Glossary
Scalar i500 User’s Guide
385
F
F_Port
Fabric Port. A port on a fabric switch to which N_Ports may be
directly connected. The F_Port is not capable of communicating
with FC-AL protocol.
FC (Fibre Channel)
A high speed data transfer architecture. Using optical
fibre to connect devices, Fibre Channel communications are serial
communications that occur at full duplex and achieve data
transfer rates of 200 MBps.
FC-AL (Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop)
A form of Fibre Channel network
in which up to 126 nodes are connected in a loop topology. See
also
Arbitrated loop
.
FC-AL Device
A device that employs Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop and
consists of one or more NL_Ports.
Fiber
A thin filament of glass. An optical waveguide consisting of a
core and a cladding which is capable of carrying information in
the form of light. Fiber is also a general term used to cover all
physical media types supported by Fibre Channel, such as optical
fiber, twisted pair, and coaxial cable.
Fiducial
In a library storage context, fiducials may be “fiducial labels” or
“fiducial tabs,” allowing reliable identification of cartridge
magazines and drive sleds, including both location and media
domain information. In the Scalar i500 tape library, a “fiducial
tab” refers to the plastic locator tabs which are installed on the
media storage columns. The medium changer (robot) determines
the location of these tabs to identify media storage locations. A
“fiducial label” refers to the barcode label on cartridge magazines
or drive sleds which identify magazine or drive sled type.
Firewall
A set of security tools designed to separate an internal network
from the public Internet in order to keep unauthorized users out
of a restricted network. Firewalls are the primary line of security
defense for businesses.
FL_Port
Fabric Loop Port. An F_Port that is capable of supporting an
attached Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop. An FL_Port on a loop
will have the AL_PA hex’00’ giving the fabric the highest priority
access to the loop. N_Ports or NL_Ports can attach to it in an
Arbitrated Loop topology and are capable of communicating
with FC-AL protocol.
FMR (Field Microcode Replacment) tape
See
FUP (Firmware Upgrade) tape
.
