ZeusIOPS 3.5-Inch Fibre Channel Solid State Drive Product Manual Rev. 1.0 53
FIBRE CHANNEL STANDARDThe Fibre Channel standard has coined various terms that are important to know when using the
ZeusIOPS SSD. This section will present the basic terms in context to help provide an intuitive
understanding of the Fibre Channel interface.
FIBRE CHANNEL ARBITRATED LOOP
The “Fibre” or “link” refers to the copper or optical cable that connects two Fibre Channel devices via
their ports. A device, known as a “node”, can have more than one port. For example, the ZeusIOPS
SSD is a node with two ports that is linked with a copper cable, or fibre.
Nodes are connected in a “topology”. The SSD may be connected to an “Arbitrated Loop” (AL), where
the nodes of the loop are connected in a circle. See Figure 4.
Figure 4. Arbitrated Loop Topology Connection