Fibre Channel overview

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Each Fibre Channel adapter has either four or eight ports, and each port has a unique worldwide port name (WWPN). You can configure a port to operate with either the SCSI-FCP or the FICON (FC-SB-x) upper-layer protocol by using the DS8000® Storage Management GUI or the DS CLI. You can add both shortwave and longwave Fibre Channel adapters.

For details on the host systems that support Fibre Channel adapters, go to the IBM® System Storage® Interoperation Center (SSIC) website.

Fibre Channel adapters support the following configurations:

Fibre Channel adapters support switched-fabric or point-to-point topologies, if 16 Gb adapters or 32 Gb adapters are used.
A maximum of 509 logins per Fibre Channel port, which includes host ports and PPRC target and initiator ports
Access to 63700 LUNs per target (one target per host adapter), depending on host type