Patent ID: 7474666
Filing Date: 2009-01-06
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A network device, comprising: an ingress port; at least one buffer associated with the ingress port; at least one egress port; and at least one processor configured to do the following: receive a first Fibre Channel packet from ingress port; determining that a header of the first Fibre Channel packet indicates that the first Fibre Channel packet should be transmitted to a first egress port; store a copy of the first Fibre Channel packet in a buffer associated with the ingress port; transmit a first replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to the first egress port; and transmit a second replica of the first Fibre Channel packet to a second egress port, the second egress port is not configured to participate in the buffer-to-buffer credit flow control mechanism of the Fibre Channel protocol, wherein the second egress port is not configured to act as an ingress port.