Compaq StorageWorks Fibre Channel Troubleshooting Guide

Introduction 1-17
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Components in a
Secondary Storage System
A typical Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop for a secondary storage system consists of:
■ A Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter installed in each server
■ At least one Storage Hub 12
■ At least one Fibre Channel Tape Controller
■ One Shortwave GigaBit Interface Converter (GBIC) per Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter
or Storage Hub 12 port. The Fibre Channel Tape Controller has a fixed GLM port and
does not require a GBIC. The Fibre Channel Tape Controller II requires the use of a
GBIC.
■ A multi-mode Fibre Channel Cable connected between the Storage hub 12 and the Fibre
Channel Host Bus Adapter in the server
■ A multi-mode Fibre Channel Cable connected between the Storage Hub 12 and each Fibre
Channel Tape Controller or Fibre Channel Tape Controller II
■ An Ethernet connection to a common LAN for servers in a multi-initiator environment
Generic Servers
Fibre Channel
Tape Controller
Tape Storage
Fibre Channel
Storage Hub 12
SCSI Cable
Gigabit
Interface
Converter
Fibre Channel
Cable
Fibre Channel
Host Bus Adapter
LAN
Figure 1-17. Fibre Channel Secondary Storage System
Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter/P
This section contains information on the Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter/P. See page 1-4 of
this guide for details.
Storage Hub 12
The Storage Hub 12 continuously monitors and automatically configures devices added or
removed from the FC-AL. Adding valid FC-AL nodes is a plug-and-play operation. FC-AL
nodes that are missing or inoperative are detected by the Storage Hub 12 and the data is
automatically routed to the next operational port and node on the FC-AL.