Technical data

Fabric OS Administrator’s Guide Glossary-7
Publication Number: 53-0000518-09
FFFFFD Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric controller.
FFFFFE Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric F_Port.
FFFFFF Well-known Fibre Channel address for a broadcast alias ID.
Fibre Channel Fibre Channel is a protocol used to transmit data between servers, switches, and storage devices. It is a
high-speed, serial, bidirectional, topology-independent, multiprotocol, and highly scalable
interconnection between computers, peripherals, and networks.
FICON® A protocol used on IBM mainframes. Brocade SilkWorm switch FICON® support enables a SilkWorm
fabric to transmit FICON® format data between FICON® capable servers and storage.
FIFO First in, first out. Refers to a data buffer that follows the first in, first out rule.
firmware The basic operating system provided with the hardware.
FL_Port Fabric loop port. A port that is able to transmit under fabric protocol and also has arbitrated loop
capabilities. Can be used to connect an NL_Port to a switch. See also “F_Port”, “Fx_Port”.
flash Programmable nonvolatile RAM (NVRAM) memory that maintains its contents without power.
FLOGI Fabric login. The process by which an N_Port determines whether a fabric is present and, if so,
exchanges service parameters with it. See also “PLOGI”.
frame The Fibre Channel structure used to transmit data between ports. Consists of a start-of-frame delimiter,
header, optional headers, data payload, cyclic redundancy check (CRC), and end-of-frame delimiter.
There are two types of frames: link control frames (transmission acknowledgements and so forth) and
data frames.
FRU Field-replaceable unit. A component that can be replaced onsite.
FSPF Fabric shortest path first. The standard routing protocol for Fibre Channel switches.
FSS Fabric OS state synchronization. The FSS service is related to high availability (HA). The primary
function of FSS is to deliver state update messages from active components to their peer standby
components. FSS determines if fabric elements are synchronized (and thus FSS "compliant").
FTP File Transfer Protocol.
full fabric The Brocade software license that allows multiple E_Ports on a switch, making it possible to create
multiple ISL links.
full fabric
citizenship
A loop device that has an entry in the Simple Name Server.
full-duplex A mode of communication that allows the same port to simultaneously transmit and receive frames. See
also “half-duplex”.
Fx_Port A fabric port that can operate as either an F_Port or FL_Port. See also “F_Port”, “FL_Port”.