Fiber Channel Bus Description. Fibre Channel pinout

Fiber Channel

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Fiber Channel Description

Fibre Channel [FC] is a point-to-point serial bi-directional interface operating up to 1.0625Gbps. Supporting protocol include: SCSI, IP, ATM, HIPPI, IEEE 802.2 over Fiber (10 kilometers), Coax (75 meters) or Twisted pair (33 meters); between devices. Copper will support up to 100MBs, while Fiber will operate up to 400MBs. Each device acts as a repeater producing a communication path of any length; the devices are connected in a loop [Token [Dual] Ring topology]. Twisted pair cables are crossed-linked, with TX lines crossed to RX lines between driver and receiver. Backplane communication is also supported, and is also connected in a loop ~ one end of the path connects to the input device the other end of the path connects to the output device. Fibre Channel, now runs at speeds as high as 2.125 Gbps [200 Mbytes/sec] over twisted-pair copper or optical-interconnect [optical distances up to 10 km]. Fibre Channel is primarily used in high-end server SANs (storage-area networks). Additional rates include 4GFC [4.24Gbps, 400MBps], and 8GFC [8.5Gbps, 800MBps]. The Bit Error rate [BER] is defined at 10^-12.
10 Gigabit Fibre Channel [10GFC] is an extension of the physical layer of Fibre Channel. 10GFC runs at 12.75GBd [GigaBaud]

Communication is Asynchronous, Bi-Directional interface with a variable frame length up to 2048 bytes, with a 24 byte header. Bytes are 10 bits long, each forming a character, with 4 characters making a word [Transmission Word]. CRC is used for error checking [Cyclic Redundancy Check is the same 32-bit CRC used in FDDI]. Fibre Channel Uses 8B/10B encoding ( each 8 bit byte is translated into a 10 bit character in order to equalize the numbers of 1's and 0's sent).

The Electrical Interface [EL] uses ECL signaling levels via an unbalanced 75W line or a balanced 150W line(s). LVPECL is used for high speed signals, while SSTL_2 level are used for lower speed control signals.
The Optical uses: [LL]: long wave laser (1300 nm), [SL]: short wave laser (780 nm), or [LE]: LED (1300 nm).

Fiber:
.. SC type connectors to IEC 61754-4-5
.. SG type connectors to EIA-604-7
.. LC type connectors to EIA-604-10
.. MT-RJ type connectors to EIA-604-12
Electrical unbalanced:
.. BNC, TNC type (style 1) connectors an for unbalanced 75W electrical interface to IEC 169-8, IEC 169-17
.. SMA type (style 2) connectors an for unbalanced 50W electrical interface to IEC 169-15
.. Electrical interfaces may use either or both style 1 and style 2 connectors. The cable will consist of TX+, TX-, RX+, RX- and a cable shield.
Electrical balanced:
.. 9-Pin D-subminiature type (style 1) connectors an for balanced 75W electrical interface to IEC 807-3
..... Pinout for a 9-pin D Connector: Pin 1 TX+, Pin 6 TX-, Pin 5 RX+, Pin 9 RX-, Shell Cable shield
.. 8-Pin (RJ-like) type (style 2) connectors an for balanced 75W electrical interface to IEC 61076-3-103
..... Pinout for an 8-Pin (RJ-like) Connector: Pin 1 TX+, Pin 3 TX-, Pin 6 RX-, Pin 8 RX+, Shell Cable shield
Color coding for fiber cables is located on the Wire Insulation Color Code page, or Connector Manufacturers

Fibre Channel uses three different topologies:
Point-To-Point; in which only two devices are directly connected together.
Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL); with up to 127 devices on a single network. Each device must arbitrate to grain access to the loop.
Fabric; The Switch used to interconnect the devices.

SCSI-FCP ANSI X3.269-1996 Fibre Channel Protocol for SCSI
FC-FP ANSI X3.254-1994 Fibre Channel - Mapping - to HIPPI-FC
FC-AE ANSI xxxxx Fibre Channel Avionics Environment
FC-PI ANSI xxxxx Fibre Channel Physical Interfaces

Fibre Channel Layers:
FC-0: Physical Layer [Transmitters, Receivers], Signaling
FC-1: Transmission Protocol, 8B/10B character encoding
FC-2: Signaling Protocol, Media Access Control (MAC), Frame format, Sequence management, Exchange management, Flow Control
FC-3: Services for multiple ports on one node
FC-4: Upper Layer Protocol (ULP) mapping, SCSI, IP, ATM, HIPPI, IEEE 802.2

**FC-AL 40-pin Backplane Connector Pinout**
Pin	Function	Pin	Function
1	-EN bypass port A	21	12 Volt charge
2	12 Volts	22	Ground
3	12 Volts	23	Ground
4	12 Volts	24	Channel 1 input +
5	Reserved	25	Channel 1 input -
6	Reserved	26	Ground
7	Active LED out	27	Channel 2 input +
8	Spindle sync	28	Channel 2 input -
9	Remote start	29	Ground
10	Delayed start	30	Channel 1 output +
11	-EN bypass port B	31	Channel 1 output -
12	SEL_6	32	Ground
13	SEL_5	33	Channel 2 output +
14	SEL_4	34	Channel 2 output -
15	SEL_3	35	Ground
16	Fault LED output	36	SEL_2
17	Reserved	37	SEL_1
18	Reserved	38	SEL_0
19	5 Volts	39	Reserved
20	5 Volts	40	5 Volt charge