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Fibre Channel Controller

Fibre Channel interface for RamSan® products

8-Gb Fibre Channel is a low latency interface option for Texas Memory Systems RamSan® storage devices.

Fibre Channel (FC) Controllers from Texas Memory Systems connect to host devices directly and to storage networks for connection to virtually an unlimited number of devices.  Texas Memory Systems' FC Controllers are designed and optimized for maximum performance and throughput so there is nothing holding your application back from the extreme performance delivered by the RamSan®.  The FC Controllers are dual ported and support 8-Gb, 4-Gb, and 2-Gb devices.

Fibre Channel Controllers from Texas Memory Systems include the following features:

  • Dual Port
  • Supports 8-Gb, 4-Gb, and 2-Gb link speeds
  • Supports Point-to-Point and Arbitrated Loop topologies
  • Supports the FCP upper layer protocol (ULP)
  • Interoperable with all major Fibre Channel host bus adapters, switches, virtualization devices, and operating systems

Topologies supported by Texas Memory Systems Fibre Channel Controllers:

  • Point-to-point In this mode, the Fibre Channel Controller is directly attached to a server. Through the point-to-point topology, the RamSan® can be attached directly. Point-to-point connections are faster than the other methods for attaching storage.
  • Switched Fabric The most popular way to attach a RamSan® is with the switched fabric topology. The switched fabric topology implies that there is a storage network switch between the host and the RamSan®. Switched fabric topologies can be used to provide unparalleled scalability and redundancy for storage networking. Because Fibre Channel switches tend to add very little latency to storage transactions, the switched fabric topology is still an excellent choice for high performance storage.
  • Arbitrated Loop In many ways, arbitrated loop is the legacy topology for Fibre Channel. Arbitrated loop operates very similar to the old token ring local area networks and tends to be somewhat slower than the other topologies. In addition, arbitrated loop can support far fewer devices than the switched fabric topology. This functionality allows the RamSan® to be connected directly to host bus adapters and storage devices that work best with arbitrated loop. The RamSan® will also work when connected to a private arbitrated loop hub.

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