Patent ID: 7730214

Claim:
A method for determining a communication path on a computer network, comprising: configuring a computer network with an Infini Band (IB) configured host computer in communication across said network with a non-IB configured target computer; providing said network with at least two separate gateways in communication with said host and target computers, a first of said gateways being an Internal Protocol over Infini Band (IPoIB) gateway and a second of said gateways being an Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Extensions for Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) (iSER) gateway, wherein each gateway defines a separate communication path from the host to the target; determining an address of said target computer; selecting one of said gateways to communicate data from said host computer to said target computer based upon said determined address of said target, including: sending a request to said first and second gateways, receiving a response from said gateways, and determining an optimal communication protocol to use based upon said received response; and contacting said target computer over said selected gateway using a remote direct memory access protocol if said target computer and one of said gateways is configured to accept said remote direct memory access protocol.