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Fibre Channel and Converged Network Adapters for VMware ESX/ESXi 4.0
User’s Guide
Glossary-2 FC0054607-00 A
cache
A temporary high-speed storage (memory)
area where recently used or frequently
accessed data is stored for rapid access,
thus increasing the efficiency of processor
operations.
Cache contents duplicate recently-used
values stored on disk or elsewhere. Cache
is quick to access relative to the original
data which either takes more time due to
slow disc-access time, or is slow to
compute. After data is stored in the cache,
future use can be made by accessing the
cached copy rather than re-finding or
recomputing the original data, so that the
average access time is lower.
L1 cache—Primary (smallest) cache
on the same chip as the processor.
L2 cache—Secondary (larger) cache.
Either on the processor chip or
external to the processor.
Converged Network Adapter
QLogic Converged Network Adapters
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).
device
A target, typically a disk drive. Hardware
such as a disk drive, tape drive, printer, or
keyboard that is installed in or connected
to a system. In FC, a target device.
driver
The software that interfaces between the
file system and a physical data storage
device or network media.
E_Port
Expansion port. A port in a Fibre Channel
switch that connects to another Fibre
Channel switch or bridge device by an
inter-switch link ISL). E_Ports are used to
link Fibre Channel switches to form a
multi-switch fabric.
Enhanced Ethernet
Also called data center Ethernet or
converged enhanced Ethernet. Refers to
new enhancements to the existing
Ethernet standard that eliminate
Ethernet’s inherent lossy nature and make
10Gb Ethernet a viable storage networking
transport.
Ethernet
The most widely used LAN technology that
transmits information between computers,
typically at speeds of 10 and 100 million
bits per second (Mbps).
expansion port
See E_Port.
F_Port
Fabric port. The “fabric” port in a Fibre
Channel fabric switch provides a
point-to-point link attachment to a single
N_Port. F_Ports are intermediate ports in
virtual point-to-point links between end
ports, for example N_Port to F_Port to
F_Port to N_Port using a single Fibre
Channel fabric switch.
fabric
A fabric consists of cross-connected Fibre
Channel devices and switches.
fabric loop port
See FL_Port.
fabric port
See F_Port.