Software Defined Networking for Storage Area Networks

1. A method, comprising: dividing a control plane of a storage area network (SAN) into a centralized network control plane and a plurality of decentralized control planes, wherein the control plane comprises a logical division of network architecture that carries signaling and management traffic instead of data traffic, wherein a plurality of switch level SAN applications are accessed through the decentralized control planes, the switch level SAN applications basing network connectivity computations at a link-level that changes from point to point within the SAN; configuring at least one network-wide SAN application in the centralized network control plane, wherein the network-wide SAN application bases network connectivity computations at a network level that remains the same from point to point across the SAN; and configuring at least one switch-level SAN application in the decentralized control planes.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the centralized network control plane is implemented on a central controller according to software defined networking (SDN) architecture.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one network-wide SAN application includes a selection from a group consisting of: name server, zone server, world wide name (WWN)-virtual SAN (VSAN) mapping, device aliases, link-state routing information, principal switch selection, domain manager, and virtual local area network (VLAN)-VSAN mapping.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application includes a selection from a group consisting of: Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP), Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP), Fabric Channel over Ethernet Initialization Protocol (FIP), Fabric login (FLOGI), Access Control Lists (ACLs), platform management, routing information base (RIB), and Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) Hello.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes and line card control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application configured at the switch control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: ACLs, RIB and platform management, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application configured at the line card control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: LLDP, CDP, FIP, FLOGI, and FSPF Hello.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to at most one domain, and wherein a domain identifier (ID) is assigned to each switch.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to more than one domain, wherein the SAN includes a plurality of line cards, wherein a domain ID is assigned to each line card.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein a contiguous set of domain IDs are assigned to line cards in a single domain.

9. One or more non-transitory tangible media that includes instructions for execution, which when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising: dividing a control plane of a SAN into a centralized network control plane and a plurality of decentralized control planes, wherein the control plane comprises a logical division of network architecture that carries signaling and management traffic instead of data traffic, wherein a plurality of switch level SAN applications are accessed through the decentralized control planes, the switch level SAN applications basing network connectivity computations at a link-level that changes from point to point within the SAN; configuring at least one network-wide SAN application in the centralized network control plane, wherein the network-wide SAN application bases network connectivity computations at a network level that remains the same from point to point across the SAN; and configuring at least one switch-level SAN application in the decentralized control planes.

10. The media of claim 9 , wherein the at least one network-wide SAN application includes a selection from a group consisting of: name server, zone server, WWN-VSAN mapping, device aliases, link-state routing information, principal switch selection, domain manager, and VLAN-VSAN mapping.

11. The media of claim 9 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application includes a selection from a group consisting of: LLDP, CDP, FIP, FLOGI, ACLs, platform management, RIB, and FSPF Hello.

12. The media of claim 9 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes and line card control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application configured at the switch control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: ACLs, RIB and platform management, wherein at least one the switch-level SAN application configured at the line card control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: LLDP, CDP, FIP, FLOGI, and FSPF Hello.

13. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to at most one domain, and wherein a domain identifier (ID) is assigned to each switch.

14. The media of claim 9 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to more than one domain, wherein the SAN includes a plurality of line cards, wherein a domain ID is assigned to each line card.

15. An apparatus, comprising: a memory element for storing data; and a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for: dividing a control plane of a SAN into a centralized network control plane and a plurality of decentralized control planes, wherein the control plane comprises a logical division of network architecture that carries signaling and management traffic instead of data traffic, wherein a plurality of switch level SAN applications are accessed through the decentralized control planes, the switch level SAN applications basing network connectivity computations at a link-level that changes from point to point within the SAN; configuring at least one network-wide SAN application in the centralized network control plane, wherein the network-wide SAN application bases network connectivity computations at a network level that remains the same from point to point across the SAN; and configuring at least one switch-level SAN application in the decentralized control planes.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the at least one network-wide SAN application includes a selection from a group consisting of: name server, zone server, WWN-VSAN mapping, device aliases, link-state routing information, principal switch selection, domain manager, and VLAN-VSAN mapping.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application include a selection from a group consisting of: LLDP, CDP, FIP, FLOGI, ACLs, platform management, RIB, and FSPF Hello.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the decentralized control planes include switch control planes and line card control planes, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application configured at the switch control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: ACLs, RIB and platform management, wherein the at least one switch-level SAN application configured at the line card control planes includes a selection from a group consisting of: LLDP, CDP, FIP, FLOGI, and FSPF Hello.

19. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to at most one domain, and wherein a domain identifier (ID) is assigned to each switch.

20. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the SAN includes a plurality of domains, wherein each domain spans a plurality of switches, wherein each switch belongs to more than one domain, wherein the SAN includes a plurality of line cards, wherein a domain ID is assigned to each line card.