Abstract:
A method and apparatus that recognizes a portion of an address that would be unrecognizable to an intended associated switch or device and manipulates the portion of the address to make it recognizable. The apparatus and method manipulates a discontinuous address to provide the appearance to the associated device, switch or peripheral, that the address is continuous. This provides additional address capacity such that a new address is created within the switch itself for routing data within the switch. All or a portion of the switches in network are preassigned a chassis address, and each chassis also has a specific switch address that is different from the preassigned chassis address. An address adaptor provides translation of addresses and mapping within a switch so that in the event of a port failure, affected frames can be redirected from the failed port by employing the described translation and mapping operations.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/209,226, filed Jun. 2, 2000, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/209,227, filed Jun. 2, 2000, the entire teachings of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Mainframes, super computers, mass storage systems, workstations and very high resolution display subsystems are frequently connected together to facilitate file and print sharing. Common networks and channels used for these types of connections oftentimes introduce communications bottle necks, especially in cases where the data is in a large file format typical of graphically-based applications.  
           [0003]    There are two basic types of data communications connections between processors, and between a processor and peripherals. A “channel” provides a direct or switched point-to-point connection between communicating devices. The channel&#39;s primary task is merely to transport data at the highest possible data rate with the least amount of delay. Channels typically perform simple error correction in hardware. A “network,” by contrast, is an aggregation of distributed nodes (e.g., workstations, mass storage units) with its own protocol that supports interaction among these nodes. Typically, each node contends for the transmission medium, and each node must be capable of recognizing error conditions on the network and provide the error management required to recover from the error conditions.  
           [0004]    One type of communications interconnect that has been developed is fibre channel. See Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling Interface, Revision 4.3, (ANSI) (1994). Briefly, fibre channel is a switched protocol that allows concurrent communication among workstations, super computers and various peripherals. The total network bandwidth provided by fibre channel is on the order of a terabit per second. Fibre channel is capable of transmitting frames at rates exceeding 1 gigabit per second in both directions simultaneously. It is also able to transport commands and data according to existing protocols such as Internet protocol (IP), small computer system interface (SCSI), high performance parallel interface (HIPPI) and intelligent peripheral interface (IPI) over both optical fibre and copper cable.  
           [0005]    [0005]FIG. 1A illustrates a variable-length frame  11  as described by the fibre channel standard. The variable-length frame  11  includes a 4-byte start-of-frame (SOF) indicator  12 , which is a particular binary sequence indicative of the beginning of the frame  11 . The SOF indicator  12  is followed by a 24-byte header  14 , which generally specifies, among other things, the frame source address and destination address as well as whether the frame  11  includes either control information or actual data. The header  14  is followed by a field of variable-length data  16 . The length of the data  16  is 0 to 2112 bytes. The data  16  is followed successively by a 4-byte CRC (cyclical redundancy check) code  17  for error detection, and by a 4 byte end-of-frame (EOF) indicator  18 . The frame  11  is more flexible than a fixed frame and provides for higher performance by accommodating the specific needs of specific applications.  
           [0006]    [0006]FIG. 1B illustrates the format of the header  14 . The fields of the header include destination address (D_ID) and source address (S_ID). Other fields are included for routing control, class specific control, data structure type, sequence ID, data field control, sequence count, originator ID, responder ID and parameter/relative offset.  
           [0007]    Fibre channel is a channel-network hybrid, containing enough network features to provide the needed connectivity, distance and protocol multiplexing, and enough channel features to retain simplicity, repeatable performance and reliable delivery. Fibre channel allows for an active, intelligent interconnection scheme, known as a “fabric,” or fibre channel switch to connect devices. The fabric includes a plurality of fabric-ports (F_ports) that provide for interconnection and frame transfer between a plurality of node-ports (N_ports) attached to associated devices that may include workstations, super computers and/or peripherals. The fabric has the capability of routing frames based upon information contained within the frames. The N_port manages the simple point-to-point connection between itself and the fabric. The type of N_port and associated device dictates the rate that the N_port transmits and receives data to and from the fabric. Transmission is isolated from the control protocol so that different topologies (e.g., point-to-point links, rings, multidrop buses, cross point switches) can be implemented.  
           [0008]    [0008]FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a representative fibre channel architecture in a fibre channel network  100 . A workstation  120 , a mainframe  122  and a super computer  124  are interconnected with various subsystems (e.g., a tape subsystem  126 , a disk subsystem  128 , and a display subsystem  130 ) via a fibre channel fabric  110 . The fabric  110  is an entity that interconnects various N_ports  140  and their associated workstations, mainframes and peripherals attached to the fabric  110  through F_ports  142 . The fabric  110  receives frames of data from a source N_port and routes the frames to a destination N_port.  
           [0009]    The fibre channel standard also provides for several different types of data transfers. A class 1 transfer requires circuit switching, i.e., a reserved data path through the network switch, and generally involves the transfer of more than one frame, oftentimes numerous frames, between two identified network elements. In contrast, a class 2 transfer requires allocation of a path through the network switch for each transfer of a single frame from one network element to another.  
           [0010]    A fibre channel address is generally made up of three parts: a domain or atomic ID, an area ID and a loop ID. Fiber Connection (FICON), introduced by IBM, is based on the fibre channel standard and is optimized for enterprise applications. When FICON addressing is employed, the loop address and the domain address are fixed, but the area address is open and generally constitutes an 8 bit field. When this 8 bit field maps into an address, there may be a limited number of addresses that are assigned, e.g., 32 addresses. In large switches, this might represent only ½ the capacity needed, if, for example, the switch needs 64 addresses. This represents a problem, particularly with the advent of increased usage of Fibre channel and FICON addressing.  
           [0011]    Moreover, with the increased use of switches in general, often a facility includes systems having multiple chassis and ports. With increased volume, the chance of failure of a single port increases. Often, the only solution available when a port fails or is defective is to replace the port in total. It would be advantageous if a solution could be found whereby ports can be spared by merely reassigning or redirecting one or more addresses.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0012]    In accordance with these and other objectives, the present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for recognizing a portion of an address that would be unrecognizable to an intended associated switch or device and manipulating the portion of the address to make it recognizable. The instant apparatus and or method manipulates a discontinuous address to provide the appearance to the associated device, switch or peripheral, that the address is continuous. This approach provides additional address capacity such that a new address is created within the switch itself for routing data within the switch.  
           [0013]    According to another aspect of the present approach which provides expanded address mapping, all or a portion of the switches in a network are preassigned a chassis address, and each chassis also has a specific switch address that is different from the preassigned chassis address.  
           [0014]    The present approach further provides an address adaptor that provides translation of addresses, and mapping within a switch so that in the event of a port failure, affected frames can be redirected from the failed port by employing the described translation and mapping operations.  
           [0015]    According to an aspect of the present approach, a connection between a source endpoint and a destination endpoint can be provided through a network of data switches. Inbound frames are received at the ingress port of a first data switch in the network from a source endpoint, each frame having a header that includes first destination address information. The first destination address information of each received frame is mapped to internal destination address information at the ingress port to provide internal frames. The internal frames are switched through the network of data switches to an egress port of a second data switch using to the internal destination address information. At the egress port, the internal destination address information of each internal frame is mapped to the first destination address information for transmission to the destination endpoint.  
           [0016]    According to an embodiment of the present approach, a connection between a source endpoint and a destination endpoint is provided through a fibre channel switch. FICON frames are received at the ingress port of a fibre channel switch from a source endpoint, each frame having a header that includes FICON address information. The FICON address information of each received FICON frame is mapped to internal address information at the ingress port to provide internal frames. The internal frames are switched through the fibre channel switch to an egress port according to the internal address information. At the egress port, the internal address information of each internal frame is mapped to the FICON address information for transmission to the destination endpoint.  
           [0017]    While the address mapping and address adaptor features of the present approach are described in the context of particular embodiments that operate in the fibre channel environment, the principles herein can be used in other switch environments, including later developed technology without undue experimentation.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0018]    The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1A illustrates a variable-length frame as described by the fibre channel standard.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1B illustrates a header of the fibre channel frame of FIG. 1A.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of a representative fibre channel architecture in a fibre channel network.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 illustrates a three stage switch.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of an address adaptor in a switch according to the present system.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5A illustrates mapping conversion of a destination address from standard fibre channel format to an internal, non-standard switch element format.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 5B illustrates mapping conversion of a destination address from an internal, non-standard switch element format to a standard fibre channel format.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 illustrates address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry according to the present system.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of the field programmable gate array in the circuitry of FIG. 6 according to the present system.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 8 illustrates an inbound frame processor.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 9 illustrates a FIFO controller.  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 10 illustrates a bypass multiplexer.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 11 illustrates an outbound frame processor.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 12 illustrates a data buffer extension feature of the present system.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 13 illustrates a first addressing approach in a switch.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 14 illustrates the addressing of FIG. 13 in relation to a multi-switch fabric.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 15 illustrates a second addressing approach in a switch.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 16 illustrates the addressing of FIG. 14 in relation to a multi-switch fabric.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 17 is a block diagram of a second embodiment of an address adaptor in a switch according to the present system.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 18 is a block diagram of ingress logic of the address adaptor of FIG. 17.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 19 is a block diagram of egress logic of the address adaptor of FIG. 17.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 20 illustrates a detail of ingress of a fibre channel frame in a 64 port switch according to the present system.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 21 illustrates a detail of ingress in a fibre channel frame in a 128 port switch according to the present system.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 22 illustrates a detail of egress in a fibre channel frame in a 64 port switch according to the present system.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 23 illustrates a single frame broken into domain ID, area ID and port ID. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0044]    For ease of understanding, the discussion is based on the use of a fibre channel switch, but those of skill in the art will appreciate that the instant method and apparatus can be adapted to other environments.  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 3 shows a typical multistage switch. It is made up of 6 switch elements,  200 ,  202 ,  204 ,  206 ,  208 ,  210 , each having 16 ports, for a total of 96 ports. 64 ports labeled  214  are used as “back links” for communication between the elements. 32 ports labeled  212  are left for connection to peripheral devices such as CPUs, disks, tape drives and printers. In a typical transaction, a CPU will send data to a peripheral via the switch. Accompanying the data will be some information about the data along with a “source” and “destination” address. The switch uses the source and destination address information to route the data through the switch. The receiving peripheral needs to know the source address so it can acknowledge receipt of the data or return data to the CPU if the CPU was soliciting data from a data storage peripheral.  
         [0046]    In this multistage switch the physical address for each port is made up of two components. The lower 4 bits of the address are the port address within the switch element and the upper 3 bits are the switch element address. As seen in the figure, all ports externally available are odd numbered. In a larger system where port addressing is defined by an address field of 8 bits (256 ports), only 128 ports on this switch are available, since all even numbered ports are occupied as back links. Each switch element&#39;s ports could have been numbered 0 through 7 on one side and 8 through 15 on the other side but this still would not produce contiguous port addresses within the port address range. It could be argued that one switch element make its odd ports available externally and that the next element make its even ports available externally. This requires that switch elements be manufactured differently if they were to be fixed in a rack or mounted in a backplane and does not provide contiguous addressing for ports physically next to each other.  
         [0047]    One way to allow for contiguous addressing is to map a logical destination address to a physical destination address when it is received and reverse the mapping when it exits the switch. In the case of a system with 256 ports, a physical address range of 512 ports is necessary. One way to accomplish this is to intercept and shift the inbound logical address left (multiply by 2) and set the least significant bit of the address to a 1 for odd addressing (0 for even addressing). On the outbound side of the switch, the physical address is restored to the logical address by shifting it right (divide by 2) and sent to the receiving peripheral.  
         [0048]    An embodiment of the present approach provides mapping to create a new address used exclusively inside a switch. By mapping, a discontinuous address is modified to be recognized and routed by the switch. Thus, by using circuitry according to the present approach, it is possible, for example, to provide 512 continuous hardware routable addresses using 8-16 fibre channel addresses.  
         [0049]    While an embodiment described herein uses address shifting, it should be understood that other embodiments can use a content addressable memory or look-up table to provide the address mapping feature.  
         [0050]    As described generally herein with respect to particular embodiments, address mapping includes redistributing or shifting certain bits of the FICON destination address (FICON D_ID) of an inbound frame to an internal format that the switch elements and switch fabric can route automatically. Likewise, when an outbound frame exits the switch, the address mapping is reversed and under normal circumstances, the original frame content fully restored. This mapping process causes exception processing to handle well-known addresses as well as frames with an invalid Domain Address.  
         [0051]    It should be understood that, while the embodiments described herein relate to the fibre channel environment, other switches can be used with the principles of the present approach by making insubstantial changes to the address adaptor and address mapping features described herein.  
         [0052]    In high-speed serial data systems, switches must convert data from serial to parallel, check the data for transmission errors and then pass the data to the appropriate destination where it can be serialized and retransmitted. By adding an address aliasing or mapping mechanism into the data path on both the inbound and outbound sides of the switch, the amount of time data takes to get through the switch, referred to as latency, becomes greater. While this additional latency can be kept to a minimum it can not be eliminated. However, additional data buffering can be provided to increase overall performance of a switch.  
         [0053]    In any data communication system, flow control is necessary between transmitter and receiver when the receiver cannot guarantee that it will process the data at the rate the transmitter sends it. Generally, a transmitter will send data only when the receiver is “ready” for the data. The receiver is ready for the data if it has buffer memory available. When the receiver buffer is full (or almost full), the receiver will signal the transmitter that it is no longer “ready” and the transmitter will stop sending.  
         [0054]    Another method of flow control, as used in fibre channel is a “credit system”. At login time, a receiver will notify the transmitter as to how many credits are available to it. One credit corresponds to 2112 bytes of data, which is the fibre channel frame size. A transmitter will send data until its credit limit is exhausted. As the receiver processes the sent data, it will send “receiver readies” (R_RDYs) back to the transmitter, which replenishes the transmitters credit. To use a link efficiently, the buffer size must reflect the amount of data that can be contained on the link. The amount of time taken for a ready signal to propagate from the receiver back to the transmitter could be wasted if the buffer size is inadequate. For example, if a transmitter exhausts its credit after 1 second, and it takes 2 seconds for the ready signal to propagate back to the transmitter from the receiver due to the length of the link, then the efficiency of the link could, at best, be 50%.  
         [0055]    The present approach provides a mechanism and apparatus which provides maximum use of an 8 bit address range (e.g., FICON addressing) through address shifting. The present approach further provides a mechanism, device and associated method whereby it is possible to extend buffer space for efficient use of a 100 Km fibre channel link.  
         [0056]    A first embodiment of an address adaptor that includes address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry is now described. Referring to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a fibre channel switch  300  is shown. The switch  300  includes one or more port interface blocks  302  which connect to N_port devices. The port interface block  302  includes a SERDES  306 , an address adaptor having address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry  308  and a switch element  310  that provides connections to switch fabric  304 . The switch element  310  can be, for example, a model S4 ASIC switch device from Ancor Communications. The switch  300  can be, for example, a model FC/9000 switch from INRANGE Technologies.  
         [0057]    Referring now to FIGS. 5A and 5B, the address mapping conversions between standard fibre channel or FICON format and non-standard, internal switch element format for a destination address (D_ID) field are illustrated. FIG. 5A shows the conversion to non-standard format from the fibre channel or FICON format. FIG. 5B shows the reverse conversion, i.e., from non-standard, internal switch element format to fibre channel or FICON format. In each case, a 24 bit address representing a destination address is converted or mapped. Herein the destination address having the standard fibre channel or FICON address format is referred to as the FICON D_ID, while the destination address having the non-standard, internal switch element format is referred to as the internal D_ID.  
         [0058]    The address mapping with respect to FIG. 5A is now described. One skilled in the art will understand the reverse address mapping shown in FIG. 5B from the following description.  
         [0059]    The standard fibre channel address format for the FICON D_ID is shown at the top of FIG. 5A and includes three 8 bit address fields in the 24 bit address: domain (D), port (P) and loop (L). The non-standard, internal switch element format for the internal D_ID is shown at the bottom of FIG. 5B and includes 4 bit fabric (F) field, 6 bit chassis (C) field, 2 bit switch (S) field, 2 bit port (P) field, 6 bit loop (L) field. Mapping typically occurs for all Domain Addresses except Domain IDs of F0h-FFh.  
         [0060]    a) Frames with Domain Address bits  16 - 19  that mismatches an internal Domain Match Register have bit  20  of the mapped internal D_ID set to one.  
         [0061]    b) Frames with Domain Address bits  16 - 19  that match the Domain Match Register have bit  20  of the mapped internal D_ID set to zero.  
         [0062]    c) Bit  20  of the mapped internal D_ID is set for CRC errors and Code violations. The steering tables of the switch element are programmed so that any frame arriving with this bit set to one is recognized as an invalid address and sent to the configuration processor for processing.  
         [0063]    d) Bit eight of the mapped internal D_ID is set to one. All system user ports have this bit set in their port identifier (PID).  
         [0064]    e) Bits  8 - 10  of the FICON D_ID are mapped to bits  9 - 11  of the internal D_ID.  
         [0065]    f) Bits  12 , 13  of the mapped internal D_ID are set to zero. These are referred to as the quadrant bits of the PID.  
         [0066]    g) Bits  11 - 16  of the FICON D_ID are mapped to bits  14 - 19  of the internal D_ID.  
         [0067]    h) Bits  0 - 7  and  20 - 23  of the FICON D_ID are mapped to bits  0 - 7  and  20 - 23  of the internal D_ID.  
         [0068]    The address adaptor having the address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry  308  is shown in FIG. 6 and includes FPGA  400  and two synchronous FIFO buffers  402 . For simplicity of description, the embodiment of the FPGA is shown handling two ports, though other configurations are possible in other embodiments. In an embodiment, the FIFOs can hold up to 128K bytes, which is roughly equal to 64 credits. It should be understood that other FIFO sizes can be used with the extended buffer approach described herein.  
         [0069]    The FPGA provides FIFO controller and frame processor features. The frame processor modifies the FICON D_IDs of the incoming FICON frames to internal D_IDs for routing through the switch. It also checks and recalculates the cyclic redundancy check (CRC) for the inbound frame. On the outbound side, the mapped internal D_IDs are converted back to their original FICON values. CRC is regenerated to reflect the changed D_ID.  
         [0070]    The address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry can be bypassed by enabling a bypass multiplexer as described further herein. This is typically necessary if the port is to participate in a public loop. For example, a fibre channel FC_AL connection requires that latency through an L_port be no longer than 6 transmission words or 24 byte times. For example, it may take 22 of the 24-byte times to propagate a word through a switch element. The multiplexer adds less than a nanosecond delay to the inbound or outbound data path. If the loop configuration is small enough, and the distances between loop devices is short enough, violation of the 24 byte time limit has no effect. A bypass circuit can also be implemented within the FPGA to limit the loop configuration if enabled.  
         [0071]    The address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry is bypassed at RESET. Fibre channel primitive sequences can only be sent between frames and do not adhere to the frame format. The Not Operational Status (NOS) and Off Line Status (OLS) primitives are only used in “point to point” topologies. If NOS or OLS primitives are detected, the port is not on a loop and the bypass is disabled. At login time, address modifiers are preferably enabled if the N_port is recognized as a FICON port. However, it should be understood that other embodiments of the address mapping and data buffer extension circuitry can also work with known ports or peripherals other than FICON.  
         [0072]    An embodiment of the FPGA  400  is shown in FIG. 7. For simplicity of description only, half of the circuit is shown. The FPGA includes 10b/9b decoder  404 , inbound frame processor (IFP)  406 , bypass multiplexer  408  and FIFO controller  410 . The FPGA also includes 10b/8b decoder  412 , ready detector  414 , and outbound frame processor (OFP)  416 . Received data from a connected N_port device passes through SERDES  306  (FIG. 4) and enters the FPGA on the 10 bit RCV_BYTE bus. If the bit sync signal is active (indicating that the SERDES is operating and in sync), the 10b code is decoded by decoder  404  into a 9-bit code that reflects its 8b value and whether or not it is a control character. The 9 bit values are stacked to form a 36-bit word, which can be processed at ¼ the Fibre Channel speed. The Inbound Frame Processor (IFP)  406  monitors the 36-bit word for Start of Frame (SOF) and other primitive sequences.  
         [0073]    The IFP  406  passes the incoming frames to the external credit FIFO  402  (FIG. 6). The IFP  406  includes a small FIFO  406 A used for data smoothing. The FIFO controller  410  provides the read/write enables and the read/write clocks to the credit FIFO. FIFO writes are triggered by enables from the IFP  406  and FIFO reads are triggered by the R_RDY detection logic  414 .  
         [0074]    The 36-bit output data bus of FIFO  402  (FIG. 6) enters the FPGA  400  on the FIFO_RD_DAT bus. The FIFO read data is then converted to I Ob data and sent via the bypass mux  408  to the switching element  310  (FIG. 4) on the RCV_DAT bus. The bypass mux  408  also passes primitives to the switch element between frames.  
         [0075]    The FPGA  400  also handles outbound frames. A 10b XMIT BYTE signal from the switch element  310  (FIG. 4) is converted to a 9b value by decoder  412  based on its 8b value and whether or not it is a control character. The 9b values are stacked into 36 bit words and sent to the Outbound Frame Processor (OFP)  416  (via the R_RDY detector  414 ). The OFP  416  remaps the internal D_ID to the FICON D_ID format and recalculates the CRC. The processed frame is then converted from its 36-bit format to 10b format and sent to the connected device through the SERDES  306  (FIG. 4).  
         [0076]    The 10b to 9b decode logic  404  takes the 10b code and converts it to an 8b code and appends a 9 th  bit to indicate if the byte is a control byte (K character). It uses K character detection to align a word clock (WD_CLK) at ¼ th  the rate of the local clock. If a coding error is detected, CODE_V is sent to the IFP  406 . The 9b characters are then stacked to create a 36-bit word for further processing. The rising edge of the WD_CLK is placed such that it occurs approximately half way between the beginning and end of the output of the 36-bit word.  
         [0077]    A suitable IFP  406  is shown in FIG. 8. The IFP includes smoothing FIFO  406 A, frame detector and CRC checker  420 , address shifter and swap logic  422 , CRC generator  424 , and output register  426 . The IFP is responsible to the FIFO controller  410  (FIG. 7) for signaling an incoming frame. The IFP translates the FICON D_ID of the frame header from the FICON value to an internal value that is understood by the switch elements as described herein above. After the translation is complete, the CRC is recalculated and the 36-bit word is sent to the FIFO for buffering.  
         [0078]    In operation, a 36-bit word enters the IFP through smoothing FIFO  406 A and is passed through the Frame Detect and CRC check logic (FD)  420 . Frame CRC checking is generally required on frame entry into the Mapping circuitry. After EOF is asserted, the frame write signal (FRAME_WT) is set active. If the FD detects an R_RDY, the BYPASS signal to the bypass mux  408  (FIG. 7) goes active. BYPASS is asserted whenever there is no frame traffic and the credit FIFO is empty. Using SOF as a reference, the FD asserts ADDRESS SHIFT at the appropriate time to the Address Shifter logic (AS)  422 . The FD also detects primitive signals and sequences to provide an output PRIMITIVE signal to the bypass mux  408  (FIG. 7) for processing. If a CRC error or a code violation is detected, the EOF is marked as invalid.  
         [0079]    The AS  422  includes logic to provide the mapping of the FICON D_ID to an internal D_ID as described above in relation to FIG. 5A. The AS  422  passes the mapped internal D_ID to the CRC Calculate logic (CRC)  424 . However, if the FICON D_ID is a well-known address, ADDRESS SHIFT signal is inhibited.  
         [0080]    On reset or power on, the mapping function is disabled and frames are passed to the switch element  310  (FIG. 4) unaltered. The FICON mapping feature is enabled in the FPGA  400  (FIG. 6) upon receipt of a FICON Login Accept frame from the switch element. The mapping feature can also be manually enabled by a control bit from an external configuration processor (not shown).  
         [0081]    Frame CRC is recalculated for the mapped internal D_ID by CRC calculator  424 . The calculated CRC is inserted in the remapped frame except when CRC error is detected from the FD  420 . The clocking scheme of the elements of the IFP is arranged such that when the FD detects an EOF, the CRC word is in the CRC calculator so that the existing CRC value can be overwritten. Once the CRC is modified, the 36-bit word is sent for storage in the credit FIFO  402  (FIG. 6) through output register  426 .  
         [0082]    The FIFO controller (FIG. 9) includes write logic  430 , FIFO output logic  432 , and Credit Keeper  434 . The FRAME signal, which is active between SOF and EOF, is received by write logic  430  from IFP  406  (FIG. 8). The write logic provides a Write Enable (WT_EN) signal to the FIFO  402  (FIG. 6). The WT_EN signal is inhibited if the signal LESS THAN 8 is active. When this condition exists, the credit FIFO is bypassed. It also provides a Write Clock (WTCLK) which is a buffered LOCAL_CLK divided by 4.  
         [0083]    The Credit Keeper (CK) logic  434  keeps track of switch element credit and the extended credit and is described in further detail herein below. As noted above, a credit is an amount of buffer space related to the size of a frame. The FIFO_EOF signal increments the credit counter internal to the CK. NEXT FRAME decrements the count if the FIFO  402  (FIG. 6) is empty. The extended credit counter is incremented by FRAME_WT but is not enabled until the credit counter is 8 or greater. The extended credit counter is decremented by NEXT FRAME when it has a positive value. The FIFO controller  410  outputs the contents of the FIFO whenever the buffer credit is less than 8 and the FIFO is not empty. If the switch element buffer is fall (credit count is 8 or greater), the FIFO controller will not output any more frames until the credit count is less than 8. When the count is less than 8 the LESS THAN 8 signal is active. If the extended credit count is greater than 0, NOT EMPTY is active.  
         [0084]    The FOL  432  activates a Read Enable (RD_EN) signal whenever NOT EMPTY is true LESS THAN 8 is true, and the bypass mux  408  (FIG. 7) is not inserting. RD_EN stays true until FIFO_EOF goes true indicating that the frame currently being sent to the switch element has terminated. The Read Clock (RDCLK) is a buffered LOCAL_CLK divided by 4.  
         [0085]    Referring now to FIG. 10, the bypass mux  408  includes an R_RDY counter  440 , frame detector  442 , primitive memory and generator  444 , primitive multiplexer  446 , and bypass format convertor  448 . The bypass mux is used to bypass the credit FIFO  402  (FIG. 6) and convert from the 36b format to 10b format. It also inserts R_RDYs between frames.  
         [0086]    The Frame Detect (FD) logic  442  detects EOFs coming from the credit FIFO to enable insertion of an R_RDY into the data to the switch element. The FD must also detect EOF for the FIFO Controller  410  (FIG. 9). When EOF is activated to the FIFO Controller, the FIFO Controller deactivates the FIFO&#39;s RD_EN.  
         [0087]    The R_RDY Counter (RC)  440  detects R_RDYs from the IFP  406  (FIG. 8) and keeps a record of them. When an EOF is detected, the Primitive Insert logic is activated and the RC  440  is decremented. This process continues until the RC is decremented to zero. Since it is possible to get 180 R_RDYs during a frame, the R_RDY counter will be 8 bits wide.  
         [0088]    The Primitive Insert Logic (PIL) consists of the Primitive MUX  446  and the Primitive Memory &amp; Generator logic  448 . When the IFP detects a primitive, it activates one of the 5 PRIMITIVE lines to the bypass mux. The PIL remembers the primitive that was detected. If the R_RDY count is non zero an R_RDY will be inserted to the switch element at the next opportunity (between SOF and EOF). If an OLS, NOS, LR, or LRR is detected, a bit is set to remember its reception and the sequence is inserted to the switch element at the next opportunity. An R_RDY must be preceded and succeeded by 2 IDLE characters. Other Primitive Sequences require at least 3 repetitions of the Primitive to be valid. The PIL generates these sequences whenever primitives are inserted. The INSERTING signal is used to select the Primitive Signal or Primitive Sequence to the output of the Primitive Mux  446  and is also passed to the FIFO controller to inhibit FIFO output during this time.  
         [0089]    If BYPASS is active, the bypass mux  408  passes the 36-bit output of the inbound frame processor to the conversion logic. If BYPASS is inactive, the 36-bit FIFO_RD_DAT bus or the Primitive Sequence is passed to the conversion logic depending on the state of the INSERTING signal. The conversion logic breaks the 36-bit value into 4 9-bit values and performs a 9b to 10b conversion on each 9-bit value for transmission to the switch element.  
         [0090]    Referring again to FIG. 7, on the transmit side, the 10b to 9b decode logic  412  takes the 10b code and converts it to an 8b code and appends a 9 th  bit to indicate if the byte is a control byte (K character). It uses K character detection to align a word clock (WD_CLK) at ¼ th  the rate of the transmit clock. The 9b characters are then stacked in 4s to create a 36-bit word for further processing.  
         [0091]    The R_RDY detect logic  414  detects R_RDYs coming from the switch element and generates the NEXT FRAME signal to the FIFO Controller  410 .  
         [0092]    Referring now to FIG. 11, the Outbound Frame Processor (OFP)  416  includes Frame Detector  450 , Address shifter  452 , CRC calculator  454 , and byte converter  456 . The OFP  416  remaps the internal D_ID to a FICON D_ID format and recalculates the CRC for outbound frames. The Frame Detect (FD) logic  450  detects SOFs and EOFs. The SOF is used as a reference to generate ADDRESS SHIFT, which causes the ADDRESS SHIFTER logic  452  to translate the internal switch element D_ID to FICON format. Reconstruction of the FICON Address at the switch egress port is preferably the reverse of the operation described above in relation to the Inbound Frame Processor  406  (FIG. 8) except that bits  16 - 19  of the FICON address are loaded from the Domain Match Register. This mapping is shown in FIG. 5B. Reconstruction of the FICON address generally should not take place for Domain IDs of F0h-FFh. These addresses may appear in a multi-switch fabric.  
         [0093]    The Frame CRC is recalculated and replaced in the frame using CRC Calculator  454 . Note that this is acceptable since any frame previously found in error will have not been marked with an EOFni delimiter that takes precedence over a valid CRC. The four bit Domain Match Register facilitates detection of ports that do not follow addressing rules set for FICON traffic. The four bits can be any administratively selected value but should generally remain constant for all frames except those of well-known addresses. Detection of domain addresses other than that selected is important since the mapping/remapping process is not reversible for these bits. The register can be loaded by a Configuration processor (not shown) or can be self-setting. The register can self-set by setting to the value of bits  16 - 19  of the D_ID of an outbound frame having a S_ID of ‘FFFFFE’ hex. The self-setting feature may also be used to enable address mapping. If the FD logic  450  detects a well-known address, ADDRESS SHIFT is inhibited for the D_ID.  
         [0094]    The typical last operation the OFP performs is conversion of the 36-bit word format to 10b format in Converter  456  for transmission to the outbound SERDES  306  (FIG. 4).  
         [0095]    Referring now to FIG. 12, operation of the data buffer extension feature of the present system is illustrated. Only those elements introduced in the foregoing description that are needed for describing the feature are shown. As described above, the FPGA  400  includes a FIFO controller  410  and an R_RDY detector  414 . Also shown are inbound frame SOF detector  420 A, bypass frame SOF detector  442 A, bypass frame EOF detector  442 B, inbound frame counter  434 A and FIFO counter  434 B. The FPGA is shown connected to one of the FIFOs  402 , though it should be understood from the foregoing description that additional FIFOs can be included. An output of the FPGA is also connected to a buffer  310 A of the switch element  310 . As indicated, the buffer  434 A holds up to 8 frames and the FIFO  402  holds up to 58 frames. Multiplexer  411  selects between an inbound frame and a line connected to a read data line from the FIFO  402 .  
         [0096]    The switch element buffer counter  434 A keeps track of the fullness of buffer  310 A in the switch element  310 . The counter  434 A is incremented when the SOF detector  420 A detects an SOF for a frame sent to buffer  310 A. When the switch element  310  removes a frame from the buffer  310 A, it also sends a R_RDY in an outbound frame. The R_RDY detector  414  detects the R_RDY and decrements the counter  434 A. Thus, an accurate count of the fullness of buffer  310 A is maintained. The FULL signal is asserted whenever the count in counter  434 A is 8.  
         [0097]    The FIFO counter  434 B keeps track of the fullness of FIFO  402 . The counter  434 B is incremented when the SOF detector  442 A detects a SOF for a frame written to FIFO  402 . The counter  434 B is decremented when the EOF detector  442 B detects an EOF for a frame read from FIFO  402 . Thus, an accurate count of the fullness of the FIFO  402  is maintained. The NOT EMPTY signal is asserted whenever the count in FIFO counter  434 B is not zero.  
         [0098]    There are four states associated with operation of the FIFO controller  410  as indicated by the status of both the FULL and NOT_EMPTY signals.  
         [0099]    When FULL is 0 and NOT_EMPTY is 0, this means that the buffer  310 A has room to receive one or more frames and that the FIFO  402  is empty. In this state, the FIFO controller does not enable READ or WRITE of the FIFO and the inbound frame passes directly to buffer  310 A.  
         [0100]    When FULL is 0 and NOT_EMPTY is 1, this indicates again that buffer  310 A has room to receive one or more frames. However, NOT_EMPTY equal to 1 indicates that FIFO  402  has buffered frames. Thus, the frame controller  410  enables a READ from the FIFO to move a frame from the FIFO to the buffer  310 A. Inbound frames are written to FIFO  402  when stored frames are being transferred from the FIFO to the buffer  310 A.  
         [0101]    When FULL is 1, this indicates that the buffer  310 A currently has no room to accept more frames. Inbound frames are written into FIFO  402 , regardless of the status of NOT_EMPTY as long as the buffer  310 A is full.  
         [0102]    Having described the address mapping feature provided in the first embodiment of an address adaptor (FIG. 4), reference is now made to FIG. 13 which illustrates application of the internal D_ID addressing to a switch fabric labeled X having switches labeled Y. The 4 domain or fabric bits labeled D are used to select one of 16 fabrics. The 6 chassis bits labeled C select one of 64 chassis in a fabric. The combination of the two S bits and the two P bits select one of 16 ports on the chassis. Note that since 8 of the 16 ports are used for chassis intraconnect within the fabric, only the remaining 8 ports are addressable. This is noted by the setting of the least significant P bit to 1 for odd (or to 0 for even) port addressing. In an embodiment of a switch fabric, each physical switch has 8 chassis, each chassis corresponding to a board having 16 ports (8 addressable). Thus, with the internal D_ID addressing, the fabric is limited to 8 physical switches with the number of internal addresses given by:  
         64 chassis/fabric*8 ports/chassis=512 ports/fabric  
         [0103]    [0103]FIG. 14 illustrates the addressing of FIG. 13 in relation to an exemplary multi-switch fabric configuration. As shown, the fabric includes 8 physical switches  500 - 0  to  500 - 7 . The switch  500 - 0  includes eight chassis boards  502 - 0 . Likewise, switch  500 - 7  includes eight chassis boards  502 - 7 . Thus, the fabric provides for switching among 64 chassis boards.  
         [0104]    Another desirable feature when aggregating several switches into a larger switch fabric is to be able to identify the aggregated switch as a single homogeneous switch fabric rather than several small switches. For example, as described above, a chassis can be identified by a 6-bit chassis address, which allows up to 64 of these chassis to be tied together in a single fabric. By embedding these chassis addresses into the destination ID (D_ID) of the frame header, frames of data can be routed from switch to switch within the fabric to its eventual destination. However, this requires that the user of the fabric be familiar with the internal workings and nuances of the fabric topology.  
         [0105]    In order to relieve the user of this task, in accordance with another aspect of the present approach, an expanded address mapping mechanism is provided that allows an alias (logical) switch address to be used in place of all physical chassis addresses within the fabric. This allows the user to embed a fabric address and a port number within the destination D_ID and expect the frame to get there. At the fabric ingress, the logical switch address is modified to the different chassis addresses within the switch. At the fabric egress, the original fabric alias that was modified at the ingress is restored so as to make the internal fabric functions transparent to the user. Circuitry described further herein includes a chassis size register to indicate the overall number of ports in the system, a chassis address match register, which contains the fabric&#39;s logical address, and a reserved address register which contains the physical chassis addresses of the switches within the fabric.  
         [0106]    Referring to FIG. 15, the expanded address mapping mechanism is shown. The destination D_ID at the top of FIG. 15 is a FICON D_ID shown in relation to the internal D_ID format described above. When a frame enters the fabric, the chassis address bits of the destination D_ID are compared with the chassis address match register. If the values match, part of the port address within the D_ID is concatenated with the reserved chassis address from the reserved chassis address register to create the chassis address of the switch within the fabric that the frame is destined for. The chassis size register determines what portion of the port address is used when concatenating it with the reserved address register. If the values do not match, indicating that the frame is not destined for a port within this fabric, the frame is forwarded unmodified to a trunk port that connects to other fabrics.  
         [0107]    When a frame exits the fabric the frame header&#39;s D_ID is compared against the reserved address register to determine if the frame header&#39;s D_ID was modified at the ingress. If it was, the modified D_ID is replaced with the contents of the chassis address register.  
         [0108]    [0108]FIG. 15 shows the expanded address mapping feature applied to a switch fabric labeled X having switches labeled Y. With this expanded approach, 8 chassis addresses (e.g., #56-63) of the 64 chassis addresses are reserved for use internal to each switch. That is, these 8 reserved chassis addresses cannot be used external to the switch. This allows 56 chassis addresses to be used externally. Since each physical switch has one of the 56 chassis addresses, each chassis can contain up to 64 ports. Thus, with the expanded D_ID addressing of the present approach, the fabric is able to include  56  physical switches with the number of addresses given by:  
         56 switches/fabric*8 chassis/switch*8 ports/chassis=3584 ports/fabric  
         [0109]    [0109]FIG. 16 illustrates the addressing of FIG. 15 in relation to an exemplary multi-switch fabric configuration. As shown, the fabric includes 56 physical switches  600 - 0  to  600 - 55 . The switch  600 - 0  includes eight boards  602 - 0 . Likewise, switch  600 - 55  includes eight boards  602 - 55 . Thus, the fabric provides for switching among 448 boards across 56 switches.  
         [0110]    Referring to FIG. 17, a second embodiment of an address adaptor operable to provide the expanded address mapping feature described above is shown in the context of a switch  1300 . The switch includes a port interface  1320  and switch fabric  1304 . The port interface includes SERDES  1306 , address adaptor  1322  and switch element  1310 . The address adaptor  1322  includes expanded address mapping circuitry in addition to the buffer extension circuitry described above.  
         [0111]    The address adaptor  1322  selectively intercepts the fibre channel destination identifier (D_ID) arriving from a link and changes it to a value routable by a switch element. The address adaptor preferably also selectively changes the source identifier (S_ID) to allow Source address checking and meaningful communication with well known switch addresses. An address adaptor according to the present invention facilitates autorouting in the fabric of a multi-protocol channel switch.  
         [0112]    [0112]FIG. 18 is a block diagram of ingress logic of the address adaptor of FIG. 17. The ingress logic provides the expanded mapping feature described in relation to FIG.  15  above and corresponds to the address shifter logic  422  of the inbound frame processor  406  (FIG. 8). The ingress logic includes reserved address register  1400 , switch/chassis address match register and compare logic  1402  and chassis size register  1404 . The logic further includes gates  1406 ,  1408 ,  1410 ,  1412  and multiplexers  1414 ,  1416 . The signal D_ID[23:0] shown in FIG. 18 is the destination ID of the inbound frame. The signal QD_ID[23:0] is the output of the expanded mapping feature provided by the logic. The operation of the ingress logic can be understood with reference to the foregoing description of FIG. 15.  
         [0113]    [0113]FIG. 19 is a block diagram of egress logic of the address adaptor of FIG. 17. The egress logic provides the reverse mapping described in relation to FIG. 15 and corresponds to the address shifter logic  452  of the outbound frame processor  416  (FIG. 11). The egress logic includes reserved address match logic  1500  and multiplexers  1510 ,  1512 . The signal QD_ID[23:0] shown in FIG. 19 is the expanded destination D_ID of an outbound frame. The signal D_ID[23:0] is the output representing a restored D_ID as described above.  
         [0114]    Having described the second embodiment of an address adaptor which provides expanded address mapping, application of this expanded addressing feature is now further described with reference to FIGS.  20 - 23 . In accordance with the present approach a fibre channel destination identifier (D_ID) is partitioned into new groupings which are mapped into physical IDs (PIDs) that the switch can route. For example, the fabric #, bits  23 - 20 , can be used like a domain address and maps directly into bits  23 - 20  of the new D_ID. The switch element can autoroute only one fabric number. Bits  19 - 14  are designated switch addresses. Switch addresses are separated into two classes. A group of eight addresses, all having the same three high order bit values are assigned or reserved as internal switch addresses. Each FI/O board in a 64 port switch is assigned one of these addresses. For multiple switches, these same eight addresses can be, and preferably are reused in each switch. Within a fabric, these internal switch addresses are preferably not assigned to external N_Ports. All remaining 7 combinations of the three high order switch address bits together with the permutations of three low order switch address bits are available to be used as part of the assigned N_port address wherein there are given 7×8×64=3584 ports. This class of switch address will be referred to herein as an “assigned switch address.” Each switch in a multi-switch fabric is given a unique assigned switch address.  
         [0115]    In a preferred embodiment, an address adaptor of the present invention translates both the D_ID and S_ID from assigned switch address to internal switch address only when the fabric number and switch address exactly matches the programmed fabric number and assigned switch address. All other D_IDs and S_IDs are sent to the switch element unchanged. The switch address bit positions correspond to the chassis_ID bit field of the switch element. Since the assigned switch address never matches internal switch addresses, the routing tables of the switch element can be programmed to autoroute the frame to the next hop on the way to the final destination.  
         [0116]    When the fabric number and switch address of a frame exactly matches the programmed fabric number and assigned switch address, the port number must be mapped to a PID that the switch element can route. As shown, for example in FIG. 20, the D_ID and S_ID of the fibre channel frame that is to be routed to a final destination within a switch are mapped to a PID in the following steps:  
         [0117]    1) Bits  23 - 20  as well as bits  7 - 0  remain unaltered.  
         [0118]    2) The switch address, which corresponds to the switch element chassis address field, is changed to correspond with a three bit code for the internal switch addresses and the three most significant bits of the port address. The bits coding the internal switch address are designated by X X X in FIG. 20. The three most significant bits of the port address are designated in FIG. 20 as FI/O #. The FI/Os in the switch have chassis numbers equal to the value X X X as the high order three bits concatenated with a FI/O number in the low order three bits.  
         [0119]    3) The PID portion of the frame D_ID and S_ID consists of 0 0 loaded into the Q bits, followed by the remaining three bits of the port address forming the switch element number and most significant bit of the switch element port number and lastly a logic  1  loaded into the port LSB.  
         [0120]    The mapping described above will cause the port number portion of the D_ID and S_ID to appear as the concatenation FI/O # and port number on the FI/O.  
         [0121]    Address mapping for a 128 port switch is similar to that of a 64 port switch. The switch must now reserve 16 switch addresses for internal use, one for each of the 16 FI/Os that may be present. A suitable arrangement for mapping in a 128 port switch is depicted in FIG. 21.  
         [0122]    The equality detect function in this configuration generally does not include the fall switch address. The chassis address of the mapped address consists of the two bit code reserved for internal switch addresses, one bit of the switch address and, as before, the three most significant bits of the port address. The PID portion of the address is the same as the 64 port switch.  
         [0123]    The free address space in a 128 port configuration comprises three bit combinations not representing X X and the combinations representing the remaining 4 bits of chassis address and port address or 3×16=64=3072. Although the free address space is less for this configuration, it is still desirable since larger blocks of ports are available in a switch and fewer interswitch links will typically be needed between switches.  
         [0124]    When a frame is routed to the final destination port the address must be restored to the original form. A suitable mapping is illustrated in FIG. 22.  
         [0125]    Frames exiting the switch where the fabric number and internal switch address range are a match must preferably be re-mapped to their original form. The process generally comprises:  
         [0126]    1) The assigned switch address must be loaded into bits  19 - 14  of the D_ID and S_ID.  
         [0127]    2) The port address is reconstructed from bits  16 - 14  and bits  11 - 9  of the routed frame. The port address can also be loaded from a register in the address adaptor.  
         [0128]    3) The loop address portion of the D_ID or S_ID is unchanged.  
         [0129]    The address adaptor can support e.g., 64 and/or 128 port switches, and additional port capabilities are also supportable depending on the application. The address adaptor also checks cyclic redundancy check (CRC) on all frames. When an invalid CRC is detected on a frame that must be mapped, in order to reduce the likelihood of errors, the adaptor must terminate the frame with EOFni or cause a CRC error on the mapped frame. The latter may be desirable to cause the switch element to log and report the inbound CRC error.  
         [0130]    The address adaptor is also capable of calculating CRC for mapped frames and replace the old CRC. Arrival of a frame at a switch ingress port bearing one of the reserved internal switch addresses preferably has the SOF delimiter changed to a SOFf to cause it to be routed to a configuration processor.  
         [0131]    The address adaptor can be used to implement address sparing in a switch. Address sparing is a process where the port address advertised to the external environment is not the native address of the switch port. Address sparing is typically used to temporarily replace a defective port but retaining the appearance (port number) of the defective port to attached devices. All ports of a switch should preferably participate in this process. Switch ingress ports are preferably capable of replacing the spared port address with the new port address and the egress port must replace its address with the address of the spared port. The address adaptor can substitute at the egress port simply by loading the port address portion of the outbound D_ID from a register as described.  
         [0132]    Recognition of a spared port on the ingress ports of the switch may be accomplished in several manners. Two exemplary methods are set forth below:  
         [0133]    1) A look up table with 64 entries can be included in the address adaptor. The port address portion of the frame D_ID is used as address index into the table. Each table entry is a six bit PID for the desired egress port of the switch. When address sparing is not in use the table contents are equal to the address value. To effect sparing the contents of the table location corresponding to a spared port are changed to the PID of the designated spare port. Any or all port addresses can be re-assigned with this method. An Address Adaptor that supports more than one port can share the table provided the table acts like a multiport memory.  
         [0134]    2) A smaller content addressable memory could be provided whereby if contents of part of the array match the port address, a substitute PID is output. This implementation will allow a limited number of ports to be spared possibly using less device resources.  
         [0135]    The address adaptor can facilitate larger fabric configurations by allowing flexible assignment of switch addresses. In this regard, switches that assign a domain ID for each physical entity can be connected to a multi-protocol channel switch in limited numbers. Switches of this type typically can assign any of the 239 addresses from ‘01h’ through ‘Efh’. See FIG. 23 for an exemplary illustration of how these addressing plans overlap.  
         [0136]    [0136]FIG. 23 illustrates that if bits  23 - 20  of the domain ID are equal and internal switch addresses of 0-7 are selected for the fibre channel switch, fourteen useable domain ID remain. A multi-protocol channel switch with the instantly described address plan will use exactly two domain addresses regardless of the range of internal addresses selected. One of the remaining useable domain ID must be assigned to the channel switch as its assigned switch address and the remaining thirteen may be assigned to switches that use the domain ID as the switch identity. Although the assigned switch address given to the channel switch eliminates one possible domain ID, there are three additional assigned switch addresses having the same four most significant bits.  
         [0137]    In order to connect a multi-protocol channel switch to a switch provided with an adaptor according to the present invention, a fabric including a channel switch typically requires each FI/O to have user ports and to have a unique chassis address. The chassis address bits correspond exactly to the switch address. When interconnected, the multi-protocol channel switch will preferably appear as a collection of switch addresses, one for each FI/O present, to a switch with address adaptor according to the present invention. The switch including an address adaptor will appear to the other switch as a single chassis address. Address(es) selected for internal switch addresses are preferably not assigned to any of addresses used by the other channel switch.  
         [0138]    If a storage area network (SAN) is employed, the situation is similar. That is, each switch device will typically include one switch address, which should be set as the chassis ID. A switch including an address adaptor according to the present invention will appear as a single Chassis Address. Address selected for internal switch addresses are preferably not be assigned to any of the switch devices.  
         [0139]    Similarly, if a multi-protocol channel switch is employed having FI/Os with and without the inclusion of an address adaptor, FI/Os with and without an address adaptor can be mixed in a multi-protocol channel switch. The resultant situation is set forth below. A port will preferably have a different address when accessed from different FI/O types. A port will be accessed by one address from all address adapted ports and by a different address from non-adapted ports. Likewise, a non-adapted port will appear as one address to all other non-adapted ports and a different address to adapted ports. Care should be taken to avoid duplicate addresses.  
         [0140]    Moreover, all address adapted ports in a multi-protocol channel switch will preferably have the same Assigned Switch Address. From this perspective, switch addresses are conserved. Non-Adapted FI/Os should preferably be assigned unique chassis addresses thereby consuming one switch address each.  
         [0141]    It is believed that using domains might be incompatible with the current switches. As such, it is preferable in the context of the present invention to regain the quadrant addressing lost. For example, with a 64 port switch, it is suitable to reserve 8 of the 64 chassis bits. Then every 64 port switch would have internal addressing with those 8 chassis. On the outside of the system (for example, in an FPGA) the address is “spoofed” as though it were a single 64 port chassis (i.e. ports  0 - 63 ). As such, there would be 56 chassis addresses remaining. These 56 chassis addresses could be used, for example, by 64, 16 or 8 port boxes. Any frames entering or leaving a 64 port switch with a source or destination address that is one of the shared 8 chassis, could get remapped, for example, at an inbound or outbound port. Appropriate modifications to software is also required and could be accomplished by one of skill in the art according to known techniques.  
         [0142]    According to one aspect of the system, internal routing is always one set of the chassis, but it is also advantageous to know the external chassis number. As such, since every chassis (externally) is unique, the present approach is capable of working with any multi-protocol channel switch. Likewise, for a 128 port switch employed in the fabric, it is desirable to reserve, for example, 16 chassis addresses. This gives 48 chassis total but each 128 port switch uses up 2. Thus there are up to 24, 128 ports connected together. Similarly, in a 256 switch environment, it is advantageous to reserve 32 chassis per fabric, wherein each 256 port switch uses 4 chassis IDs, up to a maximum of 8. These can also be combined with other switches. In a 64 port switch, it is possible in some embodiments to remap 64 addresses, 128 addresses in a 128 port switch and 256 addresses in a 256 port switch.  
         [0143]    The address adaptor can be used alone, or in combination with one or more other similar address modification products or methods to achieve desired results under various circumstances.  
         [0144]    While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.