Seagate 77767496 User manual

Fibre Channel Interface

Fibre Channel Interface

©1997–2004, Seagate Technology LLC All rights reserved
Publication number: 77767496, Rev. D
February 2004
Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC.
SeaTools, SeaFONE, SeaBOARD, SeaTDD, and the Wave logo are either registered trade-
marks or trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC. Other product names are registered trade-
marks or trademarks of their owners.
Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications. No
part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission of Seagate
Technology LLC.

Revision status summary sheet
Revision Date Sheets Affected Sheets Affected
A 03/21/1997 L. Newman/J. Coomes and W. Whittington All
B 08/01/2000 L. Newman/J. Coomes All
C 01/03/2003 L. Newman No change except for new Seagate logo.
Document migration/conversion only.
D 02/05/2004 K. Schweiss/J. Coomes and W. Paulsen All

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D v
Contents
1.0 Publication overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 How to use this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 General interface description. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.0 Introduction to Fibre Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1 General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Channels vs. networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.3 The advantages of Fibre Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.0 Fibre Channel standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
3.1 General information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1 Description of Fibre Channel levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.1 FC-0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.2 FC-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.3 FC-1.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.4 FC-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.5 FC-3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3.1.1.6 FC-4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.2 Relationship between the levels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.3 Topology standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.1.4 FC Implementation Guide (FC-IG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
4.0 Introduction to topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.1 Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.3 Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 Arbitrated loop topology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.5 Topology and port login . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.6 Port bypass circuits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.0 Data encoding (FC-1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.1 Encoding and decoding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
5.2 Buffer-to-buffer data transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
5.3 Data hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.3.1 Transmission words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.3.1.1 Data characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.3.1.2 Special characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.4 Ordered sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.4.1 Primitive signals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5.4.1.1 Primitive signals used as frame delimiters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.4.1.2 Primitive signals custom made for arbitrated loop topologies . . . . . . . 18
5.4.2 Primitive sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.4.2.1 Primitive sequences custom made for Arbitrated Loop topologies . . . 20
6.0 Framing protocol (FC-2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.1 Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.1.1 Frame structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.1.1.1 Start-of-frame (SOF) delimiter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.1.2 Frame header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.1.1.3 Data field (payload) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.1.1.4 CRC field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.1.1.5 End-of-frame (EOF) delimiter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.2 Frame sequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

vi Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D
6.3 Exchanges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.4 Credit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7.0 Classes of service (FC-2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.1 Class 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.2 Class 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.3 Class 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.3.1 Class 3 flow control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
7.4 Classes 4 and 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8.0 FC Arbitrated Loop concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.1 Arbitrated Loop physical address (AL_PA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.2 Loop initialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8.2.1 Loop initialization state machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
8.2.2 Loop reinitialization. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.3 Accessing another L_Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.3.1 Access fairness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
8.3.2 Access unfairness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.3.3 Clock skew management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.4 Loop ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.4.1 Maximum number of NL_Ports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.4.2 Blocking switch emulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8.4.3 Non-meshed environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8.4.4 Assigned AL_PA values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
9.0 Fibre Channel link services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
9.1 Basic link services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
9.1.1 Abort Sequence (ABTS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
9.1.2 Basic Accept (BA_ACC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
9.1.3 Basic Reject (BA_RJT). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
9.2 Extended link services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9.2.1 Port Login (PLOGI) (02x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
9.2.2 Port Logout (PLOGO) (03x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
9.2.3 Fabric Login (FLOGI) (04) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
9.2.4 Process Login (PRLI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
9.2.5 Process Logout (PRLO) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
9.2.6 Third Party Process Logout (TPRLO). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
9.2.7 Read Link Error Status Block (RLS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
9.2.8 Reinstate Recovery Qualifier (RRQ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
9.2.9 Port Discovery (PDISC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
9.2.10 Discover Address (ADISC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
9.2.11 Report Node Capabilities (RNC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
9.2.12 Link Service Reject (LS_RJT) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
9.3 FC common transport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9.3.1 Register FC-4 Types Name Service (RFT_ID). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
10.0 Enclosure services interface (ESI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
10.1 Discovery process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
10.2 8045 mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
10.2.1 8045 ESI pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
10.3 8067 mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
10.3.1 8067 ESI command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
10.3.2 8067 ESI interface pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10.3.3 8067 information format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
10.4 ESI command transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
10.4.1 ESI read transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

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10.4.2 ESI write transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
10.5 Enclosure-initiated ESI transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10.5.1 EIE Discovery. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
10.5.2 EIE operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
10.5.3 Enclosure requested information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
10.5.3.1 Device Standard Inquiry Data page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.5.3.2 Device Address page. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.5.3.3 Loop Position Map page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.5.3.4 Device Identification page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
10.5.3.5 Device Temperature page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
10.5.3.6 Port Parameters page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
10.5.3.7 Link Status page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
10.5.3.8 Spin-Down Control Action Specific Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
10.5.3.9 ESI data validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
11.0 SCSI operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
11.1 SCSI-FCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
11.1.1 FC-4 mapping layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
11.2 FCP CMND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
11.2.1 Command Descriptor Block (CDB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
11.2.1.1 Operation Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
11.2.1.2 Logical block address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11.2.1.3 Operation code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11.2.1.4 Relative address bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11.2.1.5 Transfer length. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
11.2.1.6 Control byte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
11.3 FCP XFER RDY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
11.4 FCP DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
11.5 FCP RSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
11.5.1 Extended Sense Data format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
11.5.1.1 Sense Key Specific Valid (SKSV) and Sense Key Specific . . . . . . . . 147
11.5.1.2 Current and deferred errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11.6 Parameter rounding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
12.0 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
12.1 Change Definition command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
12.2 Compare command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
12.3 Copy command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
12.4 Copy and Verify command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
12.5 Format Unit command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
12.5.1 Format Unit parameter list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
12.5.1.1 Defect List header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
12.5.1.2 Initialization Pattern descriptor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
12.6 Inquiry command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
12.6.1 Vital product data pages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
12.6.2 Unit Serial Number page (80h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
12.6.3 Implemented Operating Definition page (81h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
12.6.4 Device Identification page (83h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
12.6.5 Firmware Numbers page (C0h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
12.6.6 Date Code page (C1h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
12.6.7 Jumper Settings page (C2h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
12.6.8 Device Behavior page (C3h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
12.7 Lock-Unlock Cache (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
12.8 Lock-Unlock Cache (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
12.9 Log Select command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
12.10 Log Sense command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

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12.10.1 Error Counter pages, Write, Read, Read Reverse, and Verify (code 02, 03, 04, and
05h) 196
12.10.2 Non-Medium Error page (code 06h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
12.10.3 Temperature page (code 0Dh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
12.10.4 Device Self-Test Results Log page (code 10h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
12.10.5 Cache Statistics page (code 37h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
12.10.6 Factory Log page (code 3Eh) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
12.11 Mode Select (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
12.12 Mode Select (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
12.13 Mode Sense (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
12.13.1 Unit Attention page (00h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
12.13.2 Error Recovery page (01h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
12.13.3 Disconnect/Reconnect Control page (02h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
12.13.4 Format Parameters page (03h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
12.13.5 Rigid Disc Drive Geometry Parameters page (04h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226
12.13.6 Verify Error Recovery page (07h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
12.13.7 Caching Parameters page (08h) for Mode Sense/Mode Select . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
12.13.8 Mode Sense/Mode Select Control Mode page (0Ah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
12.13.9 Notch page (0Ch) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
12.13.10 XOR Control Mode page (10h). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
12.13.11 Fibre Channel Interface Control page (19h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
12.13.12 Power Condition page (1Ah) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
12.13.13 Informational Exceptions Control page (1Ch). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
12.14 Mode Sense (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
12.15 Move Medium command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
12.16 Persistent Reserve In command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
12.16.1 Persistent Reserve In parameter data for read keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
12.16.2 Persistent Reserve In parameter data for read reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
12.17 Persistent Reserve Out command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
12.17.1 Persistent Reserve Out parameter list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
12.18 Prefetch (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
12.19 Prefetch (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
12.20 Prevent/Allow Medium Removal command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
12.21 Read (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
12.22 Read (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
12.23 Read (12) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
12.24 Read (16) command (88h) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
12.25 Read Buffer command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
12.25.1 Read Combined Descriptor Header and Data mode (000b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
12.25.2 Read Data mode (010b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
12.25.3 Read Buffer descriptor mode (011b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
12.26 Read Capacity (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
12.27 Read Capacity (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
12.28 Read Defect Data (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
12.29 Read Defect Data (12) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
12.30 Read Element Status command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
12.31 Read Long command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
12.32 Reassign Blocks command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
12.33 Receive Diagnostic Results command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
12.34 Release (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
12.35 Release (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
12.36 Report Device Identifier command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
12.37 Report LUNs command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
12.38 Request Sense command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
12.39 Reserve (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D ix
12.40 Reserve (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299
12.40.1 Logical unit reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.40.2 Third-party reservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.40.3 Superseding reservations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
12.40.4 Parameter list format for third-party addressing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
12.41 Rezero Unit command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
12.42 Search Data Equal command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
12.43 Search Data High command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
12.44 Search Data Low command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
12.45 Seek (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
12.46 Seek (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
12.47 Send Diagnostic command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
12.47.1 Supported Diagnostic page–Send Diagnostic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
12.47.2 Translate Address page–Send Diagnostic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308
12.47.3 Diagnostic page–Send Diagnostic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
12.48 Set Device Identifier command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310
12.49 Set Limits command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
12.50 Start/Stop Unit command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313
12.51 Synchronize Cache (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
12.52 Synchronize Cache (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
12.53 Test Unit Ready command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
12.54 Verify (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
12.55 Verify (12) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318
12.56 Verify (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
12.57 Write (6) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322
12.58 Write (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
12.59 Write (12) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
12.60 Write (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
12.61 Write and Verify (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
12.62 Write and Verify (12) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
12.63 Write and Verify (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
12.64 Write Buffer command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
12.64.1 Combined Header and Data mode (000b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
12.64.2 Write Data Only mode (010b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
12.64.3 Download Microcode and Save mode (101b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337
12.64.4 Download Microcode with Offsets and Save mode (111b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
12.65 Write Long command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
12.66 Write Same (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
12.67 Write Same (16) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
12.68 XDRead (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
12.69 XDRead (32) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
12.70 XDWrite (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
12.71 XDWrite (32) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
12.72 XDWriteRead (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
12.73 XDWriteRead (32) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
12.74 XPWrite (10) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
12.75 XPWrite (32) command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
13.0 Drive features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13.1 Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13.2 Self-test operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13.2.1 Default self-test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13.2.2 Short and extended device self-tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
13.2.3 Device self-test modes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
13.2.3.1 Foreground mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356

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13.2.3.2 Background mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
13.2.3.3 Elements common to foreground and background self-test modes . . 357
14.0 Seagate Technology support services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D xi
List of Figures
Figure 1. Fibre Channel standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 2. Arbitrated loop topology (dual port private loop) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 3. Port bypass circuit physical interconnect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Figure 4. Decimal value translation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 5. Serialization process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 6. FC data hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 7. Relationship between frames, sequences, and exchanges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Figure 8. Frame structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 9. FC–SCSI exchanges, command and response transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Figure 10. Loop initialization sequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 11. Loop initialization state machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 12. Loop state machine (simplified). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 13. Discovery process flow diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 14. ESI transfer phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Figure 15. ESI command transfers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Figure 16. ESI reads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Figure 17. ESI writes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Figure 18. Enclosure Initiated ESI Request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Figure 19. Prepare for Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Figure 20. EIE Operation Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

xii Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D 1
1.0 Publication overview
This publication provides some general information about Fibre Channel as well as detailed information about
how Seagate disc drives implement Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop technology.
This publication will continue to be revised as Fibre Channel technology advances and as Seagate Fibre
Channel drives change to meet data storage needs.
You will observe that many references are made to SCSI throughout this publication. This is because Fibre
Channel transports the SCSI command set. This concept is discussed in more detail throughout this publica-
tion beginning in Chapter 2.
1.1 Acknowledgements
The information contained in this publication was gathered from many sources. Portions of the text used to
explain general Fibre Channel concepts were adapted in various forms, with permission, from Ancot Corpora-
tion’s Fibre Channel, Volume 1: The Basics written by Gary R. Stephens and Jan V. Dedek. Additional informa-
tion was contributed by Canadian Valley Vocational-Technical instructor Chuck Chalupa.
1.2 How to use this manual
This publication provides a universal detailed description of the Fibre Channel interface for Seagate disc
drives. You may read it from front-to-back, or turn directly to the sections that interest you the most. A glossary
is provided in the back (see Appendix A) which you may find useful as you read this manual.
Note. Volume 1 Product Manuals have tables that specify which SCSI features are implemented in each
specific drive model, what the default parameters are for the various features they implement, and
which parameters are changeable and which are not.
No method exists at present to inform an initiator if a target supports SCSI-3 features as opposed to only SCSI-
2 features. A few SCSI-3 features are supported by Seagate drives, but no attempt has been made herein to
differentiate between SCSI-2 and SCSI-3 features. Therefore, when an Inquiry command reports what the
ANSI-approved version of the drive is, it reports SCSI-2, where SCSI-2 means SCSI-2 features plus some
SCSI-3 features.
No attempt is made in this universal specification to specify which descriptions or tables apply to SCSI-2 or
SCSI-3. The combination of this general specification with the details in the individual drive’s Product Manual,
Volume 1, provides a description of the individual drive implementation of the SCSI interface.
This interface manual is not intended to be a stand-alone publication about Fibre Channel’s features. You
should reference the individual drive’s Product Manual to determine the specific features supported by each
drive model.
This specification is Volume 2 of a set of manuals that is made up of a separate drive Product Manual, Volume
1, and this manual. This Volume 2 manual is referenced by the Volume 1 Product Manual for Seagate Fibre
Channel disc drives.

2 Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D
1.3 General interface description
This manual describes the Seagate Technology LLC Fibre Channel/SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface)
as implemented on Seagate Fibre Channel (FC) disc drives.
The disc drives covered by this manual are classified as intelligent peripherals.
The interface supports multiple initiators, self-configuring host software, automatic features that relieve the
host from the necessity of knowing the physical architecture of the target (logical block addressing is used),
and some other miscellaneous features.
The physical interface uses differential drivers and receivers for the Fibre Channel serial connections. The sin-
gle channel transfer rate is 106 MB/second (commonly called 1 gigabit/sec) or 212 MB/second (commonly
called 2 gigabit/sec). See the Volume 1 Product Manual for a definition of the electrical characteristics of the
interface.

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D 3
2.0 Introduction to Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) interface that acts as a general transport
vehicle to simultaneously deliver the command sets of several existing interface protocols including SCSI-3,
IPI-3, HIPPI-FP, IP, and ATM/AAL5. Proprietary and other command sets may also use and share the Fibre
Channel, but these are not yet defined as part of the Fibre Channel standard.
Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) is one topology used to connect two or more devices within the guide-
lines set by the ANSI standards. This topology is discussed in detail throughout this manual. Other topologies
do exist and are discussed briefly in this manual to give you some idea of how these topologies can coexist
and interact.
2.1 General information
Fibre Channel supports both large and small data transfers. This makes it effective in transferring a wide vari-
ety of data and can be used in systems ranging from supercomputers to individual workstations. Fibre Channel
peripherals can include devices such as, but not limited to, disc drives, tape units, high-bandwidth graphics ter-
minals, and laser printers.
To accommodate all of these device types with various command sets, Fibre Channel separates the physical I/
O interface from the I/O operations. This makes it possible to use the multiple command sets simultaneously.
This also allows new speeds and new functions to be added without making all previous investment in existing
components obsolete.
Another benefit of Fibre Channel is that it supports both channel and network peripheral protocols for device
communication. This means that channel and network protocols can share the same physical medium.
Fibre Channel does not have its own native I/O command set protocol. It simply lets other protocols superim-
pose their command sets onto itself and then transports this information. Fibre Channel has a command set
that it uses to manage the links between the various participating devices using Fibre Channel. Fibre Channel
calls these link level functions “link services.”
Since multiple command sets may use Fibre Channel, it identifies the information by command set type. This
allows the receiving port to distinguish among the protocols and make processing decisions. Each Fibre Chan-
nel frame has a field in the frame header to identify the protocol associated with that frame. Additional informa-
tion about frames is available in Section 6.0 beginning on page 23.
2.2 Channels vs. networks
As mentioned above, Fibre Channel supports both channel and network communications.
Channels
Traditional disc drive communications occur in a channel environment where the host controls the devices
attached to it. The primary requirement for channel environments is to provide error-free delivery, with transfer
delays being a secondary consideration.

4 Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D
Networks
Networks allow many devices to communicate with each other at will. This is usually accompanied by software
support to route transactions to the correct provider and to verify access permission. Networks are used for
transferring data with “error-free delivery” and voice and video where “delivery on time” is the primary require-
ment with error-free delivery being a secondary consideration. For example, when transferring video, it is more
important to provide on-time delivery of data to prevent loss of video frames than to lose one or two pixels in a
video frame.
2.3 The advantages of Fibre Channel
In addition to the channel/network support, Fibre Channel:
• Supports multiple physical interface types.
• Provides a means to interconnect physical interface types.
• Provides high-speed data transfer rates much faster than parallel SCSI.
• Separates the logical protocol being transported from the physical interface—this allows multiple protocols
to be transported over a common physical interface.
• Allows increased cable lengths. You can have 30 meters between each device when using twisted pair cop-
per media. Note that this 30 meters is between each device, not the total length (multiply the number of
devices by 30m to obtain total allowable length). Fiber optic media extended this even further by allowing
distances of 10km between each device.
• Increases the potential number of devices connected. Just one private arbitrated loop can have up to 125
devices attached. Even more can be attached in non-participating mode. Also, multiple loops can be
attached to fabrics to significantly increase the number of devices attached.
• Uses asynchronous transmission to fully utilize the available bandwidth.
• Allows flexibility in transfer rates, distances, media types, and protocols.

Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D 5
3.0 Fibre Channel standards
Figure 1 shows the various documents involved in the ANSI set of standards relating to Fibre Channel. This
model is not static—it is growing as others areas of interest are developed.
Figure 1. Fibre Channel standards
The interface is compatible with a subset of the ANSI standards listed below:
• SCSI-2 Standard and the Common Command Set (CCS) document, Revision 4.B
• SCSI Parallel Interface-3 (SPI-3)
• SCSI Enclosure Services (SES) Command Set, X3T10 NCITS, 305-199x
• Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling, Revision 4.3 (FC-PH)
• Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling, Revision 7.4 (FC-PH-2)
• Fibre Channel Physical and Signaling, Revision 9.4 (FC-PH-3)
• SCSI Fibre Channel Protocol, Revision 12 (SCSI-FCP)
• Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop, Revision 4.5 (FC-AL)
• Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop Direct Attach SCSI Technical Report
• Fibre Channel Fabric Loop Attach Technical Report
FC-SB
Mapping of Single-Byte
Command Code Sets
FC-FP
Mapping of
HIPPI-FP
FC-ATM
Mapping of
ATM FC-PH-n
Fibre Channel Enhanced Physical
FC-PH
Fibre Channel Physical Interface
FC-IG
Fibre Channel Implementation Guide
X3.230-1994
FC-AE
Avionics
Environment
FC-LE
Link
Encapsulation
SCSI-FCP
SCSI-FC
Protocol
SCSI-GPP
Generic
Packetized
Protocol
FC-AL-n
Arbitrated Loop
FC-I3
Revision to
IPI-3 Disk std
FC-SW
Switch Fabric
FC-FG
General Fabric
Requirements
FC-I3
Revision to
IPI-3 Tape std
FC-GS
Generic Services

6 Fibre Channel Interface Manual, Rev. D
Copies of ANSI documents relating to Fibre Channel can be purchased from:
Global Engineering
15 Inverness Way East
Englewood, CO 80112-5704
[phone] or
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
3.1 General information
The FC-PH standard is the foundation upon which all others are based. Each topology, command set, and pro-
tocol has its own standard. These are all separate to allow future growth and to allow designers to more easily
use only those parts that affect their products. It is important for system designers to consider the requirements
of the set of protocols to be supported because different protocols require different subsets of the functions
permitted in a Fibre Channel port.
3.1.1 Description of Fibre Channel levels
The Fibre Channel levels are listed below:
• Physical (FC-0)
• 8B/10B encoding/decoding (FC-1)
• FC-AL (FC-1.5)
• Framing protocol (FC-2)
• Common services (FC-3)
• Interface mapping (FC-4)
3.1.1.1 FC-0
FC-0 defines the physical portions of the Fibre Channel. This includes the fibre, connectors, and optical and
electrical parameters for a variety of data rates and physical media. Coax, twinax, and twisted pair versions are
defined for limited distance applications. FC-0 also provides the point-to-point physical portion of the Fibre
Channel.
3.1.1.2 FC-1
FC-1 defines the transmission protocol which includes the serial encoding, decoding, and error control.
3.1.1.3 FC-1.5
FC-1.5 defines the topology involved with Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) configurations.
3.1.1.4 FC-2
FC-2 defines the signaling protocol which includes the frame structure and byte sequences.
3.1.1.5 FC-3
FC-3 defines a set of services which are common across multiple ports of a node.