Systems and methods of initiating virtual machine configuration on a subordinate node from a privileged node. An exemplary embodiment can provide a host channel adapter (HCA) including a control circuit with a processor and a memory, and a physical port operative to connect the HCA to a network fabric. Additionally, the HCA can include a subnet management agent (SMA) that executes on the HCA. The SMA can forward a request to register a virtual HCA to a subnet manager. The subnet manager can read an exposed attribute of the HCA, where the exposed attribute specifies the physical port as a privileged node, and where the value of the exposed attribute equals an assigned globally unique identifier (GUID) of the physical port. Upon receiving the request, the subnet manger can evaluate the GUID of the sending port to determine that the GUID and the value of the exposed attribute are equal.

System and method for correlating fabric-level group membership with subnet-level partition membership in a high performance computing environment. An exemplary embodiment can provide an admin partition in a subnet of a network environment, associated with a resource domain at the fabric level of the network environment. The admin partition can be defined by a P_Key that is stored in a fabric-level database. Each fabric resource is identified by an identifier that is stored in the fabric-level database. When fabric resources are added as members to the resource domain, a relationship is created between the P_Key and the identifier of the fabric resource, where the relationship defines the resource as a member of the admin partition. Access rights can be granted based on the relationship.

System and method of assigning admin partition membership based on switch connectivity in a high performance computing environment. An exemplary embodiment can provide an admin partition for use in a subnet of a network fabric. The admin partition can be defined by a P_Key, and the P_Key can be stored in an admin partition registry. A subnet manager that executes from a node within the subnet can be provided. The subnet manager can obtain information that a subnet switch is associated with the admin partition. The subnet manager can also receive a list of identifiers (IDs), each identifier corresponding to a host channel adapter that is directly connected to the subnet switch. Each of the IDs from the list can be added to the admin partition registry and a relationship between each of the added IDs and the P_Key can be created in the registry.

Systems and methods for host-side configuration of a host channel adapter (HCA). An exemplary embodiment can provide a HCA, including a control circuit with a processor and a memory, and at least one port operative to connect the HCA to a network fabric. Additionally, the HCA can include a subnet management agent (SMA) that executes on the HCA, and a software driver for the HCA that includes a control application programming interface (API) that exposes functionality to hyper-privileged software executing on a host. The hyper-privileged software can set, through the control API, configurable variables stored in the memory of the HCA. Based on the value of the set variables, the HCA can operate in one of a legacy mode or one or more other modes.

Systems and methods for application of virtual host channel adapter configuration policies. An exemplary embodiment can provide a host channel adapter (HCA) with a control circuit and a memory, and at least one port operative to connect the HCA to a network fabric. A software driver of the HCA can provide a control API that exposes functionality to hyper-privileged software executing on the host. The hyper privileged software, through the control API, can request registration of a virtual HCA (vHCA) with a virtual function of the HCA. The HCA can forward the registration request to a subnet manger, which can retrieve configuration policies from a cache and return the policies to the HCA for implementation with the virtual function of the HCA.

In one embodiment, an apparatus can include a filter module configured to receive multiple Media Access Control (MAC) addresses associated with multiple virtual ports instantiated at a first network device. Each virtual port from the multiple virtual ports can be associated with a MAC address from the multiple MAC addresses. The filter module can be configured to define a filter to be applied to a data frame sent between the first network device and a network switch, the filter being based at least in part on a MAC address prefix included in each MAC address from the plurality of MAC addresses. The MAC address prefix can include an identifier uniquely associated with a second network device at which the filter module operates.

Method and system for providing distributed domains in a fiber channel fabric including determining a domain configuration of a resource, retrieving one or more current domain configuration parameters, determining a list of domains in a fiber channel fabric, and generating an updated domain list for the resource in the fabric is disclosed.

In one embodiment, a method includes establishing at a Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Data-Plane Forwarder (FDF), a connection with a controller in communication with a plurality of FDFs, processing at the FDF, control information received from the controller, and forwarding FCoE frames based on the control information. The FDF communicates with the other FDFs in an FCoE fabric and communicates with the controller through a control connection. An apparatus is also disclosed herein.

Presented herein are techniques for collecting and delivering consolidated nameserver information in a merged Fiber (Fiber) Channel (FC) fabric. A principal switch in a merged FC fabric collects information from one or more subordinate switches. The principal switch consolidates the information collected from the subordinate switches to generate consolidated nameserver information. The principal switch then pushes the consolidated nameserver information from the principal switch to each of the subordinate switches.

In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a management module configured to assign a unique set of identifiers to each network control entity from a set of network control entities. As a result, a network control entity from the set of network control entities can assign an identifier from its unique set of identifiers to a port in response to that network control entity receiving a login request from the port. The set of network control entities is associated with a distributed multi-stage switch. The management module is also configured to store a zone set database associated with the distributed multi-stage switch. The management module is configured to send an instance of an active zone set stored within the zone set database to each network control entity from the set of network control entities such that each network control entity can enforce the active zone set.