78 Sun Fire V890 Server Owner’s Guide • September 2004
The unique features of FC-AL provide many advantages over other data transfer
technologies. The following table lists the features and advantages of FC-AL. For
additional information about FC-AL technology, visit the Fibre Channel Association
web site at http://www.fibrechannel.com.
FC-AL Features Advantages
Supports 100-Mbyte per second data transfer
rate (200 Mbytes per second with dual
porting)
High throughput meets the demands of current
generation high-performance processors and
disks.
Capable of addressing up to 126 devices,
plus a single controller, per loop
High connectivity controlled by one device
allows flexible and simpler configurations.
Supports distances up to 10 km between
devices using fiber-optic cable (up to 30
meters using copper cable)
Long distances between devices offers
improved data availability by allowing remote
mirroring and campus clustering.
Provides for reliability, availability, and
serviceability (RAS) features such as hot-
pluggable and dual-ported disks, redundant
data paths, and multiple host connections
RAS features provide improved fault tolerance
and data availability.
Supports standard protocols such as IP and
SCSI
Migration to FC-AL produces small or no
impact on software and firmware.
Implements a simple serial protocol over
copper or fiber cable
Configurations that use serial connections are
less complex because of the reduced number of
cables per connection.
Supports redundant array of independent
disks (RAID)
RAID support enhances data availability.
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