Specifications

Escala Tower PL & S, E, T System Hardware
Chapter 3: External Storage and SAN Subsystems 80/116
9es3s1c3.doc
Rev 5.9
02/12/2003
The smallest Fibre Channel fabric is made of a single switch. Larger fabric can be interconnected by
cascading switches. The protocol enables to connect million of devices.
Tx
Rx
Rx
Tx
conceptual cabling schematic cabling
Rx
Tx
fabric
fabric
Tx
Rx
Rx
Tx
Tx
Rx
Tx
Rx
Rx
Tx
N-port
F-port
F-port
F-port
F-port
N-port
N-port
N-port
switch switch
switchswitch
switch
Integrated routing algorithms automatically route circuits and frames across the fabric, through the
best path. Resilient multi-switch fabrics can be deployed, with automatic data routing and re-routing,
self-healing and almost unlimited scalability.
switch switch
switch
alternate path in case
of failure of the inter-
switch link of the
primary path
primary path
inter-switch
link