Switch User Manual

Departmental Switch Models DS-16B and DS-8B Web Tools User Guide
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Glossary
This glossary contains terms related to disk storage subsystems.
Many of these terms are used in this manual.
ALPHANUMERIC
8b/10b encoding Encoding scheme that converts each 8-bit data byte into a 10-bit
transmission character. Used to balance ones and zeros in high speed
transports.
A
Address identifier Value used to identify source or destination of a frame.
AL_PA Arbitrated Loop Physical Address. Unique 8-bit value assigned
during loop initialization to each port in an arbitrated loop.
Alias server Fabric software facility that supports multicast group management.
ANSI American National Standards Institute. Governing body for fibre
channel standards in the U.S.A.
API Application Programming Interface. Defined protocol that allows
applications to interface with a set of services.
Arbitrated loop A shared 100 MBps fibre channel transport structured as a loop.
Allows communication between ports without using a switch.
Requires successful arbitration by a port before a circuit is
established. Supports up to 126 devices and one fabric attachment.
This is similar to a shared bandwidth ring on a network.