IBM 59P5712 manual Hardware overview, What is Fibre Channel?, Fibre Channel adapter features

Chapter 1. Hardware overview

The IBM FAStT Host Adapter is a high-performance, direct memory access (DMA), bus-master, host adapter designed for high-end systems. The function and performance are derived from the ISP2200A chip, making this FAStT Host Adapter a leading-edge host adapter.

The ISP2200A chip combines a powerful RISC processor, a Fibre Channel protocol manager (FPM) with gigabit transceivers, and a 64-bit peripheral component interconnect (PCI) local bus interface in a single-chip solution. The IBM FAStT Host Adapter supports all Fibre Channel (FC) peripheral devices that support private-loop direct attach (PLDA) and fabric-loop attach (FLA).

What is Fibre Channel?

Fibre Channel technology is outlined in the Information Systems - Fibre Channel Protocol for SCSI (small computer system interface - FCP) standard, revision 12, 30 May 1995. Fibre Channel is a high-speed data transport technology used for mass storage and networking. The IBM FAStT Host Adapter connects:

Mainframe computers

Super computers

Workstations

Storage devices

Servers

Using a Fibre Channel arbitrated loop (FC-AL), 126 devices can be supported, compared to 15 devices with Ultra SCSI.

Fibre Channel supports data transfer rates of 100 MB per second, which is more than twice that of Ultra SCSI (40 MB per second). A multimode optical interface is used for distances up to 500 meters. With increased connectivity and performance, Fibre Channel is the technology preferred and used by system designers.

Fibre Channel adapter features

Fibre Channel adapter features include:

Compliance with Third Generation Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling

Interface - 3 (PC-PH-3), revision 9.2

Compliance with Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL-2) standard

Compliance with Intel PCI version 2.2 specification

Compliance with U.S. and international safety and emissions standards

Support for bus-master DMA

Fast!UTIL basic input/output system (BIOS) utility program to customize the configuration parameters on the IBM FAStT Host Adapter and attached drives

Supports Fibre Channel SCSI (FCP-SCSI) and internet protocol (IP) protocols

Supports point-to-point fabric connection (F-PORT FABRIC LOGIN)

Supports Fibre Channel service (Classes 2 and 3)

 Copyright IBM Corp. 1998, 2002 3