Fibre Channel is a dedicated SAN protocol providing low-latency, lossless transport.
Speed evolution: , , , , , , and now Gbps. Each generation doubles.
Concepts:
- WWN: World Wide Name. Unique identifier like MAC addresses.
- Zoning: Controls which devices communicate.
- LUN: Logical Unit Number. Identifies storage volumes.
Fibre Channel is lossless. Buffer-to-buffer credits prevent frame loss. Unlike Ethernet, FC never drops frames from congestion. Applications assume no retransmission needed.