum load and type of data associated with the new node. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110110232 | BACK PRESSURE REMEDIATION - Back pressure is mapped within a network, and primary bottlenecks are distinguished from dependent bottlenecks. Further, the presently disclosed technology is capable of performing network healing operations designed to reduce the data load on primary bottlenecks while ignoring dependent bottlenecks. Still further, the presently disclosed technology teaches identifying and/or suggesting a switch port for adding a node to the network. More specifically, various implementations analyze traffic load and back pressure in a network, identify primary and dependent bottlenecks, resolve the primary bottlenecks, collect new node parameters, and/or select a switch port for the new node. Further, a command can be sent to a selected switch to activate an indicator on the selected port. New node parameters may include new node type, maximum load, minimum load, time of maximum load, time of minimum load and type of data associated with the new node. | 05-12-2011 |
| 20110103399 | Tunnel Path MTU Discovery - A solution for tunnel path MTU discovery includes, at a first network device configured as an origination endpoint for a tunnel, storing a keep-alive packet having a size of an interface maximum transmission unit (MTU), the keep-alive packet indicating the packet should not be fragmented, the second network device configured as a termination endpoint for the tunnel. If the sending fails, the size of the keep-alive packet is iteratively changed to converge upon a path MTU, where the path MTU is the size of a largest keep-alive packet that can be sent from the first network device to the second network device without fragmentation. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110103258 | SELECTIVE NETWORK MERGING - Subsets of isolated communications networks are selectively merged without merging the entire isolated communications networks, and devices are imported across isolated communications networks without merging the isolated communications networks. The presently disclosed technology provides for improved scalability, performance, and security in logical networks spanning two or more physical communications networks. | 05-05-2011 |
| 20110099261 | HOST-LEVEL POLICIES FOR GLOBAL SERVER LOAD BALANCING - In a network, a user can configure host-level policies usable for load balancing traffic to servers of a domain. A global server load balancing (GSLB) switch provides load balancing to the servers, and is configured with the GSLB host-level policies. Users can define a host-level policy (alternatively or additionally to a globally applied GSLB policy) and apply the host-level policy to hosts in domains configured on the GSLB switch. Thus, the user can enable different policies for different hosts. This allows the user to have the flexibility to control metrics used for selection of a best address for querying clients, as well as the metric order and additional parameters used in the GSLB process, at the host level. | 04-28-2011 |
| 20110093720 | Storage of KeyID in Customer Data Area - A key identifier for an encryption key repository is stored with customer data on a logical device. When the customer data is compressible, the key identifier is stored in space freed by compressing the customer data. When the customer data is not compressible, a portion of the customer data is copied to a key record in the key repository identified by the key identifier, and the key identifier overwrites the copied customer data. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110093637 | Interrupt Moderation - A technique for interrupt moderation allows coalescing interrupts from a device into groups to be processed as a batch by a host processor. Receive and send completions may be processed differently. When the host is interrupted for receive completions, it may check for send completions, reducing the need for interrupts related to send completions. Timers and a counter allow coalescing interrupts into a single interrupt that can be used to signal the host to process multiple completions. The technique is suitable for both dedicated interrupt line and message-signaled interrupts. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110090804 | Staged Port Initiation of Inter Switch Links - A fabric having switches interconnected with multiple parallel interswitch links can be configured using staged port bring up. Only one of the multiple parallel interswitch links between any two switches and the corresponding switch ports can be selected and initialized. The fabric can be configured with the selected ISLs. Once the fabric has stabilized, unselected ISLs and the corresponding switch ports can be incrementally initialized. The number of unselected ISLs to be initialized can be determined based on the available computing resources of the fabric switches. | 04-21-2011 |
| 20110087918 | DISASTER RECOVERY - File system disaster recovery techniques provide automated monitoring, failure detection and multi-step failover from a primary designated target to one of a designated group of secondary designated targets. Secondary designated targets may be prioritized so that failover occurs in a prescribed sequence. Replication of information between the primary designated target and the secondary designated targets allows failover in a manner that maximizes continuity of operation. In addition, user-specified actions may be initiated on failure detection and/or on failover operations and/or on failback operations. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085569 | CREATION AND DELETION OF LOGICAL PORTS IN A LOGICAL SWITCH | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085568 | MAPPING LOGICAL PORTS OF A NETWORK SWITCH TO PHYSICAL PORTS - A Layer 2 network switch is partitionable into a plurality of switch fabrics. The single-chassis switch is partitionable into a plurality of logical switches, each associated with one of the virtual fabrics. The logical switches behave as complete and self-contained switches. A logical switch fabric can span multiple single-chassis switch chassis. Logical switches are connected by inter-switch links that can be either dedicated single-chassis links or logical links. An extended inter-switch link can be used to transport traffic for one or more logical inter-switch links. Physical ports of the chassis are assigned to logical switches and are managed by the logical switch. Legacy switches that are not partitionable into logical switches can serve as transit switches between two logical switches. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085559 | Transit Switches in a Network of Logical Switches - A Layer 2 network switch is partitionable into a plurality of switch fabrics. The single-chassis switch is partitionable into a plurality of logical switches, each associated with one of the virtual fabrics. The logical switches behave as complete and self-contained switches. A logical switch fabric can span multiple single-chassis switch chassis. Logical switches are connected by inter-switch links that can be either dedicated single-chassis links or logical links. An extended inter-switch link can be used to transport traffic for one or more logical inter-switch links. Physical ports of the chassis are assigned to logical switches and are managed by the logical switch. Legacy switches that are not partitionable into logical switches can serve as transit switches between two logical switches. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085558 | Virtual and Logical Inter-Switch Links | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085557 | Partitioning of Switches and Fabrics into Logical Switches and Fabrics | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110085444 | FLOW AUTODETERMINATION - Autodetermination circuitry examines packets transmitted internally to an egress port of a switching device in order to learn the associated flow. The autodetermination circuitry maintains a flow memory recording the highest traffic volume flows and unlearns the flows exhibiting lower traffic volumes to make room for other higher traffic volume flows. Accordingly, as some flows decrease in traffic volume and other flows increase in traffic volume, the flows decreasing below a threshold are dropped from a flow memory, and other flows increasing in volume above the threshold are added to the flow memory. In this manner, only the most likely offending flows are maintained in the flow memory. Accordingly, when congestion is detected, the switching device can identify one or more source devices contributing the most to the congestion and take steps to alleviate the congestion by decreasing the traffic volume originating from one or more of those sources. | 04-14-2011 |
| 20110078299 | Systems and Methods for Reconfiguring a Network Adapter in Sleep Mode - A converged network adapter in sleep mode can allow a management entity to access and alter configuration of the network adapter over the network. Configuration data such as configuration parameters, firmware, and other data related to the network adapter can be stored in a memory, which can be coupled to a portion of the adapter that receives power during sleep mode. The management entity can send configuration messages to the adapter, which messages can include commands or instructions to read or write contents of the memory. The messages can include values of the configuration parameters to be altered, firmware code, etc. The management entity can also send configuration messages to a baseboard management controller (BMC) coupled to the adapter for message validation. The adapter and the BMC can send results of memory operations back to the management entity in response messages. | 03-31-2011 |
| 20110069711 | PROVISIONING SINGLE OR MULTISTAGE NETWORKS USING ETHERNET SERVICE INSTANCES (ESIs) - Techniques for provisioning single or multistage networks using Ethernet Service Instances (ESIs). In one embodiment, an ESI is a logical entity or object that stores information that may be used to provision a network. An ESI may represent a logical entity that identifies a grouping of elements of a network or network device and associated attributes. Hierarchical relationships may be created between ESIs. The hierarchical relationships are used to perform packet-level processing including performing network packet encapsulations. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110069706 | TECHNIQUES FOR NEXT-HOP OPTIMIZATION - Techniques for efficiently storing and using routing and associated next-hop information in a network device. The amount of next-hop information that is stored for routes in a routing table is reduced by reducing the amount of duplicate next-hop information that is stored by a network device. | 03-24-2011 |
| 20110066753 | VIRTUAL ROUTER REDUNDANCY FOR SERVER VIRTUALIZATION - A solution for virtual router redundancy for server virtualization includes, at a network device configured as a backup router of a virtual router, examining a packet stored in a memory of the network device. Responsive to the examining, the network device determines whether to forward the packet via a network towards a destination or to send the packet via the network to a master router of the virtual router for forwarding of the packet, by the master router, towards the destination. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110064078 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTELLIGENTLY FORWARDING MULTICAST PACKETS - A routing system utilizes a layer 2 switch interconnecting several routers to intelligently forward multicast packets throughout an internet exchange carrying multicast content. The layer 2 switch performs protocol snooping to extract a lookup key that is based on network layer protocol information. The lookup key is uniquely formulated to support either shared or explicit source distribution trees. The lookup key is used to query a forwarding memory that returns an outgoing port index. The outgoing port index points to one or more outgoing ports that are eligible to receive the multicast packet. The outgoing ports are also connected to the neighboring device(s) that are designated to receive the multicast packet. The routing system also supports real time maintenance and updating of the forwarding memory based on the periodic exchange of control messages. The routing system is configured to support PIM routers operating in PIM SM or PIM SSM modes. However, the routing system can also support other multicast protocols and/or standards. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110064001 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENABLING A REMOTE INSTANCE OF A LOOP AVOIDANCE PROTOCOL - A system and method which enables a provider network to run a loop detection protocol in a customer network communicably coupled to it. The provider network runs a loop detection protocol and the customer network either runs a different protocol or none. The provider network determines its root bridge, or designated customer bridge, which is used to control loop detection decisions for the customer network. A BPDU or other protocol packet received from the customer network is tunneled through the provider network to the designated customer bridge. The designated customer network then processes the received BPDU in accordance with a loop detection instance for the customer network. The designated customer bridge then produces control messages in response to the processing and forwards those messages to the customer network. The control messages may include port state controls for ports in the customer network. | 03-17-2011 |
| 20110060876 | Exact Match Lookup Scheme - An exact match lookup system includes a hash function that generates a hash value in response to an input hash key. The hash value is used to retrieve a hash bucket index value from a hash bucket index table. The hash bucket index value is used to retrieve a plurality of hash keys from a plurality of hash bucket tables, in parallel. The retrieved hash keys are compared with the input hash key to identify a match. Hit logic generates an output index by concatenating the hash bucket index value with an address associated with the hash bucket table that provides the matching hash key. An exact match result is provided in response to the output index. A content addressable memory (CAM) may store hash keys that do not fit in the hash bucket tables. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110058474 | CONGESTION-ADAPTIVE COMPRESSION - A network device is adaptively configured to compress an output data stream, responsive to congestion in the network. The network device receives indications of network congestion from another network device. Upon receipt of a congestion indication, the network device can adapt the compression technique to attempt to achieve more or less compression, depending on whether the congestion indication indicates more or less congestion. By adapting the compression to the level of network congestion, end-to-end latency of the network can potentially be decreased. | 03-10-2011 |
| 20110055276 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATIC INCLUSION OF ENTITIES INTO MANAGEMENT RESOURCE GROUPS - Systems and methods for the automatic inclusion of entities into one or more management resource groups are described herein. Some embodiments include processing logic and memory coupled to the processing logic and including a database. The processing logic stores within the database a grouping representative of at least one network element, a role defined for a user, and a grouping-role pair associated with the user. The processing logic further automatically adds a new element as a grouping member upon its identification and automatically authorizes the user to perform the role with the new network element. | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110051624 | DEFINING AN OPTIMAL TOPOLOGY FOR A GROUP OF LOGICAL SWITCHES - A Layer 2 network switch fabric is partitionable into a plurality of virtual fabrics. A network switch chassis is partitionable into a plurality of logical switches, each of which may be associated with one of the virtual fabrics, including a base switch. Logical switches in multiple network switch chassis are connected by logical connections, such as logical inter-switch links that use physical connections, such as extended inter-switch links between base switches, for data transport. A topology of logical connections is established that balances competing metrics, such as robustness and scalability, while maintaining alignment with the topology of the physical connections. A topology factor allows establishing different topologies with different balances between the competing metrics | 03-03-2011 |
| 20110044351 | TECHNIQUES FOR EFFICIENTLY UPDATING ROUTING INFORMATION UPON SHORTEST PATH TREE COMPUTATION - Techniques for efficiently updating routing information in a network device such as a router. According to an embodiment of the present invention, information is stored identifying one or more nodes and leaves owned or advertised by the nodes. When a change occurs in a network environment, information is stored identifying one or more nodes and leaves that have changes associated with them. The routing information in the network device is then updated for only those nodes and leaves that have changes associated with them. | 02-24-2011 |
| 20110038482 | Scalable Key Archival - A solution for scalable key archival includes, at a network device, determining whether a key management device that is not part of a current key management device configuration has been newly added to a network. The method also includes, if the key management device has been newly added to the network, determining whether the network device has a first application program interface (API) or device driver for communicating with the key management device. The method also includes, if the network device does not have the first API, obtaining the API. The method also includes creating a binding between a virtual device driver of the network device and the key management device via the first API, the network device having a second API for communications between the virtual device driver and a security processor of the network device. The security processor communicates with the key management device using the second API. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110038263 | AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF LOGICAL CHANNELS IN A FIBRE CHANNEL NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates automatic adjustment of logical channels in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. During operation, the system receives FC data frames. A respective data frame is associated with a logical channel. The bandwidth on an FC link can be allocated into a plurality of logical channels, and a respective logical channel is associated with a dedicated buffer and can transport a plurality of data flows with data frames of variable length. The system then identifies a slow data flow in a first logical channel. Next, the system assigns the slow data flow to a second logical channel, thereby preventing the slow data flow from slowing down other data flows in the first logical channel. The system subsequently forwards the data frames in the slow data flow on the second logical channel onto an outgoing link. | 02-17-2011 |
| 20110029676 | PER PRIORITY TCP QUALITY OF SERVICE - An IP gateway device establishes distinct TCP sessions within a single FCIP tunnel, each TCP session being designated for a different priority of service (e.g., high, medium, low), plus a control stream. Each TCP session has its own TCP stack and its own settings for VLAN Tagging (IEEE 802.1Q), quality of service (IEEE 802.1P) and Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP). By distributing data streams assigned to different priorities of service into different TCP sessions within the FCIP tunnel, an IP gateway device can preserve the distinctions between the data stream priorities while the data traffic is within the IP network. | 02-03-2011 |
| 20110010481 | MASSIVE MULTI-CORE PROCESSOR BUILT WITH SERIAL SWITCHING - A multi-processor architecture for a network device that includes a plurality of barrel cards, each including: a plurality of processors, a PCIe switch coupled to each of the plurality of processors, and packet processing logic coupled to the PCIe switch. The PCIe switch on each barrel card provides high speed flexible data paths for the transmission of incoming/outgoing packets to/from the processors on the barrel card. An external PCIe switch is commonly coupled to the PCIe switches on the barrel cards, as well as to a management processor, thereby providing high speed connections between processors on separate barrel cards, and between the management processor and the processors on the barrel cards. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20100325700 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING MULTIPLE ACCESS MODES IN A DATA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK - A system, method and apparatus for providing multiple access modes in a data communications network includes a network access device having a plurality of input ports, a plurality of output ports, and a switching fabric for routing data received on the plurality of input ports to at least one of the plurality of output ports. Control logic within the network access device is adapted to determine whether a user device coupled to one of the plurality of input ports supports a user authentication protocol used by a host network. If the user authentication protocol is not supported, then the input port to which the network access device is coupled is placed in a semi-authorized access state that limits access to a pre-configured network accessible via the host network. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100325280 | Load Balance Connections Per Server In Multi-Core/Multi-Blade System - A network device includes a plurality of blades, each having a plurality of CPU cores that process requests received by the network device. Each blade further includes an accumulator circuit. Each accumulator circuit periodically aggregates the local counter values of the CPU cores of the corresponding blade. One accumulator circuit is designated as a master, and the other accumulator circuit(s) are designated as slave(s). The slave accumulator circuits transmit their aggregated local counter values to the master accumulator circuit. The master accumulator circuit aggregates the sets of aggregated local counter values to create a set of global counter values. The master accumulator circuit transmits the global counter values to a management processor (for display), to the CPU cores located on its corresponding blade, and to each of the slave accumulator circuits. Each slave accumulator circuit then transmits the global counter values to the CPU cores located on its corresponding blade. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20100318700 | Systems and methods for scalable distributed storage processing - A system including a storage processing device with an input/output module. The input/output module has port processors to receive and transmit network traffic. The input/output module also has a switch connecting the port processors. Each port processor categorizes the network traffic as fast path network traffic or control path network traffic. The switch routes fast path network traffic from an ingress port processor to a specified egress port processor. The storage processing device also includes a control module to process the control path network traffic received from the ingress port processor. The control module routes processed control path network traffic to the switch for routing to a defined egress port processor. The control module is connected to the input/output module. The input/output module and the control module are configured to interactively support data virtualization, data migration, data journaling, and snapshotting. The distributed control and fast path processors achieve scaling of storage network software. The storage processors provide line-speed processing of storage data using a rich set of storage-optimized hardware acceleration engines. The multi-protocol switching fabric provides a low-latency, protocol-neutral interconnect that integrally links all components with any-to-any non-blocking throughput. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100315788 | SIDE-EXHAUST COOLING SYSTEM FOR RACK MOUNTED EQUIPMENT - A cooling system for rack mount electrical or electronic equipment comprises a hollow, box-shaped exhaust shelf having a vent on at least one end face thereof. The exhaust shelf may be configured for rack mounting. A side duct, open on its inner side, is mounted between the exhaust shelf and a top rail adapted to be mounted between a front post and an opposing rear post in a four-post rack mount enclosure. A plenum in the side duct is in fluid communication with the interior chamber of the exhaust shelf. A chassis having a side-facing exhaust for cooling air may be mounted on or over the exhaust shelf such that warm air exiting the chassis is collected in the plenum of the side duct and channeled into the exhaust shelf and out through the vent. In this way, the desired front-to-back cooling air flow within a rack mount enclosure may be maintained even if one or more individual chassis mounted in the enclosure have side cooling air exhausts. In other embodiments of the invention, the airflow may be in the reverse direction—i.e., cooling air may be drawn into the shelf, pass through the side duct and enter the chassis. | 12-16-2010 |
| 20100309921 | Quality of Service Using Virtual Channel Translation - Virtual channels are used to improve quality of service through a large port count switch. Data frames are sent from one small switch to another small switch within the large port count switch on virtual channels. The use of virtual channels helps prevent congestion caused by a first external source device sending data to a first external destination device from affecting a second external source device sending data to a second external destination device. | 12-09-2010 |
| 20100293327 | TCAM Management Approach That Minimize Movements - Methods for efficiently managing a ternary content-addressable memory (TCAM) by minimizing movements of TCAM entries include determining a first node and a second node in the TCAM, determining if there is a free TCAM entry between the first node and the second node, and storing the new entry in the free TCAM entry. Upon determining that a free TCAM entry does not exist between the first node and the second node, further determining a chain of nodes and then determining if there is a free TCAM entry in the chain of nodes. Upon determining that there is a free TCAM entry within the chain of nodes, moving the TCAM entries identified as the nodes in the chain of nodes to generate a free node nearest to the new entry and inserting the new entry in the free node. Moving the TCAM entries identified as the nodes in the chain of nodes preserves the order of the nodes. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100293298 | COOKIE INVALIDATION OR EXPIRATION BY A SWITCH - A switch may be used to force the expiration of a cookie on a user's system by inserting an expiration field into the cookie contained in a network response packet. Additionally, a mechanism is provided to delete or damage a cookie contained in a network request packet, so that server software is not disrupted by the receipt of a cookie. Deleting a cookie results in a cleaner request, but damaging a cookie may be more efficient in certain circumstances. By providing these features, an efficient cookie switching design is provided. | 11-18-2010 |
| 20100284414 | FLEXIBLE STACKING PORT - A stackable device having a plurality of data ports, wherein each of the data ports is capable of operating as a regular data port or a stacking port. A first set of one or more of the data ports is specified as a first flexible stacking port, and a second set of one or more of the data ports is specified as a second flexible stacking port. Each flexible stacking port can be individually configured to operate as an actual stacking port, if required by the configuration of an associated stack. If a flexible stacking port is not configured to operate as an actual stacking port, then the data port(s) included in the flexible stacking port are available to operate as regular data port(s). | 11-11-2010 |
| 20100260072 | System And Method For Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol Domains In A Virtual Local Area Network - A system and method that modifies the behavior of the IEEE 802.1D STP standard to thereby decouple the one data domain from the one control domain involves managing multiple spanning tree protocol (STP) instances in a virtual local area network (VLAN). The method includes the step of assigning a unique set of ports within the VLAN to each of the multiple STP instances. Then, each of the multiple STP instances are managed to keep each of the multiple STP instances separate. Finally, when a topology change is detected in one of the multiple STP instances, entries that have been learned on the unique set of ports assigned to the STP protocol instance where the topology change is detected are fast-aged or transitioned from one state to another. | 10-14-2010 |
| 20100246388 | REDUNDANT HOST CONNECTION IN A ROUTED NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a switch. The switch includes a management mechanism and a configuration mechanism. During operation, the management mechanism is configured to operate the switch in conjunction with the partner switch as a single logical switch. The configuration mechanism is configured to assign a virtual switch identifier to the logical switch. | 09-30-2010 |
| 20100238927 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INTELLIGENTLY FORWARDING MULTICAST PACKETS - A routing system utilizes a layer 2 switch interconnecting several routers to intelligently forward multicast packets throughout an interne exchange carrying multicast content. The layer 2 switch performs protocol snooping to extract a lookup key that is based on network layer protocol information. The lookup key is uniquely formulated to support either shared or explicit source distribution trees. The lookup key is used to query a forwarding memory that returns an outgoing port index. The outgoing port index points to one or more outgoing ports that are eligible to receive the multicast packet. The outgoing ports are also connected to the neighboring device(s) that are designated to receive the multicast packet. The routing system also supports real time maintenance and updating of the forwarding memory based on the periodic exchange of control messages. The routing system is configured to support PIM routers operating in PIM SM or PIM SSM modes. However, the routing system can also support other multicast protocols and/or standards. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100238804 | FLOW CONTROL FOR MULTI-HOP NETWORKS - Solutions are provided that allow a network device to apply flow control on the MAC layer while taking into account the priority of the frame of traffic. This may be accomplished by generating a frame indicating that traffic flow should be paused, while utilizing a new opcode value, or alternatively by utilizing a new type/length value (possibly combined with a new opcode value). A receiving device may then examine the fields of the frame to determine whether it should it should use priority-based pausing, and then examine other fields to determine which priority-levels to pause and for how long. This allows for improved efficiency in flow control at the MAC layer. Additionally, the tagged pause frames can be forwarded over multiple hops on Local Area Networks across a Metropolitan Area Network or Wide Area Network. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100235507 | CONNECTION RATE LIMITING FOR SERVER LOAD BALANCING AND TRANSPARENT CACHE SWITCHING - Each service in a computer network may have a connection rate limit. The number of new connections per time period may be limited by using a series of rules. In a specific embodiment of the present invention, a counter is increased each time a server is selected to handle a connection request. For each service, connections coming in are tracked. Therefore, the source of connection-request packets need not be examined. Only the destination service is important. This saves significant time in the examination of the incoming requests. Each service may have its own set of rules to best handle the new traffic for its particular situation. For server load balancing, a reset may be sent to the source address of the new connection request. For transparent cache switching, the connection request may be forwarded to the Internet. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100235442 | Use of Server Instances and Processing Elements to Define a Server - A server instance, which is a collection of LUNs, containing an operating system, any applications and data storage. A processing element is the physical hardware. The combination is a server as normally understood. Templates are used to define server instances and server types to simplify deploying a server instance to a processing element. A graphical user interface provides the templates where the particular storage groups are identified and then server instances are created from lists of operating systems, applications, and available storage. The management service processor is a PXE server and provides the necessary software to identify the components of the processing element and correlate between the processing element and a server instance. The management service processor then automatically provides software to the processing element to allow it correctly boot. The management service processor manages the interconnection of the processing element and the relevant LUNs. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100232793 | Interface Switch for use with Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks - An interface switch which presents itself as switch to an enterprise fabric formed of the devices from the same manufacturer as the interface switch and that of a host or node to an enterprise fabric from a different manufacturer. This allows each enterprise fabric to remain in a higher performance operating mode. The multiplexing of multiple streams of traffic between the N_ports on the first enterprise fabric and the second enterprise fabric is accomplished by N_port Virtualization. The interface switch can be connected to multiple enterprise fabrics. All control traffic address mappings between virtual and physical addresses may be mediated and translated by the CPU of the interface switch and address mappings for data traffic performed at wire speed. Since the interface switch may preferably be a single conduit between the enterprise fabrics, it is also a good point to enforce perimeter defenses against attacks. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100232450 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING VIRTUAL PORTS WITH ATTACHED VIRTUAL DEVICES IN A STORAGE AREA NETWORK - Systems particularly a virtualization switch or a storage device, which include virtual ports connected to virtual devices with virtual worldwide names and virtual LUNs. Because Fibre Channel environment hosts can track worldwide names from one port to another and allow continuity in that regard, the virtual worldwide names are provided with relevant virtual LUNs and connected these to virtual ports so that the virtual devices can be moved as desired to overcome failures or to allow load balancing. | 09-16-2010 |
| 20100226367 | COOKIE INVALIDATION OR EXPIRATION BY A SWITCH - A switch may be used to force the expiration of a cookie on a user's system by inserting an expiration field into the cookie contained in a network response packet. Additionally, a mechanism is provided to delete or damage a cookie contained in a network request packet, so that server software is not disrupted by the receipt of a cookie. Deleting a cookie results in a cleaner request, but damaging a cookie may be more efficient in certain circumstances. By providing these features, an efficient cookie switching design is provided. | 09-09-2010 |
| 20100223654 | MULTIPLE TIERED NETWORK SECURITY SYSTEM, METHOD AND APPARATUS USING DYNAMIC USER POLICY ASSIGNMENT - A multiple key, multiple tiered network security system, method and apparatus provides at least three levels of security. The first level of security includes physical (MAC) address authentication of a user device being attached to the network, such as a user device being attached to a port of a network access device. The second level includes authentication of the user of the user device, such as user authentication in accordance with the IEEE 802.1 | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100220734 | Multifabric Communication Using a Backbone Fabric - A Fibre 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 Fibre Channel router can be in a fabric, but other ports can be connected to other fabrics. Fibre Channel routers can be interconnected using a backbone fabric. Global, interfabric and encapsulation headers are developed to allow routing by conventional Fibre Channel switch devices in the backbone fabric and simplify Fibre 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. | 09-02-2010 |
| 20100214950 | HIGH AVAILABILITY AND MULTIPATHING FOR FIBRE CHANNEL OVER ETHERNET - A physical Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) switch defines a multipath virtual FCoE switch to provide uninterrupted storage access between N_PORTs of an FCoE host and a Fibre Channel (FC) storage target, for example, in response to an F_PORT failure. Through the multipath virtual FCoE switch, the fabric is configured with multiple physical paths available between the FCoE hosts and FC targets. The multipath virtual FCoE switch is defined between or among multiple physical FCoE switches coupled to the Ethernet fabric. One of the F_PORTs is designated as being in the primary FCoE path, while any other F_PORTs sharing the virtual FCoE switch are reserved for standby paths in case the primary FCoE path is disabled. When a failure to a primary FCoE path is detected, a standby path is promoted to become a new primary FCoE path and subsequent traffic is routed in both directions through the new primary FCoE path. | 08-26-2010 |
| 20100208589 | DYNAMIC RATE LIMITING ADJUSTMENT - Dynamic rate limiting adjustment may be provided by sampling actual output rates from a rate limited device and utilizing this information to modify configured traffic limits. This allows the device to achieve actual output rates much closer to the desired rate limits for users and services. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100202319 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING BANDWIDTH-CONSUMING FRAME FLOWS IN A NETWORK - A port monitor monitors network traffic that passes through a port of a switch. Frame flows routed through the switch are counted by hardware frame counting logic, which includes a content-addressable memory (CAM) and counters corresponding to various frame flows. Port monitor software includes logical containers (“buckets”), which are used to record and sort counts of the frame flows from hardware based on activity of the frame flows. Frame flow sorting is based on confidence building algorithms such that the thrashing of frame flows between buckets is reduced. Storage and sorting of the frame flows in software allows the activity level of any number of frame flows associated with the switch to be counted, regardless of hardware limitations on how many frame flows can be counted. This allows a real-time analysis of frame flows and a determination of frame flows that are major users of Fibre Channel bandwidth. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100202294 | NETWORK CONGESTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND METHODS - Systems, methods and software useful for overcoming network congestion problems including head-of-line blocking issues and other network congestion problems. In certain aspects, flow control mechanisms implemented in a switch device or other network device manage buffer and system level resources using a scheduler to control the amount of data requested from a local SAN fabric. Switches and other network devices configured according to the present invention monitor each individual SCSI task, and are configured to apply flow control measures to each active session when buffering resources become scarce, such as when buffering data for a slower-speed WAN link or TCP/IP based interconnects of any speed. | 08-12-2010 |
| 20100183024 | SIMPLIFIED RDMA OVER ETHERNET AND FIBRE CHANNEL - A new transport protocol between the IP layer and the DDP layer for use with RDMA operations. The embodiments all operate on a CEE-compliant layer 2 Ethernet network to allow the new transport protocol to be simplified, providing higher performance and simpler implementation. The new protocol allows a CEE-compliant layer 2 Ethernet network to provide data networking using IP, storage using FCoE, and RDMA using IP and the new transport protocol, without suffering the previous performance penalties in any of these aspects. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20100182936 | TOPOLOGY DATABASE SYNCHRONIZATION - A network comprises a plurality of interconnected switches that implement a topology database synchronization technique in which each switch determines whether its topology database has already been transmitted to a neighboring switch when a new link is formed to the neighboring switch. When a new electrical connection is detected, the local switch determines whether any of its other ports have already been connected to the same neighboring switch. If no other port on the local switch has been connected to the neighboring switch, the local switch transmits its topology database to the neighboring switch. If the local switch determines that it has already been connected to the neighboring switch via another one of its ports, the local switch does not yet again copy of the database to the neighboring switch. Also, link state record updates are propagated via only one inter-switch link to a neighboring switch, not all possible links. | 07-22-2010 |
| 20100177635 | HIERARCHICAL RATE COLOR MARKER - One embodiment provides a system that facilitates bandwidth-profile enforcement. During operation, the system indicates a packet's compliance with a bandwidth profile based at least on available high-compliance tokens and medium-compliance tokens. The system further accounts for overflow tokens from a respective class of service (CoS) and distribute an overflow token to another CoS priority level based on the overflow token's CoS information. | 07-15-2010 |
| 20100166422 | Isolation Switch for Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks - An isolation switch blade Fibre Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fibre Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fibre Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The isolation switch blade may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fibre Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the isolation switch blade and “event storms” on the Fibre Channel fabric are avoided. The isolation switch blade presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port. | 07-01-2010 |
| 20100104238 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR END-TO-END BEACONING - An embodiment of a method includes generating a command configured to cause activation of local beaconing at a selected device, and transmitting the command to the selected device. An embodiment of a system includes a processor, a memory including instructions executable by the processor, wherein the instructions cause the processor to generate a command configured to cause a selected device to activate local beaconing, a port connected to the selected device, and a transmitter operable to transmit the command to the selected device via the port. | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100095025 | VIRTUAL CHANNEL REMAPPING - Virtual channel enabled networking devices may map frames to specific virtual channels based upon frame characteristics (e.g. destination address, class of service). Devices and methods that provide a remapping of virtual channels are disclosed. In one embodiment, a network having virtual channel remapping may include: a first set of one or more switches that each support a first number of virtual channels, and a second set of one or more switches that each support a second number of virtual channels different from the first number of virtual channels. At least one switch from the second set is coupled to at least one switch from the first set and is configured to establish a correspondence (“map”) between the virtual channels supported by the first set and the virtual channels supported by the second set. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100077284 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING CYCLIC REDUNDANCY CHECK (CRC) ON PARTIAL PROTOCOL DATA UNITS (PDUS) - The present invention discloses an apparatus and method for performing cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on partial protocol data units (PDUs). The disclosed apparatus is designed to off-load the CRC calculation for transmit or receive from a host computer. According to the disclosed method, when generating CRC for partial PDUs, for each such PDUs a decision is made to determine whether a CRC action is required, i.e., if CRC should be calculated, checked or placed in the outgoing byte stream. When partial CRC calculation is performed the intermediate value is saved into memory and later is used for calculating the CRC for a consecutive partial PDU. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the need to re-calculate the CRC in a case of a re-transmit request is eliminated. | 03-25-2010 |
| 20100046556 | Priority Aware MAC Flow Control - Solutions are provided that allow a network device to apply flow control on the MAC layer while taking into account the priority of the frame of traffic. This may be accomplished by generating a frame indicating that traffic flow should be paused, while utilizing a new opcode value, or alternatively by utilizing a new type/length value (possibly combined with a new opcode value). A receiving device may then examine the fields of the frame to determine whether it should it should use priority-based pausing, and then examine other fields to determine which priority-levels to pause and for how long. This allows for improved efficiency in flow control on the MAC layer. | 02-25-2010 |
| 20100011114 | PROXYING MULTIPLE TARGETS AS A VIRTUAL TARGET USING IDENTIFIER RANGES - A gateway includes a Fibre Channel (“FC”) port configured to couple to multiple FC targets, and an iSCSI port configured to couple to an iSCSI initiator. The iSCSI port is configured to facilitate communication between the FC targets and the iSCSI initiator, and proxy the multiple FC targets as a virtual iSCSI target. The iSCSI port is also configured to divide the Logical Unit Number (“LUN”) range into a plurality of subdivided LUN ranges, and associate the FC targets with the subdivided LUN ranges. | 01-14-2010 |
| 20090316721 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING APPLICATION-ORIENTED QUALITY OF SERVICE IN A FIBRE CHANNEL NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates quality of service (QoS) in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. During operation, a host bus adaptor (HBA) allocates the bandwidth on an FC link between the HBA and an FC switch into a plurality of logical channels, wherein a respective logical channel can transport data frames of variable length. Furthermore, a respective logical channel is associated with a dedicated buffer on the HBA. The HBA associates data frames from a logical entity associated with the HBA with a logical channel, and transmits data frames from the logical entity to the FC switch on the corresponding logical channel within the link from the HBA to the FC switch. | 12-24-2009 |
| 20090296726 | ACCESS CONTROL LIST MANAGEMENT IN AN FCoE ENVIRONMENT - A Fibre Channel Forwarder (FCF) suspends a fabric session with a virtual machine (VM) in response to receipt of a deregister message from the virtual machine through an Ethernet bridge and transmits a deregister acceptance message to the VM. The Ethernet bridge detects the messages and updates its Access Control List (ACL) to remove the MAC address of the VM. While the fabric session is suspended, a virtual machine may migrate to another physical machine without terminating its connection to the fabric. After migration, the FCF resumes its fabric session with the VM in response to receipt of a register message from the VM through a second Ethernet bridge. The FCF responds to the register message with a register acceptance message. The Ethernet bridge detects the messages and updates its Access Control List (ACL) to add the MAC address of the VM. | 12-03-2009 |
| 20090292813 | Address Assignment in Fibre Channel Over Ethernet Environments - A method of initializing a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) link between a Fibre Channel over Ethernet node (ENode) and Fibre 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 Fibre Channel operation using the second MAC addresses. The implementations described herein may additionally distinguish management and initialization processes from normal Fibre Channel operation using separate Ethertypes. | 11-26-2009 |
| 20090282116 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANAGING CLUSTER MEMBERSHIP BY USE OF STORAGE AREA NETWORK FABRIC - Managing cluster membership and providing and managing locks in the switches forming the interconnecting network. To manage the cluster membership, a zone is created, with indicated members existing in the zone and the zone being managed by the switches. The nodes communicate their membership events, such as alive messages, using an API to work with the switch to which they are attached. The desired membership algorithm is executed by the switches, preferably in a distributed manner. Each switch then enforces the membership policies, including preventing operations from evicted nodes. This greatly simplifies the programs used on the nodes and unburdens them from many time consuming tasks, thus providing improved cluster performance. In a like manner, the switches in the fabric manage the resource locks. The nodes send their lock requests, such as creation and ownership requests, to the switch to which they are connected using an API. The switches then perform the desired lock operation and provide a response to the requesting node. Again, this greatly simplifies the programs used on the nodes and unburdens them from many time consuming activities, providing improved cluster performance. | 11-12-2009 |
| 20090274169 | DYNAMIC LINK DISTANCE CONFIGURATION FOR EXTENDED FABRIC - A method to dynamically allocate credits for a particular port to port link based on measured link distance during the initial interswitch link configuration process. An apparatus implementing such method or a software upgrade to retrofit existing switches. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090274162 | PORT EXPANDER FOR FIBRE CHANNEL FABRICS IN STORAGE AREA NETWORKS - An port expander Fibre Channel switch presents F_ports to form a first Fibre Channel fabric and N_ports to a second Fibre Channel fabric to appear as node devices. The port expander may be used to connect a plurality of blade servers to a Fibre Channel fabric. Fabric events engendered by the insertion or removal of hot-pluggable devices are handled by the port expander and “event storms” on the Fibre Channel fabric are avoided. The port expander presents the blade servers to the FC fabric as a virtualized N_port. | 11-05-2009 |
| 20090271432 | TEMPLATE-BASED DEVELOPMENT OF SERVERS - A server instance, which is a collection of LUNs, containing an operating system, any applications and data storage. A processing element is the physical hardware. The combination is a server as normally understood. Templates are used to define server instances and server types to simplify deploying a server instance to a processing element. A graphical user interface provides the templates where the particular storage groups are identified and then server instances are created from lists of operating systems, applications, and available storage. The management service processor is a PXE server and provides the necessary software to identify the components of the processing element and correlate between the processing element and a server instance. The management service processor then automatically provides software to the processing element to allow it correctly boot. The management service processor manages the interconnection of the processing element and the relevant LUNs. | 10-29-2009 |
| 20090185678 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR COMPRESSION OF DATA ON STORAGE UNITS USING DEVICES INSIDE A STORAGE AREA NETWORK FABRIC - The capability to encrypt or compress the traffic over network links, thus improving the security of the link on the performance of the links, and the capability to encrypt/decrypt data stored on the storage devices without requiring specialized hosts or storage devices. In a first embodiment, traffic to be routed over a selected link needing encryption and/or compression is routed to hardware which performs the encryption and/or compression and returned for transmission over the link. A complementary unit at the second end of the link routes the received frames to complementary hardware to perform the decryption and/or decompression. The recovered frames are then routed to the target device in a normal fashion. In a variation of this first embodiment the hardware is developed using an FPGA. This allows simple selection of the desired feature or features present in the switch. The switch can be easily configured to perform encryption, compression or both, allowing great flexibility to a system administrator. In a second embodiment frames can be encrypted by a switch and then provided to the storage device in this encrypted manner. The frames from the storage device are decrypted before provision to the requesting host. By performing the encryption and decryption in the switch, conventional hosts and storage devices can be utilized. | 07-23-2009 |
| 20090154358 | AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT OF LOGICAL CHANNELS IN A FIBRE CHANNEL NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates automatic adjustment of logical channels in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. During operation, the system receives FC data frames. A respective data frame is associated with a logical channel. The bandwidth on an FC link can be allocated into a plurality of logical channels, and a respective logical channel is associated with a dedicated buffer and can transport a plurality of data flows with data frames of variable length. The system then identifies a slow data flow in a first logical channel. Next, the system assigns the slow data flow to a second logical channel, thereby preventing the slow data flow from slowing down other data flows in the first logical channel. The system subsequently forwards the data frames in the slow data flow on the second logical channel onto an outgoing link. | 06-18-2009 |
| 20090150533 | DETECTING NEED TO ACCESS METADATA DURING DIRECTORY OPERATIONS - In at least some disclosed embodiments, a method includes receiving a request to list information about data in a first directory, and searching for a unique symbol in the first directory based on the request. The unique symbol is associated with a stub file in the first directory. The method further includes providing information about data in a second directory in response to the request if the unique symbol is found. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150477 | DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION USING NATIVE SERVER FUNCTIONS - In at least some disclosed embodiments, a method includes a) creating a first stub file on a target file server, b) creating a t-stub file at the location of the source directory, c) copying source data into a hidden directory on the target file server, thus creating target data, d) overwriting the first stub file by renaming the target data, e) applying one or more server functions to the target data, and f) deleting source data from the source file server. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150462 | DATA MIGRATION OPERATIONS IN A DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM - In at least some disclosed embodiments, a method includes a) creating a first stub file on a target file server. The first stub file is created in a target directory, and the first stub file points to source data in a source directory on a source file server. The method further includes b) creating a t-stub file at the location of the source directory. The t-stub file points to the target directory, and the source directory allows access to the source data when accessed due to the first stub file. The method further includes c) copying the source data into a hidden directory on the target file server, thus creating target data, d) overwriting the first stub file by renaming the target data, and e) deleting the source data from the source file server. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150461 | SIMPLIFIED SNAPSHOTS IN A DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM - A method includes copying first source data from a first source share to a first target share, thus creating first target data. The first source data comprises a source stub file, the source stub file comprises first source information, the first target data comprises a target stub file, and the target stub file comprises second source information. The method further includes associating the first source information with a source s-stub file, and associating the second source information with a target s-stub file. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150460 | MIGRATION IN A DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM - A method includes creating a temporary target s-stub file. The temporary target s-stub file points to a source share. The method further includes creating a plurality of stub files in a target top-level directory on a target share. Each stub file out of the plurality of stub files corresponds to source data. The source data includes files and subdirectories in a source top-level directory on a source share. The plurality of stub files include source information, the source information is associated with the temporary target s-stub file, and a source s-stub file points to the source share. The method further includes remapping the source s-stub to point to the target share. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150449 | OPEN FILE MIGRATION OPERATIONS IN A DISTRIBUTED FILE SYSTEM - In at least some disclosed embodiments, a method includes a) creating a first stub file on a target file server, b) creating a t-stub file at the location of the source directory, c) disabling performance of operations on the source data while allowing completion of operations in progress, d) copying the source data into a hidden directory on the target file server, thus creating target data, e) overwriting the first stub file by renaming the target data, f) enabling performance of operations on the target data, g) performing queued operations on the target data, and h) deleting the source data from the source file server. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090150414 | DETECTING NEED TO ACCESS METADATA DURING FILE OPERATIONS - A method includes receiving a request, probing a first file server based on the request, and reading a stub file on the first file server based on a result of the probing. The stub file includes target information. The method further includes storing at least a portion of the target information. | 06-11-2009 |
| 20090141714 | CACHING REMOTE SWITCH INFORMATION IN A FIBRE CHANNEL SWITCH - A network of switches with a distributed name server configuration and caching of remote node device information is disclosed. The network preferably comprises a first switch coupled to a second switch. Each of the switches directly couple to respective node devices. The first switch maintains a name server database about its local node devices, as does the second switch. The second switch further maintains a information cache about remote node devices. The name server preferably notifies other switches of changes to the database, and the cache manager preferably uses the notifications from other switches to maintain the cache. The name server accesses the cache to respond to queries about remote node devices. The cache manager may also aggregate notification messages from other switches when notifying local devices of state changes. Traffic overhead and peak traffic loads may advantageously be reduced. | 06-04-2009 |
| 20090119396 | WORKLOAD MANAGEMENT WITH NETWORK DYNAMICS - A workload management system identifies a first source device and first destination device which can be used to perform a job function. The system further communicates information about the first source device and destination device to one or more switches, and receives a set of network parameters along a data path from the first source device to the first destination device. The system then determines resources available on the first source device and/or first destination device. In addition, the system determines whether the first source device and first destination device, if used for the job function, can satisfy a set of SLAs for that job function based on the network parameters along a data path from the first source device to the first destination device and the determined resources available on the first source device and/or first destination device. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090116507 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR FACILITATING QUALITY OF SERVICE IN EDGE DEVICES IN A FIBRE CHANNEL NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates quality of service (QoS) in a Fibre Channel (FC) host bus adaptor (HBA). In this system the bandwidth on an FC link between the HBA and the FC switch can be allocated into a plurality of logical channels, and a respective logical channel can transport data frames of variable length. Furthermore, a respective logical channel is associated with a dedicated buffer. During operation, the HBA communicates to an FC switch the HBA's capability of receiving or sending a data flow over a logical channel that couples the HBA to the FC switch. The HBA further receives logical-channel allocation information from the FC switch. Furthermore, the HBA associates data frames with a logical channel and transmits data frames to the FC switch on the corresponding logical channel. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090116381 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR CONGESTION MANAGEMENT IN A FIBRE CHANNEL NETWORK - One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates congestion management in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. During operation, the system determines a threshold data rate on an outgoing link coupled to an FC switch. The system further determines the number of sources that send data to the outgoing link and an aggregate arrival rate of data for the outgoing link. Next, the system determines an injection data rate for a respective source based on the threshold data rate on the outgoing link, the number of sources transmitting data to the outgoing link, and the aggregate arrival data rate for the outgoing link. Subsequently, the system communicates the injection data rate to the source, thereby allowing the source to throttle its data injection in the FC network to prevent network congestion. | 05-07-2009 |
| 20090106470 | HOST BUS ADAPTER WITH MULTIPLE HOSTS - A multi-host host bus adapter (HBA) can be connected to multiple host devices to allow the multiple host devices to communicate on a SAN fabric. More specifically, the multi-host HBA provides an interface for multiple SAN hosts without necessitating an HBA on each host, eliminating the need for an on-board HBA on each SAN host. The multi-host HBA interfaces to memory in each SAN host to which it is connected using PCI-Express (or a similar protocol), and communicates with other devices on the SAN fabric using Fibre Channel ports. The multi-host HBA communicates by receiving a command from a connected host, forwarding the command to a processor in the multi-host HBA, and sending the command to a device on a SAN. When the multi-host HBA receives a response from the device on the SAN, the multi-host HBA associates the response with the process and sends the response to the host. | 04-23-2009 |
| 20090097495 | FLEXIBLE VIRTUAL QUEUES - Flexible virtual queues of a switch are allocated to provide non-blocking virtual output queue (VOQ) support. A port ASIC has a set of VOQs, one VOQ per supported port of the switch. For each VOQ, a set of virtual input queues (VIQs) includes a VIQ for each input port of the port ASIC that forms a non-blocking flow with the corresponding output port (and potentially, with the specified level of service) in the switch. The port ASIC selects a VOQ for transmission and then arbitrates among the VIQs of the selected VOQ to select a VIQ from which to transmit the packet. Having identified an appropriate VIQ, the port ASIC transmits cells of the packet at the head of the VIQ to a port ASIC that includes the corresponding output port for reassemble and eventual transmission through the output port. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090073992 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING PROXY AND TRANSLATION DOMAINS IN A FIBRE CHANNEL ROUTER - A Fibre 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 Fibre Channel router can be in a fabric, but other ports can be connected to other fabrics. Fibre Channel routers can be interconnected using a backbone fabric. Global, interfabric and encapsulation headers are developed to allow routing by conventional Fibre Channel switch devices in the backbone fabric and simplify Fibre 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. | 03-19-2009 |
| 20090028046 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING BANDWIDTH-CONSUMING FRAME FLOWS IN A NETWORK - A port monitor monitors network traffic that passes through a port of a switch. Frame flows routed through the switch are counted by hardware frame counting logic, which includes a content-addressable memory (CAM) and counters corresponding to various frame flows. Port monitor software includes logical containers (“buckets”), which are used to record and sort counts of the frame flows from hardware based on activity of the frame flows. Frame flow sorting is based on confidence building algorithms such that the thrashing of frame flows between buckets is reduced. Storage and sorting of the frame flows in software allows the activity level of any number of frame flows associated with the switch to be counted, regardless of hardware limitations on how many frame flows can be counted. This allows a real-time analysis of frame flows and a determination of frame flows that are major users of Fibre Channel bandwidth. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20080215915 | Mechanism to Change Firmware in a High Availability Single Processor System - A “high availability” system comprises multiple switches under the control of a control processor (“CP”). The firmware executing on the processor can be changed when desired. Consistent with the high availability nature of the system (i.e., minimal down time), a single CP system implements a firmware change by loading new firmware onto the system, saving state information pertaining to the old firmware, preventing the old firmware from communicating with the switches, bringing the new firmware to an active state and applying the saved state information to the new firmware. | 09-04-2008 |
