Performance monitoring and troubleshooting in a storage area network environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016088083-A1
Application number	US-201414492036-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 21, 2014
Priority date	Sep 21, 2014
Publication date	Mar 24, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

An example method for performance monitoring and troubleshooting in a storage area network (SAN) environment is provided and includes receiving, at a network element in the SAN, a plurality of frames of an exchange between an initiator and a target in the SAN, identifying a beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange in the plurality of frames, copying the beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange to a network processor in the network element, extracting, by the network processor, values of a portion of fields in respective headers of the beginning frame and the ending frame, and calculating, by the network processor, a normalized exchange completion time (ECT) based on the values.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method executed by a network element in a storage area network (SAN), comprising:
receiving a plurality of frames of an exchange between an initiator and a target in the SAN; identifying a beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange in the plurality of frames; copying the beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange to a network processor in the network element; extracting, by the network processor, values of a portion of fields in respective headers of the beginning frame and the ending frame; and calculating, by the network processor, a normalized exchange completion time (ECT) based on the values.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting a plurality of exchange records corresponding to different exchanges involving the target in the SAN, wherein each exchange record comprises values extracted from corresponding exchanges; calculating a maximum pending exchange (MPE) of the target based on the plurality of exchange records.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculating comprises:
starting a timer when the beginning frame is identified; stopping the timer when the ending frame is identified; and calculating the ECT as a time elapsed between starting and stopping the timer.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the calculating further comprises:
determining a size of data in the exchange based on the values; and normalizing the calculated ECT based in the size of data.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the beginning frame and the ending frame of the exchange are identified by a packet analyzer based on preconfigured access control lists (ACL) rules and filters.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the ACL rules and filters are programmed on edge ports of the network element connected to the target.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the extracted values correspond to at least the following fields: port number, source identifier (SID), destination identifier (DID), logical unit number (LUN), command type, exchange identifier (OXID), direction of traffic, and size of the exchange.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a first flow record entry with values extracted from the first frame of the exchange; generating a second flow record entry with values extracted from the second frame of the exchange; and generating an exchange record from the first flow record entry and the second flow record entry.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network processor is inbuilt into a line card with a direct connection to a Fibre Channel (FC) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) that performs switching operations within the network element.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a baseline ECT based on past calculations of ECT; comparing the calculated ECT with the baseline ECT; and flagging the calculated ECT if a deviation is observed from the baseline ECT.

11 . Non-transitory tangible media that includes instructions for execution, which when executed by a processor of a network element in a SAN, is operable to perform operations comprising:
receiving a plurality of frames of an exchange between an initiator and a target in the SAN; identifying a beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange in the plurality of frames; copying the beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange to a network processor in the network element; extracting, by the network processor, values of a portion of fields in respective headers of the beginning frame and the ending frame; and calculating, by the network processor, a normalized ECT based on the values.

12 . The media of claim 11 , wherein the calculating further comprises:
starting a timer when the beginning frame is identified; stopping the timer when the ending frame is identified; and calculating the ECT as a time elapsed between starting and stopping the timer.

13 . The media of claim 12 , wherein the calculating further comprises:
determining a size of data in the exchange based on the values; and normalizing the calculated ECT based in the size of data.

14 . The media of claim 11 , wherein the beginning frame and the ending frame of the exchange are identified by a packet analyzer based on preconfigured ACL rules and filters.

15 . The media of claim 11 , wherein the extracted values correspond to at least the following fields: port number, SID, DID, LUN, command type, OXID, direction of traffic, and size of the exchange.

16 . An apparatus in a SAN, comprising:
a memory element for storing data; and a network processor, wherein the network processor executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the network processor and the memory element cooperate, such that the apparatus is configured for:
receiving a plurality of frames of an exchange between an initiator and a target in the SAN;
identifying a beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange in the plurality of frames;
copying the beginning frame and an ending frame of the exchange to the network processor in the network element;
extracting values of a portion of fields in respective headers of the beginning frame and the ending frame; and
calculating a normalized ECT based on the values.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the calculating further comprises:
starting a timer when the beginning frame is identified; stopping the timer when the ending frame is identified; and calculating the ECT as a time elapsed between starting and stopping the timer.

18 . The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the calculating further comprises:
determining a size of data in the exchange based on the values; and normalizing the calculated ECT based in the size of data.

19 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the beginning frame and the ending frame of the exchange are identified by a packet analyzer based on preconfigured ACL rules and filters.

20 . The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the extracted values correspond to at least the following fields: port number, SID, DID, LUN, command type, OXID, direction of traffic, and size of the exchange.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bharadwaj Harsha
• Nanjundaiah Prabesh Babu

Classifications

• H04L43/18

  Protocol analysers · CPC title

• H04L43/02

  Capturing of monitoring data · CPC title

• H04L43/0847

  Transmission error · CPC title

• H04L12/4625

  Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge · CPC title

• H04L43/0852 Primary

  Delays · CPC title