McDATA Sphereon 4500 User Manual page 196

Glossary
F
fabric Entity that interconnects N_Ports and is capable of routing
(switching) Fibre Channel frames using the destination ID
information in the Fibre Channel frame header accompanying the
frames.
fabric element Any active switch or node in a switched fabric.
fabric port Physical interface within the fabric that connects to an N_Port
through a point-to-point full duplex connection.
fabric services Fabric services implements the various Fibre channel services that are
described in the standards. These services includes the Fabric
controller (login server), name server, and management server.
failover Automatic and nondisruptive transition of functions from an active
FRU that has failed to a backup FRU.
FCC-IOC See Fibre Channel I/O controller.
FE-MIB See Fibre Channel Fabric Element.
feature key A string of alphanumeric characters consisting of both uppercase and
lowercase. The following is an example of a feature key format:
XxXx-XXxX-xxXX-xX.
fiber optics
Branch of optical technology concerned with the transmission of light
pulses through fibers made of transparent materials such as glass,
fused silica, and plastic.
fibre
Physical media types supported by the Fibre Channel specification,
such as optical fiber, twisted pair, and coaxial cable.
Fibre Channel Integrated set of standards recognized by ANSI which defines
specific protocols for flexible information transfer. Logically, a
point-to-point serial data channel, structured for high performance.
Fibre Channel fabric Any device linked to a fabric. Information about these devices is
element recorded in a management information base (MIB) which can be
accessed by fabric management software.
Fibre Channel I/O Controls the embedded Fibre Channel port and configures the ports'
controller ASICs.
g-8 McDATA® Sphereon™ 4500 Fabric Switch Product Manager User Manual