Compaq AA-RHGWC-TE manual Point-to-Point Topology, Fabric

Figure 6–1: Point-to-Point Topology

Node 1

TransmitTransmit

N_Port

ReceiveReceive

Node 2

N_Port

ZK-1534U-AI

6.2.2.2 Fabric

The fabric topology provides more connectivity than point-to-point topology. The fabric topology can connect up to 224 ports.

The fabric examines the destination address in the frame header and routes the frame to the destination node.

A fabric may consist of a single switch, or there may be several interconnected switches (up to three interconnected switches is supported). Each switch contains two or more fabric ports (F_Port) that are internally connected by the fabric switching function, which routes the frame from one F_Port to another F_Port within the switch. Communication between two switches is routed between two expansion ports (E_Ports).

When an N_Port is connected to an F_Port, the fabric is responsible for the assignment of the Fibre Channel address to the N_Port attached to the fabric. The fabric is also responsible for selecting the route a frame will take, within the fabric, to be delivered to the destination.

When the fabric consists of multiple switches, the fabric can determine an alternate route to ensure that a frame gets delivered to its destination.

Figure 6–2 shows an example fabric topology.

Using Fibre Channel Storage 6–7