Fibre Channel Primer

58 Fibre Channel: Connection to the Future
ESCON Enterprise Systems Connection
Exchange A term that refers to one of the Fibre Channel
“building blocks,” composed of one or more
nonconcurrent Sequences.
Fabric The facility that connects multiple N_Ports.
FC-PH Fibre Channel Physical standard, consisting
of the three lower layers, FC-0, FC-1, and
FC-2.
FC-0 Lowest layer of the FC-PH standard, covering
the physical characteristics of the interface
and media.
FC-1 Middle layer of the FC-PH standard, defining
the 8B/10B encoding/decoding and
transmission protocol.
FC-2 Highest layer of FC-PH, defining the rules for
signaling protocol and describing transfer of
frames, Sequences, and Exchanges.
FC-3 The hierarchical level in the Fibre Channel
standard that provides common services.
FC-4 The hierarchical level in the Fibre Channel
standard that specifies the mapping of upper-
layer protocols (ULPs) to levels below.
FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface. ANSI’s
architecture for a Metropolitan Area Network
(MAN); a network based on the use of
optical-fiber cable to transmit data at 100
Mbit/sec.
F_Port Fabric port, the access point of the fabric for
physically connecting the N_Port.
FL_Port Fabric port, the access point of the fabric for
physically connecting an Arbitrated Loop of
NL_Ports.
Frame An indivisible unit of information used by
FC-2.
Gigabit One billion bits, or one thousand megabits.
G_Port Generic switch port that can be either an
F_Port or an E_Port. Port function is
automatically determined during login.