Claims
- 1. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the Loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first Arbitrated Loop containing one or more private loop devices, one or more additional Arbitrated Loops containing one or more private loop devices, and a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system disposed between the first Arbitrated Loop and an additional Arbitrated Loop.
- 2. An Interconnection system for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the Loops adapted to contain one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first Arbitrated Loop adapted to contain one or more private loop devices, one or more additional Arbitrated Loops adapted to contain one or more private loop devices, and a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system disposed between the first Arbitrated Loop and an additional Arbitrated Loop.
- 3. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system is a Fiber Channel fabric.
- 4. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system is an intelligent bridging hub.
- 5. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system implements route filtering.
- 6. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system implements port ALPA range configuration.
- 7. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system implements I/O probe spoofing.
- 8. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system resets a port which has a host connected to it upon the addition of storage on an Arbitrated Loop connected to an additional Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system port.
- 9. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 where there are 2 loops.
- 10. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 where there are more than loops.
- 11. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the private loop devices include storage.
- 12. The interconnection system of claim 11 wherein the storage is JBODs.
- 13. The interconnection system of claim 11 wherein the storage is RAIDs.
- 14. The interconnection system of claim 11 wherein the storage is tape drives.
- 15. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the private loop devices include hosts.
- 16. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 further including one or more public loop devices.
- 17. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the private loop devices includes a bridge.
- 18. The interconnection system of claim 17 wherein the bridge is a SCSI to Fibre Channel bridge.
- 19. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein the private loop devices includes a router.
- 20. The interconnection system of claim 19 wherein the router connects Fibre Channel to asynchronous transfer mode (ATM).
- 21. The interconnection system of claim 19 wherein the router connects Fibre Channel to ethernet.
- 22. The interconnection system of claim 21 wherein the router connects Fibre Channel to fast ethernet.
- 23. The interconnection system of claim 21 wherein the router connects Fibre Channel to a gigabit ethernet.
- 24. The interconnection system of claim 1 or 2 wherein at least one arbitrated loop connection includes a hub.
- 25. The interconnection system of claims 1 or 2 wherein there are redundant connections between a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system and an attached storage unit or host unit.
- 26. An interconnection system for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, with at least one Arbitrated Loop, and a second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, with at least one Arbitrated Loop, the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system and second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system being directly connected.
- 27. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, with at least one Arbitrated Loop, a second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and a third Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, with at least one Arbitrated Loop, the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system being directly connected to the second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, which is directly connected to the third Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 28. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising.
a first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, with M ports, M-1 second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system directly connecting to each of the M-1 Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and a JBOD connected to the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 29. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system with M ports, and M second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, each second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system connected to the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 30. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, a second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and at least a first device, the first device connected to the first Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system and to the second Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 31. An Interconnection System for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising:
a first set of Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect systems, a second set of Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect systems, a first intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and a second intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, each of the first set of Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect systems connected to the first intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and separately to the second intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and each of the second set of Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect systems connected to the first intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, and separately to the second intermediate Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 32. A method for connecting a plurality of physically separate Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops, the loops containing one or more private loop devices, comprising the steps of:
providing a first Arbitrated Loop containing one or more private loop devices, providing one or more Arbitrated Loops containing one or more private loop devices, and disposing a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system between the first Arbitrated Loop and an additional Arbitrated Loop.
- 33. A method for implementing a logical loop of private loop devices, comprising the steps of:
segmenting the logical loop of private loop devices into a plurality of sets, assigning each set to a physical Arbitrated Loop, connecting the Arbitrated Loops to a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system to interconnect the Arbitrated Loops.
- 34. A method for routing frames between a private loop device on a first Arbitrated Loop and one or more private loop devices on at least a second Arbitrated Loop comprising the steps of:
receiving frames over the first Arbitrated Loop at a connected port of a Fiber Channel private loop device interconnect system, and filtering said frames by:
(1) forwarding the frame on the first Arbitrated Loop if it has an address on the first Arbitrated Loop and (2) providing an “open” response on the first Arbitrated Loop, if the address is not on the first Arbitrated Loop.
- 35. The method for routing frames of claim 34 further including the step of attempting to route the frame to the address which is not on the first Arbitrated Loop.
- 36. The method for routing frames of claim 34 further including the step of buffering of the frames destined to private loop devices not on the first Arbitrated Loop if the route cannot be made immediately.
- 37. The method for routing frames of claim 34 further including the step of look at destination address and compare with predefined table, then cut through if the route can be made immediately.
- 38. The method of claim 34 wherein the filtering is achieved by:
applying a mask to the received ALPA, comparing the results with preconfigured value, and comparing the result (match/no match) with a filter on the match/no match bit.
- 39. A method for configuring of multiple Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loops of private loop devices, each private loop device on an Arbitrated Loop having an Arbitrated Loop Physical Address (ALPA), comprising the steps of:
dividing the ALPAs into non-overlapping sets, assigning each set to a separate physical Arbitrated Loop, and during loop initialization, forcing the attached private loop devices to choose from the assigned set.
- 40. The method of claim 39 further including the step of interconnecting each subplurality through a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system.
- 41. A method for operation of an interconnection system, the system including more than one Arbitrated Loop, at least one loop adapted to contain storage and one loop containing a host, the devices attached to the loops being private loop devices, the loops being connected to a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, comprising the steps of:
detecting an addition of a storage device to a first Arbitrated Loop, and resetting the Arbitrated Loops on which hosts reside upon such detected addition.
- 42. A method for operation of an interconnection system, the system including more than one Arbitrated Loop, at least one loop adapted to contain storage and one loop containing a host, the devices attached to the loops being private loop devices, the loops being connected to a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, comprising the steps of:
receiving PLOGI I/O probes at a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, performing address lookup for the received PLOGI 1/0 probes, and if a match exists in the lookup, routing I/O probes from Fibre Channel SCSI initiator to private loop devices on the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system or other Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect systems.
- 43. A method for operation of an interconnection system, the system including more than one Arbitrated Loop, at least one loop adapted to contain storage and one loop containing a host, the devices attached to the loops being private loop devices, the loops being connected to a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, comprising the steps of:
receiving PLOGI I/O probes at a Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system, performing address lookup for the received PLOGI I/O probes, and routing the I/O probes to the Fibre Channel private loop device interconnect system controller and returning a link service reject if either there is no match found upon address lookup or if a match is found upon address lookup, but no device with the destination ALPA exists on the Arbitrated Loop corresponding to the destination.
- 44. The method of the preceding claim wherein the determination that no device with the destination ALPA exists on the Arbitrated Loop is performed by the steps of:
sending a class 3 frame on a loop, and simultaneously receiving the same frame on the same loop.
- 45. A bridging hub for connection of a plurality of Arbitrated Loops, the Arbitrated Loops being adapted to contain private loop devices, comprising:
at least first and second hub submodules,
the submodules comprising:
a plurality of ports, the ports including port bypass circuits connected to the ports for connection to the Arbitrated Loops adapted to contain private loop devices, and an ALPA filtering port, a router, the router disposed between the first and second hub submodules, and a processor control coupled to the router and the first and second submodules.
- 46. The bridging hub of claim 45 wherein the router does not support class 1 connections.
- 47. The bridging hub of claim 45 wherein the processor control does not provide backup route determination mechanisms.
RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION
[0001] This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/611,173, filed Jul. 6, 2000, now allowed, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/907,385, filed Aug. 7, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,776, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 08/801,471, filed Feb. 18, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,203.
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09611173 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Child |
10198867 |
Jul 2002 |
US |
Parent |
08907385 |
Aug 1997 |
US |
Child |
09611173 |
Jul 2000 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08801471 |
Feb 1997 |
US |
Child |
08907385 |
Aug 1997 |
US |