Compaq AA-RHGWC-TE manual Fibre Channel Topologies, Point-to-Point

Link	The physical connection between an N_Port and
	another N_Port or an N_Port and an F_Port. A
	link consists of two connections, one to transmit
	information and one to receive information. The
	transmit connection on one node is the receive
	connection on the node at the other end of the link.
	A link may be optical fiber, coaxial cable, or shielded
	twisted pair.
E_Port	An expansion port on a switch used to make a
	connection between two switches in the fabric.

6.2.2 Fibre Channel Topologies

Fibre Channel supports three different interconnect topologies:

•Point-to-point (Section 6.2.2.1)

•Fabric (Section 6.2.2.2)

•Arbitrated loop (Section 6.2.2.3)

______________________ Note _______________________

Although it is possible to interconnect an arbitrated loop with fabric, hybrid configurations are not supported at the present time, and therefore not discussed in this manual.

6.2.2.1 Point-to-Point

The point-to-point topology is the simplest Fibre Channel topology. In a point-to-point topology, one N_Port is connected to another N_Port by a single link.

Because all frames transmitted by one N_Port are received by the other N_Port, and in the same order in which they were sent, frames require no routing.

Figure 6–1 shows an example point-to-point topology.

6–6Using Fibre Channel Storage