User`s guide

FC0054609-00 B Glossary-1
Glossary
adapter
The board that interfaces between the
host system and the target devices.
Adapter is synonymous with Host Bus
Adapter, Host Channel Adapter, host
adapter, and adapter board.
adapter port
A port on the adapter board.
adapter port beacon
An LED on the adapter. Flashing it enables
you to locate the adapter.
alias
A user-defined name for an adapter,
adapter port, logical disk, or subsystem.
basic input output system (BIOS)
(typically in Flash PROM)
The program (or utility) that serves as an
interface between the hardware and the
operating system and allows booting from
the adapter at startup.
boot device
The device, usually the hard disk, that
contains the operating system the BIOS
uses to boot from when the computer is
started.
boot from SAN
The ability for each server on a network to
boot their operating system from a Fibre
Channel RAID unit located on the SAN,
rather than from a local disk or
direct-attached storage (DAS). This
enables easier SAN management
because you can replace a server and
boot it from the Fibre Channel RAID unit.
device
A computer subsystem, such as an
adapter card, that mediates data in a
computer network. The term “device” is
used interchangeably with “target” and
“target device.”
driver
The software that interfaces between the
file system and a physical data storage
device or network media.
Fast!UTIL
QLogic Fast!UTIL Fibre Channel adapter
BIOS utility.
Fibre Channel
High-speed serial interface technology
that supports other higher layer protocols
such as SCSI and IP, and is primarily used
in SANs. Standardized under ANSI in
1994.