Q-Logic FC0054607-00 A manual Adapter Component Details, Callout Description

1–Hardware and Software Components Hardware Components

Transceivers: Short for transmitter- receiver, a device (copper or optical) that transmits and receives signals.

4

5NVRAM: Non-Volatile Random Access Memory (aka EEPROM). Where some of the adapter parameter settings are stored. Because NVRAM is a non-volatile type of RAM, data is retained even if the power is shut

LEDs: Light Emitting Diodes. Display various	3
active/inactive states of an adapter. QLogic’s
Beaconing feature uses LEDs to identify the
physical location of the adapter.

Figure 1-1 Adapter Components

1Processor: QLogic’s ISP contains a RISC processor.

2SRAM: Static Random Access memory. Where the firmware is loaded. In addition to the firmware, SRAM also retains (in queue) the various I/O commands the Fibre Channel processor must process.

Flash: Non-volatile form of memory. Where the boot code is stored.

Table 1-1. Adapter Component Details

Callout	Description
Number

1The reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processor, also known as the intelligent stor- age peripheral (ISP) controller, is the heart of the adapter. The RISC processor is a single integrated ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) that contains the processing power required to run the Fibre Channel and FCoE protocols. The RISC processor also interfaces the host bus (PCI-X or PCI Express) and controls the I/O operations.

2The static random access memory (SRAM) provides the runtime memory required for the adapter operations. The SRAM is where the firmware is downloaded when the adapter is powered up. The RISC processor (see 1) accesses the SRAM to process the firmware instructions. In addition, the SRAM stores the runtime context of various I/O operations in progress.

3The non-volatile memory, also referred to as Flash memory, contains the boot code run by the RISC processor (see 1) when the adapter is powered up. On QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter 2400 series and later, the Flash memory contains multiple boot images—the FCode, x86 BIOS, and EFI—to support multi-boot capability on different platforms.

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