Installation and Reference Guide
Glossary-5
FSPF
Fabric Shortest Path First. Routing protocol for Fibre Channel switches.
Full-duplex
A mode of communication that allows the same port to simultaneously transmit
and receive frames. See also Half-duplex.
Fx_Port
A fabric port that can operate as either an F_Port or FL_Port. See also F_Port,
FL_Port.
G_Port
Generic Port; a port that can operate as either an E_Port or F_Port. A port is
defined as a G_Port when it is not yet connected or has not yet assumed a specific
function in the fabric.
GBIC
Gigabit Interface Converter; a removable serial transceiver module that allows
gigabaud physical-level transport for Fibre Channel and gigabit Ethernet. See also
SFP.
Gbps
Gigabits per second (1,062,500,000 bits/second).
GBps
GigaBytes per second (1,062,500,000 bytes/second).
Half-duplex
A mode of communication that allows a port to either transmit or receive frames
at any time, but not simultaneously (with the exception of link control frames,
which can be transmitted at any time). See also Full-duplex.
Hard Address
The AL_PA that an NL_Port attempts to acquire during loop initialization.
HBA
Host Bus Adapter; the interface card between a server or workstation bus and the
Fibre Channel network.
Hub
A Fibre Channel wiring concentrator that collapses a loop topology into a
physical star topology. Nodes are automatically added to the loop when active and
removed when inactive.
Idle
Continuous transmission of an ordered set over a Fibre Channel link when no data
is being transmitted, to keep the link active and maintain bit, byte, and word
synchronization.
Initiator
A server or workstation on a Fibre Channel network that initiates communications
with storage devices. See also Target.
Integrated
Fabric
The fabric created by the HP FC 6164, consisting of six Silkworm 2250 switches
cabled together and configured to handle traffic as a seamless group.
IOD
In-order Delivery; a parameter that, when set, guarantees that frames are either
delivered in order or dropped.
ISL
Interswitch Link; a Fibre Channel link from the E_Port of one switch to the
E_Port of another. See also E_Port, Cascade.
ISL Trunking
An HP Brocade switch feature that enables distribution of traffic over the
combined bandwidth of up to four ISLs (between adjacent switches), while
preserving in-order delivery. A set of trunked ISLs is called a trunking group;
each port employed in a trunking group is called a trunking port. See also Master
Port.
Isolated
E_Port
An E_Port that is online but not operational due to overlapping domain IDs or
nonidentical parameters (such as E_D_TOVs). See also E_Port.
IU
Information Unit; a set of information as defined by either upper-level process
protocol definition or upper-level protocol mapping.
