Maintenance of data forwarder connection state information

1. A method, comprising:

maintaining connection state information in a fiber channel (FC) over Ethernet (FCoE) Data Forwarder (FDF) or Fiber Channel Data Forwarder (FcDF);

using an FC forwarder (FCCF) or FCoE Forwarder (FCF) connected to the FDF as a service node for the FDF or FcDF; and

providing a secondary adjacent FC forwarder (FCCF) or FCoE Forwarder (FCF) connected to the FDF as a backup service node for the FDF or FcDF upon failure of the FC forwarder (FCCF) or FCoE Forwarder (FCF), wherein changes in the connection state information are not synchronized between (a) the FC forwarder (FCCF) or FCoE Forwarder (FCF) and the (b) secondary adjacent FC forwarder (FCCF) or FCoE Forwarder (FCF).

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising providing a control plane to the FDF or FcDF by using a FCF or FCCF as a service node.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising providing a fabric service to the FDF or or the FcDF.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising detecting a failure of an FCF or an FCCF using Fiber Channel Shortest Path First (FSPF).

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising checking a configuration file, by an adjacent FCF (a/FCF), to determine if the a/FCF is responsible for a failed FCF.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

sending, by the FCF, assigned FDF N_Port_ID range notification (A_FNRN) switch interlink service (SW_ILS) information to the FDF; and

receiving, at the FCF, Virtual_N_Port Reachability Notification (VNRN) request SW_ILS information from the FDF.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program instructions executable by a processing resource to:

maintain connection state information in a Fiber Channel (FC) over Ethernet (FCoE) Data Forwarder (FDF) or fiber channel data forwarder (FcDF);

detect a failure of a first FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or a first FC Forwarder (FCCF) associated with the FDF or FcDF;

check a configuration file of a second FCF or a second FCCF to see if the second FCF or the second FCCF is responsible for the FDF or the FcDF;

request a virtual domain ID previously owned by the failed first FCF or the failed first FCCF from a principal switch;

receive the virtual domain ID at the second FCF or the second FCCF; and

use the second FCF or the second FCCF as a service node for the FDF or the FcDF, wherein the failure of the first FCF or the first FCCF is detected using FSPF, wherein changes in the connection state information are not synchronized between the first FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or the first FC Forwarder (FCCF) associated with the FDF or FcDF and the second FCF or the second FCCF prior to the failure of either the first FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or the first FC Forwarder (FCCF) associated with the FDF or FcDF and the second FCF or the second FCCF.

8. The medium of claim 7 , wherein the second FCF or the second FCCF is used as a service node to provide control plane functions comprising address range allocation and forwarding table updates.

9. The medium of claim 7 , wherein the second FCF or the second FCCF is used as a service node to apply zoning filters from a fabric controller for a host that sends a FLOGI.

10. A network device, comprising:

a processing resource; and

a memory, the memory having program instructions executed by the processing resource to:

maintain connection state information in a fiber channel (FC) over Ethernet (FCoE) Data Forwarder (FDF) or FC data forwarder (FcDF); and

provide, by a FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or FC Forwarder (FCCF), fabric services to the FDF or FcDF, wherein the fabric services comprise:

obtain a domain ID for a virtual domain from a fabric principal switch to allocate a portion of a Fiber Channel (FC) identifier address space to each FDF or FcDF in the virtual domain;

provide forwarding table data to the FDF or FcDF, wherein the forwarding table data comprises internal routes of the virtual domain;

register a FLOGI with a storage area network (SAN) fabric for the FDF or FcDF; and

apply zoning filters,

wherein the FCF or the FCCF detects a failure of a controlling FCF (c/FCF) or a controlling FCCF (c/FCCF) of the FDF or the FcDF before providing a fabric service to the FDF or the FcDF,

wherein before providing a fabric service to the FDF or the FcDF, an FCF or FCCF checks a configuration file to determine if the FCF or the FCCF is responsible for the FDF or the FcDF of the failed c/FCF or the failed c/FCCF,

wherein if the FCF or the FCCF is responsible for the FDF or the FcDF, the FCF or the FCCF requests the virtual domain ID previously owned by the failed c/FCF or the failed c/FCCF from a principal switch,

wherein if the FCF or the FCCF obtains the virtual domain ID previously owned by the failed c/FCF or the failed c/FCCF from the principal switch, the FCF or the FCCF becomes a new c/FCF or a new c/FCCF of the FDF or FcDF,

wherein changes in the connection state information is not synchronized between (a) the FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or the FC Forwarder (FCCF) associated with the FDF or FcDF and (b) the controlling FCF or the controlling FCCF prior to failure of either of the FCoE Forwarder (FCF) or the FC Forwarder (FCCF) associated with the FDF or FcDF and the controlling FCF or the controlling FCCF.