Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/808,289 entitled “FCoE VN_Port Virtualizer,” filed Apr. 4, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     This application is related to patent application Ser. No. 14/206,879, filed concurrently herewith, entitled “FCoE VN_Port to FC N_Port Operations in an Ethernet Fabric,” which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The invention relates to network devices. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     One limitation of Fibre Channel (FC) is the practical number of domains or switches that can be present in a fabric. Another concern with FC is the amount of time required to reconfigure the fabric on removal or addition of a new switch. To address these points, a system and method as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,707,309, entitled “Isolation Switch for Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks” was developed. In that design a switch is connected to hosts in the usual manner but is connected to an FC fabric using N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) ports, with one NPIV address for each connected host. The switch translated addresses between those provided to the host and those assigned using the NPIV process. U.S. Pat. No. 7,577,134, entitled “Port Expander for Fibre Channel Fabrics in Storage Area Networks” improved on the design of the &#39;309 patent by passing the NPIV addresses directly to the connected hosts, removing the translation step. 
     Another concern in FC has been the relatively high cost of the host bus adapters (HBAs) and the switches, particularly as compared to the corresponding Ethernet network interface cards (NICs) and switches and routers. To that end a technology called Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) has been developed. Basically an FC packet is encapsulated in an Ethernet packet and transferred through a data center Ethernet network. In an FCoE environment, a host or Enode uses either a converged network adapter (CNA), which receives FC packets and encapsulates them itself, or an FCoE driver, which receives the FC packets, converts them to FCoE packets and then provides those to a normal NIC. The FCoE packets are provided to a Fibre Channel Forwarder (FCF), which is a device that is connected to both the Ethernet network and an FC fabric. The FCF receives FCoE packets, converts them to FC packets and then provides them to the FC fabric using an E_Port or fabric port. The FCF acts as a normal FC switch, performing fabric login operations and the like and consumes a domain. In the opposite direction, from storage device to host, the FCF receives the FC packets from the storage unit, converts them to FCoE packets and provides them to the Ethernet network, where they are delivered to the host. The FCoE subsystem of the host, either a CNA or a driver and NIC, convert the FCoE packets to FC packet data, which the host then processes. While this approach addresses a cost issue, it does nothing to address the number of switches problem of FC as each FCF consumes another domain. 
     One approach to address that concern has been the development of the FCoE to FC gateway, essentially the combination of an FCF and the above mentioned Port Expander. The FCoE to FC gateway connects to the FC fabric using NPIV ports, as discussed above. The FCF portion of the gateway terminates the FCoE network by providing a VF_Port. Internally the FC packets are obtained but then they are provided to the NPIV port for transmission through the FC fabric. The FC portion of the gateway behaves just as the NPIV port of the port expander, except that it is connected internally to an FCoE port rather than an F_Port. This addresses the domain count concern but still requires each FCoE packet to be routed through the Ethernet network to the specific FCoE to FC gateway, as only that one unit has the needed information to perform the necessary packet operations. 
     In a different area, the number of hosts used in a data center has been increasing dramatically, particularly with the advent of virtual machine (VM) usage. As each VM consumes a MAC address and usually an IP address, transferring packets inside a data center has been problematic as complex router structures are needed to handle the very large number of IP addresses, as only 256 IP addresses can be present on one subnet. These 256 IP addresses can easily be met by a single blade server chassis. The very large number of addresses or connections, virtual or physical, also creates fundamental routing problems as Ethernet uses a spanning tree protocol (STP) for routing to prevent loops. However, using STP results in many non-optimal routes and difficulty in providing load balancing and multipath benefits. To address these issues Ethernet Fabrics have been developed, primarily based on TRILL, to handle the routing at the layer 2 level and to allow load balancing, multipathing and optimal or shortest path routing. One such Ethernet Fabric is the VCS architecture provided by Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. 
     If an FCoE to FC gateway is used with an Ethernet Fabric, the single point of connection, the FCoE to FC gateway, remains a problem and to an extent reduces the value of the basic improvements provided by the Ethernet Fabric. Further, an FCoE to FC gateway is to a great extent duplicative of an FCF, which may also be present in an FCoE/FC environment, so the FCoE to FC gateway may provide additional cost. 
     A problem that has developed in FCoE and has not been resolved despite many attempts, is the handling of peer-to-peer FCoE communication. For various reasons, in an FCoE environment that includes an FC fabric, all packets must travel to the FC fabric. Thus, any FCoE packet intended for another FCoE device on the same Ethernet network must still travel to the FC fabric and then back. Much debate has occurred, but an acceptable problem has not been determined. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments according to the present invention provide an FCoE VN_Port virtualizer. In the FCoE VN_Port virtualizer VF_Ports are used to connect downstream to host and target VN_Ports and a VN_Port is used to connect upstream to further FCoE VN_Port virtualizers or to an FCF. An alternate embodiment uses the Ethernet Fabric for an additional purpose. The Ethernet Fabric devices all act as FCoE VN_Port virtualizers, so that the Ethernet Fabric itself is considered a virtual FCoE VN_Port virtualizer. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES 
       The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate an implementation of apparatus and methods consistent with the present invention and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain advantages and principles consistent with the invention. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an FCoE VN_Port virtualizer according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of the information flow in the FCoE VN_Port virtualizer of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a network including an Ethernet Fabric according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3A  is a redundant version of the network of  FIG. 12 . 
         FIG. 4  is a block diagram of a network illustrating operation of three connected FCoE VN_Port virtualizers according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating FCoE VF_Port to FCoE VN_Port operations according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating FCoE VN_Port to FCoE VF_Port operations according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  is a block diagram illustrating FIP Discovery operations according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  is a block diagram illustrating FIP VLI operations according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 9  is a block diagram illustrating cascading of Ethernet Fabrics according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram of a first alternate embodiment of a network according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 11  is a block diagram of a second alternate embodiment of a network according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , an FCoE VN_Port virtualizer (FVV: FCoE VN_Port Virtualizer)  102  connects to an FCF  104  which is connected to an FC fabric or storage area network (SAN)  106 . The FVV  102  runs a limited lightweight stack of FCoE services without using a domain, dedicated or shared, from the SAN. An FVV  102  provides NPIV services for FCoE devices and does not directly connect to an FC SAN  106 . 
     An FVV  102  works as an N_Port virtualizer (NPIV) between ENode devices  108  attached to it and the FCF  104  or further FVVs  102  to which it connects. The port types supported on the FVV  102  are VF_Ports  110  and VN_Ports  112 . The VF_Ports  110  are created logically on top of physical CEE interfaces and provide FCoE Initialization Protocol (FIP) VLAN Discovery and FIP Discovery services to the attached devices. The ENode devices  108  do not directly log into the FVV  102 , rather the FVV  102  converts any F Port Logins (FLOGIs) to FDISCs (Discover F Port Parameters) and forwards all FDISCs to the connected FCF  104 . The VN_Port  112  of the FVV  102  performs its own FIP Discovery and FLOGI operations with the FCF  104  to establish the base VN_Port. VF_Ports  110  on the FVV support NPIV capability in their own right, which provides potential for two levels of NPIV, one to the VF_Port  110  and one from the VF_Port  116  on the FCF  104 . 
     User defined mappings associate VF_Ports  110  with VN_Ports  112  on the FVV  102 . Since VN_Ports  112  have a 1:1 physical connection to either a VF_Port  116  on an FCF  104  or on another FVV  102 , this VF—VN association on the FVV  102  determines which fabric switch F_Port an ENode device  108  logs into. A VN_Port  112  on the FVV  102  logs into the FCF  104  or FVV  102  VF_Port  110  as a base NPIV device and gets assigned an FC-ID. The ENode devices  108  on the FVV  102  which login through this VN_Port  112  are also treated as subsequent NPIV logins on the FCF  104  or FVV  102  VF_Port  110 . Thus, the ENode devices  108  obtain their FC-IDs from the FCF  104 . 
     Device FLOGIs received on VF_Ports  110  are trapped and sent to an FCF  104  as FDISCs. Thus, each FCF  104  VF_Port  116  receives an FLOGI sent by the FVV  102  VN_Port  112  and then subsequent FDISCs sent on behalf of the ENode devices  108  or potentially other FVVs  102 . The FIP and FLOGI exchange over an FVV  102  is outlined in  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 2  shows an FVV  102  with a Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE) chip  118  with 24 CEE interfaces  120  configured as VF_Ports  110  and 8 CEE interfaces  122  configured as VN_Ports  112 . The VF_Ports  110  and VN_Ports  112  are created on top of CEE interfaces. Thus there are 24 VF_Ports  110  and 8 VN_Ports  112  on the FVV  102  shown in  FIG. 2 . Interconnect  136  is a switching fabric that allows packet transfer between the various CEE interfaces  120 ,  122  as appropriate. CP  124  is the core or control processor on the FVV  102 . Packets may be forwarded to the CP  124  from the CEE interfaces and the CP  124  can provide packets to the CEE interfaces  120 ,  122  using either the interconnect  136  or through sideband connections, neither of which are shown for simplicity. A Virtualizer Daemon (VD)  126  is a user space or similar software module which implements and controls the FVV mode and runs on the CP  124 . Routing table storage  138  is provided for use by the CEE chip  118  and the CP  124 . The tables in the routing table storage  138  are discussed in more detail below. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , FIP VLAN and FCF discovery and responses are trapped by the VF_Ports  110  and forwarded for handling by the VD  126  simulating an FCF  104  as indicated by dashed lines  128 . In the next phase the device FIP FLOGIs/FDISCs are trapped on the VF_Ports  110  and sent to the VD  136  as shown by dashed lines  130 . The VD  126  converts FLOGIs to FDISCs, as an initial FLOGI will have occurred on FVV  102  startup, and sends the FDISCs to the FCF  104  over the appropriate mapped VN_Ports  112  as shown by the dashed lines  132 . This involves creating a new FCoE packet for the FIP FDISC and copying over the device FIP FLOGI into it. Thus, the VD  126  on the FVV  102  maintains device login database and performs login translation. The FIP FDISC responses from the FCF  104  are trapped on the ingress VN_Ports  112  by the VD  126 . These may need to be converted to FIP FLOGI responses, as necessary. These are copied into new FCoE packets and sent to the ENode devices  108 . A FIP FDISC response from the FCF  104  contains the FC-ID for the device  108 , thus the device  108  now has a PID assigned. For example, an FVV  102  VN_Port  112  performs FIP FLOGI to the FCF  104  and receives a base FC-ID of 0x010100. All subsequent device logins through this VN_Port  112  receive FC-IDs as 0x010101, 0X010102 etc. 
     This FIP FDISC response from the FCF  104  is the trigger for setting up routes for the data path on the FVV  102 . FLOGI and subsequent data frames from the device  108  use the data path  134  (shown via dash and dot lines in  FIG. 2 ). Once an ENode device  108  has logged into the FC Fabric, the FVV  102  simply works as a pass-through module for data frames. 
     The data path  134  utilizes Virtual Fabric Routing (VFR) within the switch. Data frames are moved between the CEE interfaces with FCoE header editing performed in the process. 
     The FVV  102  runs a significantly reduced set of FC Fabric services and these are managed by the VD  126 . For example, FC Name Server and FC Management Server do not run on FVV  102 . The VD  126  on the FVV  102  communicates with Fabric Services on an FCF  104  using FC-GS exchanges such as GMAL, GFN, RPAB, etc. 
     The FVV  102  provides graceful Failover/Failback for devices if the FCoE VN_Port  112  links go down. 
       FIGS. 3, 3A and 4-8  illustrate Ethernet Fabric operations according to the present invention. The preferred embodiment uses the VCS architecture from Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. More details on the VCS architecture are provided in U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2011/0299391, 2011/0286357, 2011/0268125, 2011/0299535, 2011/0268120, and 2011/0292947, which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     In the preferred embodiment an Ethernet Fabric  302  provides: 
     Support for NPIV-based VN_Port to VF_Port bridging between FCoE devices  306  attached to the Ethernet Fabric  302  and the FCFs  308 , 
     Access to FCoE targets from a single ENode interface, and 
     The preferred embodiment permits the Ethernet Fabric  302  to be viewed as a single FCoE VN_Port virtualizer (FVV). In addition, from the FCoE device point of view, the fabric appears as a single logical FVV. All Ethernet Fabric switches, also known as RBridges or RBs,  304  use the same external FVV MAC address. 
     The Ethernet Fabric  302  handles the FIP protocol processing and the FCoE encapsulation between the Ethernet Fabric  302  and the FCFs  308 , but all SAN fabric services are provided by the FC SAN fabric  310 . 
     Traffic between FCoE VN_Ports  317  on ENode devices  306  and FCF  308  VF_Ports  320  is bridged by an FVV switch functionality  314  embedded in an RBridge or Ethernet Fabric switch  306  connected directly to the FCF  308  via an FCoE VN_Port  316  to FCoE VF_Port  320  link. However, traffic between FCoE VN_Ports  317  and FCoE VN_Ports  318  is not forwarded to the FC Fabric for routing, it is TRILL forwarded directly from the ingress Ethernet Fabric switch  304  to the egress Ethernet Fabric switch  304  as shown in  FIG. 3 . The RBs or Ethernet Fabric switches are interconnected using Ethernet Fabric ports. 
     For the sake of clarity, we need to distinguish between the two types of Ethernet Fabric switches that may exist in this model. An Ethernet Fabric switch (RB for RBridge) that includes FVV functionality and is directly connected to an FCF is called a V-RB switch, for Virtualizer-RBridge, in this document (V-RB 1   304  in  FIG. 3 ) as they contain embedded FVV functionality. 
     Ethernet Fabric switches  304  (RB for RBridge) provide the following services: 
     FIP discovery and VLAN services for FCoE devices attached to this switch; 
     FIP login redirection to appropriate FCF; and 
     Via Ethernet Name Server (eNS) distribution services, which is used to maintain coherency of information among the various RBs as discussed in Publication No. 2011/0299535 incorporated above, notify all other RBs of link establishment, status, etc. and FCoE VN_Port additions and deletions. 
     At a high level, the forwarding logic for a received FCoE frame is: 
     Promote to L3; 
     Perform 24 bit lookup on FC DID; 
     Perform 16 bit (Domain, Area) lookup on FC SID; 
     If (24 bit lookup=hit):
         Result=Forward to egress RB (or egress interface if egress RB=self);       

     Else (if 16 bit lookup=hit):
         Result=Forward to egress V-RB (or egress interface if egress V-RB=self);       

     Else:
         Drop or reject packet.       

     In order to facilitate the direct forwarding of FCoE to FCoE traffic from ingress RB to egress RB in the Ethernet Fabric, each RB in the Ethernet Fabric has knowledge of every FCoE VN_Port attached to fabric, similar to the Ethernet Fabric model for L2 Ethernet MAC addresses as discussed in related application Ser. No. 14/206,879 incorporated above. 
     When an FCoE Enode device successfully logs in to the FC SAN, the egress RB traps the FIP login response and updates all RBs of the new device&#39;s FPMA MAC using the eNS distribution service. This eNS update includes a flag indicating that this is an FCoE VN_Port MAC, and rather than installing an entry in the L2 tables, each RB installs a 24 bit FCoE DA entry using the low order three bytes of the VN_Port FPMA MAC address as these correspond to the FC PID of the VN_Port. This allows any FCoE frame ingressing on any RB in the fabric, destined to the VN_Port, to be directly forwarded to the egress RB, the RB to which the VN_Port is attached. Note that this entry is based on the egress RB and not the ingress RB. From the perspective pf the FC fabric, the VN_Port on the ingress RB will have all of the FCIDs which are provided to the various ENode VN_Ports as it is performing NPIV operations and passing the same FCID through. If the ingress RB provided this information for inclusion in the routing tables then all of the FCIDs would; actually be duplicated, once at the ingress RB and once at the egress RB, which might cause routing problems. As any FC device which is being addressed by the ENode will not have any entries in the 24 bit portion of the routing table and the ingress VN_Ports will not have entries in the 24 bit portion of the routing table, any frames directed to other ENode VN_Ports on the Ethernet Fabric will be able to unambiguously determine their route from the 24 bit table entries. 
     Upon establishment of an VN_Port to VF_Port link from an RB in the Ethernet Fabric to the FCF, the RB notifies all RBs in the Ethernet Fabric of the link establishment via the eNS distribution service. The link is identified by the FC Domain and Area assigned by the FC fabric to the RB VN_Port in response to the RB FLOGI. 
     Each RB installs an FCoE ACL entry to facilitate a 16 bit FC SID Domain, Area based lookup with the result being forward to the RB owning the VN_Port to FCF VF_Port link, or to the egress interface if this is the owning RB. It is noted that the lookup to determine if the packet is destined to a VN_Port or Enode connected to the Ethernet Fabric has precedence over these lookups which route the packet to the RB. As any FC device which is being addressed by the ENode will not have any entries in the 24 bit portion of the routing table and the ingress VN_Ports will not have entries in the 24 bit portion of the routing table, any frames not directed to other ENode VN_Ports on the Ethernet Fabric will be able to determine their route from the 16 bit table entries as there are no 24 bit entries. 
     With these two sets of entries, lower 24 bits of FCoE DA for each connected ENode and 16 bit Domain, Area for each FCF-connected VN_Port, added to the normal Ethernet Fabric routing tables, in the Ethernet Name Server and other tables in the switch as described in Publication No. 2011/0299535 incorporated above, all FCoE packets from ENodes or FC packets from the FC fabric can be properly routed to the correct egress port of the Ethernet Fabric. 
       FIG. 3A  illustrates a redundant path version of the network of  FIG. 3 . V-RB 1  and V-RB 4   304  provide redundant access to the FC SAN A  310  through the parallel connections to FCFs FC Domains  10  and  12   308 . V-RB 1   304  is a primary VN_Port virtualizer and V-RB 4   304  is a non-primary VN_Port virtualizer. Device login is done using the primary, V-RB 1   304  in the example. When the primary fails, the non-primary takes over operation and provides a redundant path to the FC SAN A  310 . In certain embodiments the failover may be seamless, as the non-primary may perform address translation. In other embodiments the failover can be accomplished using conventional failover mechanisms utilizing different addresses. Rerouting inside the Ethernet Fabric  302  is handled using conventional TRILL failover techniques. 
       FIG. 4  is an alternate embodiment having a more conventional Ethernet network instead of an Ethernet Fabric. As such, individual switches  404  which each include FVV functionality  414  are interconnected to form the network  402 . As such, each switch  404  performs the operations described above independently, not as a distributed unit as done in the Ethernet Fabric  302  with the RBs  304 . However, preferably a service equivalent to the eNS service is utilized to allow direct Enode to Enode routing as discussed above. The illustrated embodiment switch  1   404  performs the initial login to the FCF Domain  10   408  and receives the base FC address for the network  402 . Switch  2   404  and switch  3   404  each perform their own base login through switch  1   404 , which converts the FIP FLOGIs to FIP FDISCs. Thus the base addresses for switches  2  and  3   404  are addresses based on the switch  1   404  base address. As each Enode device  406  performs its own FIP FLOGI, the switches  2  and  3   404  convert them to a FIP FDISC and sends them to switch  1   404 , which passes them through to the FCF FC Domain  10   408 . FCF FC Domain  10   408  then provides another FCID, which trickles back down to the requesting ENode device  406 . It is noted in this configuration that consecutive FCIDs may not go to ENode devices  406  on the same switch, such as switch  2   404  or switch  3   404 , as the FCF FC Domain  10   408  will provide addresses to switch  1   404  unaware of the underlying topology of the network  402 . As the switches  404  preferably have full tables as discussed above with regard to the RBs, this is not a problem. It is understood that each switch in this case may not be able to receive a full complement of FCIDs as the total FCIDs provided through a single VN_Port  422  of switch  1   404  is distributed among the three switches illustrated. 
       FIGS. 5 and 6  illustrate data flow for two cases, respectively FCoE host to FC target and FC target to FCoE host.  FIG. 7  illustrates the FIP VLAN and FIP FCF discovery operations for both an RB connected to an FCF and for Enode devices connected to an RB.  FIG. 8  illustrates the FIP FLOGI or FDISC operations. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , an exemplary network architecture is illustrated. An Ethernet Fabric  552  is connected to an FC SAN  554 . The Ethernet Fabric  552  includes various interconnected switches. Switch V-RB  1   556  is connected to switch V-RB 2   558 . Switch V-RB 1   556  and switch V-RB 2   558  include FVV functionality as indicated by the V-designation. Switch V-RB 1   556  and switch V-RB 2   558  also act as RBridges in the Ethernet Fabric as indicated by the RB designation. Switches RB 3   560 , RB 4   562  and RB 5   564  are each connected to each of switches V-RB 1   556  and V-RB 2   558  to form the Ethernet Fabric  552 . 
     The FC SAN  554  is formed by FCFs  566  and  568  and FC switches  570  and  572 , each switch including exemplary domain values. FCFs  566  and  568  are shown as each having two ports for connection to the Ethernet Fabric  552 , with port  1  being connected to switch V-RB 1   556  and port  2  being connected to switch V-RB 2   558 . An FCoE host H 1   574  is shown connected to switch RB 3   560 , while FC target T 1   576  is shown as connected to switch  570 , which has domain  12 . This basic illustrated architecture is used in variations in  FIGS. 5-8  to illustrate packet flow in various situations. 
     In  FIG. 5  data flow from FCoE host H 1   574  to FC target T 1   576  is illustrated. Assume FCoE host H 1   574  is logged into FCF Domain  11   568 , port (area)  2 . Also assume there is a single external FCF MAC for the Ethernet Fabric  552  which is programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBridges in the Ethernet Fabric  552 . Use of “Ext FCF MAC” is proper as each ENode believe that it is connected to an FCF. Further assume that the Ethernet Fabric switches  556 - 564  each use an individual, internal FVV MAC value for ingress RBridge to egress RBridge/AG FCoE traffic. FCoE host H 1   574  provides an FCoE packet to switch RB 3   560  as illustrated by the arrow A  502 . The FCoE packet has the following values: DA: Ext FCF MAC, SA: H 1  VN FPMA MAC, VID: FCoE VLAN, DID: T 1  FCID and SID: H 1  FCID. 
     Switch RB 3   560  performs the following processing on the packet: 
     1. Promote to L3 (Because DA=Ext FCF MAC). The promotion to L3 results in using different fields for routing, in this case either the DID or SID fields in the embedded packet. 
     2. 24 bit DID lookup=miss (because the destination is not an FCoE device connected to the Ethernet Fabric  552 ) 
     3. 16 bit SID lookup=hit (because it is a known FC device), result=forward to switch V-RB 2   558  (because of routing table entry) 
     4. Trill forward to switch V-RB 2   558  (normal Ethernet Fabric operation) 
     The Ethernet Fabric packet is forwarded from switch RB 3   560  to switch V-RB 2   558  as illustrated by arrow B  504 . The packet has the following values: TRILL DA=V-RB 2 , TRILL SA=RB 3 , Inner DA=V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC, Inner SA=RB 3  Int FVV MAC, VID=FCoE VLAN, DID=T 1  FCID and SID=H 1  FCID. 
     Switch V-RB 2   458  performs the following processing on the packet: 
     1. Terminate TRILL (because TRILL DA=V-RB 2 ) 
     2. Promote to L3 (because DA=My Int FVV MAC) 
     3. 24 bit DID lookup=miss (because the destination is not an FCoE device connected to the Ethernet Fabric  452 ) 
     4 16 bit SID lookup=hit (because it is a known FC domain and area), result=forward to V-RB 2   558  FCF (EGID) (because of routing table entry) 
     The FCoE packet is provided from switch V-RB 2   558  to port  2  of FCF  568  as illustrated by arrow C  506 . The FCoE packet has the following values: DA: FCF  11  MAC, SA: V-RB 2  VN FPMA MAC, VID: FCoE VLAN, DID=T 1  FCID and SID=H 1  FCID. Flow inside the FC SAN  554  is as normal and is not illustrated. 
     Table  1  provides the above operations and flow in table format. 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 Data Flow FCoE H 1  to FC T 1   
               
               
                   
                 Assumes H 1  logged into FCF Domain 11, port (area) 2 
               
               
                   
                 H 1 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow A): 
               
               
                   
                 DA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                 SA: H 1  VN FPMA MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: T 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 SID: H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 RB 3  processing: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Promote to L 3  (DA = Ext FCF MAC) 
               
               
                   
                 2. 24 bit DID lookup = miss 
               
               
                   
                 3. 16 bit SID lookup = hit, result = forward to V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                 4. TRILL forward to V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                 RB 3 −&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow B): 
               
               
                   
                 TRILL DA = V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                 TRILL SA = RB 3   
               
               
                   
                 Inner DA = V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                 Inner SA = RB 3  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID = FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID = T 1  FCiD 
               
               
                   
                 SID = H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 V-RB 2  processing: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Terminate TRILL (TRILL DA = V-RB 2 ) 
               
               
                   
                 2. Promote to L 3  (DA = My Int FVV MAC) 
               
               
                   
                 3. 24 bit DID lookup = miss 
               
               
                   
                 4 16 bit SID lookup = hit, result = forward to FCF (EGID) 
               
               
                   
                 V-RB 2 −&gt;FCF 11 (Arrow C): 
               
               
                   
                 DA: FCF 11 MAC 
               
               
                   
                 SA: V-RB 2  VN FPMA MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLN 
               
               
                   
                 DID = T 1  FCiD 
               
               
                   
                 SID = H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 FCF 11 &amp; FC Fabric: Normal FC forwarding to T 1   
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Notes: 
               
               
                 1. Single external FVV MAC for Ethernet Fabric. Programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBs in Ethernet Fabric. 
               
               
                 2. Ethernet Fabric switches use internal FVV MAC for ingress RB to egress RB/AG FCoE traffic. 
               
             
          
         
       
     
     Referring to  FIG. 6 , data flow from FC target T 1   576  to FCoE host H 1   574  is illustrated. Again assume FCoE host H 1   574  is logged into FC domain  11 , port (area)  2 . Normal FC forwarding occurs on the FC packet from FC target T 1   576  to FCF  568 , domain  11 , port  2 . Because FCF  568  assumes the FCoE host H 1  is connected through port  2 , the FCoE packet flows from FCF  568  to switch V-RB 2   558  as shown by arrow A  602 . The FCoE packet has the following values: DA: V-RB 2  VN FPMA MAC, SA: FCF  11  MAC, VID: FCoE VLAN, DID=H 1  FCID and SID=T 1  FCID. 
     Switch V-RB 2   558  performs the following processing on the packet: 
     1. Promote to L3 (Because DA=My VN FPMA MAC) 
     3. 24 bit DID lookup=hit (because the destination is an FCoE device connected to the Ethernet Fabric  552 ), result=forward to RB 3   560  (because of the routing table entry) 
     The Ethernet Fabric packet is provided from switch V-RB 2   558  to switch RB 3   560  as illustrated by arrow B  604 . The Ethernet Fabric packet has the following values: TRILL DA=RB 3 , TRILL SA=V-RB 2 , Inner DA=RB 3  Int FVV MAC, Inner SA=V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC, VID=FCoE VLAN, DID=H 1  FCID and SID=T 1  FCID. 
     Switch RB 3   560  performs the following processing: 
     1. Terminate TRILL (Because TRILL DA=RB 3 ) 
     2. Promote to L3 (Because DA=RB 3  Int FVV MAC) 
     3. 24 bit SID lookup=hit (because the destination is an FCoE device connected to the Ethernet Fabric  452 ), result=forward to H 1  (EGID) (because of the routing table entry) 
     The FCoE packet is provided from switch RB 3   560  to FCoE host H 1   574  illustrated by arrow C  606 . The FCoE packet has the following values: DA: H 1  VN FPMA MAC, SA: Ext FCF MAC, VID: FCoE VLAN, DID: H 1  FCID and SID: T 1  FCID. 
     Table 2 provides the above operations and flow in table format. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 2 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                   
                 Data Flow FCoE H 1  to FC T 1   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Assumes H 1  logged into FCF Domain 11, port (area) 2 
               
               
                   
                   
                 H 1 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow A): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: H 1  VN FPMA MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DID: T 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SID: H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RB 3  processing: 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1. Promote to L 3  (DA = Ext FCF MAC) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 2. 24 bit DID lookup = miss 
               
               
                   
                   
                 3. 16 bit SID lookup = hit, result = forward to V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                   
                 4. TRILL forward to V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                   
                 RB 3 −&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow B): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 TRILL DA = V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                   
                 TRILL SA = RB 3   
               
               
                   
                   
                 Inner DA = V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Inner SA = RB 3  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID = FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DID = T 1  FCiD 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SID = H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                   
                 V-RB 2  processing: 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1. Terminate TRILL (TRILL DA = V-RB 2 ) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 2. Promote to L 3  (DA = My Int FVV MAC) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 3. 24 bit DID lookup = miss 
               
               
                   
                   
                 4 16 bit SID lookup = hit, result = forward to FCF (EGID) 
               
               
                   
                   
                 V-RB 2 −&gt;FCF 11 (Arrow C): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: FCF 11 MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: V-RB 2  VN FPMA MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DID = T 1  FCiD 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SID = H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FCF 11 &amp; FC Fabric: Normal FC forwarding to T 1   
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Notes: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Single external FVV MAC for Ethernet Fabric. Programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBs in Ethernet Fabric. 
               
               
                   
                 2. Ethernet Fabric switches use internal FVV MAC for ingress RB to egress RB/AG FCoE traffic. 
               
             
          
         
       
     
       FIG. 7  illustrates the FIP VLAN and FIP FCF discovery operations for both the switch V-RB 2   558  and for host H 1   574 . 
     Addressing the switch V-RB 2   558  first, first FIP VLAN discovery occurs, then FIP Discovery. Switch V-RB 2   558  transmits a FIP VLAN Request to the FCF Domain  11   568  as shown by arrow A  702 . The FIP VLAN Request packet has the following values: DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC, SA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC and VID: Any valid VLAN. The FCF  568  performs normal FCF processing and returns a response as shown by arrow B  704 . The FIP VLAN Notification packet has the following values: DA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC, SA: FCF  11  MAC and VID: Same as Request. 
     The switch V-RB 2   558  next performs FIP Discovery. The FIP Discovery Solicitation packet flows to FCF  568  as shown by arrow A  702 . The FIP Discovery Solicitation packet has the following values: DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC, SA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC and VID: FCoE VLAN. Again the FCF  568  performs normal processing and returns a FIP Solicited Advertisement packet as shown by arrow B  704 . The FIP Solicited Advertisement packet has the following values: DA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC, SA: FCF  11  FCF MAC and VID: FCoE VLAN. 
     Proceeding to the host H 1   574 , the FIP Request is provided from FCoE host H 1   574  to switch RB 3   560  as shown by arrow C  706 . The FIP Request packet has the following values: DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC, SA: H 1  ENode MAC and VID: Any valid VLAN. 
     Switch RB 3   560  performs the following processing: 
     1. Trap to CP (because it is a FIP packet) 
     2. CP generates FIP VLAN Notification (because it is acting as the FCF entity) 
     The FIP Notification flows from switch RB 3   560  to FCoE host H 1   574  as shown by arrow D  708 . The FIP Notification packet has the following values: DA: H 1  ENode MAC, SA: Ext FCF MAC and VID: Same as Request. 
     For FIP Discovery, the FIP Solicitation packet flows from FCoE host H 1   574  to switch RB 3   560  as shown by arrow C  706 . The FIP Discovery packet has the following values: DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC, SA: H 1  ENode MAC and VID: FCoE VLAN. 
     Switch RB 3   560  performs the following processing: 
     1. Trap to CP (because it is a FIP packet) 
     2. CP generates FIP Solicited Advertisement (because it is acting as the FCF entity) 
     The FIP Solicited Advertisement packet flows from switch RB 3   560  to FCoE host H 1   574  as shown by arrow D  708 . The FIP Solicited Advertisement packet has the following values: DA: H 1  ENode MAC, SA: Ext FCF MAC and VID: FCoE VLAN. 
     Tables 3 and 4 provide the above operations and flow in table format. 
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 3 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                   
                 V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                   
                 FIP VLAN Discovery 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Request - V-RB 2 −&gt;FCF 11 (Arrow A): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: Any valid VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FCF - Normal processing 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Notification - FCF 11−&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow B): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: FCF 11 MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: Same as Request 
               
               
                   
                   
                 ---------------------------------------------------- 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FIP Discovery 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Solicitation - V-RB 2 −&gt;FCF 11 (Arrow A): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FCF - Normal processing 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Solicited Advertisement - FCF 11−&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow B): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: FCF 11 FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Notes: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Single external FVV MAC for Ethernet Fabric. Programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBs in Ethernet Fabric. 
               
               
                   
                 2. Ethernet Fabric switches use computed internal FVV MAC for ingress RB to egress RB/AG FCoE traffic. 
               
             
          
         
       
     
     
       
         
               
               
               
             
           
               
                   
                 TABLE 4 
               
               
                   
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                   
                 H 1   
               
               
                   
                   
                 FIP VLAN Discovery 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Request - H 1 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow C): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: Any valid VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RB 3  processing: 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1. Trap to CP 
               
               
                   
                   
                 2. CP generates FIP VLAN Notification 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Notification - RB 3 −&gt;H 1  (Arrow D): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: Same as Request 
               
               
                   
                   
                 --------------------------------------------------------- 
               
               
                   
                   
                 FIP Discovery 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Solicitation - H 1 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow C): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: ALL_FCFs_MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
                 RB 3  processing: 
               
               
                   
                   
                 1. Trap to CP 
               
               
                   
                   
                 2. CP generates FIP Solicited Advertisement 
               
               
                   
                   
                 Solicited Advertisement - RB 3 −&gt;H 1  (Arrow D): 
               
               
                   
                   
                 DA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 SA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                   
               
               
                   
                 Notes: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Single external FVV MAC for Ethernet Fabric. Programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBs in Ethernet Fabric. 
               
               
                   
                 2. Ethernet Fabric switches use computed internal FVV MAC for ingress RB to egress RB/AG FCoE traffic. 
               
             
          
         
       
     
       FIG. 8 , illustrates the FIP FLOGI or FDISC operations. The FIP Virtual Link Instantiation (VLI) Login (FLOGI or FDISC) operations are as follows. Assume that FCOE host H 1   574  is logging into FC Domain  11 , Port  2  on FCF  568 . The FIP VLI Request packet flows from FCoE host H 1   574  to switch RB 3   560  as shown by arrow A  802 . The FIP VLI Request packet has the following values: DA: Ext FCF MAC, SA: H 1  ENode MAC,VID: FCoE VLAN, DID: FFFFFE and SID: 000000. 
     The switch RB 3   560  performs the following processing: 
     1. Trap to CP (because it is a FIP packet as determined by an FIP Ethernet type trap) 
     2. Use Login Management as described below to determine egress V-RB for the packet 
     3. TRILL forward to egress RB (normal TRILL forwarding) 
     The TRILL packet flows from switch RB 3   560  to switch V-RB 2   558  as shown by arrow B  804 . The TRILL packet has the following values: TRILL DA=V-RB 2 , TRILL SA=RB 3 , Inner DA=V-RB 2  int FVV MAC, Inner SA=H 1  ENode MAC, VID=FCoE VLAN, DID: FFFFFE and SID: 000000. 
     As switch G-RB 2   558  is acting as the FVV functionality, it performs the following login processing: 
     1. Normal FCoE gateway FLOGI/FDISC processing (with the switch V-RB 2   558  presenting as an FCoE VN_Port, most preferably a port that has NPIV or Virtual N_Port capabilities). In this case the switch V-RB 2   558  converts the FIP FLOGI to a FIP FDISC. 
     Thus the FIP FDISC flows from the switch V-RB 2   458  to FCF  468  (FC Domain  11 ) as shown by arrow C  806 . 
     FCF  568  responds to the FIP FDISC from switch V-RB 2   558  by returning either a FIP VLI LS-ACC (successful login) or LS-RJT as shown by arrow D  808 . 
     Switch V-RB 2   558  simply passes the FIP FDISC response directly through, just performing TRILL operations. In this case the switch V-RB 2   558  provides the FIP Response packet to switch RB 3   560  as shown by arrow E  810 . The TRILL packet has the following values: TRILL DA=RB 3 , TRILL SA=V-RB 2 , Inner DA=H 1  Enode MAC, Inner SA=RB 2  Int FVV MAC, VID=FCoE VLAN, DID=H 1  FCID, SID=FFFFFE 
     Switch RB 3   560  performs the following response processing: 
     1. Trap to CP (because it is a FIP packet as determined by an FIP Ethernet type trap) 
     2. Decode response 
     3a: If Link Service Accept (LS_ACC), send eNS update to all RBs 
     If the response is an LS_ACC, then switch RB 3   560  provides an eNS notification to all RBs as shown by arrows F  812 . 
     All RBs perform the following response to the eNS notification: 
     3a.1. Normal MAC address update processing 
     3a.2. New FCoE VN_Port processing. Each RB adds an FCoE EXM entry using low order 3 bytes of VN_Port MAC address as FCID to indicate presence of ENode on the Ethernet Fabric  552 . 
     4. Forward response to H 1   574   
     The FIP VLI Response flows from switch RB 3   560  to ENode host H 1   574  as shown by arrow G  814 . This FCoE FIP packet has the following values: DA: H 1  ENode MAC, SA: Ext FCF MAC, VID: FCoE VLAN, DID=H 1  FCID, SID=FFFFFE. 
     Table 5 provides the above operations and flow in table format. 
     
       
         
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 5 
               
               
                   
               
             
             
               
                   
                 FIP VLI Login (FLOGI or FDISC) 
               
               
                   
                 Assume H 1  logging into FCF Domain 11, Port 2 
               
               
                   
                 VLI Request - H 1 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow A): 
               
               
                   
                 DA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                 SA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: FFFFFE 
               
               
                   
                 SID: oooooo 
               
               
                   
                 RB 3  processing: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Trap to CP (FIP etype trap) 
               
               
                   
                 2. Use Login Mgmt to determine egress RB 
               
               
                   
                 3. TRILL forward to egress RB 
               
               
                   
                 RB 3 −&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow B): 
               
               
                   
                 TRILL DA = V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                 TRILL SA = RB 3   
               
               
                   
                 Inner DA = V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                 Inner SA = H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID = FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: FFFFFE 
               
               
                   
                 SID: oooooo 
               
               
                   
                 V-RB 2  processing: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Trap to CP 
               
               
                   
                 2. Virtualizer function converts FLOGI to FDISC 
               
               
                   
                 VLI Request - V-RB 2 -&gt;FCF Domain 11 Arrow C): 
               
               
                   
                 DA: FCF 11 MAC 
               
               
                   
                 SA: V-RB 2  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: FFFFFE 
               
               
                   
                 SID: oooooo 
               
               
                   
                 FCF 11 Processing - Normal processing 
               
               
                   
                 FCF 11−&gt;V-RB 2  (Arrow D): 
               
               
                   
                 VLI Response LS-ACC (successful login) or 
               
               
                   
                 FC LS-RJT 
               
               
                   
                 V-RB 2  response processing: 
               
               
                   
                 1. Pass through 
               
               
                   
                 V-RB 2 −&gt;RB 3  (Arrow E) 
               
               
                   
                 TRILL DA = RB 3   
               
               
                   
                 TRILL SA = V-RB 2   
               
               
                   
                 Inner DA = H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                 Inner SA = V-RB 2  Int FVV MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID = FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 SID: FFFFFE 
               
               
                   
                 RB 3  response processing 
               
               
                   
                 1. Trap to CP (FIP etype trap) 
               
               
                   
                 2. Decode reponse 
               
               
                   
                 3a: If LS_ACC, send eNS update to all RBs (Arrow F) 
               
               
                   
                 All RBs: 
               
               
                   
                 3a.1. Normal MAC addr update processing 
               
               
                   
                 3a.2. New FCoE VN-port processing - add FCOE EXM entry  
               
               
                   
                 using low order 3 bytes of VN-port MAC address as FCID 
               
               
                   
                 Forward response to H 1   
               
               
                   
                 VLI Response - RB 3 −&gt;H 1  (Arrow G): 
               
               
                   
                 DA: H 1  ENode MAC 
               
               
                   
                 SA: Ext FCF MAC 
               
               
                   
                 VID: FCoE VLAN 
               
               
                   
                 DID: H 1  FCID 
               
               
                   
                 SID: FFFFFE 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 Notes: 
               
               
                 1. Single external FVV MAC for Ethernet Fabric. Programmed as a “Ext FCF MAC” on all RBs in Ethernet Fabric. 
               
               
                 2. Ethernet Fabric switches use internal FW MAC for ingress RB to egress RB/AG FCoE traffic. 
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In a deployment where the FCF-connected RB is not at the first Ethernet Fabric hop, the first hop RB must decide to which FCF-connected RB it should forward FCoE Enode device FIP FLOGIs. In one embodiment an automatic method is used. In a second embodiment, a configurable FCoE login management model is used. 
     The automatic embodiment utilizes the eNS distribution services to provide updates from RBs to all other RBs with current Ethernet Fabric-FCF link usage information. If the FCF-connected RB is the first hop, then if a single logical FCoE VN_Port to VF_Port link is established on the FCF-connected RB, forward FIP FLOGI on it. If multiple logical FCoE VN_Port to VF_Port links are established on this FCF-connected RB, forward an Ethernet Fabric FIP FLOGI on the link with the least number of FCoE device logins per link bandwidth. If a FCF-connected RB is not the first hop, then send the FLOGI to the FCF-connected RB with the least number of Ethernet Fabric-FCF logins per total uplink bandwidth. Note that FDISC based login from the same ENode must be sent to the same FCF-connected RB and forwarded on the same VN_Port to VF_Port link, so the ENode to FCF-connected RB association must be retained in the first hop non-FCF-connected RB. 
     The second embodiment provides the SAN administrator with a facility to map ENode devices to a specific Ethernet Fabric-FCF link, and therefore to a specific FC SAN Domain, Area. The resulting login management database is distributed to all RBs in the Ethernet Fabric. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates that the V-RB 1   314  need not be directly connected to the FCF  308  but rather there can be an intervening Ethernet Fabric  302 ′ between the VN_Port  318  and the VF_Port  320  of the FCF  308 . Therefore the VN_Port  318  is connected to VF_Port  316 ′ and the V-RB 1   304 ′ is connected to the VF_Port  320 . This shows that the VN_Port  318  from the V-RB 1  need not be connected to an FCF but can be connected to any device, in this case RB 2   304 ′, that presents a VF_Port. Ethernet Fabric  302 , specifically V-RB 1   304 , handles virtualization and NPIV operations for ENodes  306 , with Ethernet Fabric  302 ′ performing virtualization and NPIV operations for its connected devices, in this case Ethernet Fabric  302 . FCF  308  performs the normal functions for the ENodes  306 , just virtualized a second level by Ethernet Fabric  302 ′ as packets such as FIP VLI traverse the two Ethernet Fabrics  302  and  302 ′. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a first alternate embodiment. Each RB  1004  in an Ethernet Fabric  1002  includes an FCF daemon  1014  (FCFD) and so is referred to as an F-RB. The FCF daemon  1014  provides all FC services normally provided by an FCF, which is sufficient to operate an FC fabric. In this embodiment each RB  1004  handles the login operations of its connected ENodes  1006  as it contains full FC services. eNS can be used as above to maintain the tables used for direct routing or similar FC inter-switch communications can be used, as those will be provided to allow the FCF daemons  1014  to operate as a normal FC fabric. The VF port  1040  of the F-RB 2   1014  is connected to the VN_Port  318  of V-RB 1   304  to act as the FCF instead of an actual FCF such as FCF  308 . This is another example of the VN_Port  318  being connected to a VF_Port from a device other than an FCF, in this case F-RB 2   1004 . Thus the F-RB 2   1004  handles the login of ENodes connected to the Ethernet Fabric  302  as the Ethernet Fabric  302  is operating as a virtual VN_Port virtualizer. 
       FIG. 11  is a second alternate embodiment. Instead of being an Ethernet Fabric, the network  1102  is a Lossless Ethernet network, as appropriate for FCoE operation. In the illustrated embodiment instead of RBs as used in the Ethernet Fabric, Ethernet switches  1104  are used, with the switches also complying with the requirements for an FCF. The switches/FCFs are connected using VE_Ports  1142  but still present VF_Ports to the Enode  1106  and the VN_Port  318  of the Ethernet Fabric  302  which is acting as the virtualizer. Thus here also each switch  1104  handles the login of connected Enodes and the virtualizer/Ethernet Fabric  302 . 
     By embedding VN_Port virtualizer functionality into the switches or RBridges that form an Ethernet Fabric the entire Ethernet Fabric can act as a virtual VN_Port virtualizer, providing VF_Ports to the ENodes and VN_Ports to the FCF or other VF_Port device, and can route FCoE packets directly between connected ENode devices without a trip to the FC fabric. 
     While certain specific embodiments of particular functions have been mentioned, in most cases other similar embodiments that perform the same function can be used. For example, eNS is described as providing message distribution services between the Ethernet Fabric switches but other message distribution methods and protocols could be used. As another example, the VD is described as a user space module, language usually used with Linux/Unix variants, but it could be a kernel module in Linux/Unix or could be the equivalent in Windows, VxWorks and the like. 
     The above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-described embodiments may be used in combination with each other. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein.”

Technology Category: 5