Designing fibre channel fabrics

Author

Cherkasova, Ludmila ; Kotov, Vadim ; Rokicki, Tomas

Author_Institution

Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, CA, USA

fYear

1995

fDate

2-4 Oct 1995

Firstpage

346

Lastpage

351

Abstract

The fibre channel standard, developed by the ANSI X3T9.3 task group, defines a serial I/O channel for interconnecting a number of peripheral devices and computer systems. In this paper we consider how fibre channel switches can be cascaded to form a fibre channel fabric. We begin with an analytical model of topology performance that provides a theoretical upper bound on fabric performance and a method for the practical evaluation of fabric topologies. Next, we present simulation results for a single fibre channel switch having 16 ports and a specific high-level architecture. Finally, we consider cascades of this switch, and discuss some subtleties, such as different routing strategies, deadlocks and unfairness

Keywords

ANSI standards; optical fibre couplers; optical interconnections; peripheral interfaces; ANSI X3T9.3 task group; deadlocks; fibre channel fabrics; fibre channel standard; fibre channel switches; high-level architecture; peripheral devices; routing strategies; serial I/O channel; simulation results; unfairness; upper bound; ANSI standards; Analytical models; Computer peripherals; Fabrics; Optical fiber devices; Routing; Standards development; Switches; Topology; Upper bound;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Computer Design: VLSI in Computers and Processors, 1995. ICCD '95. Proceedings., 1995 IEEE International Conference on

Conference_Location

Austin, TX

ISSN

1063-6404

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7165-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ICCD.1995.528832

Filename

528832