Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) is the

SCSI Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, ) is a set of standards for physically connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices. The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical, optical and logical interface ...

interface protocol utilising an underlying

Fibre Channel Fibre Channel (FC) is a high-speed data transfer protocol providing in-order, lossless delivery of raw block data. Fibre Channel is primarily used to connect computer data storage to servers in storage area networks (SAN) in commercial data cen ...

connection. The Fibre Channel standards define a high-speed data transfer mechanism that can be used to connect

workstations A workstation is a special computer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by a single user, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems. The term ''workstat ...

mainframes A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise ...

supercomputers A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instructions p ...

, storage devices and

displays A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or Touch, tactile form (the latter used for example in Refreshable Braille display, tactile electronic displays for blind people). When the input information that is su ...

. FCP addresses the need for very fast transfers of large volumes of information and could relieve system manufacturers from the burden of supporting a variety of channels and networks, as it provides one standard for networking, storage and data transfer. Some Fibre Channel characteristics are: *Performance from 266

megabits The megabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information. The prefix mega (symbol M) is defined in the International System of Units (SI) as a multiplier of 106 (1 million), and therefore :1 megabit = = = 1000 kilobits. The megabit h ...

/second to 16

gigabits The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented a ...

/second *Support both optical and copper media, with distances up to 10 km. * Small connectors (

sfp+ Small Form-factor Pluggable connected to a pair of fiber-optic cables Small Form-factor Pluggable (SFP) is a compact, hot-pluggable network interface module format used for both telecommunication and data communications applications. An SF ...

are most common) * High-bandwidth utilisation with distance insensitivity * Support for multiple cost/performance levels, from small systems to supercomputers * Ability to carry multiple existing interface command sets, including Internet Protocol (IP),

, IPI, HIPPI-FP, and audio/video. Fibre Channel consists of the following layers: *FC-0 -- The interface to the physical media *FC-1 -- The encoding and decoding of data and out-of-band physical link control information for transmission over the physical media *FC-2 -- The transfer of frames, sequences and exchanges comprising protocol information units. *FC-3 -- Common services required for advanced features such as

striping In computer data storage, data striping is the technique of segmenting logically sequential data, such as a file, so that consecutive segments are stored on different physical storage devices. Striping is useful when a processing device request ...

hunt group In telephony, line hunting (or hunt group) is the method of distributing phone calls from a single telephone number to a group of several phone lines. Specifically, it refers to the process or algorithm used to select which line will receive the ca ...

and

multicast In computer networking, multicast is group communication where data transmission is addressed to a group of destination computers simultaneously. Multicast can be one-to-many or many-to-many distribution. Multicast should not be confused with ...

. *FC-4 -- Application interfaces that can execute over Fibre Channel such as the Fibre Channel Protocol for

(FCS). Unlike a layered

network architecture Network architecture is the design of a computer network. It is a framework for the specification of a network's physical components and their functional organization and configuration, its operational principles and procedures, as well as commun ...

, a Fibre Channel network is largely specified by functional elements and the interfaces between them. These consist, in part, of the following: *N_PORTs—The end points for traffic. *FC Devices—The devices to which the N_PORTs provide access. *Fabric Ports—The interfaces within a network that provide attachment for an N_PORT. *The network infrastructure for carrying frame traffic between N_PORTs. *Within a switched or mixed fabric, a set of auxiliary servers, including a name server for device discovery and network address resolution. Fibre Channel network

topologies In mathematics, topology (from the Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a geometric object that are preserved under continuous deformations, such as stretching, twisting, crumpling, and bending; that is, without closing ho ...

consist of the following: *

Arbitrated Loop The arbitrated loop, also known as FC-AL, is a Fibre Channel topology in which devices are connected in a one-way loop fashion in a ring topology. Historically it was a lower-cost alternative to a fabric topology. It allowed connection of man ...

—A series of N_PORTs connected together in daisy-chain fashion. *

Switched Fabric Switched fabric or switching fabric is a network topology in which network Node (networking), nodes interconnect via one or more network switches (particularly crossbar switches). Because a switched fabric network spreads network traffic across m ...

—A network consisting of switching elements. * Mixed Fabric—A network consisting of switches and "fabric-attached" loops. A loop-attached N_PORT (NL_PORT) is connected to the loop through an L_PORT and accesses the fabric by way of an FL_PORT.

References

{{reflist * http://hsi.web.cern.ch/HSI/fcs/spec/overview.htm SCSI

See also

References