Fibre Channel SAN Topologies
Switched Fabric
Switch Topology: Generic Model
• Fabric environment:
– Consists of one or more fabric elements
– Appears as a single entity to nodes
– Provides a homogenous addressing space
Node
Node Node
� Transparency to nodes:
� Fabric topology
Node
Fabric
Node
� Routing path selection
Node
Node
Node
The switched fabric environment:
Appears as a single entity to nodes no matter how many elements are
actually present in the fabric
Provides a single addressing space (no subnetting)
The architecture and operations of the fabric, including topology and routing,
are transparent to the nodes:
The HBAs and subsystem controllers (N_Ports) do not participate in
fabric operations.
This is different than the FC-AL architecture, where the NL_Ports are
responsible for loop arbitration and routing.