Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080250266 | LOGICAL PARTITIONING OF A PHYSICAL DEVICE - In one embodiment, an indication of a fault condition is received relating to a first service running on a physical device in a computer network. The first service is associated with a first virtual device context defined on the physical device. Then, the first service is disabled without affecting operation of a second service on the physical device. The second service is associated with a second virtual device context defined on the physical device. In another embodiment, a first virtual device context is created on a physical device in a computer network. Then, a second virtual device context is created on the physical device. The first virtual device context may then be managed independently of the second virtual device context such that resources assigned to a virtual device context are managed without affecting management of another virtual device context. | 10-09-2008 |
20090022069 | Preventing loops in networks operating different protocols to provide loop-free topology - A method and system for preventing loops in a network including network devices operating different protocols for providing loop-free topology are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving link state information at a network device operating a first protocol and in communication with a network device operating a second protocol, creating at least one tunnel to one or more other network devices operating the first protocol and in communication with a network device operating the second protocol, receiving a proposal, blocking designated boundary ports in communication with network devices operating the second protocol, and transmitting an agreement. | 01-22-2009 |
20090052474 | SELECTIVE BUILD FABRIC (BF) AND RECONFIGURE FABRIC (RCF) FLOODING - In one embodiment, detecting an initialization of a synchronization phase of a network device in a fiber channel fabric, performing synchronization phase optimization of the network device to select a predetermined number of interfaces, and transmitting a synchronization request on the predetermined number of interfaces, are provided. | 02-26-2009 |
20090067430 | PARTIAL BUILD OF A FIBRE CHANNEL FABRIC - In one embodiment, a technique for performing partial build fabric operations when merging two or more Fibre Channel fabrics is provided. By maintaining a Principal Switch already assigned for one of two merging fabrics, a limited “partial build” may be performed for the other merging fabric. As a result, the time required for a Principal Switch selection phase may be greatly reduced. | 03-12-2009 |
20090207737 | REDUCING PACKET DROPS IN NETWORKS GUARANTEEING IN-ORDER DELIVERY - In one embodiment, the convergence node switches of a destination node switch in a network having multiple equal paths between a source switch and destination switch are identified. When a new equal cost path is added to the network, packets are flushed up to the convergence node switch closest to the source switch. | 08-20-2009 |
20090219836 | DISTRIBUTED SPANNING TREE PROTOCOL ON A MULTI CHASSIS PORT CHANNEL - In one embodiment, a technique for routing traffic in networks represented by logical topologies, such as Multi Chassis Port Channel (MCPC) or Multi Chassis Ether Channel (MCEC) topologies, is provided. By modifying a port priority vector (PPV) to include an additional “Switch ID” field that identifies a designated bridge ID or a local switch ID, depending on whether the corresponding port is used as an MCT, a routing protocol designed to avoid loops in routing paths, such as STP, may avoid blocking MCT ports. | 09-03-2009 |
20090219928 | RETURNING DOMAIN IDENTIFICATIONS WITHOUT RECONFIGURATION - In one embodiment, a technique for returning Domain IDs to a Fibre Channel fabric without a full build fabric (BF) phase is provided. A switch in the fabric may send a principal switch a message requesting the return of one or more Domain IDs assigned to that device. The principal switch may update the list of fabric Domain IDs to remove the Domain IDs identified in the message and send the updated list to devices in the fabric. | 09-03-2009 |
20100027427 | Hop cost as secondary metric for equal cost multi-paths - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with computing path costs based on link cost as a primary metric and hop cost as a secondary metric are presented. The secondary metric facilitates distinguishing between what would be equal cost multi-paths if only link cost was employed. One example method includes computing a modified link cost for a plurality of paths between switches. The example method may also include determining a lowest modified link cost associated with a path between the switches. The example method may also include providing a signal identifying the lowest modified link cost. | 02-04-2010 |
20100309820 | Preventing loss of network traffic due to inconsistent configurations within the network - In one embodiment, a method includes receiving at a processor at a node, notification of an error in a VLAN to topology mapping at the node, receiving a multi-destination packet from the VLAN in the VLAN to topology mapping, the multi-destination packet including a tree identifier associated with one of the topologies, and transmitting the multi-destination packet to all forwarding ports at the node in an unpruned tree corresponding to the tree identifier contained in the multi-destination packet. An apparatus is also disclosed. | 12-09-2010 |
20100310253 | LESS LOSS IN-ORDER DELIVERY PROTOCOL FOR FIBRE CONNECTION ARCHITECTURE - Methods and apparatus for providing in-order delivery in Fibre Channel (FC) fabric are disclosed. A topological change between a first switch and a second switch is evaluated to determine whether the topological change may result in out-of-order delivery. If it is determined that the topological change may result in out-of-order delivery, a flush frame is sent to the second switch and stop-on-mark is performed on all interfaces of affected links. Upon receiving the flush frame, the second switch drains all virtual output queues (VOQs) and sends an acknowledgement frame to the first switch. The first switch resumes in-order-delivery in an affected link after receiving the acknowledgement frame or expiration of a lifetime time of a frame. | 12-09-2010 |
20110038257 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEQUENCING OPERATIONS FOR AN INCOMING INTERFACE CHECK IN DATA CENTER ETHERNET - In one embodiment, a method includes obtaining an indication that a state associated with a node is to be changed and preventing data from being received on a first link. The method also includes updating at least one selected from a group including an incoming interface check (IIC) table and an outgoing interface (OIF) table to reflect the state. The state indicates that a second link is to be activated. Finally, the method includes allowing the data to be received on the second link after updating either or both the IIC table and the OIF table and after the timer duration for the NULL value for IIC has expired. | 02-17-2011 |
20110064002 | Preventing loops in networks operating different protocols to provide loop-free topology - A method and apparatus for preventing loops in a network with network devices operating a spanning tree protocol and network devices operating a link state routing protocol to prevent loops are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving from one of the network devices operating a link state protocol, a link state routing synchronization packet at a first network device in communication with one of the network devices operating the spanning tree protocol, blocking at the first network device, boundary ports in communication with the network devices operating the spanning tree protocol, transmitting a link state routing synchronization acknowledgement packet at the first network device after the boundary ports are blocked, and performing a loop-free topology convergence process at the first network device. | 03-17-2011 |
20110200330 | Increasing the Number of Domain identifiers for Use by a Switch in an Established Fibre Channel Switched Fabric - The number of domain identifiers is incrementally increased for use by a switch in an established fibre channel switched fabric. In other words, the number of domains assigned to a switch by the Principal Switch of the fibre channel switched fabric is increased without triggering the reconfiguration of the established fibre channel switched fabric. In one implementation, incrementally adding one or more additional domain identifiers includes requesting said one or more additional domain identifiers from a Principal Switch of the fibre channel switched fabric using a different World Wide Name (WWN) than used to acquire the original one or more domain identifiers used by the switch. | 08-18-2011 |
20110219183 | SUB-AREA FCID ALLOCATION SCHEME - Certain embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to allocating a sub-area of Fibre Channel addresses (FCIDs) to a device. A range of addresses may be assigned to the device using a mask address, where the most significant bits represent a mask and the least significant bits represent a sub-range of FCIDs available to be assigned to the device. Therefore, routing information may be stored efficiently in a Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) by storing a single entry in the TCAM for each sub-area of FCIDs allocated to a device, instead of storing an entry for each FCID. The single entry may indicate the mask address and the width of the mask. | 09-08-2011 |
20110228670 | N_Port ID Virtualization node redundancy - In one embodiment, a method includes establishing a link between two N_Port Identifier Virtualization (NPIV) switches, the link having a high cost assigned thereto. The NPIV switches are in communication with a plurality of hosts through an N_Port Virtualization (NPV) device. The method further includes receiving at a first of the NPIV switches, an indication of a failure at a second of the NPIV switches, receiving data at the first NPIV switch, the data destined for one of the hosts associated with a domain of the second NPIV switch, and forwarding the data to the NPV device for delivery to the host, wherein a Fibre Channel Identifier (FCID) of the host is the same before and after the failure at the second NPIV switch. An apparatus is also disclosed. | 09-22-2011 |
20110261724 | SHARED VIRTUAL DEVICE PORTS - In one embodiment, a solution is provided wherein multiple virtual devices may be configured on the same physical port of a network device. For example, a first virtual device and a second virtual device may be configured to use the same physical port. A single internal spanning tree instance may be configured for both the first virtual device and the second virtual device. | 10-27-2011 |
20120082155 | RETURNING DOMAIN IDENTIFICATIONS WITHOUT RECONFIGURATION - In one embodiment, a technique for returning Domain IDs to a Fibre Channel fabric without a full build fabric (BF) phase is provided. A switch in the fabric may send a principal switch a message requesting the return of one or more Domain IDs assigned to that device. The principal switch may update the list of fabric Domain IDs to remove the Domain IDs identified in the message and send the updated list to devices in the fabric. | 04-05-2012 |
20120099855 | Domain-Independent Persistent Fibre Channel Identifiers - A Fibre Channel switch and related methods are provided for a relative addressing scheme for domain values used by the switch to avoid losing other portions of a Fibre Channel identifier if a particular run-time domain becomes invalid. At a Fibre Channel switch, data is stored that assigns a relative domain field value to a run-time domain in one of a plurality of virtual storage area networks. The relative domain field value used for a Fibre Channel identifier is determined for each of a plurality of devices connected to the Fibre Channel switch based on the run-time domain of the respective devices and the virtual storage area network in which the respective devices are active. A Fibre Channel identifier is stored in a memory of the Fibre Channel switch for each of the plurality of devices. The Fibre Channel identifier comprises the relative domain field value determined for the device together with area and port values for the device. The relative domain value is either a reserved domain field value for an existing virtual storage area network or any of the regular domain field values for a new virtual storage area network. The reserved domain field value is a domain field value that is not to be explicitly used in a Fibre Channel network for Fibre Channel identifiers according to the applicable Fibre Channel industry standards. | 04-26-2012 |
20120224510 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING TOPOLOGY CHANGES IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a spanning tree protocol topology change notification (STP TCN) in a network; removing topology data for a first plurality of gateways associated with a first network segment ID that is shared by a particular gateway that communicated the STP TCN; and communicating an edge TCN to a second plurality of gateways associated with a second network segment ID and for which topology data has not been removed based on the STP TCN. | 09-06-2012 |
20120278458 | Logical Partitioning Of A Physical Device - In one embodiment, an indication of a fault condition is received relating to a first service running on a physical device in a computer network. The first service is associated with a first virtual device context defined on the physical device. Then, the first service is disabled without affecting operation of a second service on the physical device. The second service is associated with a second virtual device context defined on the physical device. In another embodiment, a first virtual device context is created on a physical device in a computer network. Then, a second virtual device context is created on the physical device. The first virtual device context may then be managed independently of the second virtual device context such that resources assigned to a virtual device context are managed without affecting management of another virtual device context. | 11-01-2012 |
20130155902 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR NON-DISRUPTIVE MANAGEMENT OF SERVERS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - An example method includes disengaging a target node from a cluster, where the disengaging comprises: selecting an inheritor; migrating flows from the target node to the inheritor; informing a migration manager that the target node is disengaged from the cluster; and broadcasting to peer nodes of the target node that the target node is replaced by the inheritor. In particular implementations of the present disclosure, the cluster can include a first layer of a network topology including a forwarding engine that implements hash-based packet forwarding; a second layer of the network topology comprising the target node and the inheritor, where the target node and the inheritor implement flow-based packet forwarding; and a third layer including service nodes configured for packet processing in a network. | 06-20-2013 |
20140086041 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING N-WAY LINK-STATE ROUTING REDUNDANCY WITHOUT PEER LINKS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT - A method is provided in one example and includes broadcasting a switching node identifier associated with a first link-state protocol enabled switching node to a plurality of link-state protocol enabled switching nodes. The plurality of link-state protocol enabled switching nodes are in communication with one another by a link-state protocol cloud. The method further includes broadcasting a priority associated with the first link-state protocol enabled switching node to the plurality of link-state protocol enabled switching nodes. The method further includes broadcasting connectivity information of the first link-state protocol enabled switching node to the plurality of link-state protocol enabled switching nodes using the link-state protocol cloud. The connectivity information includes connectivity of the first link-state protocol enabled switching node with at least one spanning tree protocol enabled switching node. | 03-27-2014 |
20140153437 | Determining Multicast Root Nodes in a Telecommunications Network - In an embodiment, a method comprises: detecting a change in a multiple-switch configuration in a data communications network comprising a plurality of packet data switches configured as roots of multicast trees. In response to detecting that the multiple-switch configuration has changed, a first value, a second value and a third value representing limits on a number of multicast trees supported in the network and prioritization of the switches are retrieved. The method further comprises determining a type of the multiple-switch configuration change. In response to determining that the type indicates that a first switch was added to the multiple-switch configuration, using at least the first, second and third values, it is determined whether to configure the first switch as a first root in the multiple-switch configuration. The method is performed by one or more computing devices. | 06-05-2014 |
20140177431 | GRACEFUL FAILOVER OF A PRINCIPAL LINK IN A FIBER-CHANNEL FABRIC - In one embodiment, detecting a failure mode of a first communication link on a first port, selecting a second communication link on a second port associated with the first port, and transmitting a profile information associated with the second port are provided. | 06-26-2014 |
20150049767 | METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING DISTRIBUTED ALLOWED DOMAINS IN A DATA NETWORK - Method and system for providing distributed domains in a fiber channel fabric including determining a domain configuration of a resource, retrieving one or more current domain configuration parameters, determining a list of domains in a fiber channel fabric, and generating an updated domain list for the resource in the fabric is disclosed. | 02-19-2015 |