Fibre Channel ports
A Fibre Channel port is a port on the storage system that connects it to hosts, switches, or another storage system either directly or through a switch. Fibre Channel ports are also referred to as I/O ports.
Fibre Channel port properties
You can view the properties of an I/O port in the I/O Port Properties window, or by clicking on the illustration of the I/O enclosure on the System page and hovering over the I/O port.
- I/O Port
- The identification number of the I/O port.
- State
- The current state of the I/O port as follows:
- Communication Established
- The storage system can process all functions.
- No Light Detected
- There is no light detected on the port and, therefore, the port is not capable of processing I/O.
- Offline
- The state of the port that is internal to the storage system is not capable of processing I/O.
- Service in progress
- The port is being serviced by IBM® support.
- Unconfigured
- The I/O port protocol is not configured.
- Unknown
- An unknown error occurred with the port.
- Protocol
- One of three Fibre Channel protocols as follows:
- FC-AL
- A Fibre Channel arbitrated loop where devices are connected in a one-way loop ring topology. The bandwidth on the loop is shared among all ports. Only two ports can communicate at a time on the loop. One port wins arbitration and can open one other port.
- SCSI FCP
- A method for transferring SCSI commands with Fibre Channel protocol.
- FICON®
- Fibre Connection is a high-speed I/O interface for IBM Z host connections.
- WWPN
- The unique 16-digit hex number that represents the worldwide port name of the I/O port.
- Type
- The type of port, long wave or short wave.
- Speed
- The speed of the port.
- Host Adapter
- The host adapter and I/O enclosure that contain the I/O port.
- Frame
- The physical structure where the I/O port is located.
- Location Code
- A unique value that is assigned by the storage system to identify the component.