Patent ID: 7525968
Filing Date: 2009-04-28
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A Fibre Channel switch element for routing Fibre Channel frames, comprising: a plurality of ports for receiving and transmitting Fibre Channel frames, wherein each port includes: a receive segment for receiving a Fibre Channel frame; a transmit segment for transmitting the Fibre channel Frame; wherein the receive segment is configured to: (a) parse the received Fibre Channel frame by extracting a start of frame (SOF) value from a frame header for the Fibre Channel frame; (b) determine if the received Fibre Channel frame is a Class F frame by matching the SOF value extracted from the received frame header with a start of frame delimiter of a class F Fibre Channel frame; and (c) if the received Fibre Channel frame is a Class F frame and if automatic routing of a Class F frame is enabled for the port that received the Class F Frame, then automatically route the Class F frame to a Domain Controller, if the Class F frame is addressed to the Domain Controller; wherein if the Fibre Channel frame is a Class F frame, as determined in step (c) and not destined for the Domain Controller, then the Fibre Channel frame is not sent to the Domain Controller; and wherein if automatic routing is disabled for the port and the Fibre Channel frame is a Class F frame, then the Class F frame is processed by a processor for the Fibre Channel switch element.