Glossary-2
Installation and Reference Guide
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.
Broadcast
The transmission of data from a single source to all devices in the fabric,
regardless of zoning. See also Multicast, Unicast.
Buffer
-
to
-
buffer
Flow Control
Management of the frame transmission rate in either a point-to-point topology or
in an arbitrated loop. See also BB_Credit.
Cascade
Two or more interconnected Fibre Channel switches. For HP switches, a
maximum of seven hops is recommended (no path longer than eight switches).
See also Fabric, ISL.
Chassis
The metal frame in which the switch and switch components are mounted.
Circuit
An established communication path between two ports. Consists of two virtual
circuits capable of transmitting in opposite directions. See also Link.
Class 1
Service that provides a dedicated connection between two ports (also called
connection-oriented service), with notification of delivery or nondelivery.
Class 2
Service that provides multiplex and connectionless frame switching service
between two ports, with notification of delivery or nondelivery.
Class 3
Service that provides a connectionless frame switching service between two ports,
without notification of delivery or nondelivery of data. Can also be used to
provide a multicast connection between the originator and recipients, with
notification of delivery or nondelivery.
Class F
Connectionless service for control traffic between switches, with notification of
delivery or nondelivery of data between the E_Ports.
Class of
Service
A specified set of delivery characteristics and attributes for frame delivery.
Comma
A unique pattern (either 1100000 or 0011111) used in 8B/10B encoding to specify
character alignment within a data stream. See also K28.5.
Community
(SNMP)
A relationship between a group of SNMP managers and an SNMP agent, in which
authentication, access control, and proxy characteristics are defined. See also
SNMP.
CRC
Cyclic Redundancy Check; a check for transmission errors included in every data
frame.
Credit
As applies to Fibre Channel, the number of receive buffers available for
transmission of frames between ports. See also BB_Credit, EE_Credit.
Cut
-through
A switching technique that allows the route for a frame to be selected as soon as
the destination address is received. See also Route.
Data Word
Type of transmission word that occurs within frames. The frame header, data
field, and CRC all consist of data words. See also Frame, Ordered set,
Transmission Word.
Defined Zone
Configuration
The set of all zone objects defined in the fabric. May include multiple zone
configurations. See also Enabled Configuration, Zone Configuration.
