A method for communicating between a first Fibre Channel (FC) enabled
device and a second FC enabled device, where the communication occurs
across a fabric that operates in accordance with a first protocol
different from a FC protocol of the first and second FC enabled devices.
The method includes receiving, from the first FC enabled device, at a
first gateway receiver a sequence of bytes including at least one control
character in accordance with the FC protocol. The method then includes
replacing the at least one control character with at least one data
character. The method also includes generating an encapsulation header
and an encapsulation footer for encapsulating the sequence of bytes in
which at least one control character was replaced with at least one data
character. The method then includes setting a control character indicator
in the encapsulation header if a first byte in the sequence of bytes
received at the gateway receiver is a control character. The method
includes setting an end of frame indicator in the encapsulation footer if
a last byte in the sequence of bytes received at the first gateway
receiver is an end of frame control character.