Patent ID: 8266431
Filing Date: 2012-09-11
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. In a network device having a plurality of ports, a method of encrypting data, comprising: receiving by one of the plurality of ports a command frame, the command frame being a write command frame including a source identifier and a destination identifier, the source identifier identifying a host and the destination identifier identifying a storage medium; transmitting by the one of the plurality of ports the command frame to the destination identifier; receiving a frame including data by the one of the plurality of ports, the frame having a header including a source address and a destination address, wherein the source address identifies the host and the destination address identifies the storage medium; obtaining the data from the frame by the one of the plurality of ports; encrypting the data by the one of the plurality of ports to generate encrypted data; generating a modified frame including the encrypted data by the one of the plurality of ports; and transmitting the modified frame including the encrypted data by the one of the plurality of ports to the destination address; receiving a credit from the storage medium; and transmitting the credit to the host when the modified frame is generated and transmitted; wherein obtaining, encrypting, and generating are performed by a processor of the one of the plurality of ports such that encryption is automatically performed on a per-port basis by the processor of the one of the plurality of ports.