Claims
- 1. A segmented fibre channel communications system, comprising:
a segmentation router comprising a plurality of ports; a plurality of physical addresses associated with said segmentation router; control instructions associated with said segmentation router for establishing said segmentation router as a master router by initializing each at least a predetermined subset of said plurality of ports on a fibre channel arbitrated loop associated with said segmentation router, thereby causing said segmentation router to win the LISM process performed by said fibre channel arbitrated loop and causing the segmentation of said physical addresses.
- 2. The segmented fibre channel communications system of claim 1, wherein said control system sets a range of address bits in an arbitrated loop primitive to 1, thereby preventing other arbitrated loop ports attached to a router other than said master router form acquiring a duplicate address, thereby establishing a plurality of sub-loops each associated with a predetermined set of physical addresses.
- 3. The segmented fibre channel communications system of claim 1, whereby said plurality of physical addresses form a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented end devices.
- 4. The segmented fibre channel communications system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of physical addresses form a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented storage devices.
- 5. The segmented fibre channel communications system of claim 1, wherein said plurality of physical addresses form a plurality of sub-loops operable simultaneously to effectively rise the total data flow rate throughout said fibre channel arbitrated loop.
- 6. The segmented fibre channel communications system of claim 1, wherein said private loop devices are segmented according to a predetermined number of segmentation loops.
- 7. A method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop for providing simultaneously multiple conversations and multiplicative bandwidth, comprising the steps of:
dividing available arbitrated loop physical addresses on a plurality of sub-Loops using a segmentation router to generate a perceived contiguous loop by performing the steps of initializing a plurality of ports on the segmenting router on the fibre channel arbitrated loop so that the segmenting router becomes a select master router and wins the loop initiator slave-master arbitrated process; sending LIPA, LIHA, LISA frames from the segmenting router, so that a segmentation router bytes except the range of address bits set to 1 to prevent other NL-ports attached to other router from acquiring a duplicated address; continuing this process until each router has completed the process thereby making all addresses attached to the router unique so that the router can route frames from one “sub-loop” to another.
- 8. The method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop of claim 7, further comprising the steps of transmitting fibre channel arbitrated loop primitives to the fibre channel arbitrated loop from each of said at least a predetermined subset of said plurality of ports, said transmission beginning with fibre channel arbitrated loop primitive frames having all but the arbitrated loop range of address bits set to 1, thereby preventing other arbitrated loop ports attached to a router other than said master router from acquiring a duplicate address, thereby establishing a plurality of sub-loops each associated with a predetermined et of physical addresses.
- 9. The method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop of claim 7, further comprising the step of forming from said plurality of physical addresses a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented end devices.
- 10. The method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop of claim 7, further comprising the steps of forming from said plurality of physical addresses a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented storage devices.
- 11. The method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop of claim 7, further comprising the step of forming from said plurality of physical addresses as a plurality of sub-loops operable simultaneously to effectively raise the total data flow rate throughout said fibre channel arbitrated loop.
- 12. The method for segmenting a fibre channel arbitrated loop of claim 7, further comprising the step of segmenting said private loop devices according to a predetermined number of segmentation loops.
- 13. A method for forming a segmented fibre channel communications system, comprising the steps of:
forming a segmentation router comprising a plurality of ports; forming a plurality of physical addresses associated with said segmentation router; forming control instructions associated with said segmentation router for establishing said segmentation router as a master router by initializing each of at least a predetermined subset of said plurality of ports on a fibre channel arbitrated Loop associated with said segmentation router; thereby causing said segmentation router to win the LISM process performed by said fibre channel arbitrated loop and causing the segmentation of said physical addresses.
- 14. The segmented fibre channel communications system forming method of claim 13, further comprising the step of forming said control instructions to further comprising instructions for transmitting fibre channel arbitrated loop primitives to the fibre channel arbitrated loop from each of said at least a predetermined subset of said plurality of ports, said transmission beginning with fibre channel arbitrated loop primitives having all but the arbitrated loop range of address bits set to 1, thereby preventing other arbitrated loop ports attached to a router other than said master router form acquiring a duplicate address, thereby establishing a plurality of sub-loops each associated with a predetermined set of physical addresses.
- 15. The segmented fibre channel communications system forming method of claim 13, further comprising the step of forming said plurality of physical address to comprise a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented end devices.
- 16. The segmented fibre channel communications system forming method of claim 13, further comprising the step of forming said plurality of physical addresses to comprise a plurality of sub-loops comprising a plurality of segmented storage devices.
- 17. The segmented fibre channel communication system forming method of claim 13, further comprising the step of forming said plurality of physical addresses to comprise a plurality of sub-loops operable simultaneously to effectively raise the total data flow rate throughout said fibre channel arbitrated loop.
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/198,867, filed Jul. 18, 2002, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 09/611,173, filed Jul. 6, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,007, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 08/907,385, filed Aug. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,776.
Continuations (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10198867 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Child |
10289128 |
Nov 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09611173 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Child |
10198867 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Parent |
08907385 |
Aug 1997 |
US |
Child |
09611173 |
Jul 2000 |
US |