Products
Product Lines
XstreamCORE® Storage Connectivity
XstreamCORE® intelligent Bridges
XstreamCORE® JBOF Controllers
SiliconDisk™ RAM-based Storage Appliance
Ethernet NICs
Fibre Channel HBAs
SAS/SATA HBAs
Thunderbolt™ Adapters
NVME Switch Host Adapters
Software
XtendSAN iSCSI Initiator
Disk Benchmark for Windows
Disk Benchmark for macOS®
ATTO 360 Ethernet Tuning Software
PowerCenter Pro™
Cables & Accessories
ATTO Exclusive Technologies
Adaptive Path Optimization
Advanced Data Streaming™
ATTO ConfigTool™
ATTO XstreamVIEW™
eCORE™ Control Engine
intelligent Bridging Architecture™
Multipath Director™
vConfigTool™
xCORE™ Data Acceleration
PowerCenter Pro™
Find the Right Product
Cable Finder
Product Finder
Solutions
Solutions by Use Case
4k/8k Video Workflow
Cloud Storage
Data Center Virtualization
Digital Asset Management
Ethernet Connected Storage
Fibre Channel Connected Storage
High Availability Fibre Channel Multipathing Storage
MS Exchange Server
SAS/SATA Connected Storage
SAS/SATA Storage Connectivity
Server Connectivity
Software Defined Storage
Tape Library Storage Connectivity
Thunderbolt Connectivity
Workstation / Laptop Connectivity
NVMe Storage Connectivity
Solutions by Partner
Adobe
AIC
Apple
ATTO
Avid
DataCore
Dell Technologies
Facilis
G-Technology®
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Hitachi Vantara
HP Inc.
IBM
Infortrend
Intel
NetApp®
Open-E
Pixit Media
Quantum
Seagate
Tiger Technology
VMware
Western Digital
NGX Storage
Qualstar
Nyriad
AC&NC / JetStor
XINNOR
How to Buy
Find a Reseller
United States
Canada
Europe, Middle East & Africa
Asia / Pacific
South America & Latin America
Become a Reseller
Find a Distributor
United States
Canada
Europe, Middle East & Africa
Asia / Pacific
South America & Latin America
Buy Direct (ATTO Store)
Partners
Partners
Partner Resource Center
Support
Sales Support
Contact ATTO Sales
Warranty Information
Register a Product
Authorize Software
Lookup Software Authorization
Cable Finder
Technical Support
Downloads
Interoperability
Instructional Videos
Troubleshooting Guides & FAQs
Contact Technical Support
Resources
Resources by Type
Battlecard
Benchmark
FAQ
Logo & Guidelines
Manual
Presentation
Product Brochure
Product Photo
Reference Guide
Related Solution
Sales Brief
Software
Solution Brief
Solution Brief for IT
Solution Brief for M&E
Success Story
Tech Brief
Tech Bulletin
Tech Specs
Troubleshooting Guides
Use Case
Video
Webinar
White Paper
Resources by Product Line
Cables & Accessories
Fibre Channel HBAs
SAS/SATA HBAs
SAS/SATA RAID Adapters
10GbE NICs
25/40/50/100GbE NICs
40GbE NICs
FibreBridge intelligent Bridges
SiliconDisk™ RAM-based Storage Appliance
Software
Thunderlink® - Thunderbolt™ Adapters
XstreamCORE® Ethernet intelligent Bridges
XstreamCORE Fibre Channel intelligent Bridges
Other
Partner Resource Center
Corporate
ATTO Corporate
About ATTO
Careers
Subscribe
News
Events
Trademark Info
Privacy Policy
Software Terms
ROHS and Prop 65
ISO 9001 Statement
Contact Us
Article Archive
OEM
Made in the USA
BUY
Home
Support
Troubleshooting Guides & FAQs
Fibre Channel Glossary
A
B
C
E
F
G
H
I
L
N
P
R
S
U
Z
ANSI
American National Standards Institute, the coordinating organization for voluntary standards in the United States
Arbitrated Loop Topology
a Fibre Channel topology that provides a (FC-AL) solution to attach multiple communicating ports in a loop
Arbitration
the process of selecting one respondent from a collection of several candidates that request service concurrently
Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM)
a type of packet that transmits fixed length unit of data
Broadcast
sending a transmission to all N_Ports on a fabric
Channel
a point-to-point link, the main task being transporting data from one point to another
Controller
a computer module that interprets signals between a host and a peripheral device.
CRC (cyclic redundancy check)
an error correcting code used in Fibre Channel
E_Port
an expansion port on a switch. It is used to link multiple switches together into a Fibre Channel Fabric.
ESCON
Enterprise Systems connection
Fabric
a group of interconnections between ports that include a fabric element
F_Port
a port in the fabric where an N_port or NL_port may attach
FCP
Fibre Channel Protocol
FL_Port
a port in fabric where an Nport or an NL_Port may attach
Fibre Channel
up to 2 Gigabit per second data transfer interface technology that maps several common transport protocols including IP and SCSI, allowing it to merge high-speed I/O and network functionality in a single connectivity technology
Full duplex
a communication protocol that permits simultaneous transmissions in both directions, usually with flow control.
G_Port
generic switch port that can be either F_port or an E_port. Port fucntion is automatically determined during login
GBIC
Gigabit Interface converter, these devices can be obtained in copper DB9, HSSDC and Fibre Optic type connection. GBICS are hot swappable allowing re-configuration to take place on a live system with no down time
HBA (host bus adapter)
this is the card that fits into the server workstation to provide the interface between the processor and Fibre Channel connection (loop, fabric)
HIPPI (High Performance Parallel Interface)
an ANSI standard for high speed transfer of information in a dual simplex manner over a short parallel bus
HSSDC-style Connector
high speed serial direct connect. Copper connector used on both 1-Gb and 2-Gb Fibre Channel devices.
I/O
input/output
IP (Internet Protocol)
a set of protocols developed by Department of Defense to communicate between dissimilar computers across networks
IPI (Intelligent Peripheral Interface)
an ANSI standard for controlling peripheral devices by a host computer
L_Port
an arbitrated loop port
LAN
Local Area Network
LC-style Connector
Compact optical connector used primarily with 2-Gb Fibre Channel devices. This connector can be fixed or pluggable.
N_Port
a port attached to a node for use with point to point or fabric topology
NL_Port
a port attached to a node for use in all three FC topologies
Node
a device that has at least one N_Port or NL_Port
Point-to-Point
a topology where two points communicate
Port
an access point in a device where a link attaches
RAID Array (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)
intelligent devices that are seen by Fibre Channel as a single device regardless of how many drives are in the array
SAN (Storage Area Network)
a dedicated, high-speed network that establishes a direct connection between storage elements and servers.
Switch
enabling devices for large fabrics. Can be connected together to allow scalability to thousands of nodes
ULP (Upper Layer Protocols)
different communication protocols that can be carried by Fibre Channel
Zoning
a logical separation of traffic between host and resources. By breaking up into zones, processing activity is distributed evenly
Authorize Software
Cable Finder
Contact Technical Support
Discontinued Products
Downloads
Instructional Videos
Interoperability & Certifications
Lookup Software Authorization
Register Product
Troubleshooting, Guides & FAQs
Warranty Information