A method for routing Fibre Channel frames in a Fibre Channel system is
provided. The method compares a cost associated with a pre-programmed
preferred route when the pre-programmed preferred route has been
pre-programmed to route Fibre Channel frames between a source Fibre
Channel port and a destination Fibre Channel port; with a cost of at
least one route for routing Fibre channel frames between the source Fibre
Channel port and the destination port determined by using a standard
Fibre Channel Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) protocol, and using the
pre-programmed-preferred route to route Fibre Channel frames if the cost
associated with the pre-programmed preferred route is lower than the cost
associated with the at least one route determined by the standard Fibre
Channel FSPF protocol.