McDATA Sphereon 4300 Specifications download pdf (Page 125)

Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies

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Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies

FCP and FICON in a

Single Fabric

Fibre Channel Layer 4 (FC-4) describes the interface between Fibre

Channel and various upper-level protocols. FCP and FICON are the

major FC-4 protocols. FCP is the Fibre Channel protocol that supports

the small computer system interface (SCSI) upper-level transport

protocol. FICON is the successor to the enterprise systems connection

(ESCON) protocol and adds increased reliability and integrity to that

provided by the FCP protocol.

Because FCP and FICON are both FC-4 protocols, routing of Fibre

Channel frames is not affected when the protocols are mixed in a

single fabric environment. However, management differences in the

protocols arise when a user changes director or fabric switch

parameters through zoning or connectivity control. In particular:

• FCP communication parameters are port number and name-

centric, discovery oriented, assigned by the fabric, and use the

Fibre Channel name server to control device communication.

• FICON communication parameters are logical port address-

centric, definition oriented, assigned by the attached host, and

use host assignment to control device communication.

Considerations that need to be evaluated when intermixing FCP and

FICON protocols are:

• Director or switch management.

• Port numbering versus port addressing.

• Management limitations.

• Features that impact protocol intermixing.

• Best practices.

Director or Switch

Management

When intermixing FCP and FICON protocols, it must be determined

if the director or fabric switch is to be operated using the open

systems or FICON management style. This setting only affects the

operating mode used to manage the director or switch; it does not

affect F_Port operation. FCP devices can communicate with each

other when the attached fabric element is set to FICON management

style, and FICON devices can communicate with each other when the

attached fabric element is set to open systems management style.

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McDATA Sphereon 4300 Specifications Page 125