Fibre Channel Fundamentals
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Fibre Channel, a relatively new interconnect technology for high-performance computer peripherals and networks, has a number of advantages over similar technologies. Fibre Channel enables channel data transfer speeds about 2½ times faster than high-end SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) and carries network and channel traffic over the same lines with equal efficiency. It can also carry audio and video data, supports a range of transmission media and distances, is very reliable, scalable, and easy to integrate into existing backup systems.
Implementing Fibre Channel requires components already familiar to IT professionals: HBAs, cables, and driver software, with optional switches (brocade), hubs, and bridges, combined in network-like topologies. Its dual network/channel capability makes Fibre Channel ideally suited to the concept of the Storage Area Network (SAN), an expandable, high-speed network of tape libraries, disk-based storage, and other devices, separate from but accessible by a traditional computer network such as a LAN.
Fibre Channel completely separates the delivery of data from the content. It is concerned only with delivery, and is blind to content. It is therefore very flexible in the types of data it transports. Fibre Channel is designed to carry many upper-level data protocols, the most significant being SCSI and IP, which are "mapped" onto Fibre Channel's physical delivery service.
This report describes Fibre Channel technology, key features, and applications, and compares the scope and performance of Fibre Channel and SCSI.