IBM T400F manual Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop FC-AL topology. a

drive head. The component that records an electrical signal onto magnetic tape, or reads a signal from tape into an electrical signal.

drive sense data. See SCSI drive sense data.

dump. See drive dump.

duplex. See duplex transmission.

duplex adapter. A mechanism that allows a device to send and receive communication at the same time.

duplex transmission. Transmission in both directions, either one direction at a time (half-duplex) or both directions simultaneously (full-duplex).

E

eject. To remove or force out from within.

electronic mail. Correspondence in the form of messages transmitted between user terminals over a computer network.

e-mail.See electronic mail.

enclosure. A device, such as a desktop unit, tape cartridge autoloader, or tape library, into which you can install the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive.

error log. Maintained by the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive, a list that contains the ten most recent error codes. The codes identify errors that pertain to the drive.

F

fabric. A Fibre Channel entity which interconnects and facilitates logins of N_ports that attach to it. The fabric is responsible for routing frames between source and destination N_ports by using address information in the frame header. A fabric can be as simple as a point-to-point channel between two N-ports, or as complex as a frame-routing switch that provides multiple and redundant internal pathways within the fabric between F_ports.

fan shroud. The wire mesh enclosure around the fan that holds it in place and prevents direct access. The shroud mounts the fan assembly to the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive. generic FC reference to an N_port or an F_port.

FC-AL.See Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop.

FC port. See Fibre Channel port.

feature switch. Located under the Ultrium 2 Tape Drive, a bank of eight micro switches that can be manually toggled on or off to activate or deactivate different characteristics of the drive.

fiber optic cable. The medium by which light is transmitted through fibers or thin rods of glass or some other transparent material of high refractive index.

fiber optics. A branch of optics dealing with the transmission of light through fibers or thin rods of glass or some other transparent material of high refractive index.

Fibre Channel. A 100-MB-per-second, full-duplex, serial communications technology that is capable of interconnecting Ultrium 2 Tape Drives and servers which are separated by as much as 11 kilometers (7 miles). Fibre Channel technology combines features of the input/output (I/O) and networking interfaces.

Fibre Channel address. For a tape drive that uses a Fibre Channel interface, an identifier (such as an AL_PA or Loop ID) that enables other device ports to communicate with that drive. A Fibre Channel drive has a 3-byte address. The switch assigns the upper 2 bytes of the address. If no switch is attached, the 2 bytes equal 0. The lower byte assignment (which is the AL_PA) varies, depending on whether hard or soft addressing is used.

Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) topology. A

serial data-transfer architecture and standard governed by ANSI. FC-AL is designed for mass storage devices and other peripheral devices that require high bandwidth. By using optical fiber to connect devices, FC-AL supports full-duplex data transfer rates of 100MBps. An FC-AL topology is compatible with a SCSI interface for high-performance storage systems.

Fibre Channel cable. The cable that connects a Fibre Channel tape drive to another device. The conductive element within the cable is constructed of either copper wires or optical fibers. Generally, copper wires are used for short distances (up to 30 meters or 98 feet); optical fibers are used for longer distances. Fiber-optic cabling is referred to by mode or the frequencies of light waves that are carried by a particular cable type. Multimode fiber cables are generally used for distances up to 500 meters (1640 feet) and with short-wave (780 nanometer) laser light. Single-mode fiber cables are used for distances greater than 500 m (1640 feet) and with long-wave (1300 nanometer) laser light.

Fibre Channel configuration/status connector.

Located at the rear of a Fibre Channel drive, the connector that allows you to optionally change the drive’s link services (for example, its speed and type of topology).

Fibre Channel interface. The hardware or software that links differing Fibre Channel systems, programs or devices.

Fibre Channel port. A generic Fibre Channel reference to an N_port or an F_port.

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