Patent ID: 8767751

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to facilitate reliability of Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) communication paths during session interruptions, the computer-implemented method comprising: establishing a link of a FCoE communication path between first and second FCoE devices, wherein establishing the link comprises performing discovery of and fabric login to at least one of the FCoE devices, wherein the link is maintainable by a session; during interruption of the session, generating, a FCoE discovery packet at a network bridge for communicating between the FCoE devices, wherein the generated FCoE discovery packet is not based on any FCoE discovery packet received by the network bridge; and after the discovery and the fabric login, transmitting the generated FCoE discovery packet to the first FCoE device using the established link, wherein the FCoE discovery packet is generated and transmitted without requiring user intervention and in order to keep the session active, thereby preventing the interrupted session from timing out and causing termination of the link.