Method and apparatus for transferring data between ip network devices and scsi and fibre channel devices over an ip network

Abstract

A method and apparatus for transferring data between IP devices and SCSI or Fibre Channel devices. The device interfaces may be SCSI, Fibre Channel or IP interfaces. Data is switched between SCSI and IP, Fibre Channel and IP, or between SCSI and Fibre Channel. Data can also be switched from SCSI to SCSI, IP to IP and FC to FC. The port interfaces provide the conversion from the input frame format to an internal frame format, which can be routed within the apparatus. The amount of processing performed by each port interface is dependent on the interface type. The processing capabilities permit rapid transfer of information packets between multiple interfaces at latency levels meeting the stringent requirements for storage protocols. The configuration control can be applied to each port on a switch and, in turn, each switch on the network, via an SNMP or Web-based interface, providing flexible, programmable control.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A network device having one or more Fibre Channel (FC) ports and one or more IP ports, wherein the device is configured to encapsulate frames received from a first FC storage area network (SAN) portion on a first one of said FC ports in one or more IP datagrams using TCP as a transport protocol for delivery to a destination device on a second FC SAN portion via a first one of said IP ports, each received frame having a source FC address and a destination FC address. 
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to encapsulate each received frame in one or more IP datagrams, each datagram including a source IP address, a destination IP address, a destination TCP port number and a source TCP port number based on the destination and source FC addresses In the frame being encapsulated. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is configured to de-encapsulate an FC frame received in an IP datagram from the second FC SAN portion over the first IP port, wherein each de-encapsulated FC frame has a source FC address and a destination FC address. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 3 , wherein the address information includes a source IP address, a destination IP address, a destination TCP port number and a source TCP port number. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the device is a network switch device coupling the first FC SAN portion to an IP network. 
     
     
         6 . A method of transmitting data in a network device having one or more Fibre Channel (FC) ports and one or more IP ports, the method comprising:
 receiving, on a first one of said FC ports, a frame from a source device in a first FC storage area network (SAN) portion, the frame having a source FC address and a destination FC address;   encapsulating the frame in one or more IP datagrams using TCP as a transport protocol; and   transmitting the one or more IP datagrams to a second FC SAN portion via a first one of the IP ports, the IP datagrams being destined for a destination device on the second FC SAN portion.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein encapsulating includes:
 inserting in each datagram a source IP address and a source TCP port number based on the source FC address in the frame; and   inserting in each datagram a destination IP address and a destination TCP port number based on the destination FC address in the frame.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the network device is a network switch device coupling the first FC SAN portion to an IP network. 
     
     
         9 . A method of transmitting data in a network device having one or more Fibre Channel (FC) ports and one or more IP ports, the method comprising:
 receiving, on a first one of said IP ports, an IP datagram from a source device in a second FC storage area network (SAN) portion, the datagram using TCP as a transport protocol, the datagram having an encapsulated frame with a source FC address and a destination FC address;   de-encapsulating the encapsulated frame; and transmitting the de-encapsulated frame to a first FC SAN portion via a first one of the FC ports, the de-encapsulated frame being destined for a destination device on the first FC-SAN portion.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the address information includes a source IP address, a destination IP address, a destination TCP port number and a source TCP port number.