Fibre Channel Primer

60 Fibre Channel: Connection to the Future
N_Port “Node” port, a Fibre-Channel-defined
hardware entity at the end of a link.
NL_Port “Node” port connected to an Arbitrated Loop.
Network An aggregation of interconnected nodes,
including workstations, file servers, and/or
peripherals, with its own protocol that
supports interaction.
Operation A term, defined in FC-2, that refers to one of
the Fibre Channel “building blocks”
composed of one or more, possibly
concurrent, Exchanges.
Ordered Set A Fibre Channel term referring to four 10-bit
characters (a combination of data and special
characters) providing low-level link functions,
such as frame demarcation and signaling
between two ends of a link. It provides for
initialization of the link after power-on and
for some basic recovery actions.
Originator A Fibre Channel term referring to the
initiating device.
Port The hardware entity within a node that
performs data communications over the Fibre
Channel link.
Port Bypass Circuit (PBC) A circuit used in hubs and disk enclosures to
open or close the loop automatically to add or
remove nodes on the loop.
Protocol A data transmission convention encompassing
timing, control, formatting, and data
representation.
Receiver A terminal device that includes a detector and
signal processing electronics.
Responder A Fibre Channel term referring to the
answering device.
SCSI Small Computer System Interface
Sequence A term referring to one of the Fibre Channel
“building blocks,” made up of one or more
related frames for a single Exchange.