Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) is a

routing protocol A routing protocol specifies how routers communicate with each other to distribute information that enables them to select routes between nodes on a computer network. Routers perform the traffic directing functions on the Internet; data packet ...

used in

Fibre Channel Fibre Channel (FC) is a high-speed data transfer protocol providing in-order, lossless delivery of raw block data. Fibre Channel is primarily used to connect computer data storage to servers in storage area networks (SAN) in commercial data c ...

computer network A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. These interconnections ar ...

s. It calculates the best path between

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 ...

es, establishes routes across the fabric and calculates alternate routes in event of a failure or

network topology Network topology is the arrangement of the elements ( links, nodes, etc.) of a communication network. Network topology can be used to define or describe the arrangement of various types of telecommunication networks, including command and contr ...

change. FSPF can guarantee in-sequence delivery of

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction * Framing (co ...

s, even if the routing topology has changed during a failure, by enforcing a 'hold down' time before a new path is activated. FSPF was created by

Brocade Communications Systems Brocade is an American technology company specializing in storage networking products, now a subsidiary of Broadcom Inc. The company is known for its Fibre Channel storage networking products and technology. Prior to the acquisition, the comp ...

in collaboration with

Gadzoox Gadzoox Networks, Inc. produced hardware and software for the entry-level storage area network market. In 2000, at the peak of the dot-com bubble, the company was valued at $2 billion; however, after filing bankruptcy in 2002, its assets were ...

, McDATA, Ancor Communications (now QLogic), and

Vixel Emulex Corporation is a provider of computer network connectivity, monitoring and management hardware and software. The company's I/O connectivity offerings, including its line of Ethernet and Fibre Channel-based connectivity products, are or ...

; it was submitted as an

American National Standards Institute The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organ ...

standard. It was introduced in 2000. The protocol is similar in conception to the

Open Shortest Path First Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol for Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It uses a link state routing (LSR) algorithm and falls into the group of interior gateway protocols (IGPs), operating within a single autonomous syste ...

used in IP networks. FSPF has been adopted as the industry standard for routing between Fibre Channel switches within a fabric. A

management information base A management information base (MIB) is a database used for managing the entities in a communication network. Most often associated with the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), the term is also used more generically in contexts such as in ...

for FSPF was published as RFC 4626.

References

Fibre Channel {{Compu-network-stub