Virtual fabric discovery for remote login

1. A method of connecting a host device to target devices in a network through a switch of a plurality of switches, comprising:

defining a special zone for target devices that are not directly connected to the switch having the host;

discovering all targets connected to all ports of switch and other switches through a device discovery process;

creating a switch-to-target mapping table for all discovered targets;

sending a virtual discovery command to all the discovered host-target pairs using the switch-to-target mapping table;

creating a virtual address translation table that maps an ID and address of the host to virtual IDs and addresses assigned for network ports of each of the host-target pairs; and

transmitting network traffic to and from the host using the virtual address translation table.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the special zone is defined by a tag defined for the switch that labels each target device that is not connected to the host directly through the switch.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the network comprises a Fibre Channel (FC) system implementing at least part of a data center network and a storage network.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the switch comprises a FC host bus adapter (HBA) having multiple NP ports.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the switch comprises a FC forwarder (FCF) switch that de-encapsulates data center network data traffic and storage network data traffic.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the ID comprises an identifier allotted by the FCF switch to end hosts during a login process for a respective device.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the address comprises a MAC (media access control) address for a respective device.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the device discovery process comprises a periodic FIP (Fibre Channel over Ethernet, FCoE, Initialization Protocol) message performed after a fabric login (FLOGI) by each of the targets.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the virtual discovery command comprises a virtual fabric discovery (vFDISC) command.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the virtual address translation table changes the ID and address from and actual FCID to and from a virtual FCID and from and actual FCoE MAC address to and from a virtual FCoE MAC address for a sender or target comprising one of the host or target in a host-target pair.

11. A system for connecting a host device to target devices in a network through a switch of a plurality of switches, comprising:

a first component defining a special zone for each target device that is not connected to the host directly through the switch;

a device discoverer discovering all targets connected to all ports of switch and other switches to create a switch-to-target mapping table for all discovered targets;

a second component sending a virtual discovery command to all the discovered host-target pairs using the switch-to-target mapping table to create a virtual address translation table that maps an ID and address of the host to virtual IDs and addresses assigned for network ports of each of the host-target pairs; and

an interface transmitting network traffic to and from the host using the virtual address translation table.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the special zone is defined by a tag defined for the switch that labels each target device that is not connected to the host directly through the switch.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the network comprises a Fibre Channel (FC) system implementing at least part of a data center network and a storage network.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the switch comprises a FC host bus adapter (HBA) having multiple NP ports, and wherein the switch comprises a FC forwarder (FCF) switch that de-encapsulates data center network data traffic and storage network data traffic.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the ID comprises an identifier allotted by the FCF switch to end hosts during a login process, and wherein the address comprises a MAC (media access control) address for a respective device.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the device discoverer transmits a periodic FIP (Fibre Channel over Ethernet, FCoE, Initialization Protocol) message after a fabric login (FLOGI) by each of the targets, and wherein the virtual discovery command comprises a virtual fabric discovery (vFDISC) command.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the virtual address translation table changes the ID and address from and actual FCID to and from a virtual FCID and from and actual FCoE MAC address to and from a virtual FCoE MAC address for a sender or target comprising one of the host or target in a host-target pair.

18. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having machine readable code embodied therein for connecting a host device to target devices in a network through a switch of a plurality of switches, comprising:

defining a special zone for target devices that are not connected to the host directly through the switch;

discovering all targets connected to all ports of switch and other switches through a device discovery process;

creating a switch-to-target mapping table for all discovered targets;

sending a virtual discovery command to all the discovered host-target pairs using the switch-to-target mapping table;

creating a virtual address translation table that maps an ID and address of the host to virtual IDs and addresses assigned for network ports of each of the host-target pairs; and

transmitting network traffic to and from the host using the virtual address translation table.