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Fabric Watch User’s Guide Glossary-1
Glossary
8b/10b
Encoding
An encoding scheme that converts each 8-bit byte into 10 bits. Used to balance
ones and zeros in high-speed transports.
Address
Identifier
A 24-bit or 8-bit value used to identify the source or destination of a frame.
AL_PA
Arbitrated Loop Physical Address; a unique 8-bit value assigned during loop
initialization to a port in an arbitrated loop.
Alias Address
Identifier
An address identifier recognized by a port in addition to its standard identifier. An
alias address identifier may be shared by multiple ports.
Alias AL_PA
An AL_PA value recognized by an L_Port in addition to the AL_PA assigned to
the port. See also AL_PA.
Alias Server
A fabric software facility that supports multicast group management.
ANSI
American National Standards Institute; the governing body for fibre channel
standards in the U.S.A.
API
Application Programming Interface; defined protocol that allows applications to
interface with a set of services.
Arbitrated
Loop
A shared 100 MBps fibre channel transport structured as a loop. Can support up
to 126 devices and one fabric attachment. See also Topology.
ASIC
Application Specific Integrated Circuit.
ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode; a transport used for transmitting data over LANs
or WANs that transmit fixed-length units of data. Provides any-to-any
connectivity, and allows nodes to transmit simultaneously.
AW_TOV
Arbitration Wait Time-out Value; the minimum time an arbitrating L_Port waits
for a response before beginning loop initialization.
Bandwidth
The total transmission capacity of a cable, link, or system. Usually measured in
bps (bits per second). May also refer to the range of transmission frequencies
available to a network. See also Throughput.
BB_Credit
Buffer-to-buffer credit; the number of frames that can be transmitted to a directly
connected recipient or within an arbitrated loop. Determined by the number of
receive buffers available. See also Buffer-to-buffer Flow Control, EE_Credit.
Beginning
Running
Disparity
The disparity at the transmitter or receiver when the special character associated
with an ordered set is encoded or decoded. See also Disparity.
BER
Bit Error Rate; the rate at which bits are expected to be received in error.
Expressed as the ratio of error bits to total bits transmitted. See also Error.
Block
As applies to fibre channel, upper-level application data that is transferred in a
single sequence.