Last month the FCIA announced completion of the Fibre Channel-NVMe-2 standard with groundbreaking features that include Sequence Level Error Recovery which optimizes how Fibre Channel natively transports NVM Express™ (NVMe). The FC-NVMe-2 standard is focused on allowing bit errors to be detected and recovered at the transport layer before the protocol layer knows anything is amiss. [...]
Fibre Channel continues to evolve to ensure easy scalability within the data center and Fibre Channel Services such as the Fabric Login Server, Fabric Controller, and Name Server are among the capabilities that are used to support and simplify management and operation of a Fibre Channel Fabric. Fabric Services also meet the need for traffic [...]
It’s time to get back to fundamentals on Fibre Channel. So, that’s exactly what we plan to do at our next FCIA live webcast on June 27, 2019 “Fibre Channel Zoning Basics.” In this FCIA webinar, we’re going to be talking about one of the most fundamental and crucial aspects of the protocol and what [...]
At our last live FCIA webcast “Will You Still Love Me When I Turn 64GFC” our expert speakers, Dean Wallace and Barry Maskas, provided a technical session on T11 standards which define 64GFC serial Fibre Channel. It was a deep dive into backwards speed auto-negotiation compatibility, compatible form factors, and more, while having some fun [...]
Fibre Channel’s speed roadmap defines a well-understood technological trend: the need to double the bit rate in the channel without doubling the required bandwidth. In order to do this, PAM4 (pulse-amplitude modulation, with four levels of pulse modulation), enters the Fibre Channel physical layer picture. With the use of four signal levels instead of two, [...]
Protocol Analysis Expert Q&A A few weeks ago, the FCIA hosted a live webcast on Protocol Analysis for High-Speed Fibre Channel Fabrics in the Data Center. For those of us within the FCIA, we also referred to it as “Saving You SAN and Your Sanity!” Well, you get the picture. If you missed the [...]
The Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) took on the topic of FICON (Fibre Channel Connection) in a FICON 101 webcast now available on demand. During the presentation, our experts Patty Driever, IBM; Howard Johnson, Broadcom and J Metz, Cisco, answered questions, some of which are presented in this blog. To receive more in-depth information, read [...]
Interoperability is a primary basis for the predictable behavior of a Fibre Channel (FC) SAN. There are many dimensions to interoperability, from the physical layer, optics, and cables; to port type and protocol; to server, storage, and switch fabric operating systems versions; standards and feature implementation compatibility; and to use case topologies based on the [...]
FICON 101 Patty Driever – IBM Howard Johnson – Broadcom Limited FICON (Fibre Channel Connection) is an upper-level protocol supported by mainframe servers and attached enterprise-class storage controllers that utilize Fibre Channel as the underlying transport. Mainframes are built to provide a robust and resilient IT infrastructure, and FICON is a key element of their [...]
