What is Fibre Channel Protocol?
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Have you ever tried to plug a hard drive into a network? The USB cable just doesn’t fit into that network port. There’s nothing like trying to shove a square peg into a rectangular hole. But what if I told you that your hard drives could be plugged into the network? We aren’t talking about a NAS here. More specifically, we’re referring to a SAN. Though there are various ways to connect a SAN to a network, we will discuss the Fibre Channel Protocol.
If you are from the United States, you might have noticed that Fibre is spelled wrong. It just so happens that this is the UK spelling of Fibre, and more importantly, this spelling of Fibre denotes a different technology than Fiber.
Fibre denotes the Fibre Channel Protocol, while Fiber describes the fiber optic media used for network communications. However, the Fibre Channel protocol typically uses fiber optic cables for transmission.
So, what is the Fibre Channel Protocol? Fibre Channel is a communication method for transmitting SCSI messages through a network. Of course, it’s more complicated than that, however.
The Fibre Channel Protocol is its own type of network. We use Ethernet, IP, TCP, and UDP for communication in a traditional network. The Fibre Channel Protocol uses its own messaging system.
Frames, or packets, are built differently, too. A Fibre Channel frame consists of a header, an additional header space, and the payload area. The header is 24 bytes in size. The additional header space is 64 bytes in length and is commonly combined with the payload. Payloads can be up to 2048 bytes in size.
What about that MAC address? Well, Fibre Channel equipment doesn’t use MAC addresses. Instead, they use something called. A WWNN and WWPN or worldwide node name and worldwide port name. These unique identifiers are burned into Fibre Channel equipment in the same way MAC addresses are. They have a similar function to a MAC address, too.
So, that begs the question, can Fibre Channel be used with standard switches and network adapters? The short answer is no. Special equipment is used for Fibre Channel communication.
This video will dive into more detail about what Fibre Channel is, how it can be used, and what kind of equipment you need to use Fibre Channel. So grab some popcorn, and let’s get started!
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i think this is the clearest explanation of Fibre Channel out there.... thank you CBT Nuggets
Great video! I'm looking more into the data center world as a network engineer myself, and these small tidbits are great to watch.
Thank you for learning with us!
Great video 👍 for intro to Fibre Channel. Thank you.
Great video!
Thanks good video
there's also NVMeoF besides FCP , both run on the same FC fabric
I've built an ESXi system with two hosts, two FC storage units connected each to two FC switches. In generall each ESXI and each storage are each connected to "each" FC switch. I can lose 50% of my system and still continue working. Everything works great, but recently a question rose up, if it would be beneficial to connect the FC switches to each other. What do you think? As always, great video! Thx for all the knowledge.
Hello, thank you for reaching out! No, in general the FC switches should not be cross connected. In the datacenter we refer to this as a SAN A and SAN B design. The idea is to have two completely isolated FC fabrics. The switches should remain air gapped.
@@cbtnuggets Hi, Thanks for the reply! So basically you confirmed, that everything's how It's supposed to be! Thanks!
Hi @0ADVISOR0 and @cbtnuggets,
First of all thank for sharing this inspiring information about your Lab.
I'm also building a Fiber Channel Home Lab, I've already purchased a MDS Switch 9134, a Dell Poweredge r720xd with ESXI and a new HP microserver with Qlogic Fc adapter.
Could you please have any advice (config, spec, ...) to share with me in order to build this lab properly ?
Thank you advance.
I have a AG638B HP Storageworks 12 Bay Disk Enclosure Fiber channel for EVA RAID Arrays connected directly to an ATTO CTFC-82EN-000 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter. Can this work for jbod if so how?
Power of concept mentioned in 4:20
Yet you say 1/2/4/8/16
Power or 2 would be:
1/2/4/16/256…