User`s guide

User’s Guide—Fibre Channel Adapter
2600 Series
Glossary-2 FC0054609-00 B
Flash
Non-volatile memory where the boot code
is saved. At times, Flash and boot code
are used interchangeably.
Host Bus Adapter
An adapter that connects a host system
(the computer) to other network and
storage devices.
Internet protocol (IP)
A method by which data is sent from one
computer to another over the Internet. IP
specifies the format of packets, also called
datagrams, and the addressing scheme.
logical unit number (LUN)
A subdivision of a SCSI target. It is the
small integer handle that differentiates an
individual disk drive or partition (volume)
within a common SCSI target device such
as a disk array.
loopback
Diagnostic tool that routes transmit data
through a loopback connector back to the
same adapter.
message signaled interrupts (MSI/MSI-X)
One of two PCI-defined extensions to
support message signaled interrupts
(MSIs), in PCI 2.2 and later and PCI
Express. MSIs are an alternative way of
generating an interrupt through special
messages that allow emulation of a pin
assertion or deassertion.
MSI-X (defined in PCI 3.0) allows a device
to allocate any number of interrupts
between 1 and 2,048 and gives each inter-
rupt separate data and address registers.
Optional features in MSI (64-bit
addressing and interrupt masking) are
mandatory with MSI-X.
node port (N_Port)
A port that connects by a point-to-point link
to either a single N_Port or a single
F_Port. N_Ports handle creation, detec-
tion, and flow of message units to and from
the connected systems. N_Ports are end
ports in virtual point-to-point links through
a fabric, for example, N_Port to F_Port to
F_Port to N_Port using a single Fibre
Channel fabric switch.
node port ID virtualization (NPIV)
The ability for a single physical Fibre
Channel end point (N_Port) to support
multiple, uniquely addressable, logical end
points. With NPIV, a host Fibre Channel
adapter is shared in such a way that each
virtual adapter is assigned to a virtual
server and is separately identifiable within
the fabric. Connectivity and access privi-
leges within the fabric are controlled by
identification of each virtual adapter and
hence, the virtual server using each virtual
adapter.
non-volatile random access memory
(NVRAM)
A type of memory that retains data (config-
uration settings) even when power is
removed. You can manually configure
NVRAM settings or restore them from a
file.
path
A path to a device is a combination of an
adapter port instance and a target port as
distinct from internal paths in the fabric
network. A fabric network appears to the
operating system as an opaque network
between the adapter (initiator) and the
target.