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, best known for its use with storage devices such as hard disk drives. SCSI was introduced ...

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 Server (computing), servers in storage area networks (SAN) in ...

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,

supercomputers A supercomputer is a type of 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 instru ...

, storage devices and displays. 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 bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. 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 as ...

/second to 16 gigabits/second *Support both optical and copper media, with distances up to 10 km. * Small connectors ( sfp+ 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, hunt group and

multicast In computer networking, multicast is a type of 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 differs from ph ...

. *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 consist of the following: * Arbitrated Loop—A series of N_PORTs connected together in daisy-chain fashion. * Switched Fabric—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