Seagate ST3600857FC FC-AL physical interface, Physical characteristics, Physical description

12.5FC-AL physical interface

Figure 12 shows the location of the J1 Fibre Channel single connection attachment (FC-SCA). Figure 14 pro- vides the dimensions of the FC-SCA connector.

Details of the physical, electrical, and logical characteristics are provided within this section. The operational aspects of Seagate’s Fibre Channel drives are provided in the Fibre Channel Interface Manual..

J1 interface connector

Figure 12. Physical interface

12.5.1Physical characteristics

This section defines physical interface connector.

12.5.1.1Physical description

FIbre Channel drives may be connected in a loop together or with other compatible FC-AL devices. A maxi- mum of 127 devices may have addresses; however, one of the addresses is reserved for a fabric port switch device. This means 126 addresses are available for FC-AL devices. More FC-AL compatible devices may physically reside on the loop, but they will not be functional because they would not be able to obtain valid addresses.

Port bypass circuits (PBCs) allow devices to be inserted into unpopulated locations or removed from the loop with loop operation recovery after a brief interruption. These PBCs are located external to the FC-AL device. Figure 13 shows the relationship between the PBC and FC-AL device.

Port Bypass Circuit N–1

Drive N–1

	Port Bypass
	Circuit
From Previous
Drive			To Next
		MUX	Drive

Select

Serial Serial

InOut

Drive N

Port Bypass Circuit N+1

Drive N+1

Figure 13. Port bypass circuit physical interconnect

Cheetah 15K.7 FC Product Manual, Rev. C 65