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It started for use primarily in the Supercomputer field, but has become the standard connection type for Storage Area Network s in Enterprise Storage . Despite its name, Fibre Channel signaling can run on both Twisted-pair copper wire and Fiber Optic cables.


HISTORY

Fibre Channel started in 1988, with ANSI standard approval in 1994, as a way to simplify the HIPPI system then in use for similar roles. HIPPI used a massive 50-pair cable and gigantic connectors, and had limited cable lengths. Fibre Channel was primarily interested in simplifying the connections and increasing the lengths, as opposed to increasing speeds. Later it broadened its focus to address SCSI disk storage, providing higher speeds and far greater numbers of connected devices.

It also added support for any number of "upper layer" protocols, including SCSI , ATM , and IP , with SCSI being the predominant usage.


FIBRE CHANNEL TOPOLOGIES

There are three major Fibre Channel topologies,

  • Point-to-Point ( FC-P2P ). Two devices are connected back to back. This is the simplest topology, with limited connectivity.


  • Arbitrated Loop ( FC-AL ). In this design, all devices are in a loop or ring, similar to Token Ring networking. Adding or removing a device from the loop causes all activity on the loop to be interrupted. The failure of one device causes a break in the ring. Fibre Channel hubs exist to connect multiple devices together and may bypass failed ports. A loop may also be made by cabling each port to the next in a ring. Often an arbitrated loop between two ports will negotiate to become a P2P connection, but this is not required by the standard.


  • Switched Fabric ( FC-SW ). All devices or loops of devices are connected to Fibre Channel Switch es, similar conceptually to modern Ethernet implementations. The switches manage the state of the fabric, providing optimized interconnections. Very limited security is available in today's fibre channel switches.




FIBRE CHANNEL LAYERS

Fibre Channel is a layered protocol. It consists of 5 layers, namely:

  • FC0 The physical layer, which includes cables, fiber optics, Connectors, Pinouts etc.

  • FC1 The data link layer, which implements the 8b/10b encoding and decoding of signals.

  • FC2 The network layer, defined by the FC-PI-2 standard, consists of the core of FC.

  • FC3 The common services layer, a thin layer that could eventually implement functions like encryption or RAID.

  • FC4 The Protocol Mapping layer. Layer in which other protocols, such as SCSI, are encapsulated into an information unit for delivery to FC2.


FC0, FC1, and FC2 are also known as FC-PH, the physical layers of fibre channel.

Fibre Channel products are available at 1 Gbit/s , 2 Gbit/s and 4 Gbit/s. An 8 Gbit/s standard is being developed. A 10 Gbit/s standard has been ratified, but no products are available yet based on that standard. Products based on the 1, 2, 4 and 8 Gbit/s standards should be interoperable; the 10 Gbit/s standard, however, requires a complete changeover.


PORTS


The following ports are defined by Fibre Channel:

  • E_port is the connection between two fibre channel switches. Also known as an '''Expansion port'''. When E_ports between two switches form a link, that link is referred to as an InterSwitch Link or ISL.

  • F_port is a fabric connection in a switched fabric topology. Also known as '''Fabric port'''. An F_port is not loop capable.

  • FL_port is the fabric connection in a public loop for an arbitrated loop topology. Also known as '''Fabric Loop port'''. Note that a switch port may automatically become either an '''F_port''' or an FL_port depending on what is connected.

  • G_port or '''generic port''' on a switch can operate as an E_port or F_port.

  • L_port is the loose term used for any arbitrated loop port, '''NL_port''' or FL_port. Also known as '''Loop port'''.

  • N_port is the node connection pertaining to hosts or storage devices in a Point-to-Point or switched fabric topology. Also known as '''Node port'''.

  • NL_port is the node connection pertaining to hosts or storage devices in an arbitrated loop topology. Also known as '''Node Loop port'''.

  • TE_port is a term used for multiple '''E_ports''' trunked together to create high bandwidth between switches. Also known as '''Trunking Expansion port'''.



OPTICAL CARRIER MEDIUM VARIANTS



FIBRE CHANNEL INFRASTRUCTURE

Fibre Channel switches are divided into two classes of switches. These classes are not part of the standard, and the classification of every switch is left up to the manufacturer.

  • Director switches are characterized by offering a high port-count in a modular (slot-based) chassis with no single point of failure (high availability).


  • Fabric switches are typically fixed-configuration (sometimes semi-modular) non-redundant switches.



  • Cisco and --- McData provide both Director and fabric switches. --- QLogic provides fabric switches.



FIBRE CHANNEL HOST BUS ADAPTERS

Fibre Channel HBA s are available for all major Open Systems , computer architectures, and buses, including PCI and SBus (obsolete today). Each HBA has a unique World Wide Name (WWN), which is similar to an Ethernet MAC Address in that it uses an OUI assigned by the IEEE . However, WWNs are longer (16 bytes). There are two types of WWNs on a HBA; a node WWN, which is shared by all ports on a host bus adapter, and a port WWN, which is unique to each port. Some Fibre Channel HBA manufacturers are Emulex , LSI Logic , QLogic and ATTO Technology .


FIBRE CHANNEL STORAGE




STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE




FIBRE CHANNEL RFCS

;RFCs:
  • RFC 4369 - Definitions of Managed Objects for Internet Fibre Channel Protocol iFCP

  • RFC 4044 - Fibre Channel Management MIB

  • RFC 3723 - Securing Block Storage Protocols over IP

  • RFC 2837 - Definitions of Managed Objects for the Fabric Element in Fibre Channel Standard

  • RFC 2625 - IP and ARP over Fibre Channel


;Drafts:


SEE ALSO



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