A FIBRE CHANNEL SWITCH THAT ENABLES END DEVICES IN DIFFERENET FABRICS TO COMMUNICATE WITH ONE ANOTHER WHILE RETAINING THEIR UNIQUE FIBRE CHANNEL DOMAIN IDS

摘要

An Fibre Channel Switch which enables end devices in different Fabrics to communicate with one another while retaining their unique Fibre Channel Domain_ IDs. The Switch is coupled to a first fabric having a first set of end devices and a second fabric having a second set of end devices. The Switch is configured to enable communication by the first set of end devices associated with the first fabric with the second set of end devices associated with the second set of end devices using the unique Domain_IDs of each of the first set and the second set of end devices. In one embodiment of the invention, the first and second fabrics are first and second Virtual Storage Array Networks (VSANs) respectively. In an alternative embodiment, the first fabric and the second fabric are separate physical fabrics.