McDATA 4300 - Manual (Page 23)

General Information 1-1
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General Information
The McDATA ® Sphereon™ 4300 Fabric Switch provides 12 ports of
low-cost and high-performance dynamic Fibre Channel connectivity
for switched fabric or arbitrated loop devices. This function allows
low-cost, low-bandwidth workgroup (edge) devices to communicate
with mainframe servers, mass storage devices, or other peripherals,
and ultimately be incorporated into an enterprise storage area
network (SAN) environment. This chapter describes:
• The switch, including field-replaceable units (FRUs), controls,
connectors, indicators, and specifications.
• Maintenance approach.
• Switch management.
• Error detection, reporting, and serviceability features.
• Tools and test equipment.
Switch Description
The switch provides Fibre Channel connectivity through generic
mixed ports (GX_Ports). Ports operate at 1.0625 or 2.1250 gigabits per
second (Gbps), and can be configured as:
• Fabric ports (F_Ports) to provide direct connectivity for switched
fabric devices.