Importance

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Abstract

In a fibre channel network environment wherein an arbitrated loop is provided a switchable connection with another arbitrated loop, a technique and corresponding apparatus are provided for controlling signal paths through the hubs stack between any two devices such that routing of a signal and interactive communication can be carried out transparently to the fibre channel network without excessive overhead, and wherein control is changed in an orderly manner such that end-to-end device connections are unaware that they are not connected to the same hub. A switched arbitrated loop (SAL) according to the invention provides the concurrent bandwidth resource of a fabric switch without the extra features which would increase design cost and operational overhead. In a specific embodiment, a switched arbitrated loop supports only 126 nodes for stations (plus one fabric port) in a single loop topology. The invention provides the concurrent connections and high bandwidth capabilities of a conventional fabric switch, but at a cost close to that of a conventional hub while behaving such that devices connected to it are unaware that they are not on a normal loop when they are communicating.

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First Claim