What is Fibre Channel Protocol?

Have you ever tried to plug a hard drive into a network? The USB cable just doesn’t fit into that network port. There’s nothing like trying to shove a square peg into a rectangular hole. But what if I told you that your hard drives could be plugged into the network? We aren’t talking about a NAS here. More specifically, we’re referring to a SAN. Though there are various ways to connect a SAN to a network, we will discuss the Fibre Channel Protocol.

If you are from the United States, you might have noticed that Fibre is spelled wrong. It just so happens that this is the UK spelling of Fibre, and more importantly, this spelling of Fibre denotes a different technology than Fiber.

Fibre denotes the Fibre Channel Protocol, while Fiber describes the fiber optic media used for network communications. However, the Fibre Channel protocol typically uses fiber optic cables for transmission.

So, what is the Fibre Channel Protocol? Fibre Channel is a communication method for transmitting SCSI messages through a network. Of course, it’s more complicated than that, however.

The Fibre Channel Protocol is its own type of network. We use Ethernet, IP, TCP, and UDP for communication in a traditional network. The Fibre Channel Protocol uses its own messaging system.

Frames, or packets, are built differently, too. A Fibre Channel frame consists of a header, an additional header space, and the payload area. The header is 24 bytes in size. The additional header space is 64 bytes in length and is commonly combined with the payload. Payloads can be up to 2048 bytes in size.

What about that MAC address? Well, Fibre Channel equipment doesn’t use MAC addresses. Instead, they use something called. A WWNN and WWPN or worldwide node name and worldwide port name. These unique identifiers are burned into Fibre Channel equipment in the same way MAC addresses are. They have a similar function to a MAC address, too.

So, that begs the question, can Fibre Channel be used with standard switches and network adapters? The short answer is no. Special equipment is used for Fibre Channel communication.

This video will dive into more detail about what Fibre Channel is, how it can be used, and what kind of equipment you need to use Fibre Channel. So grab some popcorn, and let’s get started!


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