ATTO Technology FC-81EN User Manual

ii ATTO Technology Inc. Celerity FC Host Adapters Installation and Operation Manual

N_port

a port attached to a node used with point to point or fabric configurations

NL_ port

a port attached to a node in Fibre Channel arbitrated loop or fabric loop configuration

originator

an initiating device; a component which originates a command

parity checking

a method which verifies the accuracy of data transmitted over the SCSI bus by adding one bit in 
the transfer to make the sum of all the bits either odd or even (for odd or even parity); an error 
message occurs if the sum is not correct

PCI

Peripheral Component Interconnect. Allows peripherals to be connected directly to computer 
memory, bypassing the slower ISA and EISA busses

point-to-point

a topology where two ports communicate

port

an access point in a device: see N_port, NL_port, etc.

port address

also port number; the address, assigned by the PCI bus, through which commands are sent to a 
host adapter board

port number

see port address

receiver

the ultimate destination of data transmission; a terminal device 

SAS

Serial Attached SCSI: a serial SCSI bus technology and point to point architecture for connecting 
host bus adapters to storage devices 

SATA

Serial AT Attachment: a serial ATA bus technology and point to point architecture for connecting 
host bus adapters to storage devices 

scatter/gather

a device driver feature which allows the host adapter to modify a transfer data pointer so that a 
single host adapter can access many segments of memory, minimizing interrupts and transfer 
overhead

SCSI

Small Computer Systems Interface: a processor-independent standard for system-level interface 
between a computer and intelligent devices including hard disks, floppy disks, CD-ROM, printers, 
scanners, etc. 

single-mode fiber an optical fiber with a small core which supports one wavelength (ray of light); the core radius is 

nearly equal to the wavelength of the source

SNMP

Simple Network Management Protocol: a standard for monitoring network-attached devices

topology

logical layout of the parts of a computer system or network and their interconnections

transceiver

a transmitter/receiver module

transfer rate

the rate at which bytes or bits are transferred, as in megabytes or gigabits per second