Fibre Channel Overview
Defining Fibre Channel
A fully implemented Fabric system supports over 16 million device addresses, allowing a user to send data from each device at 100 MB per second. Using fiber optic cable, Fibre Channel devices can be spaced at maximum intervals of 10 km, supporting distributed hosts in a campus environment, with centralized storage systems. Fibre Channel uses three connection topologies, illustrated in the following table:
| Table | Fibre Channel Supported Fabric Topologies |
| ||
|
|
|
|
|
| Topology | Description |
| Advantages/ |
|
| Disadvantages | ||
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Point to point | Dedicated connection |
| Low cost, high |
|
| between two devices. |
| performance. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Fibre Channel | Supports up to 126 |
| Supports more |
| Arbitrated Loop | devices, distributing |
| devices. |
| the 100 MBps data |
|
| |
|
| bandwidth among all |
| Increasing the |
|
| devices on the loop. |
| number of devices |
|
|
|
| reduces performance. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Fabric | A switching concept, |
| Supports multiple |
|
| similar to a telephone |
| devices without |
|
| system, providing |
| performance |
|
| simultaneous |
| reduction. |
|
|
|
| |
|
| among multiple |
| Higher cost. |
|
| devices at 100 MBps. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appendix A |