Patent ID: 6847647
Filing Date: 2005-01-25
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network comprising: a network fabric comprising at least two switches and a plurality of links, each link connected to a least one switch of the at least two switches; a first N_Port connected to a link of the network fabric; a second N_Port connected to a link of the network fabric; wherein there exists a first path and a second path from the first N_Port to the second N_Port through the network fabric; wherein network traffic in a first direction from the first N_Port to the second N_Port is automatically distributed between the first path and the second path by one of the at least two switches such that frames transmitted in the first direction and related to any single exchange are transmitted over the same path of the first and second paths yet frames transmitted in the first direction and related to different but overlapping exchanges need not follow the same path; wherein frames are routed by at least one routing table, the routing table having inputs comprising a hash function of a destination identifier of a frame header and at least one bit of an originator exchange identifier and the hash function further comprises a first hash sub-function of at least one bit of the destination identifier and having an output, a second hash sub-function of the at least one bit of the originator exchange identifier and having an output, and a concatenation operation of the output of the first hash sub-function with the output of the second hash sub-function.