Patent ID: 8155518
Filing Date: 2012-04-10
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A Fibre Channel load balancer coupled to a plurality of Fibre Channel paths, the Fibre Channel load balancer comprising: a detector operable to monitor Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths and identify Fibre Channel traffic characteristics and Fibre Channel path characteristics; and path selection logic operable to adaptively select the Fibre Channel paths for routing the Fibre Channel traffic based on the Fibre Channel traffic characteristics and the Fibre Channel path characteristics to balance the Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths, wherein the path selection logic is further operable to periodically update a list of the Fibre Channel paths from which the path selection logic adaptively selects the Fibre Channel paths to balance the Fibre Channel traffic across the Fibre Channel paths, wherein the Fibre Channel path characteristics comprise speeds of the Fibre Channel paths, and wherein the Fibre Channel load balancer further comprises a filter operable to filter the Fibre Channel traffic and generate a statistical model of the Fibre Channel traffic for input to the path selection logic, wherein the path selection logic is further operable to adaptively select the Fibre Channel paths for routing the Fibre Channel traffic based on the generated statistical model, wherein the filter is communicatively coupled to a port speed normalizer that is used to normalize the speeds of the Fibre Channel paths and wherein the filter is further operable to perform a moving exponential average of the Fibre Channel traffic after normalizing the speeds.