HP P4459A manual Ofc

Glossary

Network

A collection of interconnected components and the protocols and physical methods those components use to communicate. Network components consist of network elements (infrastructure components) and network attachments (devices which use the network to communicate). A Storage Area Network is a network whose elements consist of computing devices, storage devices, and storage subsystems. The predominant SAN protocol used is currently Fibre Channel.

NL_Port

Node Loop Port. It has the capability to communicate over both FC-AL hubs and through F_Ports.

Node

A node is a device that has at least one N_Port or NL_Port to provide access to a Fibre Channel SAN.

N_Port

Node Port. It only has the capability to communicate through an F_Port. It is a port on a computer, disk drive, etc., through which the device does its Fibre Channel communication as a direct fabric-attached port for use with point-to-point or fabric topology. It is identified by a Worldwide Name.

N_Port ID

The Fibre Channel Address that a node sends in the S_ID of each frame it sources, and the Fibre Channel Address that a node responds to in the D_ID of each frame it receives. If a Fibre Channel node receives a frame which contains a D_ID not equal to its N_Port ID, it is considered a delivery error and the frame is discarded. See Table Table 8: for its structure.

Table 8: N_Port ID

Byte 2	Byte 1	Byte 0
Bits 23-16	Bits 15-8	Bits 7-0
Domain	Area	Loop (AL_PA)

OFC

Open Fibre Control is a defunct FC-0 signalling protocol used to provide eye safety for optics which are not intrinsically eye safe based on their optical power. All interoperable Fibre Channel ports use non-OFC optics.

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