Patent ID: 7684398

Claim:
A method of routing frames in Fibre Channel switching, comprising: receiving a frame at a source port of a Fibre Channel Fabric, wherein the frame includes a 24 bit source identifier (S_ID) and the frame includes a 24 bit destination identifier (D_ID) including 8 least significant bits; routing the frame from the source port to its destination port; and validating the frame at the destination port, wherein validating the frame at the destination port includes: producing a destination zone mask using the 8 least significant bits of the D_ID received at the destination port, wherein producing the destination zone mask includes using a programmable table that includes an entry for every allowed 8 least significant bits and that includes a destination zone mask associated with the allowed 8 least significant bits of the D_ID for the entry; producing a source zone mask associated with the 24 bit S_ID received at the destination port; comparing the S_ID of the frame received at the destination port against all entries of S_ID stored in an inclusion list of sources permitted to be transmitted to the destination port; and if a match is found when comparing the S_ID of the frame against all entries of S_ID, comparing the source zone mask associated with the S_ID against the destination zone mask, wherein the destination zone mask and the source zone mask have at least one bit that matches for valid frames; and if the frame is valid, transmitting the frame through the destination port.