HP Surestore 6.140 Tape Library - Manual (Page 187)

Appendix C C-3
Introduction to Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel Terminology
Fi
bre
Ch
a
nne
l
Fibre Channel Terminology
AL_PA Arbitrated Loop Physical Address.
Auto-select
addressing:
Default addressing assignment method for libraries
that picks an available address and uses it as the hard
address from then on.
Fabric: Switched interconnect methodology that supports
high-speed data routing in Fibre Channel networks.
Fibre Channel: A transport protocol that allows high-speed
communication among workstations, super-computers,
mainframes, data storage devices, and other
peripherals. Fibre Channel is capable of transmitting
and receiving data simultaneously.
Fibre Channel
Arbitrated
Loop (FC-AL):
Topology that provides a low-cost solution for attaching
multiple Fibre Channel ports in a loop without
switches.
Hard
addressing:
Addressing assignment method that allows you to set
and maintain a fixed address.
Hub: A device that provides a multiple port loop interconnect
system to implement a FC-AL using a physical “star”
configuration.
Point to Point: Fibre Channel topology in which two Fibre Channel
devices are connected together.
Protocol: A data transmission convention that encompasses
timing, control formatting, and data representation.
Soft addressing: Addressing mode that looks for an unused address
during every power cycle.
Switch: A device that provides a (n by n) interconnect to allow a
port to have full communication bandwidth with any
other port while other communications are occurring.
Topology: The logical arrangement of nodes on a network.