Term | Definition |
fabric | A Fibre Channel switch or two or more Fibre Channel switches interconnected to physically |
| transmit data between any two N_Ports on the switch or switches |
FC | Fibre Channel |
F_port | A port in the Fibre Channel fabric where a N_port may attach |
FL_port | A port in the Fibre Channel fabric where a NL_port may attach in an arbitrated loop |
frame | an indivisible unit for transfer of information in Fibre Channel |
frame header | the first field in the frame containing the address and other control information about the frame |
full duplex | a communication protocol which allows transmission in both directions at the same time |
half duplex | a communication protocol which allows transmission in both directions, but only one direction at a |
| time |
host | a processor, usually a CPU and memory, which communicates with devices over an interface |
initiator device | A component which originates a command |
L_port | a port in an arbitrated loop, either a NL_port or a FL_port |
LED | |
| are used as indicator lights on all sorts of electronic devices |
LUN | Logical Unit Number: an identifier for a logical unit |
an optical fiber which can carry several beams of light at once | |
N_port | a port attached to a node used with point to point or fabric configurations |
NL_ port | a port attached to a node in Fibre Channel arbitrated loop or fabric loop configuration |
originator | an initiating device; a component which originates a command |
parity checking | A method which verifies the accuracy of data transmitted over the SCSI bus by adding one bit in |
| the transfer to make the sum of all the bits either odd or even (for odd or even parity); an error |
| message occurs if the sum is not correct |
PCI | Peripheral Component Interconnect. Allows peripherals to be connected directly to computer |
| memory, bypassing the slower ISA and EISA busses |
a topology where two ports communicate | |
port | an access point in a device: see N_port, NL_port, etc. |
port address | also port number; the address, assigned by the PCI bus, through which commands are sent to a |
| host adapter board |
port number | see port address |
receiver | the ultimate destination of data transmission; a terminal device |
scatter/gather | a device driver feature which allows the host adapter to modify a transfer data pointer so that a |
| single host adapter can access many segments of memory, minimizing interrupts and transfer |
| overhead |
SCSI | Small Computer Systems Interface: a |
| between a computer and intelligent devices including hard disks, floppy disks, |
| scanners, etc. |
| an optical fiber with a small core which supports one wavelength (ray of light); the core radius is |
| nearly equal to the wavelength of the source |
topology | logical layout of the parts of a computer system or network and their interconnections |
transceiver | a transmitter/receiver module |
transfer rate | the rate at which bytes or bits are transferred, as in megabytes or gigabits per second |
Glossary
6
