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Fibre Channel Connectivity
The on demand operating environment requires fast data
access, continuous data availability, and improved fl ex-
ibility all with lower cost of ownership. The new increased
number of FICON Express features available on the z990
helps distinguish this new server family, further setting it
apart as enterprise class in terms of the number of simulta-
neous I/O connections available for these FICON Express
features.
FICON Express Channel Card Features
Performance
With its 2 Gigabit per second link data rate capability, the
FICON Express channel card feature (feature codes 2319,
2320) is the latest zSeries implementation for the Fibre
Channel Architecture. The FICON Express card has two
links and can achieve improved performance over the
previous generation FICON channel card. For example,
attached to a 100 MBps link (1 Gbps), a single FICON
Express feature confi gured as a native FICON channel
is capable of supporting up to 7,200 I/O operations/sec
(channel is 100% utilized) and an aggregate total through-
put of 120 MBps on z990.
With 2 Gbps links, customers may expect up to 170 MBps
of total throughput. The 2 Gbps link data rates are appli-
cable to native FICON and FCP channels on zSeries only
and for full benefi t, require 2 Gbps capable devices as
well. Customers can leverage this additional bandwidth
capacity to consolidate channels and reduce confi guration
complexity, infrastructure costs, and the number of chan-
nels that must be managed. Please note, no additional
hardware or code is needed in order to obtain 2 Gbps
links. The functionality was incorporated in all zSeries
with March 2002 LIC. The link data rate is auto-negotiated
between server and devices.
Flexibility - Three channel types supported
The FICON Express features support three different chan-
nel types: 1) FCV Mode for FICON Bridge Channels, 2) FC
mode for Native FICON channels (including the FICON
CTC function), and 3) FCP mode for Fibre Channels (FCP
channels). Support for FCP devices means that zSeries
servers will be capable of attaching to select fi bre channel
switches/directors and FCP/SCSI disks and may access
these devices from Linux on zSeries and, new with z/VM
Version 5 Release 1, installation and operation of z/VM on
a SCSI disk.
Distance
All channels defi ned on FICON Express LX channel card
features at 1 Gbps link data rates support a maximum
unrepeated distance of up to 10 km (6.2 miles, or up to
20 km via RPQ, or up to 100 km with repeaters) over nine
micron single mode fi ber and up to 550 meters (1,804
feet) over 50 or 62.5 micron multimode fi ber through Mode
Conditioning Patch (MCP) cables. At 2 Gbps link speeds
FICON Express LX channel card features support up to
10 km (6.2 miles, or up to 12 km via RPQ, or up to 100
km with repeaters) over nine micron single mode fi ber.
At 2 Gbps link speeds, Mode Conditioning Patch (MCP)
cables on 50 or 62.5 micron multimode fi ber are not sup-
ported. The maximum unrepeated distances for 1 Gbps