FW 08.01.00 McDATA® Sphereon 3032 and 3232 Fabric Switches Installation and Service Manual (620-000155-220, November 2005)

Glossary
g-7
Glossary
bps Bits per second.
Bps Bytes per second.
bridge (1) An attaching device that connects two local area network (LAN)
segments to allow the transfer of information from one LAN segment
to the other. A bridge can connect the LAN segments directly by net-
work adapters and software in a single device, or can connect net-
work adapters in two devices through software and use of a
telecommunication link between the two adapters. (2) A functional
unit that connects two LANs that use the same logical link control
protocol, but may use different media access control protocols (T).
Contrast with router. (3) A device that connects and passes packets
between two network segments that use the same communications
protocol.
bridge port B_Port. (1) In Fibre Channel protocol, a fabric inter-element port used
to connect bridge devices with E_Ports on a switch. B_Ports provide a
subset of E_Port functionality. (2) A McDATA term for a physical
interface between the fabric (switch) and a bridge device. The inter-
face is identical to an expansion port (E_Port), but it does not partici-
pate in full expansion port protocols. As such, it does not assign
domain IDs or participate in routing protocol. See also expansion port;
fabric port; generic port; node port; segmented expansion port.
British thermal unit Btu. The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one
pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit (D).
broadband Large bandwidth communications channel capable of multiple, par-
allel high-speed transmissions.
broadcast In Fibre Channel protocol, to send a transmission to all node ports
(N_Ports) on a fabric. See also broadcast frame.
broadcast frame In Fibre Channel protocol, a frame whose destination address speci-
fies all node ports (N_Ports) in the fabric. See also broadcast.
Btu See British thermal unit.
buffer Storage area for data in transit. Buffers compensate for differences in
processing speeds between devices. See buffer-to-buffer credit.
buffer-to-buffer credit BB_Credit. (1) The maximum number of receive buffers allocated to a
transmitting node port (N_Port) or fabric port (F_Port). Credit repre-