Patent ID: 7864758

Claim:
A method for use in a switch in a storage network, comprising: receiving a packet at an ingress port of an ingress linecard, said packet destined for a virtual target with a virtual target address, the packet associated with a request; adding a local header to the packet; retrieving a virtual target descriptor identifier, wherein the virtual target descriptor identifier identifies a virtual target descriptor, wherein the virtual target descriptor stores information about the virtual target; allocating an ingress task control block identified by an ingress task control block index, wherein the ingress task control block index stores information about the request; placing the ingress task control block index and the virtual target descriptor identifier into the local header; retrieving a flowID from the virtual target descriptor and placing the flowID into the local header, wherein the flowID identifies an egress linecard; forwarding the packet to the egress linecard through a fabric; receiving the packet at the egress linecard; using the virtual target descriptor identifier, retrieving a physical target descriptor identifier, wherein the physical target descriptor identifier identifies a physical target descriptor, wherein the physical target descriptor stores information about a physical target that is associated with the virtual target; allocating an egress task control block with an egress task control block index, wherein the egress task control block index stores information about the request; using information in the physical target descriptor to convert the virtual target address to a physical target address; removing the local header and forwarding the packet to an egress port on the egress linecard; and sending the packet from the egress port to a physical target device, using the egress task control block index as a source identifier.