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Glossary
Some terms used in the Fibre Channel industry are defined below. More information is available through
the Fibre Channel Industry Association (www.fibrechannel.com), the Storage Area Networking Industry
Association (www.snia.org) and the Fibre Channel Consortium (www.iol.unh.edu).
Term
fabric
failover
FC-AL
firmware
F_port
FL-port
initiator device
LED
LUN
NL port
N_port
SCSI
topology
Definition
A Fibre Channel switch or two or more Fibre Channel switches interconnected to
physically transmit data between any two N_Ports on a switch or switches.
The substitution of a working system for one which has failed.
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop: A Fibre Channel network in which up to 126
systems and devices are connected in a loop topology, with each transmitter
connecting to the receiver of the device to its logical right. The Fibre Channel
Arbitrated Loop protocol used for transmission is different from Fibre Channel
switched and point to point protocols. Multiple FC-AL loops can be connected via
a fabric switch to extend the network.
Software stored in read-only memory (ROM) or programmable ROM (PROM).
Firmware is often responsible for the behavior of a system when it is first switched
on.
A port in the Fibre Channel fabric where a N_port may attach
A port in the Fibre Channel fabric where a NL_port may attach in an arbitrated
loop
A component which originates a command
Light-emitting diode, a type of diode that emits light when current passes through
it. Visible LEDs are used as indicator lights on all sorts of electronic devices.
Logical Unit Number: a SCSI or Fibre Channel identifier of a device
a port attached to a node in Fibre Channel arbitrated loop or fabric loop
configurations
a port attached to a node used with point to point or fabric configurations
Small Computer Systems Interface: a processor-independent standard for
system-level interface between a computer and intelligent devices including hard
disks, floppy disks, CD-ROM, printers, scanners, etc.
logical layout of the parts of a computer system or network and their
interconnections
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