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SN0051103-00 A Glossary-1
Glossary
activity LED
A port LED that indicates when frames are
entering or leaving the port.
adapter
The board that interfaces between the
host system and the target devices.
Adapter is synonymous with host bus
adapter (HBA), host adapter, and adapter
board.
adapter port
A port on the adapter board.
adapter port beacon
An LED on the adapter. Flashing it enables
you to locate the adapter.
alarm
A message generated by the switch that
specifically requests attention. Alarms are
generated by several switch processes.
Some alarms can be configured.
arbitrated loop
A circular (ring) topology (versus
point-to-point) where two or more ports
can be interconnected, but only two ports
can communicate at a time. All communi-
cation passes through all ports connected
to the loop.
ASIC
Application specific integrated circuit. A
microchip designed for special applica-
tions such as Fibre Channel.
bandwidth
A measure of the volume of data that can
be transmitted at a given transmission
rate. A 1-Gbps/2-Gbps FC port can
transmit or receive at nominal rates of 1- or
2-Gbps, depending on the device to which
it is connected. This corresponds to actual
bandwidth values of 106 MB and 212 MB,
respectively.
boot code
The first program to run when a system is
powered on. This is also true for devices
within a system.
CHAP
Challenge-handshake authentication
protocol. CHAP is used for remote logon,
usually between a client and server or a
Web browser and Web server. A
challenge/response is a security mecha-
nism for verifying the identity of a person
or process without revealing a secret
password that is shared by the two
entities. Also referred to as a three-way
handshake.
CNA
Converged network adapters. CNAs
support both data networking (TCP/IP)
and storage networking (FC) traffic on a
single I/O adapter using two new technolo-
gies: Enhanced Ethernet and Fibre
Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).