STORAGE AREA NETWORK Brocade SAN Glossary A ABTS Abort Basic Link Service. ACC Accept link service reply; the normal reply to an Extended Link Service request (such as FLOGI), indicating that the request has been completed. Access fairness A process by which contending nodes are guaranteed access to an Arbitrated Loop. Access method The method used to access a physical medium in order to transmit data. ACK Acknowledgement frame.
Administrative Domain (AD) Part of Brocade’s virtual fabric strategy, a filtered administrative view of the fabric. The logical view presented in an AD filters attributes of switch ports and end devices based on AD membership. ADs allow device resources in a fabric to be grouped together and provide the ability to manage them separately.
AW_TOV Arbitration Wait Timeout Value. The minimum time an arbitrating L_Port waits for a response before beginning loop initialization. B Backbone fabric A Fibre Channel fabric that enables scalable metaSANs by allowing the networking of multiple FC routers connected to the backbone fabric via E_Port interfaces. Devices attached to Multiprotocol Routers via F_Port or FL_Port, or imported via the iSCSI Gateway Service, are also considered part of the backbone.
Brocade Enterprise Fabric Connectivity Manager (EFCM) Optionally licensed Brocade software that provides easy, centralized management of a SAN and quick access to all device configuration applications. Brocade Web Tools Optionally licensed software component of Fabric OS that enables administrators to monitor and manage single or small fabrics, switches, and ports from a standard workstation. Broadcast zone In Fabric OS 5.3.
Class F A connectionless class of service that gives notification of delivery or nondelivery between E_Ports, used for control, coordination, and configuration of the fabric. CLS Close Primitive Signal. Only in an Arbitrated Loop; sent by an L_Port that is currently communicating on the loop, to close communication to another L_Port.
Data center fabric The hardware, software, and infrastructure required to power data centers. Includes concepts such as converged protocols, extended physical connectivity, virtual partitions, fabric services, and extending data management policies into the fabric. See also Adaptive Networking. Data Migration Console The graphical user interface for the Brocade Data Migration Manager appliance. Data Migration Manager See Brocade Data Migration Manager.
Disparity The relationship of 1s and 0s in an encoded character; positive disparity contains more 1s, negative disparity contains more 0s, neutral disparity contains an equal number of 1s and 0s. DLS Dynamic Load Sharing. Allows for recomputing of routes when an Fx_Port or E_Port comes up or down. Domain ID A unique number between 1 and 239 on a Brocade 2000 Series or later switch that identifies the switch to a fabric.
Enabled zone configuration The currently enabled configuration of zones; only one configuration can be enabled at a time. Entry Fabric The basic Brocade software license that allows one E_Port per switch. EOF End of Frame. A group of ordered sets used to mark the end of a frame. Exchange The highest-level Fibre Channel mechanism used for communication between N_Ports, composed of one or more related sequences and working either uni- or bi-directionally.
FAN 1) Fabric Address Notification. Keeps the AL_PA and fabric address when loop re-initializes if the switch supports FAN. 2) File Area Network. The set of systems and software that enable centralized management of file data to improve user and administrative efficiency. Fan-in The ratio of hosts to storage devices. It is the view of the SAN from the storage port's perspective. Fan-out The ratio of storage devices to hosts. It is the view of the SAN from the host port's perspective.
FC-PH Fibre Channel Physical and signaling standard for FC-0, FC-1, and FC-2 layers of the Fibre Channel protocol. Also indicates signaling used for cable plants, media types, and transmission speeds. FC-PH-2 Second-generation Fibre Channel Physical interface. FC-PH-3 Third-generation Fibre Channel Physical interface. F_RJT Fabric Port Reject Frame.
FFFFFD Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric controller. FFFFFE Well-known Fibre Channel address for a fabric F_Port. FFFFFF Well-known address for a broadcast alias-ID. Fibre Channel (FC) The primary protocol for building SANs. Unlike IP and Ethernet, Fibre Channel was designed to support the needs of storage devices of all types.
FSP Fibre Channel Service Protocol. The common FC-4 level protocol for all services, transparent to the fabric type or topology. FSPF Fabric Shortest Path First. A routing protocol used by Fibre Channel switches. FSS Fabric OS State Synchronization. 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. Full Fabric The Brocade software license that allows multiple E_Ports on a switch.
HiPPI High-performance Parallel Interface. An 800 Mbit/sec interface normally used in supercomputer environments. Hop count Hop count is the number of ISLs a frame must traverse to get from its source to its destination. Hot swappable A component that can be replaced while under power. HSSDC High Speed Serial Data Connection. A form factor that allows quick connections for copper interfaces. HSSDC-2 Second-generation HSSDC connector. HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol.
Inter-Chassis Link (ICL) A connection between two chassis, for example, between two Brocade DCX Backbones; uses dedicated ICL ports on each chassis. Inter-Fabric Link (IFL) A connection between a router and an edge fabric. Architecturally, these can be of type EX_Port-to-E_Port or EX_Port-to-EX_Port. Intermix Allows any unused bandwidth in a Class 1 connection to be used by Class 2 or Class 3. Inter-Switch Link (ISL) A connection between two switches using the E_Port.
K K28.5 A special 10-bit character used to indicate the beginning of a Fibre Channel ordered set. KAT Known Answer Test. Used for encryption and decryption operations in FIPS compliance. See also FIPS (Federal Information Processing Standard). Key A string of data (usually a numeric value) shared between two entities and used to control a cryptographic algorithm.
LIRP Loop Initialization Report Position frame. The first frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after all L_Ports have selected an AL_PA. It gets transmitted around the loop so all L_Ports can report their relative physical position. This is an optional frame. LISA Loop Initialization Soft Assigned frame. The fourth frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after a temporary loop master has been selected.
LSAN Logical Storage Area Network. Enables device and storage connectivity that spans two or more fabrics. LSAN device entry The total number of port WWN entries for all devices defined in all active LSAN zones within a routed fabric. LSAN zone The mechanism by which LSANs are administered. A Multiprotocol Router attached to two fabrics will "listen" for the creation of matching LSAN zones on both fabrics.
Migration set In Brocade Data Migration Manager, a collection of extent pairs that comprise a migration; used by the application to configure migration and scheduling policies. MMF Multimode Fiber. See SWL. MOF Managed Object Format file. Morphed WWN In a Brocade SAN, ADs are treated as fabrics; since switches cannot be part of two fabrics, but they can be part of two ADs, their WWNs are “morphed” so that they appear as unique entities in different fabrics. MRK Mark Primitive Signal.
NL_Port Node Loop port. A port supporting the Arbitrated Loop protocol. Node A Fibre Channel device that supports one or more ports. Node count The number of nodes attached to the fabric. Node name A 64-bit unique identifier assigned to a Fibre Channel node. Non-OFC A category of laser transceiver that does not require open fiber control due to its low intensity. Nonparticipating mode Mode that is entered if there are more than 127 devices on a loop, and an AL_PA cannot be acquired.
Out-of-band Transmission of management protocol outside the Fibre Channel network, usually over Ethernet. Over-subscription When more nodes could potentially contend for a resource than the resource could simultaneously support (typically an ISL). Over-subscription could be a desirable attribute in fabric topology, as long as it does not produce unacceptable levels of congestion. OX_ID Originator Exchange Identifier.
Port-based routing A routing policy in which the choice of routing path is based on the incoming port and the destination domain. To optimize port-based routing, the Dynamic Load Sharing (DLS) feature can be enabled to balance the load across the available output ports in a domain. Port card A hardware component that provides a platform for field-replaceable, hotswappable ports. Port group A group of adjacent ports that share a common pool of frame buffers for long-distance connections.
Prohibit Dynamic Connectivity Mask (PDCM) A method for isolating traffic used for specific forced network control, for example, to route traffic to a particular EX_Port in an M-EOS edge fabric; lets you define which ingress port will take which egress port; configuration must be performed at the director level. Proxy device A virtual device present in a local fabric that represents a physical device connected to a different edge fabric.
R_T_TOV Receiver Transmitter Timeout Value. Used by the receiver logic to detect loss of synchronization between transmitters and receivers. Radius The greatest “distance” between any edge switch and the center of a fabric. RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks. Disks that look like a single or multiple volumes to the server and are fault-tolerant either through mirroring or parity checking. RAIT Redundant Array of Independent Tapes. RBAC Role-Based Access Control.
SAN Storage Area Network. A network linking computing devices to disk or tape arrays and other devices over Fibre Channel. SAN architecture The overall design of a storage network solution, which includes one or more related fabrics, each of which has a topology. SAN port count The number of ports available for connection by nodes in the entire SAN. Scalability One of the properties of a SAN; the size to which the SAN topology can grow port and switch counts with ease.
SFF Small Form Factor. An industry term for a smaller transceiver. SFP Small Form Factor Pluggable. A transceiver used on 2Gbit/sec switches that replaces the GBIC. SID Source ID with three fields: Domain ID (DD), Area ID (AA), and AL_PA (PP). SID/DID traffic prioritization is a licensed feature introduced in Fabric OS 6.0 that allows you to categorize the traffic flow into high, medium, or low priority.
SRM Storage Resource Management. The management of disk volumes and any file resources. SSH Secure Shell. Used starting in Fabric OS 4.1 to support encrypted telnet sessions to the switch; encrypts all messages, including the client sending the password at login. SSL Secure Sockets Layer. Standard Translative Mode Allows public devices to communicate with private devices that are directly connected to the fabric.
Tiering The process of grouping particular SAN devices by function and then attaching these devices to particular switches of groups of switches based on that function. Time Server (TS) A Fibre Channel service that allows for the centralized management of switch time settings.
U U_Port Universal Port. A port that can operate as a G/E/F/FL_Port. All Brocade 2xxx series switches and beyond contain Universal Ports to allow any device to connect to any port. Selection of actual port type is automatic. UDP User Datagram Protocol. A protocol that runs on top of IP and provides port multiplexing for upper-level protocols. ULP Upper Level Protocol. The protocol that runs on top of Fibre Channel through the FC-4 layer. Typical protocols are SCSI, IP, HiPPI, and IPI.
WTV Write Timeout Value. WWN World Wide Name. A 64-bit unique identifier for nodes and ports in a fabric. WWN-level zoning Defines a zone member using WWN port or WWN SAN device. Defining a zone member as WWN allows the member (device) to be attached without regard to its physical location. Z Zone A logical group of member devices; devices in the same zone have access to others in the zone but are not visible to a device outside the zone.