JP3107064B2 - Fabric system and method for assigning identifiers to fabric devices - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fabric system composed of a plurality of fiber channel fabric devices, and more particularly, to a system configuration method for connecting a large number of fabrics, and dividing addresses between a plurality of ports when connecting a large number of fabrics. The present invention relates to an identifier assigning method for rapidly determining a delivery destination when a plurality of connections are made.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of technology, when a plurality of Fiber Channel fabric devices are connected, their identification information is individually set in the Fiber Channel fabric devices according to the connection configuration.

In the above-mentioned prior art, when connecting a plurality of fiber channel fabric devices, it is necessary to individually set the identification information in the fabric device according to the connection configuration, which is very complicated. .

Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 8-249263 discloses a technique for connecting a plurality of Fiber Channel fabrics by exchanging service parameters.

[0005]

As described above, there have been the following problems in the prior art.

When connecting a plurality of Fiber Channel fabric devices, it is very complicated to individually set the identification information in the Fiber Channel fabric device according to the connection configuration.

Further, in the conventional fiber channel fabric, it is difficult to realize a fabric for connecting a large number of end nodes with one device because a very high-performance and expensive fabric is required.

Further, there is a problem that the blocking occurs and the routing performance is not improved because the E_Port used for the connection between the fiber channel fabrics is not sufficiently prepared.

When connecting a plurality of Fiber Channel fabrics, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-249263, it is possible to perform connection by exchanging service parameters. There was a problem that sufficient performance could not be exhibited.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a fabric system capable of automatically setting identification information of each fiber channel fabric device when connecting a plurality of fiber channel fabric devices, and assigning the identification information thereof. The idea is to propose a method.

A second object of the present invention is to arbitrate between connected devices and to autonomously collect and construct configuration information, so that a management burden such as individually setting configuration information from outside is established. It is an object of the present invention to propose a fabric system and a method for assigning the identification information, which can significantly reduce the number of the fabrics.

A third object of the present invention is to reduce the burden on each device by sharing the operation of specifying the end node at the time of frame delivery between the connected Fiber Channel fabric devices, thereby reducing the load on each device. It is an object of the present invention to propose a fabric system and an identification information allocating method for realizing the performance improvement of the above.

[0013]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which achieves the above object, provides a fabric system in which a plurality of fabric groups are connected in a plurality of stages between end nodes to exchange variable-length frames. For each port to which the fabric is connected, an assignment signal transmitting unit that transmits an assignment signal to which a unique identifier is assigned, and receives the assignment signal transmitted from another fabric, and from the assignment signal, according to a predetermined rule. Identifier assigning means for determining its own identifier, configuration information transmitting means for transmitting configuration information indicating the correspondence between the identifiers of the fabrics connected to the ports, and reception for each port based on the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information Information to determine the fabric and port number to which the And search information creating means, characterized in that it comprises a transfer destination determining means for determining a transfer destination of the frame based on the search information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the transmission of the identifier allocation signal by the allocation signal transmitting means, the reception of the allocation signal and the allocation of the identifier by the identifier allocating means are performed for all the fabrics. It repeats until an identifier is assigned.

In the fabric system according to the present invention, one of the fabrics connected to the terminal node is a master fabric, and the master fabric has an identifier as an initial value. And transmitting the assignment signal in which a unique identifier is assigned to each port.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the fabric system, a first-stage fabric group connected to one end node, a third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node, It is characterized by comprising a second-stage fabric group connected to a three-stage fabric group.

In the fabric system according to the present invention, a first-stage fabric group connected to one end node, a third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node, and A second-stage fabric group connected to a three-stage fabric group;
The first or third tier fabric is set as a master fabric having an identifier as an initial value, and when allocating the identifier, first, the master fabric transmits the assignment signal in which a unique identifier is assigned to each port from the master fabric. Then, the assignment signal is transmitted from the second-stage fabric group, and finally, the assignment signal is transmitted from a fabric other than the first-stage and third-stage master fabrics.

In the fabric system according to the present invention, the transfer destination determining means of the fabric includes a storing means for storing its own identifier, a search information storing means for storing the search information, and an identifier of a received frame. Comparing means for comparing the identifier with its own identifier in the storage means, and when the identifiers match as a result of the comparison, the port number included in the received frame is selected as the transfer destination port number, and the identifier is In the case of a mismatch, the search information is searched by a port number included in the received frame, and a selection unit is selected to select the search information as a transfer destination port number.

In the fabric system according to the present invention, one of the fabrics connected to the terminal node is a master fabric, and the master fabric has an identifier as an initial value. Transmitting the assignment signal in which a unique identifier is assigned to each port, collects identifiers of all fabrics after the assignment of the identifiers, and creates a conversion table in which the identifiers are converted into second identifiers having a small data length. And distributing the conversion table to all the fabrics, and determining the transfer destination fabric and the port number of the frame received for each port based on the conversion table and the configuration information. Is created.

According to the present invention, there is provided an identifier assigning method for each fabric in a fabric system in which a plurality of fabric groups are connected in a plurality of stages between end nodes and a variable length frame is exchanged. , For each port to which other fabrics are connected,
Transmits an assignment signal to which a unique identifier is assigned, receives the assignment signal transmitted from another fabric, and, from the assignment signal, determines an identifier of its own according to a predetermined rule. Configuration information indicating the correspondence of the identifier of
Search information for determining a transfer destination fabric and a port number of a frame received for each port is created based on the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of assigning an identifier for each fabric in the fabric system, comprising:
The transmission of the identifier assignment signal, the reception of the assignment signal, and the assignment of the identifier are repeated until the identifier is assigned to all the fabrics.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the method of assigning an identifier for each fabric in the fabric system, one of the fabrics connected to the end node is set as a master fabric having an identifier as an initial value, and the master fabric is configured to store the identifier of the identifier. When assigning,
First, the above-mentioned assignment signal in which a unique identifier is assigned to each port is transmitted.

[0023] In the method of assigning an identifier for each fabric in the fabric system according to the eleventh aspect of the present invention, a first-stage fabric group connected to one end node and a third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node. And a second-stage fabric group connected to the first-stage and third-stage fabric groups, and a master fabric having an identifier as an initial value of 1 of the first-stage or third-stage fabric, At the time of the assignment of the identifier, first, the master fabric transmits the assignment signal assigned a unique identifier for each port, and then transmits the assignment signal from the second-stage fabric group, finally Transmitting the assignment signal from a fabric other than the first and third stage master fabrics And it features.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the method of assigning an identifier for each fabric in the fabric system, each fabric compares the identifier of the received frame with its own identifier. By selecting the port number included in the received frame as the transfer destination port number, and when the identifiers do not match, searching the search information by the port number included in the received frame, and selecting as the transfer destination port number The transfer destination is determined.

[0025] According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the fabric assigning method for each fabric in the fabric system according to the present invention, one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node is set as a master fabric having an identifier as an initial value, and the master fabric has When assigning,
First, the assignment signal in which a unique identifier is assigned to each port is transmitted. After the assignment of the identifier is completed, identifiers of all fabrics are collected, and the conversion table is obtained by converting the identifier into a second identifier having a small data length. Is created and distributed to all fabrics, and the fabric to which the conversion table is distributed determines the transfer destination fabric and port number of the frame received for each port based on the conversion table and the configuration information. It is characterized in that search information for performing search is created.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, between the terminal nodes,
A plurality of fabric groups are connected in a plurality of stages, and in a recording medium storing a computer program for assigning an identifier for each fabric in a fabric system for exchanging variable length frames, another fabric is connected by the fabric. For each port, transmit an assignment signal assigned a unique identifier, receive the assignment signal transmitted from another fabric,
From the assignment signal, identifier assignment for determining its own identifier according to a predetermined rule, transmitting configuration information indicating the correspondence of the identifier of the fabric connected to the port, based on the identifier of each fabric and the configuration information, for each port And generating search information for determining a transfer destination fabric and a port number of the received frame.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the computer program repeats transmission of an identifier assignment signal, reception of the assignment signal, and assignment of an identifier until the identifier is assigned to all fabrics. And

[0028]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, an outline of a fabric system for exchanging variable-length frames according to the present invention will be described.
In the present invention, a connection configuration of a fiber channel fabric device (hereinafter, simply referred to as “fabric”) constituting a fabric system requires a three-stage configuration. However, it is assumed that each of the fabrics has a means capable of identifying whether it is a node or a fabric when there is a partner to be connected to the port.

This three-stage configuration is performed by equally dividing the fabric constituting the fabric system into a total of three groups: an upper stage, a middle stage, and a lower stage. Of the three groups, the fabrics belonging to the upper and lower tiers are allowed to be connected to the nodes, and the middle tiers are not allowed to be connected to the nodes, but only to the upper and lower tiers.

It is not allowed that the upper and lower fabrics are directly connected. Also, connections between fabrics belonging to the same group are not allowed. The above rules are summarized below.

A) Connection between fabrics belonging to the same group is prohibited.

B) The fabrics belonging to the upper and lower tiers are connected only to the middle tiers or nodes.

C) The connection of the middle fabric to the node is prohibited.

D) All fabrics belonging to the middle stage are:
Connected to all upper and lower fabrics.

In the connection between the fabrics, the upper fabric must be equally connected to each of the middle fabrics, and similarly, the lower fabric must be equally connected to each of the middle fabrics. Further, the connection between the same fabrics may be multiplexed, but it is necessary to guarantee that the number of multiplexed connections of all the fabric connections is equal. The fabric system thus configured has a non-blocking configuration.

Further, it is necessary to select one of the fabrics belonging to the upper stage or the lower stage of the fabric system connected as described above and define it as a master fabric (hereinafter, referred to as MF). The fabric directly connected to the MF is called a secondary fabric (hereinafter, referred to as a secondary fabric).
Among the fabrics directly connected to the SF, the fabric excluding the MF is called a third fabric (hereinafter, referred to as TF).

Next, the connection configuration acquisition procedure will be described.

When all the connections are completed, the MF starts acquiring the configuration information of the fabric system. At the same time, a unique switch identification number (hereinafter referred to as SID) is set for all the fabrics. The SID is assigned in the following procedure.

A) The MF transmits a unique SID assignment signal (hereinafter, referred to as SIS) for each port to all connected ports of the fabric.

B) The fabric that has received the SIS receives its own S based on a certain rule from all the received SISs.
Determine the ID.

C) Based on its own SID, the fabric transmits a unique SIS for each port to all connected ports of the fabric.

D) The SIS includes the SID of the transmission source.

E) MF is SI given as an initial value
Keep holding D.

After the above procedure is repeated for a certain period of time or a certain number of times, the transmission of the SIS is stopped to suppress the change of the SID. By suppressing the change of the SIS, the connection configuration information of all the ports of the fabric is determined, and each fabric delivers the connection information to all the adjacent fabrics.

The fabrics located at the upper and lower tiers and permitted to be connected to the node construct the fabric system configuration information from the connection configuration information sent from the adjacent fabric.

On the basis of the connection configuration information sent from the SF, the MF transmits the SID and the fabric identifier (hereinafter referred to as F
ID) is created. This conversion table is distributed to all the fabrics in the fabric system through the SF. Thus, all the fabrics can obtain the FID of the adjacent fabric from the SID-FID conversion table.

The FID is used as a basis for a node identifier (hereinafter, referred to as NID) assigned to a node connected to the fabric. Here, the NID is composed of the FID and the identifier of the port of the fabric (hereinafter, referred to as LID). By acquiring the FID, all the fabrics complete the creation of the routing information and complete the acquisition and construction of the autonomous configuration information.

Next, the division of addresses will be described.

The FID is a Dom of 8 bits each out of 24 bits assigned by the fabric to each port.
Corresponding to the “ain_ID” and the “Area_ID”, the partitioning of the address as the fabric system is realized. Also,
For the Domain_ID for 8 bits, a common value is set in the fabric system. Port_ID for the remaining 8 bits in the 24 bits of the address corresponds to the port number of each fabric.

Next, the routing procedure will be described.

In the fabric system, the upper and lower fabrics extract the FID portion from the NID (D_ID) indicating the transmission destination of the frame transmitted by the node, and determine whether or not the FID portion matches the FID of its own. If they match, the port to be transmitted is specified from the LID (Port_ID) part and delivered. If they do not match, it is delivered to the middle tier fabric and the decision is left to the decision. On the other hand, since the middle fabric is connected to all the upper and lower fabrics, the connection information and the NID (D_ID)
Determine which port to deliver to based on the FID inside,
Forward the frame.

Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the fabric system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG.
In this embodiment, six 4-port Fiber Channel fabrics (hereinafter simply referred to as fabrics) 11
To 16 are connected to form an 8-port fabric system. This fabric system has a three-stage configuration of an upper fabric group 11, a middle fabric group 12, and a lower fabric group 13. The upper fabric group 11 is fabrics 21 and 22, the middle fabric group 12 is fabrics 23 and 24, and the lower fabric group. Group 1
3 comprises fabrics 25,26.

The fabric 21 has ports 21a and 21b which are F_Ports and ports 21 which are E_Ports.
c, 21d. Fabric 22 is F_Por
It has ports 22a and 22b that are t, and ports 22c and 22d that are E_Port. Fabric 23, 24
Are the ports 23a to 23 which are four E_Ports respectively.
23d and ports 24a to 24d. The fabric 25 includes ports 25a, 25b, and F that are E_Ports.
_Port, which has ports 25c and 25d. Also, the fabric 26 is a port 2 which is an E_Port.
6a, 26b, ports 26c, 26 that are F_Ports
d.

Here, the E_Port of the fabric is a term in the Fiber Channel standard meaning a port used for connection between fabrics, and the F_Port of the fabric means a port used for connection with a node. A term in the Fiber Channel standard.

Further, the upper fabric group 11 is connected to a node group 31 as a set of nodes, and the lower fabric group 13 is connected to a node group 32 as a set of nodes.

Here, the configuration of the fiber channel fabric constituting the fabric system will be described in detail.

As shown in FIG. 2, each of the fabrics 21 to
26 has ports 41a to 41d, each port is connected to a terminating node or another fabric, and a fiber channel interface control unit 44 for controlling the protocol of the Fiber Channel and a frame received from the terminating node or other fabric. An input data buffer unit 45 for temporary storage, an output buffer requesting unit 47 for determining an output destination of an input frame, and an output data buffer unit 46 for temporarily storing an output frame are provided.

Each of the fabrics 21 to 26 includes a switch element 42 for transferring frame data from the input data buffer section 45 to the output data buffer section 46, and a congestion management section 43 for monitoring load on the switch element and controlling congestion.
And a frame generation unit 51 for outputting an arbitrary frame
A frame receiving unit 52 for holding and referencing an arbitrary frame inside the fabric without transferring the frame, and an identifier allocating unit 53 to a fabric device in the fabric system using these means. You.

Fiber channel interface control unit 4
Reference numeral 4 denotes a unit for performing protocol control based on a communication method based on the Fiber Channel standard, outputting data input from the Fiber Channel interface to the input data buffer unit 45, and transmitting data input from the output data buffer unit 46 to the fiber. Output to the channel interface.

The input data buffer unit 45 is a means for temporarily storing input data from the fiber channel interface.

FIG. 3 shows the details of the output buffer request section 47. The output buffer requesting unit 47 includes a transfer destination determining unit 61,
Transfer destination port number register 62 and buffer control unit 63
Consists of

The 3-byte D_ID field in the frame header of the fiber channel frame shown in FIG. 8 input from the input data buffer 45 is inquired to the transfer destination determination section 61 for determining the transfer destination, and the congestion management section 43 Requesting and acquiring an output buffer of the transfer destination port determined for each frame data, and instructing the input data buffer unit 45 to transfer to the switch element 42. Where D
The _ID field is a field for designating a destination at the time of frame transfer in the Fiber Channel standard.

The transfer destination determining unit 61 has its own FID register 66 for holding the identifier FID of its own fabric device, and temporarily stores the 3-byte D_ID field in the frame header input from the output buffer requesting unit 47. The D_ID register 65 to be stored, a search table 68 for determining a transfer destination, a comparison unit 67 for comparing the FID extracted from the D_ID field with the FID of the own FID register 66, and a search table using the value of the D_ID register as a key 6
8 is provided with a selection unit 69 for selecting a port number inside the fabric device to which the frame data is to be transferred, with reference to FIG.

The selecting unit 69 outputs the port number inside the fabric device to which the frame data is to be transferred to the transfer destination port number register 62 according to the comparison result of the comparing unit 67, and outputs the same via the buffer control unit 63. It requests / acquires the output buffer of the transfer destination port determined for each frame data from the congestion management unit 43, and instructs the input data buffer unit 45 to transfer to the switch element 42.

The method of determining the port number inside the fabric which is the transfer destination by the transfer determining unit 61 is executed based on the following procedure. This procedure will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, the D_ID field of the received fiber channel frame data is stored in the input data buffer unit 4.
5 and stored in the D_ID register 65 (step 401).

Next, the FID portion is extracted from the D_ID field, and is compared with the FID of its own FID register 66 in the comparing section 67 (step 402).

If the FID matches, the Port_ID field of the D_ID field is determined as the transfer destination of the input frame data (step 403).

If the FIDs do not match, the search table 68 is set using the FID extracted from the D_ID field as a key.
Is determined as the transfer destination of the input frame data (step 404). Then, the determined destination port is output (step 40).
5).

The output data buffer 46 temporarily stores the frame data transferred from the input data buffer 45 via the switch element 42.
The stored data is input to the fiber channel interface control unit 44.

The congestion management unit 43 determines whether or not the output data buffer unit 46 can be used, based on the port number in the transfer destination fabric output from the transfer destination determination unit 61 and the storage state of the frame data in the input data buffer unit 45. And outputs a response to the buffer request from the output buffer request unit 47.

The frame generator 51 is for the fabric device to create and transmit an arbitrary frame. The created frame is transmitted to the terminal node connected via the fiber channel interface controller 44 or to another fabric device. Send the frame to

The frame receiving section 52 is a means for taking out and reading out a frame transmitted from the terminal node connected via the fiber channel interface control section 44 or another fabric apparatus.

The identifier allocating unit 53 includes a three-stage connection configuration information storage unit 53a for storing the three-stage connection configuration information of the fabric device, and an SID storage unit 53 for holding the SID.
b, an SID storage unit 63c that stores the SID of the source of the received SIS required for each E_Port of the fabric device, and a conversion table storage unit 63d that holds a conversion table from SID to FID. It has an adjacent connection configuration information storage unit 53e for holding the connection configuration information of the fabric device, and further includes an allocation control unit 53f that refers to them and performs processing control of identifier allocation.

The identifier assigning method simplifies the processing by specifying the connection configuration of the fabric devices in the fabric system as a three-stage configuration as shown in FIG. In this three-stage configuration, as described above, the fabric constituting the fabric system is equally divided into three groups,
The group is a middle-stage fabric group 12 in which all ports are set to E_Port, and the remaining two groups set all ports to E_Port and F_P.
ort equally divided into upper and lower fabric groups 11, 1
It is set to 3. The connection between each fabric device is E_
Ports are connected to each other and are connected according to the following rules.

A) Fabrics belonging to the same fabric group are not connected to each other.

B) Fabrics belonging to the upper fabric group are connected to all fabric devices in the middle fabric group.

C) Fabrics belonging to the lower fabric group are connected to all fabric devices in the middle fabric group.

D) The fabric belonging to the middle fabric group is connected to all the fabric devices in the upper fabric group and all the fabric devices in the lower fabric group.

E) Only one master fabric device (MF) is set from the fabric devices belonging to the upper fabric group or the lower fabric group.

The processing by the identifier allocating unit 53 is divided into two-stage processing, in which the configuration information is obtained as a pre-stage process, and an identifier is allocated as a post-stage process.

The acquisition of the configuration information, which is the preceding process, is performed in the following procedure.

A) MF is a switch identification number (hereinafter SI)
D) has an initial value.

B) If the fabric device holds the SID of its own fabric device, based on the SID, a unique SID assignment signal (S
IS) as specific frame data via the frame generation unit 51 and transmitted.

C) The fabric that has received the SIS via the frame receiving unit 52 determines its own SID from all the received SISs based on a certain rule and holds it.
At the same time, the SID indicating the transmission source fabric of the SIS is held for each received E_Port.

D) for a certain period of time or a certain number of times, a)
To c) are repeated.

The process of acquiring the configuration information will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. If the own fabric is an MF (step 601), the MF is an SID as an initial value.
Is set (step 602).

Thereafter, since the termination condition is not satisfied (step 605), the MF transmits the SIS from all E_Ports (step 606).

The fabric that has received the SIS (step 603) determines its own SID from all the received SISs based on a certain rule and holds it. At the same time, the SID indicating the transmission source fabric of the SIS is held for each received E_Port (step 604). The above processing,
The process is repeated for a certain time or a certain number of times set as an end condition.

The subsequent identifier assignment processing will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

After the SID assignment is completed, each fabric device sends all E_
The connection configuration information indicating the correspondence of the SID of the fabric device to which the port is connected is transmitted (step 701). Because of the three-stage configuration, the MF collects all SIDs in the fabric system from the configuration table of the SF, and creates a conversion table to the FID corresponding to the SID on a one-to-one basis (step 70).
2). Then, the conversion table is distributed to all the fabric devices constituting the fabric system through the SF (step 703).

All fabric devices determine a fabric to which a frame addressed to a terminal node not matching its own FID is to be transferred from the SID-FID conversion table and the connection configuration table, and a search table (routing information) required by the transfer destination determining unit 61 Is created and set in the search table 68, thereby completing the construction of the fabric system (step 704).

When the terminal node is connected to the fabric device in the fiber channel system, "Address Identifier" which is an identifier for specifying the terminal node itself by fabric login.
r ". The identifier of the terminal node is used as the value of the D_ID field that specifies the transfer destination of the Fiber Channel frame, but the assignment of the terminal node identifier is left to the fabric. In the setting method of the terminal node identifier, the correspondence between the FID determined by the identifier allocating unit 53 of the fabric device and the port number of the fabric is set uniquely, so that the correspondence with the search table of the transfer destination determining unit is uniquely determined.

In the present invention, the transfer destination when the received fiber channel frame is not addressed to the own fabric is determined by the search table 68. For this reason, the connection configuration is fixed at three stages, but in communication between end nodes, it is possible to freely change which path a frame takes. Further, since the search table 68 can be set for each port, it is possible to distribute the load by changing and adjusting the setting so that the load is not concentrated on a specific route.

Further, in the present invention, it is clear that the four-port configuration as shown in FIG. 1 can be easily further expanded by changing the congestion control unit and the switch element.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG.
The format of the IS is a 4-byte value that can be divided into fields of 1 byte, and if the SIS is treated as a 4-byte numerical value, it can be made to match the SID as it is.

The initial value of the SID possessed only by the MF is “01000000h” in hexadecimal. That is, the value “1” is set only in the MF field, and the value “0” is set in the other fields. When the MF outputs the SIS, the port number starting from 1 is set as the SIS in the SF field, in the TF field when the SF outputs, and in the FF field when the TF outputs, as the SIS. .

Here, the SF indicates a fabric adjacent to the MF, and the TF indicates a fabric adjacent to the SF. However, the TF does not include the MF.

When outputting the SIS, whether or not the own fabric corresponds to one of MF, SF, and TF is determined by S
It can be determined from the non-zero value of each field of the ID. In the present embodiment, the SID update condition is such that when the SID is treated as a 4-byte numerical value, the minimum value among all the received SISs is set as the SID. The repetition condition (end condition) of the SID assignment procedure is up to three times of SIS transmission. In addition, Domain of 2 bytes of FID
_ID is fixed to “1” and Area_ID
Are assigned in order from “1”.

In the fabric system shown in FIG. 1, the SID assignment procedure when the fabric 21 is set as the MF proceeds as shown in FIG.

Here, the fabric 22 (TF) determines the SID based on the SIS transmitted by the fabrics 23 and 24 (SF), and the value of the received SIS is as shown in FIG. Among these, since the minimum value is the value of the SIS transmitted by the fabric 23, the fabric 2
The SID of No. 2 is determined as “01030200”.

As a result of repeating SIS transmission as described above, connection configuration information is completed in each fabric.
The connection configuration information is a correspondence table between each E_Port of the fabric and the SID of the fabric connected thereto.
Further, the SID of the connected fabric is nothing but the one in which the lowest order of the non-zero field of the SIS received last for each port is set to the value “0”. Fabric 2 of FIG.
The connection configuration information of No. 3 has contents shown in FIG.

The fabric 21 (MF) receives the connection configuration information of the fabrics 23 and 24 (SF) and obtains the SIDs of all the fabrics constituting the fabric system.

The fabric 21 (MF) arranges all the obtained SIDs in ascending order and creates an SID-FID conversion table by allocating FIDs (2 bytes) in order. That is, the SID-FID conversion table in this case is as shown in FIG.

The upper and lower fabrics 21, 22, 2
5 and 26, all the fabrics 23 in the middle stage,
Although the internal port number of the output destination set in the search table 58 cannot be uniquely determined from the connection configuration information received from the H.24, the output of the internal port number as the output destination is evenly distributed, so that the The overall load can be made uniform. Search table 58 for fabric 25
Is shown in FIG. In FIG. 14, reception ports 1-4
Indicates a port corresponding to the ports 25a to 25d of the fabric 25 and receiving the fiber channel frame. For example, fabric 2 of FID “0101”
Frame data destined for 1 (MF) is port "3"
When received at (25c), it indicates that the frame data is transferred from port "1" (25a). The numbers in parentheses in FIG. 14 indicate that the corresponding port numbers are fixedly assigned with priority.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 15, the fabric system according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which twelve 16-port fabrics are connected in accordance with a fabric system connection condition that allows connection of 64 nodes. This fabric system includes an upper fabric group 91, a middle fabric group 92, and a lower fabric group 93.

In this fabric system, different from the first embodiment described above, there are a plurality of routes for the connection between the same fabrics. Other SIS format, MF initial value of SID only, SID
And the repetition conditions of the SID assignment procedure are the same as in the first embodiment.

The SID assignment procedure when the fabric 103 is set as the MF proceeds as shown in FIG.

Here, the fabric 102 uses the SIS transmitted by the fabrics 105 to 108 (SF) to
The ID is determined, and the value of the received SIS is as shown in FIG. The smallest value is fabric 1
Since 05 is the value of the transmitted SIS, the fabric 10
The SID of No. 5 is determined as “01090300h”.

As described above, as a result of repeating the SIS transmission, the connection configuration information is completed in each fabric. The connection configuration information is a correspondence table of each E_Port of the fabric and the SID of the fabric connected thereto. Further, the SID of the connected fabric is nothing but the one in which the least significant field of the non-zero field of the SIS received last for each port is set to the value “0”. The connection configuration information of the fabric 108 is as shown in FIG.

The fabric 103 (MF) receives the connection configuration information of the fabrics 105 to 108 (SF) and obtains SIDs of all the fabrics constituting the fabric system. Further, the fabric 103 (M
F) creates an SID-FID conversion table by arranging all acquired SIDs in ascending order and assigning FIDs in order.
The SID-FID conversion table in this case is as shown in FIG.

The upper and lower fabrics 101 to 10
4, 109 to 112, the connection destination information set from the connection configuration information received from all the middle fabrics 105 to 108 cannot uniquely determine the internal port of the output destination set in the search table 58, but is the output destination. By equally allocating the internal port numbers, the overall load of the fabric system can be equalized.

The output port number is preferentially assigned to the FID of the adjacent fabric, and the output port number is allocated to the FID of the non-adjacent fabric so that the output port number is equally used as a whole. A search table 58 is created. In this description of the operation, it is assumed that the search table 58 is provided for each port. Fabric 10
FIG. 20 shows the result of creating the search table in FIG. The number in parentheses in FIG. 20 indicates that the corresponding port number has been fixedly assigned with priority.

According to the present invention described above, it is unnecessary to set configuration information for each fabric when configuring a fabric system. The reason is clear from the autonomous acquisition of the configuration information in the present invention.

[0118] In addition, a special large-scale fabric is not required. By applying to a relatively small-scale fabric, a large-scale fabric system can be obtained. The reason is clear from the object of the present invention.

Further, a difference in performance is unlikely to occur in communication between end nodes when a fabric system is configured. The reason is apparent from the fact that, in communication with a terminal node that is not connected to the same fabric, the number of fabrics serving as routes is equal in any route, so that no extreme performance difference occurs.

Next, a fabric system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 21 shows that each of the fabric systems has 3
It is a block diagram showing the state constituted using 12 fabrics which have 2 ports. Fiber channel fabric devices 201 to 212, connection routes 213 to 252 between fabrics, node groups 284 to 285 as a set of nodes connected to the fabric system, and connection routes 253 to 284 connecting the fabric and each node. In addition, Fiber Channel fabrics 201 to 21
2, the fabric 201 is selected as the MF, and the fabrics 209 to 212 adjacent to the MF are
And the fabric 202 adjacent to the SF other than the MF
2 to 208 are TF. Although one connection path 213 to 252 between the fabrics in FIG. 21 is a single path between the same fabrics, there are actually four connection paths.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a state in which the MF activates an SIS for autonomously acquiring configuration information in the fabric system. It comprises a fiber channel fabric (MF) 201, fiber channel fabrics (SF) 209 to 212, and connection paths 291 to 306 between the fabrics.

FIG. 23 shows that the SIS for autonomously acquiring the configuration information in the fabric system includes a plurality of SFs.
It is a block diagram showing a situation in the case of receiving from. Fiber Channel Fabric (SF) 209-212, Fiber Channel Fabric (other than SF) 201-20
8, connection paths 311 to 326 between the fabrics.

Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

In the configuration diagram of the fabric system shown in FIG. 21, the division of the fabric into three groups is performed by assuming that the fabrics that are arranged side by side in the figure belong to the same group. Fabric 201
(MF), fabrics 209 to 212 (SF), and fabrics 202 to 204, 205 to 208 (TF) are as described above.
Alternatively, it can be recognized as TF after the MF starts SIS transmission.

As shown in FIG.
(MF) issues SIS from all ports in order to assign SID to fabrics 209 to 212 (SF). As shown in FIG.
To 212 (SF) are the fabrics 202 to 204, 2
SIS is issued from all ports in order to assign SID to 05 to 208 (TF). However, the SIS is issued when the fabrics 209 to 212 (SF)
You cannot do this until you have been assigned.

In both FIGS. 22 and 23, the SIS
Are issued along the directions indicated by the connection paths 291 to 306 and 311 to 326 between the fabrics. Further, as shown in FIG. 22 and FIG. 23, the case where there are a plurality of connection paths between the same fabrics works without any problem. In any case, each fabric recognizes the SID with the highest priority among the assigned SIDs as its own SID. The setting contents of the priority order in the present embodiment are as follows.

A) When the assignment source is different, MF · S
The SID assigned in the order of F · TF is prioritized.

B) When the level of the allocation source is the same (when allocation is performed from a plurality of SFs or from a plurality of TFs), the SID allocated to the fabric with the smallest SID is prioritized.

C) When a plurality of assignments are received from the same assignment source, the smallest SID among the assignments is prioritized as its own SID.

After repeating SIS issuance and SID determination as shown in FIGS. 22 and 23 for 10 seconds, all fabrics stop SIS issuance, suppress the change of SID, and determine the SID at that time as their own SID. , Prohibit changes.

After each fabric has fixed the SID, the connection configuration information indicating which port is connected to which fabric is delivered to all adjacent fabrics. Further, the fabric 201 (MF) obtains the SIs of all the fabrics in the fabric system from the connection configuration information of the distributed fabrics 209 to 212 (SF).
D is acquired, and a conversion table from SID to FID is created based on D. When converting to FID, MF and TF are assigned with priority, and SF is converted with a lower priority.

The fabric 201 (MF) stores the created SID-FID conversion table in all the fabrics 209 to 209.
212 (SF) and fabrics 209-212
(SF) transfers the conversion table to all adjacent fabrics.

As a result, the SID-FID conversion table is delivered to all the fabrics in the fabric system. S
The fabric that has received the ID-FID conversion table can create a search table (routing information) from the connection configuration information so that the loads on the routes between the fabrics are equalized.

In the method of assigning identifiers to fabric devices in the fabric system according to the present embodiment, the frame generation unit 51, frame reception unit 52, identifier assignment unit 53, and other functions of the fabric device are implemented in hardware. Needless to say, the present invention can be realized by loading a computer program having each function into a memory of a computer processing device.
This computer program is stored on a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or another recording medium. Then, the functions are loaded into the computer processing device from the recording medium and control the operation of the computer processing device to realize the above-described functions.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, but can be implemented with various modifications within the scope of the technical concept. In each of the above embodiments, the fabric group has the three-stage configuration of the upper stage, the middle stage, and the lower stage. However, the number of stages of the fabric group is not limited to the three-stage configuration and may be any number.

[0137]

As described above, according to the fabric system and the identification information allocating method of the present invention, first, when connecting a plurality of Fiber Channel fabric devices, the identification information of each Fiber Channel fabric device is used. It can be set automatically.

Second, arbitration is performed between connected devices, and configuration information is autonomously collected and constructed, thereby significantly reducing the management burden of individually setting configuration information from outside. Can.

Third, by sharing the work of specifying the end node at the time of frame delivery between the connected Fiber Channel fabric devices, the burden on each device is reduced, thereby improving the performance of the entire system. Is done.

Fourth, when a plurality of fabrics are connected, a large-scale fabric system with little performance loss can be easily constructed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a connection diagram illustrating a configuration of a fabric system including six 4-port fabrics according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a four-port fabric of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an output buffer request unit of a port in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for determining a transfer destination port.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an identifier assignment unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an SID assignment procedure when a fabric system is constructed.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an identifier assignment procedure after SID assignment when a fabric system is constructed.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a format example of a fiber channel frame.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a format example of SIS.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a process of performing SID assignment when the fabric 21 is MF in the fabric system of FIG. 1;

11 is a diagram showing the SIS received by the fabric 22 in the fabric system of FIG.

12 is a diagram showing connection configuration information acquired by a fabric 23 in the fabric system of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a SI in the fabric system of FIG. 1;
It is a figure showing a D-FID conversion table.

FIG. 14 shows a search table created by the fabric 25 in the fabric system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is a connection diagram showing a configuration of a fabric system including 12 8-port fabrics according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 In the fabric system of FIG.
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a process of performing SID assignment when the fabric 103 is an MF.

FIG. 17 In the fabric system of FIG.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an SIS received by a fabric 102.

FIG. 18 In the fabric system of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing connection configuration information acquired by a fabric 108.

FIG. 19 shows the S in the fabric system of FIG.
It is a figure showing an ID-FID conversion table.

FIG. 20: In the fabric system of FIG.
This shows a search table created by the fabric 109.

FIG. 21 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a third embodiment of the fabric system of the present invention.

FIG. 22 illustrates a configuration of a master fabric and a secondary fabric during construction of a fabric system according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a diagram showing a configuration of a certain fabric adjacent to a secondary fabric under construction of a fabric system according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

11,91 Upper fabric group 12,92 Middle fabric group 13,93 Lower fabric group 21-26,101-112,201-212 Fabrics 21a-21d, 22a-22d, 23a-23d, 2
4a to 24d, 25a to 25d, 26a to 26d Port 31, 32, 285, 286 Node group 41a to 41d Port 42 Switch element 43 Congestion manager 44 Fiber channel interface controller 45 Input data buffer 46 Output data buffer 47 Output Buffer requesting unit 51 frame generating unit 52 frame receiving unit 53 identifier allocating unit 53a three-stage connection configuration information storage unit 53b SID storage unit 53c source SID storage unit 53d conversion table storage unit 53e adjacent connection configuration information storage unit 53f allocation control unit 61 Transfer destination determination unit 62 Transfer destination port number register 63 Buffer control unit 65 D_ID register 66 Self FID register 67 Comparator 68 Search table 69 Selector

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-2-58944 (JP, A) JP-A-11-32057 (JP, A) JP-A-10-224373 (JP, A) JP-A-4-63036 (JP) JP-A-7-250153 (JP, A) JP-A-8-249263 (JP, A) JP-A-10-240670 (JP, A) Infocom'86 p39-46 IEEE Communication Magazines Vol. 22 No. 11 p41-47 NEC Technical Report Vol. 50 No. 8 p31-34 (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04L 12/00-12/66

Claims (19)

(57) [Claims] 1. A fabric system in which a plurality of fabric groups are connected in a plurality of stages between end nodes to exchange variable-length frames, wherein the fabric has a unique identifier for each port to which another fabric is connected. Allocation signal transmitting means for transmitting an allocation signal to which the allocation is performed, receiving the allocation signal transmitted from another fabric, and from the allocation signal, identifier allocation means for determining its own identifier according to a predetermined rule; and Configuration information transmitting means for transmitting configuration information indicating the correspondence of the identifiers of the fabrics to be connected; and determining the fabric and port number of the transfer destination of the frame received for each port based on the identifiers of the respective fabrics and the configuration information. Search information creation means for creating search information for And a transfer destination determining means for determining a transfer destination of the frame. 2. The transmission of an identifier assignment signal by the assignment signal transmitting means, the reception of the assignment signal and the assignment of identifiers by the identifier assignment means are repeated until the identifiers are assigned to all fabrics. The fabric system according to claim 1, wherein 3. One of the fabrics connected to a terminal node is defined as a master fabric, and the master fabric has an identifier as an initial value. When assigning the identifier, a unique identifier is first assigned to each port. The fabric system according to claim 1, wherein the allocation signal is transmitted. 4. A first-stage fabric group connected to one end node, a third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node, and a first-stage fabric group connected to the first and third-stage fabric groups. 2
The fabric system according to claim 1, wherein the fabric system includes a plurality of tier fabric groups. 5. A first-stage fabric group connected to one end node, a third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node, and a first-stage fabric group connected to the first-stage and third-stage fabric groups. 2
A master fabric comprising an identifier as an initial value of one of the first or third stage fabrics. At the time of the assignment of the identifier, first, from the master fabric, for each port, Transmitting the allocation signal assigned a unique identifier, then transmitting the allocation signal from the second tier fabric group, and finally transmitting the allocation signal from a fabric other than the first and third tier master fabrics The fabric system according to claim 1, wherein the fabric system transmits a signal. 6. The transfer destination determination means of the fabric, a storage means for storing its own identifier, a search information storage means for storing the search information, a received frame identifier and its own identifier of the storage means. And a comparing unit for comparing the port number included in the received frame as a transfer destination port number when the identifiers match, and when the identifiers do not match, include the port number in the received frame. 2. The fabric system according to claim 1, further comprising: selecting means for searching for the search information by a port number to be selected and selecting the search information as a transfer destination port number. 7. One of the fabrics connected to a terminal node is defined as a master fabric, the master fabric includes an identifier as an initial value, and when assigning the identifier, first assigns a unique identifier to each port. After the assignment of the identifiers is completed, the identifiers of all the fabrics are collected, a conversion table in which the identifiers are converted into a second identifier having a small data length is created, and distributed to all the fabrics. The fabric to which the conversion table has been distributed, based on the conversion table and the configuration information, creates search information for determining a transfer destination fabric and a port number of a frame received for each port, The fabric system according to claim 1, wherein 8. A method of assigning an identifier for each fabric in a fabric system in which a plurality of fabric groups are connected in a plurality of stages between end nodes and a variable-length frame is exchanged, wherein another fabric is connected to the fabric. For each port to be transmitted, transmitting an assignment signal assigned a unique identifier, receiving the assignment signal transmitted from another fabric, from the assignment signal, identifier assignment to determine its own identifier according to a predetermined rule, A search for transmitting configuration information indicating the correspondence between the identifiers of the fabrics connected to the ports and determining the transfer destination fabric and the port number of the frame received for each port based on the identifiers of the respective fabrics and the configuration information In a fabric system characterized by creating information Identifier assignment method. 9. The fabric system according to claim 8, wherein transmission of an identifier assignment signal, reception of the assignment signal, and assignment of an identifier are repeated until the identifier is assigned to all fabrics. Identifier assignment method. 10. A master fabric having an identifier as an initial value of one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node, wherein the master fabric first assigns a unique identifier to each port when assigning the identifier. The method according to claim 8, wherein the assignment signal is transmitted. 11. A first terminal connected to one of said terminal nodes.
A third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node; a second-stage fabric group connected to the first and third-stage fabric groups
A master fabric including an identifier as an initial value of one of the first or third stage fabrics. At the time of the assignment of the identifier, first, from the master fabric, for each port, Transmitting the allocation signal assigned a unique identifier, then transmitting the allocation signal from the second tier fabric group, and finally transmitting the allocation signal from a fabric other than the first and third tier master fabrics The method according to claim 8, wherein a signal is transmitted. 12. Each fabric compares the identifier of the received frame with its own identifier, and if the identifiers match as a result of the comparison, selects the port number included in the received frame as the port number of the transfer destination, 9. The fabric according to claim 8, wherein when the identifiers do not match, the search information is searched by the port number included in the received frame, and the transfer destination is determined by selecting the search information as the transfer destination port number. An identifier assignment method in the system. 13. A master fabric having an identifier as an initial value of one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node, wherein the master fabric firstly assigns a unique identifier to each port when assigning the identifier. Transmitting the assignment signal, after completing the assignment of the identifiers, collecting identifiers of all fabrics, creating a conversion table in which the identifiers are converted into second identifiers having a small data length, and distributing the conversion tables to all fabrics; The fabric to which the conversion table is distributed, based on the conversion table and the configuration information, creates search information for determining a transfer destination fabric and a port number of a frame received for each port, The method for assigning identifiers in a fabric system according to claim 8. 14. A recording medium storing a computer program for connecting a plurality of fabric groups in a plurality of stages between terminal nodes and for assigning an identifier for each fabric in a fabric system for exchanging variable-length frames, In the fabric, for each port to which another fabric is connected, transmit an assignment signal assigned a unique identifier, receive the assignment signal transmitted from the other fabric, and from the assignment signal, according to a predetermined rule Identifier allocation for determining its own identifier, transmitting configuration information indicating the correspondence between the identifiers of the fabrics connected to the ports, and the destination fabric of the frame received for each port based on the identifiers of the respective fabrics and the configuration information. And search information to determine the port number. Recording medium storing a computer program, characterized by. 15. The computer program according to claim 14, wherein the computer program repeats transmission of an identifier assignment signal, reception of the assignment signal, and assignment of an identifier until the identifier is assigned to all fabrics. A recording medium for storing the computer program described above. 16. A master fabric having an identifier as an initial value of one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node, wherein the master fabric first assigns a unique identifier to each port when assigning the identifier. The recording medium for storing the computer program according to claim 14, wherein the assignment signal is transmitted. 17. A first terminal connected to one of said terminal nodes.
A third-stage fabric group connected to the other end node; a second-stage fabric group connected to the first and third-stage fabric groups
A master fabric comprising an identifier as an initial value of one of the first or third stage fabrics. At the time of the assignment of the identifier, first, from the master fabric, for each port, Transmitting the allocation signal assigned a unique identifier, then transmitting the allocation signal from the second tier fabric group, and finally transmitting the allocation signal from a fabric other than the first and third tier master fabrics 15. A recording medium for storing a computer program according to claim 14, which transmits a signal. 18. Each fabric compares the identifier of the received frame with its own identifier, and if the identifiers match as a result of the comparison, selects the port number included in the received frame as the port number of the transfer destination, 15. The computer according to claim 14, wherein when the identifiers do not match, the transfer information is searched by the port number included in the received frame, and the transfer destination is determined by selecting the search information as the transfer destination port number. Recording medium for storing programs. 19. A master fabric having an identifier as an initial value of one of the fabrics connected to a terminal node, wherein the master fabric first assigns a unique identifier to each port when assigning the identifier. Transmitting the assignment signal, after completing the assignment of the identifiers, collecting identifiers of all the fabrics, creating a conversion table in which the identifiers are converted into a second identifier having a small data length, and distributing the conversion table to all the fabrics; The fabric to which the conversion table is distributed, based on the conversion table and the configuration information, creates search information for determining a transfer destination fabric and a port number of a frame received for each port, A recording medium storing the computer program according to claim 14.