Users Guide

Glossary 219

FAT

Acronym for file allocation table. FAT and FAT32 are file systems that are defined

as follows:

• FAT — The operating system maintains a table to keep track of the status of

various segments of disk space used for file storage.

• FAT32 — A derivative of the FAT file system. FAT32 supports smaller cluster

sizes than FAT, thus providing more efficient space allocation on FAT32 drives.

Fibre Channel

A data transfer interface technology that allows for high-speed I/O and networking

functionality in a single connectivity technology. The Fibre Channel Standard

supports several topologies, including Fibre Channel Point-to-Point, Fibre

Channel Fabric (generic switching topology), and Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop

(FC_AL).

firmware

Software (programs or data) that has been written onto read-only memory

(ROM). Firmware can boot and operate a device. Each controller contains

firmware which helps provide the controller's functionality.

format

To prepare a hard drive or diskette for storing files. An unconditional format

deletes all data stored on the disk.

FSMO

Abbreviation for Flexible Single Master Operation.

FTP

Abbreviation for file transfer protocol.

Abbreviation for gigabyte(s). A gigabyte equals 1024 megabytes or 1,073,741,824

bytes.

gcc

Abbreviation for GNU C complier.

GNU

Acronym for GNU’s Not UNIX

. GNU software is published under the GPL

open-source license.