1.3 System Configuration

1.3System Configuration

For the Fibre Channel, the ANSI standard defines Arbitrated Loop, Fabric, and Point-to-Point technologies. The drives support the Arbitrated Loop technology. Figure 1.2 gives an example of the FC-AL system configuration.

Port B

Initiator

(Node-1)

Port A

Port B

Drive

(Node-4)

Port A

BC

BC

BC

BC

BC

BC

BC

BC

Port B

Drive

(Node-2)

Port A

Port B

Drive

(Node-3)

Port A

Figure 1.2 Example of FC-AL system configuration

Any device connected to the Fibre Channel is called a node. The nodes shown in Figure 1.2 represent the initiator and individual disk drives. Each node has at least one port called an N_port. For FC-AL, each port is called a Node-Loop port (NL_port).

The drives have two ports, one of which is used for connections to an FC-AL. A maximum of 126 NL_ports can be connected to a single port.

(1)Loop configuration

A port embedded with sending and receiving circuits uses differential signals to send and receive data on electric signal lines. A pair of signal lines is called a link. Since signals are sent in one direction on a link, the links in a system must be connected to form a loop. The FC-AL interface sends and receives data via nodes on the loop. Therefore, if a node connected to a loop is powered off or the interface signals of a node cannot be sent or received correctly, the loop does not work normally. A common solution preventing this problem from occurring is to add a port bypass circuit on the back plane of the system. BC in Figure 1.2 indicates the port bypass circuit.

(2)Node addressing

A specific device number called a SEL ID is assigned to each node on a Fibre Channel loop. The combination of signal levels on the back plane is used to define the SEL ID of a disk drive. The signal levels are sent on the seven signals (from SEL_0 to SEL_6) from CN1, which serves as an SCA interface connector. SEL_6 is the most significant bit (MSB), having a bit weight of the sixth power of 2, and SEL_0 is the least significant bit (LSB), having a bit weight of the zeroth power of 2. Any number from 0 (X’00) to 125 (X’7D’) can be assigned as the SEL ID of a disk drive.

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Fujitsu MAX3147FC, MAX3073FC, MAX3036FC manual System Configuration, Example of FC-AL system configuration
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MAX3147FC, MAX3036FC, MAX3073FC specifications

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