Fibre channel

Fibre Channel is a technology for transmitting data between computer devices at data rates of up to 4 Gbps (and 10 Gbps in the near future). Fibre Channel is especially suited for connecting computer servers to shared storage devices and for interconnecting storage controllers and drives. Since Fibre Channel is three times as fast, it has begun to replace the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) as the transmission interface between servers and clustered storage devices. Fibre channel is more flexible; devices can be as far as ten kilometers (about six miles) apart if optical fiber is used as the physical medium. Optical fiber is not required for shorter distances, however, because Fibre Channel also works using coaxial cable and ordinary telephone twisted pair.
Fibre Channel offers point-to-point, switched, and loop interfaces. It is designed to interoperate with SCSI, the Internet Protocol (IP) and other protocols, but has been criticized for its lack of compatibility - primarily because (like in the early days of SCSI technology) manufacturers sometimes interpret specifications differently and vary their implementations. Standards for Fibre Channel are specified by the Fibre Channel Physical and Signalling standard, and the ANSI X3.230-1994, which is also ISO 14165-1.

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 with bulky connectors, and had limited cable lengths. When Fibre Channel started to compete for the mass storage market its primary competitor was IBM's proprietary Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) interface. Eventually the market chose Fibre Channel over SSA, depriving IBM of control over the next generation of mid- to high-end storage technology. Fibre Channel was primarily concerned with simplifying the connections and increasing distances, as opposed to increasing speeds. Later, designers added the goals of connecting 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 ATM, IP and FICON, with SCSI being the predominant usage. The Fibre Channel protocol has a rich roadmap of speeds on a variety of underlying transport media. For example, the following table shows native Fibre Channel speed variants

Fibre channel
Fibre Channel, or FC, is a high-speed network technology (commonly running at 2-, 4-, 8- and 16gigabit per second rates) primarily used to connect computer data storage.Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS), an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited standards committee. Fibre Channel was primarily used in supercomputers, but has become a common connection type for storage area networks (SAN) in enterprise storage. Despite its name, Fibre Channel signaling can run on twisted pair copper wire in addition to fiber-optic cables. Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) is a transport protocol (similar to TCP used in IP networks) that predominantly transports SCSI commands over Fibre Channel networks.

Topologies

Three major Fibre Channel topologies, describing how a number of ports are connected together. A port in Fibre Channel terminology is any entity that actively communicates over the network, not necessarily a hardware port. This port is usually implemented in a device such as disk storage, HBA on a server or a Fibre Channel switch. Point-to-point (FC-P2P). Two devices are connected directly to each other. This is the simplest topology, with limited connectivity.[1] 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.
A minimal loop containing only two ports, while appearing to be similar to FC-P2P, differs considerably in terms of the protocol. Only one pair of ports can communicate concurrently on a loop. Maximum speed of 8GFC.

Cont..

Switched fabric (FC-SW). All devices or loops of devices are connected to Fibre Channel switches, similar conceptually to modern Ethernet implementations. Advantages of this topology over FC-P2P or FC-AL include:
The switches manage the state of the fabric, providing optimized interconnections. The traffic between two ports flows through the switches only, it is not transmitted to any other port. Failure of a port is isolated and should not affect operation of other ports. Multiple pairs of ports may communicate simultaneously in a fabric.

Ports

FC topologies and port types The following types of ports are defined by Fibre Channel: node ports

N_port is a port on the node (e.g. host or storage device) used with both FC-P2P or FC-SW topologies. Also known as node port.
NL_port is a port on the node used with an FC-AL topology. Also known as Node Loop port. F_port is a port on the switch that connects to a node point-to-point (i.e. connects to an N_port). Also known as fabric port. An F_port is not loop capable. FL_port is a port on the switch that connects to a FC-AL loop (i.e. to NL_ports). Also known as fabric loop port. 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 inter-switch link (ISL). B_port A Bridge Port is a Fabric inter-element port used to connect Bridge devices with E_Ports on a Switch. The B_Port provides a subset of the E_port functionality D_port is a diagnostic port, used solely for the purpose of running link-level diagnostics between two switches and to isolate link level fault on the port, in the SFP, or in the cable. EX_port is the connection between a fibre channel router and a fibre channel switch. On the side of the switch it looks like a normal E_port, but on the side of the router it is an EX_port. TE_port * Is an extended ISL or EISL. The TE_port provides not only standard E_port functions but allows for routing of multiple VSANs (Virtual SANs). This is accomplished by modifying the standard Fibre Channel frame (vsan tagging) upon ingress/egress of the VSAN environment. Also known as Trunking E_port. VE_Port an INCITS T11 addition, FCIP interconnected E-Port/ISL, i.e. fabrics will merge. VEX_Port an INCITS T11 addition, is a FCIP interconnected EX-Port, routing needed via lsan zoning to connect initiator to a target. Auto or auto-sensing port can automatically become an E_, TE_, F_, or FL_port as needed.

general (catch-all) types

Fx_port a generic port that can become a F_port (when connected to a N_port) or a FL_port (when connected to a NL_port).
GL_port on a switch can operate as an E_port, FL_port, or F_port. Found on QLogic switches. G_port or generic port on a switch can operate as an E_port or F_port. Found on Brocade, McData, and QLogic switches. L_port is the loose term used for any arbitrated loop port, NL_port or FL_port. Also known as Loop port. U_port is the loose term used for any arbitrated port. Also known as Universal port. Found only on Brocade switches.

(*Note: The term "trunking" is not a standard Fibre Channel term and is used by vendors interchangeably. For example: A trunk (an aggregation of ISLs) in a Brocade device is referred to as a Port Channel by Cisco. Whereas Cisco refers to trunking as an EISL.)

infrastructure
SAN switch with LC optical connectors installed. Fibre Channel switches can be divided into two classes. These classes are not part of the standard, and the classification of every switch is a marketing decision of the manufacturer: Directors offer a high port-count in a modular (slot-based) chassis with no single point of failure (high availability). Switches are typically smaller, fixed-configuration (sometimes semi-modular), less redundant devices. A fabric consisting entirely of one vendor is considered to be homogeneous. This is often referred to as operating in its "native mode" and allows the vendor to add proprietary features which may not be compliant with the Fibre Channel standard. If multiple switch vendors are used within the same fabric it is heterogeneous, the switches may only achieve adjacency if all switches are placed into their interoperability modes. This is called the "open fabric" mode as each vendor's switch may have to disable its proprietary features to comply with the Fibre Channel standard. Some switch manufacturers offer a variety of interoperability modes above and beyond the "native" and "open fabric" states. These "native interoperability" modes allow switches to operate in the native mode of another vendor and still maintain some of the proprietary behaviors of both. However, running in native interoperability mode may still disable some proprietary features and can produce fabrics of questionable stability.