Systems and methods for quality of service for link aggregation groups

1. A machine implemented method for providing quality of service (QOS) to a plurality of ports of a network device, where each port includes a plurality of sub-ports, comprising:

configuring a plurality of sub-ports of a same port to operate in a local link aggregation group (LAG) for network communication;

using a same local QOS bin for tracking bandwidth used by sub-ports of the local LAG;

configuring a plurality of sub-ports of more than one port to operate in a non-local LAG;

using a plurality of QOS bins for tracking bandwidth consumed by sub-ports of the non-local LAG;

sending QOS information regarding bandwidth used by sub-ports of the local LAG and sub-ports of the non-local LAG to a global QOS module;

adding bandwidth used by the sub-ports of the non-local LAG tracked by the plurality of QOS bins for selecting a request from among a plurality of requests for transmitting a packet by any sub-port of the non-local LAG; and

using QOS information from the same, local QOS bin for selecting a request for transmitting a packet by any sub-port of the local LAG.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device is a switch element having the plurality of ports.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as a Fibre Channel port.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as an Ethernet port.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as a Fibre Channel over Ethernet port.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network device is an adapter.

7. A network device, comprising:

a plurality of ports, each having a plurality of sub-ports for sending and receiving information; wherein a plurality of sub-ports of a same port are configured to operate in a local link aggregation group (LAG) for network communication and a plurality of sub-ports of more than one port are configured to operate in a non-local LAG; and

a global quality of service (QOS) module for receiving QOS information from a local QOS bin used for tracking bandwidth consumed by sub-ports of the local LAG and from a plurality of QOS bins used for tracking bandwidth used by sub-ports of the non-local LAG;

wherein for selecting a request from among a plurality of pending requests from any sub-port to transmit information, the global QOS module adds bandwidth consumed by sub-ports of a non-local LAG tracked by the plurality of QOS QOS bins; and uses local QOS information from the same local QOS bin assigned to the sub-ports of the local LAG.

8. The network device of claim 7 , wherein the network device is an adapter.

9. The network device of claim 7 , wherein the network device is a switch element having the plurality of ports.

10. The network device of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as a Fibre Channel over Ethernet port.

11. The network device of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as a Fibre Channel port.

12. The network device of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plurality of ports of the switch element is configured to operate as an Ethernet port.

13. A network device, comprising:

a plurality of base-ports, each base-port having a plurality of sub-ports for sending and receiving information; wherein multiple sub-ports of a same base-port are configured to be a part of a local link aggregation group (LAG) for sharing bandwidth to transmit information and multiple sub-ports of different base-ports are configured to be a part of a non-local LAG for transmitting information;

a local QOS bin for each sub-port for tracking bandwidth used by each sub-port; wherein each local LAG is assigned a local QOS bin for tracking bandwidth used by multiple sub-ports of the local LAG and a plurality of QOS bins are used to track bandwidth consumed by sub-ports of the non-local LAG; and

a global quality of service (QOS) module for adding bandwidth consumed by the multiple sub-ports of the non-local LAG for selecting a sub-port to transmit information from among the multiple sub-ports of the non-local LAG.

14. The network device of claim 13 , wherein the network device is a switch element.

15. The network device of claim 14 , wherein at least one sub-port of the switch element is configured to operate as a Fibre Channel port, an Ethernet port and as a Fibre Channel over Ethernet port.

16. The network device of claim 13 , wherein the network device is an adapter.