Communication method and apparatus for use in a computing network environment having high performance LAN connections

摘要

A method and apparatus for establishing communication between a first initiating host and a second communicating host in a computing environment having a gateway device. The gateway device is electronically connected from one side to a plurality of initiating hosts and on another side to at least one local area network, further connecting a plurality of receiving hosts to said gateway device. During an initialization step, all connected hosts and the local area network(s) is identified and their addresses and information obtained and stored in a port-sharing table in a memory location accessible to the gateway device. Upon receipt of a special command for establishing communication between a first initiating host and a second receiving host, all information required for establishing of a successful communication between the two hosts is then obtained from the port-sharing table. In an alternate embodiment of the present invention the computing network environment uses Multi-path channel communication protocol.