What is Fibre Channel?
[[File:Fibre Channel Topologies.svg|thumb|400px|right|Different topologies]]'''Fibre Channel''', or '''FC''' is an architecture (and a set of [[protocol]]s to attach [[hard disk|disk drives]] to [[computer]]s, like in a [[Storage Area Network]]. Networks today are done with 4 GBit/s and 8 GBit/s over [[fiberglass]] cables. This is enough to support data transfer rates of up to 800 MBit/s. Fibrechannel permits connecting the same disk subsystem to several computers. It typically uses the [[SCSI]] command set. Basically, there are two ''topologies'' (ways to do this): *''Arbitrated Loop'': All the devices are connected in a logical bus topology (shown on the right in the picture above). The devices can be connected in a [[ring]] much like [[Token Ring]]. This avoids using the [[Fibre Channel Switch]]es, which are very expensive. *''Fabric'' All devices are connected to Fibre Channel Switches. This is similar to [[Ethernet]]. It is more expensive though, because Switches that support Fibre Channel are very expensive. {{Tech-stub}} [[Category:Computer science]]