Certain embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to allocating a sub-area of Fiber Channel addresses (FCIDs) to a device. A range of addresses may be assigned to the device using a mask address, where the most significant bits represent a mask and the least significant bits represent a sub-range of FCIDs available to be assigned to the device. Therefore, routing information may be stored efficiently in a Ternary Content Addressable Memory (TCAM) by storing a single entry in the TCAM for each sub-area of FCIDs allocated to a device, instead of storing an entry for each FCID. The single entry may indicate the mask address and the width of the mask.

In one embodiment, an apparatus includes an initialization module configured to receive a Fiber Channel over Ethernet Initialization Protocol (FIP) login request from a network device. The initialization module is configured to select an outbound port based at least in part on a load-balancing calculation. The initialization module is configured to define a destination Media Access Control (MAC) address. The initialization module is configured to associate the destination MAC address with the outbound port. The initialization module is configured to send, to the network device, a signal including the destination MAC address in response to the FIP login request.

Methods, apparatus and systems are provided for forwarding Fiber Channel Initialization Protocol (FIP) frames and Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) frames by a FCoE device interconnection apparatus (FIA) and with a Fiber Channel over Ethernet device interconnection apparatus controller (FIAC). An FCoE frame received by the FIA from the FCoE device includes at least destination and source Ethernet MAC address fields which are replaced, such as where the destination Ethernet MAC address is replaced by the MAC address assigned to a remote FCoE device, such as the desired end port. The frame is forwarded to the destination FCoE device. Preferably, first and second ports are coupled to the connectivity apparatus, which are then coupled to first and second FCoE devices.

In some embodiments, a system includes a set of network control entities associated with a distributed multi-stage switch. Each network control entity from the set of network control entities is configured to manage at least one edge device having a set of ports and coupled to the distributed multi-stage switch. Each network control entity from the set of network control entities is associated with a unique set of identifiers. A network control entity from the set of network control entities is configured to assign a unique identifier from its unique set of identifiers to a port from the set of ports of the at least one edge device in response to the network control entity receiving a login request associated with the port.

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.