In the
computer storage field, a Fibre Channel switch is a
network switch
A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device.
A netw ...
compatible with the
Fibre Channel (FC) protocol. It allows the creation of a
Fibre Channel fabric
Switched fabric or switching fabric is a network topology in which network nodes interconnect via one or more network switches (particularly crossbar switches). Because a switched fabric network spreads network traffic across multiple physical ...
, that is the core component of a
storage area network
A storage area network (SAN) or storage network is a computer network which provides access to consolidated, block-level data storage. SANs are primarily used to access data storage devices, such as disk arrays and tape libraries from ser ...
(SAN). The fabric is a network of Fibre Channel devices which allows
many-to-many
Many-to-many communication occurs when information is shared between groups. Members of a group receive information from multiple senders.
Wikis are a type of many-to-many communication, where multiple editors collaborate to create content that ...
communication, device name lookup,
security" \n\n\nsecurity.txt is a proposed standard for websites' security information that is meant to allow security researchers to easily report security vulnerabilities. The standard prescribes a text file called \"security.txt\" in the well known locat ...
, and
redundancy. FC switches implement
zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
, a mechanism that disables unwanted traffic between certain fabric nodes.
Fibre Channel switches may be deployed one at a time or in larger multi-switch configurations. SAN administrators typically add new switches as their server and storage needs grow, connecting switches together via fiber optic cable using the standard device ports. Some switch vendors offer dedicated high-speed stacking ports to handle inter-switch connections (similar to existing stackable Ethernet switches), allowing high-performance multi-switch configurations to be created using fewer switches overall.
Major manufacturers of Fibre Channel switches include
Brocade(Broadcom),
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...
, and
QLogic(Marvell).
Fibre Channel Director
A special variety of a FC switch is the ''Fibre Channel Director,'' a switch meant to provide backbone infrastructure in a fabric usually featuring at least 128 ports and high-availability attributes, however the term is loose and varies among to manufacturers.
It does not differ from a switch in core FC protocol functionality. The ''director'' term itself is derived from legacy
ESCON Directors such as the IBM 9032-005.
See also
*
List of Fibre Channel switches
Major manufacturers of Fibre Channel switches are:
* Brocade (Broadcom):
** Switches: G630, G620, G610, 6520, 6510, 6505, 5300, 5100, VA-40FC, 5000, 4900, 2400, 2800, 3800, 3900, 4100, 300, 200E
** Directors: DCX X6-8, DCX X6-4, DCX 8510-8, DCX 851 ...
*
Host Bus Adapter
In computer hardware, a host controller, host adapter, or host bus adapter (HBA), connects a computer system bus, which acts as the host system, to other network and storage devices. The terms are primarily used to refer to devices for conne ...
(HBA)
References
Fibre Channel
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