3
ATTO Technology BridgeTools Installation and Operation Manual
2 BridgeTools aids FibreBridge management
ATTO BridgeTools
TM
is a Java-based configuration utility designed to flash firmware and manage the
configuration of your ATTO FibreBridge.
Fibre Channel is a serial communications
technology designed to transfer large amounts of
data between a variety of hardware systems over
long distances. It is a key technology for
applications that require shared, high bandwidth
access to storage.
Fibre Channel provides a logical point-to point
serial channel for the transfer of data between a
buffer at a source device and a buffer at a
destination device. It moves buffer contents from
one port to another, without regard to the format
or meaning of the data so different upper level
protocols are able to run over Fibre Channel
hardware.
The Fibre Channel architecture is structured as a
hierarchical set of protocol layers. Def ined wit hin
these layers are rules for signal interfaces, serial
encoding and decoding, error control, frame
format and communications protocols.
All ATTO FibreBridge
models can be used in a
SAN (Storage Area Network) to connect a variety
of Fibre Channel and SCSI devices to meet your
needs.
A SAN is a shared storage architecture connecting
computers and storage devices for online data
access. Each connected system can directly access
any attached storage device. Storage devices
could include RAID, tape backup, tape library,
CD-ROM library or JBOD.
ATTO FibreBridge models provide the interface
between SCSI and Fibre Channel resources in
SANs. Possible configurations depend upon your
current hardware and what you need to do.
The FibreBridge allows parallel SCSI devices to
participate in a Fibre Channel arbitrated loop or
on a fabric. Fibre Channel and SCSI
configurations address devices differently, and the
FibreBridge translates between these addressing
models.
The simplest way to communicate with the ATTO
FibreBridge is to use ATTO BridgeTools, a Java-
based graphical interface configuration utility
designed to flash firmware and manage the
configuration for all models of the FibreBridge.
BridgeTools detects which FibreBridge model is
available and presents you with the applicable
configuration options.
At the startup, a wizard-type interface will ask
you how you want to communicate with the
ATTO FibreBridge. You can choose between an
in-band connection direct over the Fibre Channel
link, an RS-232 port or an Ethernet port.
A tabbed panel interface presents configuration
parameters in a simple, one-window display.
Message boxes, icons, drop-down boxes, menu
bars and other common graphical constructs will
lead you through the configuration process.
Refer to the ATTO FibreBridge Installation and
Operation Manual for more information about
other methods to manage your FibreBridge.