Switched fabric

<h2 id="fibre-channel">Fibre Channel</h2>

<p>In the <a href="/facts/Fibre_Channel/C7C0yreb">Fibre Channel</a> <i>Switched Fabric</i> (<i>FC-SW-6</i>) topology, devices are connected through one or more <a href="/facts/Fibre_Channel_switch/wmJ0RAs7">Fibre Channel switches</a>. While this topology has the best <a href="/facts/Scalability/jh7JomPa">scalability</a> of the three FC topologies (the other two are <a href="/facts/Arbitrated_loop/5WhhNFFG">Arbitrated Loop</a> and <a href="/facts/Fibre_Channel_point-to-point/C7C0yreb">point-to-point</a>),<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> it is the only one requiring switches, which are costly hardware devices.
</p><p>Visibility among devices (called <i>nodes</i>) in a fabric is typically controlled with <a href="/facts/Fibre_Channel_zoning/7lNH7Ds4">Fibre Channel zoning</a>.
</p><p>Multiple switches in a fabric usually form a <a href="/facts/Mesh_network/XnVSy5rK">mesh network</a>, with devices being on the "edges" ("leaves") of the mesh. Most Fibre Channel network designs employ two separate fabrics for <a href="/facts/Redundancy_(engineering)/odqzTmIo">redundancy</a>. The two fabrics share the edge nodes (devices), but are otherwise unconnected. One of the advantages of such a setup is the capability of <a href="/facts/Failover/Lw0rXfv9">failover</a>, meaning that in case one link breaks or a fabric goes out of order, <a href="/facts/Datagram/TMHVctMz">datagrams</a> can be sent via the second fabric.
</p><p>The fabric topology allows the connection of up to the theoretical maximum of  about 16 million devices, limited only by the available address space (224).
</p><p>239 domains * 256 areas * 256 ports = 15,663,104<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Clos_network/DysPJyqe">Clos network</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Fabric_Application_Interface_Standard/s6qbYr56">Fabric Application Interface Standard</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/InfiniBand/6CUz47wQ">InfiniBand</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Network_traffic_control/98KPazFF">Network traffic control</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/RapidIO/Jnuf2MNd">RapidIO</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/VPX/oLMfczJt">VPX</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://etherealmind.com/what-is-the-definition-of-switch-fabric/">What is a Switch Fabric</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Using Storage Area Networks. Que Publishing. 2002. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-7897-2574-5. <a href="978-0-7897-2574-5" target="_blank">978-0-7897-2574-5</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Hausman, Kirk (2011-03-10). Sustainable Enterprise Architecture. CRC Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-4665-0899-6. <a href="978-1-4665-0899-6" target="_blank">978-1-4665-0899-6</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:3"><p>Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information in Classic, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments. John Wiley & Sons. 2012-04-30. p. 109. ISBN 978-1-118-23696-3. <a href="978-1-118-23696-3" target="_blank">978-1-118-23696-3</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Switched fabric open-in-new

Switched fabric