Patent ID: 8811227
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method comprising: during an instantaneous merge process of a stand-alone switch with a Fibre Channel (FC) network, sending a first Exchange Fabric Parameters (EFP) frame from the stand-alone switch to an FC switch in the FC network, wherein the first EFP frame has an empty domain identifier (ID) list; receiving, at the stand-alone switch, a second EFP frame from the FC switch, the second EFP frame containing a domain ID list of domain IDs already in use in the FC network; and comparing the domain ID list in the second EFP frame with a stored domain ID list of one or more domain IDs associated with the stand-alone switch to determine if there is a conflict between the domain ID list stored in the stand-alone switch and the domain ID list in the second EFP frame, wherein the stored domain ID list of one or more domain IDs associated with the stand-alone switch is not sent to the FC switch in the FC network, and wherein the instantaneous merge process does not include a Build Fabric Phase and a Principal Switch Selection Phase.