Method and system for routing fibre channel frames
View Patent ↗A method and system for transmitting frames using a fiber channel switch element is provided. The switch element includes a port having a receive segment and a transmit segment, wherein the fiber channel switch element determines if a port link has been reset; determines if a flush state has been enabled for the port; and removes frames from a buffer, if the flush state has been enabled for the port. For a flush state operation, frames are removed from a receive buffer of the fiber channel port as if it is a typical fiber channel frame transfer. The removed frames are sent to a processor for analysis. The method also includes, setting a control bit for activating frame removal from the transmit buffer; and diverting frames that are waiting in the transmit buffer and have not been able to move from the transmit buffer.
1. A method for a switch element, comprising:
configuring a port of the switch element to operate in a repeat frame mode; wherein during the repeat frame mode a transmit segment of the port continuously transmits a frame that is received from a common control segment of the switch element;
transferring the frame from the common segment that is managed by processor executable code for the switch element;
continuously transmitting the transferred frame; and
disabling the repeat frame mode using the common control segment.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repeat frame mode is configured by setting a bit value in the common control segment.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein only the frame from the common control segment is transmitted during the repeat frame mode and any other frame staged at a receive segment of the switch element waits to be transmitted.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the repeat frame mode is disabled by setting a bit value in the common control segment.
5. A switch element, comprising:
a plurality of ports, each port having a receive segment for receiving frames and a trans-mit segment for transmitting frames; and
a configurable common segment for configuring the plurality of ports;
wherein a port from among the plurality of ports is configured to operate in a repeat frame mode; wherein during the repeat frame mode a transmit segment of the port continuously transmits a frame that is received from the configurable common control segment of the switch; and processor executable code for the switch element disables the repeat frame mode using the configurable common control segment.
6. The switch element of claim 5 , wherein the repeat frame mode is configured by setting a bit value in the configurable common control segment.
7. The switch element of claim 5 , wherein only the frame from the configurable common control segment is transmitted during the repeat frame mode and any other frame staged at a receive segment of the port waits to be transmitted.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the repeat frame mode is disabled by setting a bit value in the configurable common control segment.
9. A method for a switch element for receiving and transmitting frames, comprising:
establishing a disposal policy for handling frames that are removed during a flush state operation; wherein during the flush state operation a transmit segment of a port from among a plurality of ports of the switch element selectively removes a frame that is temporarily stored at a receive segment of the port;
configuring the port to operate in a flush state;
detecting a condition to trigger the flush state operation;
removing frames stored at the receive segment of the port, without the receive segment being aware of the flush state operation; and
disposing the frame based on the disposal policy set for handling frames that are removed during the flush state operation.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a communication link reset is a condition that triggers the flush state operation.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein all frames from a source port are removed during the flush state operation, before frames from another source port are processed.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the disposal policy is established by setting a control bit in a control segment of the switch element.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein frames removed during the flush state operation are discarded.