Persistent principal switch for fibre channel fabric

摘要

According to one aspect, a Fiber Channel (FC) switch that is currently serving as a Principal Switch among a plurality of FC switches in a FC Fabric sends an Exchange Fabric Parameters (EFP) frame having an empty domain identifier list to neighboring FC switches during a first portion a Principal Switch Selection phase. During a second portion of the Principal Switch Selection phase that is after the first portion, the first Fiber Channel switch sends to neighboring FC switches an EFP frame having a non-empty domain identifier list to indicate to the neighboring FC switches that the first FC switch is to remain serving as the Principal Switch in the FC Fabric.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
at a first Fibre Channel switch that is currently serving as a Principal Switch among a plurality of Fibre Channel switches in a Fibre Channel Fabric, sending to neighboring Fibre Channel switches an Exchange Fabric Parameters (EFP) frame having an empty domain identifier list during a first portion a Principal Switch Selection phase, wherein during the first portion of the Principal Switch Selection phase the neighboring Fibre Channel switches also send EFP frames having an empty domain identifier list; and during a second portion of the Principal Switch Selection phase that is after the first portion, sending from the first Fibre Channel switch to the neighboring Fibre Channel switches an EFP frame having a non-empty domain identifier list to indicate to the neighboring Fibre Channel switches that the first Fibre Channel switch is to remain serving as the Principal Switch in the Fibre Channel Fabric, wherein during the second portion of the Principal Switch Selection phase the neighboring Fibre Channel switches continue to send EFP frames having an empty domain identifier list.