Glossary Supporting Fabric OS v5.2.
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Document History The following table lists all versions of the Brocade Glossary. Document Title Publication Number Summary of Changes Publication Date Brocade Glossary v3.1 / 4.1 53-0000369-01 New document. April 2003 Brocade Glossary v4.1.2 53-0000369-02 Added FICON® terms. October 2003 Brocade Glossary v5.1.0 53-1000040-01 Added Fibre Channel Routing Services and FCIP definitions. November 2005 Brocade Glossary v5.1.0 53-1000040-02 Minor updates. April 2006 Brocade Glossary v5.2.
Glossary A ACC Accept link service reply. The normal reply to an Extended Link Service request (such as FLOGI), indicating that the request has been completed. ACL (Access Control List) active copper A Fibre Channel connection that allows copper cabling up to 33 meters (36 yards) between devices. AD0 A special administrative domain. When an AD-capable switch is first added to a fabric, all relevant resources of the fabric (switches, ports, devices) become its members automatically.
Glossary AL_PA AL_TIME alias alias address identifier alias AL_PA Arbitrated-loop physical address. A unique 8-bit value assigned during loop initialization to a port in an arbitrated loop. Arbitrated-loop timeout value. Twice the amount of time it would take for a transmission word to propagate around a worst-case loop. The default value is 15 milliseconds (ms). A logical grouping of elements in a fabric.
Glossary autocommit A feature of the firmwareDownload command. Enabled by default, autocommit commits new firmware to both the primary and secondary partitions of a CP. With autocommit disabled, the firmware is written only to the primary partition of a CP, enabling you to restore the previous firmware from the secondary partition.
Glossary BER Bit error rate. The rate at which bits are expected to be received in error. Expressed as the ratio of error bits to total bits transmitted. See also error. BISR Built-in self-repair. BIST Built-in self-test. bit synchronization blind-mate connector block Bloom The condition in which a receiver is delivering retimed serial data at the required bit error rate. A two-way connector used in some Brocade SilkWorm switches to provide a connection between the motherboard and the power supply.
Glossary CHAP chassis chassisConfig Mode CIM circuit Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol. Allows remote servers and clients to securely exchange authentication credentials. Both the server and client are configured with the same shared secret. On a SilkWorm director, the metal frame in which the switch and switch components are mounted. Chassis configuration mode. On a SilkWorm director, the chassisConfig mode determines the blade types enabled for use in the chassis.
Glossary compact flash Condor controlled port configuration Volatile flash memory used in a manner similar to hard disk storage. It is connected to a bridging component that connects to the PCI bus of the processor. Not visible in the processor's memory space. A Brocade 4-Gbit/sec switch and director ASIC.
Glossary data migration console DCC (DMC) The graphical user interface to the DMM appliance. See also DMM appliance. Direct cable connection. DCC does not require network interface cards (NICs), making it relatively inexpensive and simple; however, it provides a limited connection between two PCs, and the data transfer rate is slower than with a true LAN.
Glossary DLS Dynamic load-sharing or dynamic distribution of traffic over available paths. Allows for recomputing of routes when an Fx_Port or E_Port changes status. The device-based and exchange-based routing policies depend on the Fabric OS Dynamic Load Sharing feature (DLS) for dynamic routing path selection. DMC Data migration console. The graphical user interface to the DMM appliance. See also DMM appliance.
Glossary ELS EM embedded port EMI enabled zone configuration Extended link service. ELSs are sent to the destination N_Port to perform the requested function or service. ELS is a Fibre Channel standard that is sometimes referred to as “Fibre Channel Physical (FC_PH) ELS.” Environmental monitor. A daemon in the Fabric OS that monitors hardware components and FRUs and reports failures. See also FRU. An embedded port (or domain controller) communicates and get updates from other switches' embedded ports.
Glossary extended edge PID This format generates the same PID for a port on switches with 16 or fewer ports as would native PID format, but it also supports up to 256 ports per domain. It should be used only in cases where you cannot upgrade devices to dynamic PID binding and you must not reboot your servers. Extended edge PID is supported in Fabric OS v2.6.x, v3.1.x, and v4.2.x. See also VC Encoded PID, native PID, and core PID.
Glossary fan-in fan-out The ratio of hosts to storage devices; the view of the SAN from the storage port's perspective. The ratio of storage devices to hosts; the view of the SAN from the host port's perspective. FastWrite A Fabric OS feature running on top of FCIP that accelerates Write operations from a host to a target device. It eliminates the latency associated with the long distance in FCIP. FC virtual initiator Fibre Channel Virtual Initiator (FC-VI).
Glossary FDDI Fibre Distributed Data Interface. An ANSI architecture for a metropolitan area network (MAN); a network based on the use of fiber-optic cable to transmit data at 100 Mbit/sec. FDMI Fabric-Device Management Interface. FDMI is a database service provided by the fabric for Nx_Ports. The primary use is by HBA devices that register information about themselves and their ports. FFFFF5 Well-known Fibre Channel address for a Class 6 multicast server.
Glossary 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. FR4-18i fractional bandwidth frame frame relay front domain An application processor blade with 16 x 4Gbit/sec FC ports and 2 x 1Gbit/sec Ethernet ports.
Glossary G G_Port Generic port. A port that can operate as either an E_Port or an F_Port. A port is defined as a G_Port when it is not yet connected or has not yet assumed a specific function in the fabric. gateway Gateway hardware merges SANs into a single fabric by establishing point-to-point E_Port connectivity between two Fibre Channel switches separated by a network with a protocol such as IP or SONET. GbE port Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports available on the SilkWorm 7500 and FR4-18i blade.
Glossary header HiPPI hop count host hot swappable HSSDC HSSDC-2 HTTP A Fibre Channel frame has a header and a payload. The header contains control and addressing information associated with the frame. See also payload. High-Performance Parallel Interface. An 800 Mbit/sec interface normally used in supercomputer environments. The number of ISLs a frame must traverse to get from its source to its destination. See also ISL.
Glossary implicit list in-band Transmission of management protocol over the Fibre Channel. initiator A server or workstation on a Fibre Channel network that initiates communications with storage devices. See also target. Insistent Domain ID mode intercabinet intermix interop mode interswitch link intracabinet Sets the domain ID of a switch as insistent, so that it remains the same over reboots, power cycles, failovers, and fabric reconfigurations.
Glossary iSCSI Internet SCSI (Small Computer System Interface), an Internet Protocol (IP)-based storage networking standard. By carrying SCSI commands over IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and to manage storage over long distances. iSCSI PDU Protocol Data Unit. In layered systems, a unit of data that is specified in a protocol of a given layer and that consists of protocol-control information of the given layer and optionally user data of that layer.
Glossary LIFA Loop-initialization fabric-assigned frame. Contains a bitmap of all fabric-assigned AL_PAs and is the first frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after a temporary loop master has been selected. LIHA Loop-initialization hard-assigned frame. A hard-assigned AL_PA that is indicated by a bit set and is the third frame transmitted in the loop initialization process after a temporary loop master has been selected. LILP Loop-initialization loop-position frame.
Glossary loop failure Loop_ID loop initialization Loop mode looplet Loss of signal within a loop for any period of time, or loss of synchronization for longer than the timeout value. A hexadecimal value representing one of the 127 possible AL_PA values in an arbitrated loop. The logical procedure used by an L_Port to discover its environment. Can be used to assign AL_PA addresses, detect loop failure, or reset a SAN device.
Glossary LWL Long wavelength. A type of fiber optic cabling that is based on 1310-mm lasers and supports link speeds of 1.0625, 2.125, and/or 4.25 Gbit/sec. Can also refer to the type of GBIC or SFP. See also SWL. M MALLOC MAN Mbit/sec MB/sec Metropolitan area network. Megabits per second. Megabytes per second. metaSAN The collection of all SAN devices, switches, edge fabrics, LSANs, and multiprotocol routers that make up a physically connected but logically partitioned storage area network.
Glossary MSRS Multiprotocol SAN Routing Services. An optionally licensed software bundle available on certain Brocade platforms, such as the SilkWorm Fabric AP7420, that includes the Fibre Channel Routing Service, the iSCSI Gateway Service, and the FCIP Tunneling Service. MTBF Mean time between failures. An expression of time, indicating the longevity of a device. multicast The transmission of data from a single source to multiple specified N_Ports (as opposed to all the ports on the network).
Glossary NOS Not operational. The NOS primitive sequence is transmitted to indicate that the FC_Port transmitting the NOS has detected a link failure or is offline, waiting for the offline sequence (OLS) to be received. NPIV N_Port ID virtualization. Allows a single Fibre Channel port to appear as multiple, distinct ports providing separate port identification and security zoning within the fabric for each operating system image as if each operating system image had its own unique physical port.
Glossary OX_ID Originator ID or exchange ID. Refers to the exchange ID assigned by the originator port. packet A set of information transmitted across a network. See also frame. P PAL parallel Participating mode passive copper path selection payload PBC PCBA PCM Performance Monitoring persistent Programmable Array Logic. A relatively small FPD. The simultaneous transmission of data bits over multiple lines.
Glossary PKI PKI certification utility PLDA PLOGI POD point-to-point Public key infrastructure. An infrastructure that is based on public key cryptography and CA (certificate authority) and that uses digital certificates. See also digital certificate and public key cryptography. Public key infrastructure certification utility. A utility that makes it possible to collect certificate requests from switches and to load certificates to switches. See also digital certificate and PKI.
Glossary Ports on Demand A licensed feature available on certain switches, such as the SilkWorm 200E. These switches are shipped with some but not all of the physical ports on the switch activated. A POD license is used to activate the remaining ports on the switch. Usually more than one POD license is required to enable all the ports on the switch. port_name The unique identifier assigned to a Fibre Channel port. Communicated during login and port discovery.
Glossary proxy device pstate PSU public device public key public key cryptography public loop public NL_Port A virtual device present in a local fabric that represents a physical device connected to a different edge fabric. From the perspective of a local device that is physically connected to a fabric, a proxy device is said to be imported; from the perspective of the remote fabric, the proxy device is said to be exported. Port State Machine. Power supply unit.
Glossary R_T_TOV Receiver transmitter timeout value, used by 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. A low-radius network is better than a high-radius network. RAID Redundant array of independent disks. A collection of disk drives that appear as a single volume to the server and are fault tolerant through mirroring or parity checking. See also JBOD.
Glossary router routing RR_TOV See Fibre Channel Routing Services. The assignment of frames to specific switch ports, according to frame destination. Resource recovery timeout value. The minimum time a target device in a loop waits after an LIP before logging out an SCSI initiator. See also E_D_TOV and R_A_TOV. RSCN Registered state change notification. A switch function that allows notification of fabric changes to be sent from the switch to specified SAN devices.
Glossary SCC SC connector. An SC connector is a fiber-optic cable connector that uses a push-pull latching mechanism similar to common audio and video cables. For bidirectional transmissions, two fiber cables and two SC connectors (dual SC) are generally used. SCN State change notification. Used for internal state change notifications, not external changes. This is the switch logging that the port is online or is an Fx_Port, not what is sent from the switch to the Nx_Ports.
Glossary Single mode S-Link Service SLAP SLP SMDS SMF SMI Facilities used between an N_Port and the fabric, or between two N_Ports, for login, sequence/ exchange management, and maintaining connections. Switch Link Authentication Protocol. Service Location Protocol. Switched Multimegabit Data Service. A good protocol for interconnecting LANs; however, SMDS has less error-checking capability than Frame Relay. Single-mode fiber. See LWL. Storage Management Initiative.
Glossary static route stealth mode Stitch storage storage area network store-andforward striping switch switch name switch port switch-toswitch authentication SWL A static route is a route that is assigned to a specific path (using the uRouteConfig command), and will not change when a topology change occurs, unless the path used by the route becomes unavailable. A static route can be assigned only when the active routing policy is port-based.
Glossary tenancy The time from when a port wins arbitration in a loop until the same port returns to the monitoring state. Also referred to as “loop tenancy.” throughput The rate of data flow achieved within a cable, link, or system. Usually measured in bps (bits per second or b/sec). See also BB fabric. tiering Time Server topology The process of grouping particular SAN devices by function and then attaching these devices to particular switches or groups of switches based on that function.
Glossary TX Typical zoning Transmit. See also RX. In EZSwitchSetup, an option that provides predefined zoning on the switch and supports single-switch fabrics only (appropriate for less experienced SAN administrators). See also Advanced zoning and Custom zoning. U U_Port Universal port. A switch port that can operate as a G_Port, E_Port, F_Port, or FL_Port. A port is defined as a U_Port when it is not connected or has not yet assumed a specific function in the fabric.
Glossary W WAN WAN_TOV Wide area network. Wide area network timeout value. well-known address In Fibre Channel technology, a logical address defined by Fibre Channel standards as assigned to a specific function and stored on the switch. workstation A computer used to access and manage the fabric. Also referred to as a “management station” or “host.” WTV WWN WWN-level zoning Write timeout value. Refers to an ELS field that appears in portLogDump command output. World Wide Name.
