Fibre Channel Glossary

| A | B | C | E | F | G | H | I | L | N | P | R | S | U | Z |

-A-

ANSI - American National Standards Institute, the coordinating organization for voluntary standards in the United States
Arbitrated Loop Topology - a Fibre Channel topology that provides a (FC-AL) solution to attach multiple communicating ports in a loop
Arbitration - the process of selecting one respondent from a collection of several candidates that request service concurrently
Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM) - a type of packet that transmits fixed length unit of data

-B-

Broadcast - sending a transmission to all N_Ports on a fabric

-C-

Channel - a point-to-point link, the main task being transporting data from one point to another
Controller - a computer module that interprets signals between a host and a peripheral device.
CRC (cyclic redundancy check) - an error correcting code used in Fibre Channel

-E-

E_Port - an expansion port on a switch. It is used to link multiple switches together into a Fibre Channel Fabric.
ESCON - Enterprise Systems connection

-F-

Fabric - a group of interconnections between ports that include a fabric element
F_Port - a port in the fabric where an N_port or NL_port may attach
FCP - Fibre Channel Protocol
FL_Port - a port in fabric where an Nport or an NL_Port may attach
Fibre Channel - up to 2 Gigabit per second data transfer interface technology that maps several common transport protocols including IP and SCSI, allowing it to merge high-speed I/O and network functionality in a single connectivity technology
Full duplex - a communication protocol that permits simultaneous transmissions in both directions, usually with flow control.

-G-

G_Port - generic switch port that can be either F_port or an E_port. Port fucntion is automatically determined during login
GBIC - Gigabit Interface converter, these devices can be obtained in copper DB9, HSSDC and Fibre Optic type connection. GBICS are hot swappable allowing re-configuration to take place on a live system with no down time

-H-

HBA (host bus adapter) - this is the card that fits into the server workstation to provide the interface between the processor and Fibre Channel connection (loop, fabric)
HIPPI (High Performance Parallel Interface) - an ANSI standard for high speed transfer of information in a dual simplex manner over a short parallel bus
HSSDC-style Connector - high speed serial direct connect. Copper connector used on both 1-Gb and 2-Gb Fibre Channel devices.

-I-

I/O - input/output
IP (Internet Protocol) - a set of protocols developed by Department of Defense to communicate between dissimilar computers across networks
IPI (Intelligent Peripheral Interface) - an ANSI standard for controlling peripheral devices by a host computer

-L-

L_Port - an arbitrated loop port
LAN - Local Area Network
LC-style Connector - Compact optical connector used primarily with 2-Gb Fibre Channel devices. This connector can be fixed or pluggable.

-N-

N_Port - a port attached to a node for use with point to point or fabric topology
NL_Port - a port attached to a node for use in all three FC topologies
Node - a device that has at least one N_Port or NL_Port

-P-

Point-to-Point - a topology where two points communicate
Port - an access point in a device where a link attaches

-R-

RAID Array (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) - intelligent devices that are seen by Fibre Channel as a single device regardless of how many drives are in the array

-S-

SAN (Storage Area Network) - a dedicated, high-speed network that establishes a direct connection between storage elements and servers.
Switch - enabling devices for large fabrics. Can be connected together to allow scalability to thousands of nodes

-U-

ULP (Upper Layer Protocols) - different communication protocols that can be carried by Fibre Channel

-Z-

Zoning - a logical separation of traffic between host and resources. By breaking up into zones, processing activity is distributed evenly