Abstract:
Translating between a first communication protocol used by a first network component and a second communication protocol used by a second network, where translating includes: receiving, by a network engine adapter operating independently from the first and second network components, data packets from the first and second network components; and performing, by the network engine, a combined communication protocol based on the first communication protocol and the second communication protocol, including manipulating data packets of at least one of the first communication protocol or the second communication protocol, thereby offloading performance requirements for the combined communication protocol from the first and second network components.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
       [0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to European Patent Application No. 10305593 filed Jun. 4, 2010, the entire text of which is specifically incorporated by reference herein. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, apparatus, and products for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    Ethernet protocol refers to one type of network system protocol that a local area network (LAN) may employ. A conventional specification for a LAN often employs Ethernet protocols. The Ethernet standard provides the hardware and software interfaces for network devices in a network system. Ethernet also provides for connection of a network system to the Internet via a cable modem, a DSL modem, or other communications interface. The IEEE 802.3 standard defines the basic structure and protocol of Ethernet network systems. A network fabric is the physical infrastructure of a network that enables the connection of one network device to another network device. Network fabrics typically include connective cabling such as twisted pair wiring, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable or other connectivity structures. Network fabrics may also include network switches, network routers, network hubs and other connective network devices that share a common bandwidth and network protocol such as Ethernet, Fiber Channel, or other network protocol. 
         [0006]    Ethernet network devices transmit data with Ethernet frames that are commonly known as Ethernet data packets. Ethernet data packets are variable length data transmissions that typically exhibit lengths from 72 to 1518 bytes or longer jumbo frames. Each Ethernet data packet includes a header with the addresses of the source and destination network devices, a data area, and a trailer that includes error correction data. Other network protocols such as IP (Internet Protocol) and IPX (Internetwork Packet EXchange) may fragment longer data transmissions through special use of Ethernet frames or data packets. In a similar process, Fiber Channel frames or data packets provide the data transmission mechanism for the Fiber Channel protocol. Fiber Channel is currently a multi-gigabit network technology that network systems employ primarily for use by storage devices. Fiber Channel is a standard in the T11 Technical Committee of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Despite the name, Fiber Channel signals may operate over copper wire as well as fiber optic cables. Fiber Channel Protocol (FCP) is the interface protocol of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) in a Fiber Channel network system. 
         [0007]    One problem that exists when supporting multiple network protocols in a server is a connectivity issue between a server and other network devices such as a client. A server requires multiple adapter types and cabling to handle each network protocol type. This multiple protocol network system requires the use of different fabric managers for each protocol type as well. In other words, if a server in a network system employs both Ethernet and Fiber Channel protocols, the server typically requires an Ethernet adapter and a Fiber Channel adapter, as well as respective fabric managers for each protocol. Such a server may also require respective cabling for the Ethernet adapter and the Fiber Channel adapter. 
         [0008]    Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) is a protocol for tunneling Fiber Channel (FC) frames over Ethernet frames. It is a new approach towards I/O consolidation by preserving all FC constructs, maintaining the same latency, security and traffic management attributes of FC. Data centers typically configure their servers with a pair of FC Host Bus Adapters (HBA) and two or more Ethernet Network Interface Cards (NIC), but with FCoE support, they can now be converged in to a single adapter. FCoE enables the consolidation of both SAN&#39;s and Ethernet traffic onto a converged network adapter (CAN), thereby reducing the number of adapters, cables and power consumption. 
         [0009]    There are multiple ways to implement FCoE on a system. The easiest way is to have a PCIe to FCoE adapter card added to the system. However this implementation is expensive, since there is a need to buy a new card, and will consume some portion of the PCIe bandwidth. 
         [0010]    Another solution could be to replace the existing NIC (Ethernet card) with a Converged Enhanced Ethernet card and implement the FCoE stack in software. This method also adds cost in replacing the NIC with a CEE card and will use up a large amount of Processor bandwidth and can impact the performance of the system. 
         [0011]    In the Patent Application Publication US 2009/0034522 A1 “Transporting Fiber Channel over Ethernet” by Hayes et al. a method of converting the Ethernet adapter to the FCoE adapter by reusing the existing Ethernet adapter card and adding a FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) as a hardware assist engine for implementing FCoE is disclosed. Fiber Channel data comprises Fiber Channel data frames, primitive signals and primitive sequences. Transporting Fiber Channel data over Ethernet enables existing Ethernet equipment including Ethernet switches and Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) to connect to, communicate with and provide services for SANs that are based on Fiber Channel technology or have Fiber Channel interfaces. All of the above can be accomplished by using an apparatus that transforms Fiber Channel data into Ethernet frames and vice-versa. This apparatus is called a Fiber Channel over Ethernet Transformer (FCOE Transformer). Methods of implementing the FCoE Transformer include using independent Ethernet and Fiber Channel interfaces connected by a network processor, by using a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), by using a special purpose ASIC, by software running on a Ethernet or Fiber Channel connected device, by hardware state machines, or by a combination of hardware and software. The FCoE Transformer can be placed on an Ethernet NIC, in an Ethernet MAC, in an Ethernet switch, in a Fiber Channel switch, in a Fiber Channel HBA, or any place in between a Fiber Channel device and an Ethernet device. 
         [0012]    In the Patent Application Publication US 2009/0245791 A1 “Method and System for Fiber Channel and Ethernet Interworking” by Thaler et al. a method of reusing an existing Ethernet adapter card and embedding a Fiber Channel (FC) processor as an integrated chip in the Ethernet card for the FCoE implementation is disclosed. A network switch may be operable to perform Ethernet switching operations between a plurality of clients and server. The network switch may enable level 2 (L2) switching operations, for example. The network switch may be coupled to a host via a PCI root complex. The network switch may comprise one or more Ethernet ports, a MAC, a processor, a memory, a server provided MAC addressing (SPMA) table, an FC processor, and a plurality of FC ports. The processor and the FC processor may be a separate integrated chip embedded on a motherboard or may be embedded in a NIC. The FC processor may comprise suitable logic, interfaces, code, and/or one or more circuits that may be operable to receive and/or communicate FC packets via the plurality of FC ports from/to one or more FC switches, for example, FC switch via the Fiber Channel fabric. The FC processor may be operable to encapsulate FC packets into FCoE packets and/or encapsulate FCoE packets into FC packets. 
         [0013]    In the Patent Application Publication US 2009/0052346 A1 “Method and Apparatus for Enabling an Adapter in a Network Device to Discover the Name of another Adapter of another Network Device in a Network System” by Brown et al. a network protocol translation between Ethernet and FCoE (CEE) via a FCoE bridge is disclosed. A method of positioning the FCoE Bridge in between server NIC and Ethernet switch adapter is also disclosed. Communication or transfer of network data from Fiber Channel devices such as Fiber Channel adapter to Ethernet devices such as enhanced Ethernet adapter requires Fiber Channel to Ethernet data packet translation. Here the FCoE Bridge acts as the translation mechanism for the transfer of data between Fiber Channel protocol and Ethernet protocol network data structures. The FCoE Bridge provides translation from Fiber Channel to Ethernet protocols in one direction. The FCoE bridge also provides translation in the opposite direction, namely from Ethernet to Fiber Channel protocols. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    Methods, network engine adapters, and products for translating between a first communication protocol used by a first network component and a second communication protocol used by a second network are disclosed that include receiving, by a network engine adapter operating independently from the first and second network components, data packets from the first and second network components; and performing, by the network engine, a combined communication protocol based on the first communication protocol and the second communication protocol, including manipulating data packets of at least one of the first communication protocol or the second communication protocol, thereby offloading performance requirements for the combined communication protocol from the first and second network components. 
         [0015]    The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular descriptions of exemplary embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numbers generally represent like parts of exemplary embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  is a schematic block diagram of a computer network providing at least two network component and at least one network engine adapter, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 2  is a schematic block diagram of the network engine adapter of  FIG. 1 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0018]      FIG. 3  is a schematic block diagram of an Inbound/Outbound Logic for the network engine adapter of  FIG. 2 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 4  is a data packet of a combined communication protocol; 
           [0020]      FIG. 5  is a schematic flow chart of an outbound data flow of a method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0021]      FIG. 6  is a schematic flow chart of an inbound data flow of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0022]      FIG. 7  is a schematic flow chart of a pause frame conversion in outbound direction of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
           [0023]      FIG. 8  is a schematic flow chart of a pause frame conversion in inbound direction of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS 
       [0024]      FIG. 1  depicts a computer network providing at least a first network component  10  comprising an operating system  12 , a network adapter  14  and a port  16  using a first communication protocol (Ethernet) and a second network component  30  comprising a switch network adapter  34  and a port  36  using a second communication (Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE)) protocol. A network engine adapter  100  with a first port  162  connected to the port  16  of the first network component  10  and a second port  164  connected to the port  36  of the second network component  30  is arranged in a communication path between the first network component  10  and the second network component  30  to translate between the first communication protocol (Ethernet) and the second communication protocol (CEE) by manipulating data packets of the first communication protocol (Ethernet) and/or the second communication protocol (CEE). According to the present invention the network engine adapter  100  is operable as independent network component and performs offload functionality for a combined communication (Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)) protocol based on the first communication protocol (Ethernet) and the second communication protocol (CEE). 
         [0025]    Referring to  FIG. 1  the shown embodiment of the invention employs the network engine adapter  100  being implemented as independent device. Alternatively the network engine adapter  100  can be implemented as part of the first network component  10  or as part of the second network component  30 . Further the network adapter  14  as part of the first network component  10  is performing an Ethernet Protocol and the switch network adapter  34  as part of the second network component  30  is performing a Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) Protocol, wherein the network engine adapter  100  is performing offload functionality for a Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Protocol. The network engine adapter  100  is implemented as Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), for example. 
         [0026]    The Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Protocol requires the extended Ethernet protocol called Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) protocol. The CEE-protocol defines new packet format of “pause frames” for flow control. Usual 10 Gigabit Ethernet cards do not support the CEE-protocol and thus cannot be used in FCoE (CEE) fabrics. Also the FCoE-Protocol defines checksum for FC packets in an Ethernet frame on top of the Ethernet checksum, wherein the calculation of this Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data consumes a lot CPU power within the operating system if not calculated in the network engine adapter  100 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 4  shows a data packet  1  of a combined communication protocol here the FCoE-Protocol. Referring to  FIG. 4  a data packet  5  of the CEE-Protocol comprising a FC header, data and FC CRC data  5 . 1  is embedded in a data packet  3  of the Ethernet-Protocol comprising an ETH header, the data packet  5  as data part and ETH CRC data  3 . 1 . 
         [0028]    Embodiments of the present invention comprise an efficient way to reuse the existing server/system resources by implementing the FCoE-Protocol by using the network engine adapter  100 , that assist in converting the standard Ethernet card into a CEE compatible Ethernet card, offloading all the compute intense FCoE tasks and freeing-up the processor load. 
         [0029]    The network engine adapter  100  is placed in the network before the server equipment  10 , and is used to monitor the network traffic and performs the hardware assist roles when needed. The network engine adapter  100  is transparent to the network  30  and acts as a delay element in the line. So embodiments of the present invention reuse the existing Ethernet Adapter card and add an FPGA as network engine adapter  100  for the FCoE implementation. So a usual 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC is enabled for the FCoE-Protocol. From switch  34  point of view, the NIC of the server  10  is made compliant to the CEE-Protocol without changing the existing network chip. Also offload functionality for CRC-calculation of FCoE-Protocol checksum is provided without changing the existing network chip. The network engine adapter  100  comprises a network engine  110  which is controlled and configured by operating system  12  and/or firmware. The network engine  110  is manipulating data packets  3 ,  5  to translate between the Ethernet-Protocol and the CEE-Protocol to allow the server  10  to participate in the CEE network  30 . Additionally the network engine  110  is performing offload functionality for the FCoE-Protocol “in the wire” to reduce CPU load of the first network component (server)  10 . The position of the network engine adapter  100  in the communication path is flexible as described above. 
         [0030]    Using FPGA based network engine adapters  100  is allowing advantageously that the FCoE and CEE functions are enabled on the server  10  without the need for any extra cards. The network engine adapter  100  can offload the CRC computation load for Fiber Channel (FC) and/or Ethernet from the processor by modifying the device driver not to do the Fiber Channel CRC calculation and instead to recognize a specific value in the CRC field deposited by the network engine  110  during outbound data flow, and should not generate Fiber Channel CRC but leave the CRC byte space in the frame during inbound data flow. 
         [0031]      FIG. 2  is a network engine adapter  110 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and  FIG. 3  is an inbound/outbound logic  120 ,  130  for the network engine adapter  110  of  FIG. 2 , in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0032]    Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3  a brief description of the architecture of the network engine adapter  100  is given. The data traffic of the FCoE- or Ethernet-Protocol is first passed through the Ethernet port  162 , comprising XAUI lanes and MAC IP, for example, for processing the serial bit stream data into a parallel format, so that it eases the formatting in the network engine  110 . 
         [0033]    The outbound logic  120  and inbound logic  130  processes the outgoing and incoming data  3 ,  5  respectively and the data is passed through the Fiber Channel port  164 , comprising MAC and XAUI lanes again to convert back to the serial format. XAUI and MAC are available as reusable IP and should be easy to integrate. The outbound logic  120  and inbound logic  130  comprise of the custom design logic need to implement the CEE- and FCoE-Protocol support. 
         [0034]      FIG. 3  shows a preferred embodiment for implementing the outbound logic  120  and/or inbound logic  130  and there could be several similar alternatives for implementing the same architecture within the scope of this invention. To simplify matters, in the following only an outbound logic  120  is described. The outbound logic  120  comprises a frame control unit  121 , a frame buffer  123 , a frame formatter  125 , a first CRC generator  126  (Fiber Channel CRC generator), a frame configuration unit  127  and a second CRC generator  128  (Ethernet CRC generator). 
         [0035]    The frame control unit  121  as the name suggests is responsible for detecting the frame type and generating the command signals as listed in Table 1 for formatting the frames being processed. The frame control unit  121  is responsible for a pause frame conversion too. So the frame control unit  121  performs the pause frame conversion where a pause frame of the first communication protocol (Ethernet) is translated to a pause frame of the second communication protocol (CEE) in case of a outbound data flow or the pause frame of the second communication protocol (CEE) is translated to a pause frame of the first communication protocol (Ethernet) in case of a inbound data flow. 
         [0036]    The frame buffer  123  implements a pipelining for the data path and gives enough time for the frame control unit  121  to issue the commands and also for the first CRC generator to compute the CRC data of the Fiber Channel data. 
         [0037]    The frame formatter  125  gets the data from the frame buffer  123  and the control instructions from the frame control unit  121  and acts accordingly. 
         [0038]    The first CRC generating unit  126  computes and inserts Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE) in case of the outbound logic  120 , and/or checks the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  in case of a inbound logic  130 , wherein the first CRC generating unit  126  inserts patterns indicating a first condition, representing good Fiber Channel CRC data  5 . 1 , or a second condition, representing wrong Fiber Channel CRC data  5 . 1 . 
         [0039]    The frame configuration unit  127  is a programmable interface and provides a means to configure and program the network engine  110  and also to enable debug features if required. 
         [0040]    The second CRC generator  128  is an optional block that is used to keep the whole design transparent to the system. Should there be an indication that the received Ethernet CRC data is corrupt the network engine  110  with the help of this second CRC generator  128  will corrupt the CRC data on the transmitted frame also. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Command 
                 Meaning 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                 IS_TX 
                 ‘1’ → Instance is a TX; ‘0’ → Instance is a RX 
               
               
                 A 
                 Insert the Destination MAC address 
               
               
                 B 
                 Insert the Pause frame MAC address 
               
               
                 C 
                 Insert the FC-CRC Generated 
               
               
                 D 
                 Check FC-CRC and Insert corresponding Pattern 
               
               
                 E 
                 WRITE ENABLE (1:0); “00” → No 
               
               
                   
                 Write; “01” → Write in data location (31:0); 
               
               
                   
                 “10” → Write in data location (63:32); 
               
               
                   
                 “11” → Enable for Pause frame Data 
               
               
                 F 
                 Pause frame data to be inserted (63:0) 
               
               
                 G 
                 Destination MAC Address 
               
               
                 H 
                 MAC Address for pause frame 
               
               
                 I 
                 Location Signal for asserting Start/Stop. ‘0’ 8 
               
               
                   
                 byte boundary ‘1’ 4 byte boundary 
               
               
                 J 
                 FC-CRC Start 
               
               
                 K 
                 FC-CRC Stop 
               
               
                 L 
                 FPGA configuration Register 
               
               
                 M 
                 Do not corrupt Eth-CRC on crc_error indication 
               
               
                   
                 from rx_mac. 
               
               
                 N 
                 Do not update the Eth-CRC field with the computed CRC. 
               
               
                 P 
                 Always corrupt Eth-CRC on crc_error indication 
               
               
                   
                 from rx_mac. 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0041]      FIG. 5  is a schematic flow chart of an outbound data flow of a method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0042]    Referring to  FIG. 5  the flowchart depicts how the network engine adapter  100  is working during the outbound data flow. In case of the outbound data flow the operating system  12  of the first network component  10  creates a data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) and passes the data packet  1  to the network adapter  14  of the first network component  10  in step S 10 . In step S 20  the network adapter  14  calculates the Cyclic Redundancy Check CRC data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet), wherein the network adapter  14  sends the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) to the network engine adapter  100  in step S 30 , which is checking the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) in step S 50 . The network engine adapter  100  is dropping the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) if the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) are wrong; else the network engine adapter  100  is continuing the processing of the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE). In step S 60  the network engine adapter  100  is calculating Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE) and inserts the calculated Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  in the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) and calculates new Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet), which are inserted in the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) instead of the original Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1 . In step S 80  the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) is send to the second network component  30 , which is checking the new Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data ( 3 . 1 ) for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) in step S 90 . Additionally the second network component  30  is dropping the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) if the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) are wrong, else the second network component  30  is continuing the processing of the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE). 
         [0043]      FIG. 6  is a schematic flow chart of an inbound data flow of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention 
         [0044]    Referring to  FIG. 6  the flowchart depicts how the network engine adapter  100  is working during the inbound data flow. In case of an inbound data flow the second network component  30  sends a data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE) to the network engine adapter  100  in step S 110 . The network engine adapter  100  is checking the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) in step S 120 , wherein the network engine adapter  100  is dropping the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) if the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) are wrong, else the network engine adapter  100  is continuing the processing of the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE). In step S 130  the network engine adapter  100  is checking the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE), wherein the network engine adapter  100  is inserting a corresponding information in a field for said Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE) indicating a status of the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  5 . 1  for the second communication protocol (CEE). In step S 140  the network engine adapter  100  is calculating new Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet), which are inserted in the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) instead of the original Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1 . In step S 150  the data packet  1  of said combined communication protocol (FCoE) is send to the network adapter  14  of the first network component  10 , which is checking the new Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) in step S 160 . The first network component  30  is dropping the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE) or is indicating a packet with wrong Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  if said Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) data  3 . 1  for the first communication protocol (Ethernet) are wrong, else the first network component  30  is continuing the processing of the data packet  1  of the combined communication protocol (FCoE). 
         [0045]      FIG. 7  is a schematic flow chart of a pause frame conversion in outbound direction of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0046]    Referring to  FIG. 7  the flowchart depicts how the network engine adapter  100  is performing a pause frame conversion during the outbound data flow. In step S 210  the network adapter network sends a standard Ethernet pause packet to the network engine adapter  100 . In step S 220  the engine adapter  100  detects the standard Ethernet pause packet and creates pause packets for all traffic classes of the Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) Protocol, wherein data traffic in all traffic classes of the CEE Protocol are told to stop sending Packets for a specified time. In Step S 230  the network engine adapter  100  sends the CEE pause packets to the second network component  30 . The second network component recognizes the CEE pause packets in step S 240  and stops sending packets  1  of the combined data communication protocol (FCoE) to the port where the CEE pause packets came from is stopped in response. 
         [0047]      FIG. 8  is a schematic flow chart of a pause frame conversion in inbound direction of the method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0048]    Referring to  FIG. 8  the flowchart depicts how the network engine adapter  100  is performing a pause frame conversion during the inbound data flow. In step S 310  the second network component  30  creates CEE pause packets where a time to wait is specified for all traffic classes. In step S 320  the second network component  30  sends the CEE pause packets to the network engine adapter  100 . In step S 330  the network engine adapter  100  determines a highest wait time X among all wait times for the traffic classes. In step S 340  the network engine adapter  100  takes the highest wait time X and creates a standard Ethernet pause packet which has only one traffic class. In step S 350  the network engine adapter  100  sends this standard Ethernet pause packet to the network adapter  14  of the first network component  10 . In step S 360  the network adapter  14  of the first network component  10  recognizes the standard Ethernet pause packet and waits for the specified time. 
         [0049]    The inventive method for translating between a first communication protocol and a second communication protocol can be implemented as an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment containing both hardware and software elements. In some embodiments, the invention is implemented in software, which includes but is not limited to firmware, resident software, microcode, etc. 
         [0050]    Furthermore, embodiments of the invention can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer-readable medium can be any apparatus that can contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
         [0051]    The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk, and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W), and DVD. A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution. Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. 
         [0052]    Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modems, and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters. 
         [0053]    It will be understood from the foregoing description that modifications and changes may be made in various embodiments of the present invention without departing from its true spirit. The descriptions in this specification are for purposes of illustration only and are not to be construed in a limiting sense. The scope of the present invention is limited only by the language of the following claims.