Patent ID: 9081910
Filing Date: 2015-07-14
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method operable in a Fast Context Switch (FCS) enhanced Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) expander, the FCS enhanced SAS expander adapted to couple with an initiator device and adapted to couple with one or more other FCS enhanced SAS expanders, the method comprising: establishing a first connection between an initiator device and a first target device, wherein the first connection comprises coupling an upstream physical link (PHY) of the expander with a downstream PHY of the expander and wherein the first connection utilizes the upstream physical link (PHY) for coupling with the initiator device and utilizes the downstream PHY for coupling with the first target device; detecting completion of utilization of the first connection; responsive to detecting completion, determining whether a second connection between the initiator device and a second target device could be established utilizing the coupling between the upstream PHY and the downstream PHY, based on whether a CLOSE(SWITCH) primitive is received at the expander; de-coupling the upstream PHY from the downstream PHY within the expander in response to determining that the second connection does not utilize the coupling between upstream PHY and the downstream PHY; and maintaining the coupling within the expander between the upstream PHY and the downstream PHY for utilization in the second connection in response to determining that the second connection utilizes the coupling between the upstream PHY and the downstream PHY.