VFS113 Rack/Desktop Model User’s Guide
initiator and SCSI target. FCP enables transmission and receipt of SCSI commands, data, and status across the FC using standard FC frame and sequence formats.
Fibre—Fibre is a generic FC term that refers to all transmission media types specified in the FC Physical Layer standard (FC-PH), such as optical fiber, copper twisted pair, and copper coaxial cable.
Fibre channel (FC)—FC is a bidirectional, point-to-point serial data channel, structured for high-performance capability. In the physical sense, an FC is an interconnection of multiple communication points, called N_Ports, by a switching network (fabric). FC transports incoming data from devices by reading the buffer information, packaging it, and sending the information across the fabric. Although FC is a generalized transport mechanism that has no protocol of its own or native I/O command set, it can transport any existing upper-level protocol such as SCSI and IP. FC offers high-speed data transfer rates up to 1 Gbps. FC is most commonly used to connect clustered servers to storage systems. ANSI has developed standards for FC.
Gigabit interface converter (GBIC)—A GBIC, also referred to as a Physical Link Module, is a physical component that manages functions of the FC-0 layer. This layer consists of the physical characteristics of the media and interface, including drivers, transceivers, connectors, and cables. A GBIC attaches to an FC adapter and connects a router to an FC host.
High voltage differential (HVD)—HVD is a differential SCSI scheme with terminators that run on 5 volts.
Host bus adapter (HBA)—An HBA is the critical link between a host server or workstation and a storage subsystem, integrating computing platforms, operating systems, and I/O protocols to ensure proper interoperability and functionality. The bus adapter provides direct storage connectivity from the system to data within the storage subsystem and enables stable, high-speed transmission of information and files. HBAs manage the controller-specific aspects of handling a storage driver interface device implemented as a target driver, which supports mass storage peripheral devices such as disks and tapes. A storage driver interface is used to implement SCSI and other storage device drivers. An HBA connects to the storage subsystem to the host computer and uses either fiber or copper media.
Initiator—An initiator is an FC or SCSI device that contains application clients that originate service requests and task management functions for processing by a target FC or SCSI device.
Initiator mode—Initiator mode is the configuration mode of a device in which an FC or SCSI initiator requests operations to be performed by an FC or SCSI target device.
Kill—In Active-Active mode, one controller can kill the other controller by resetting it and taking it offline.
Logical unit number or logical unit (LUN)—A LUN is a subdivision of a SCSI target. For SCSI-3, each SCSI target supports up to 128 LUNs. An FC host using LUNs can address multiple peripheral devices that may share a common controller.
Loop address—Loop address is an FC term that indicates the unique ID of a node in FC loop topology. A loop address is sometimes referred to as a Loop ID.