HP StorageWorks 64 FW 07.00.00/HAFM SW 08.06.00 McDATA Products in a SAN Envir - Page 127
FCP and FICON in a Single Fabric, Fibre Channel Layer 4 FC-4 describes the interface between Fibre
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Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3 FCP and FICON in a Single Fabric Director or Switch Management Fibre Channel Layer 4 (FC-4) describes the interface between Fibre Channel and various upper-level protocols. FCP and FICON are the major FC-4 protocols. FCP is the Fibre Channel protocol that supports the small computer system interface (SCSI) upper-level transport protocol. FICON is the successor to the enterprise systems connection (ESCON) protocol and adds increased reliability and integrity to that provided by the FCP protocol. Because FCP and FICON are both FC-4 protocols, routing of Fibre Channel frames is not affected when the protocols are mixed in a single fabric environment. However, management differences in the protocols arise when a user changes director or fabric switch parameters through zoning or connectivity control. In particular: • FCP communication parameters are port number and namecentric, discovery oriented, assigned by the fabric, and use the Fibre Channel name server to control device communication. • FICON communication parameters are logical port addresscentric, definition oriented, assigned by the attached host, and use host assignment to control device communication. Considerations that need to be evaluated when intermixing FCP and FICON protocols are: • Director or switch management. • Port numbering versus port addressing. • Management limitations. • Features that impact protocol intermixing. • Best practices. When intermixing FCP and FICON protocols, it must be determined if the director or fabric switch is to be operated using the open systems or FICON management style. This setting only affects the operating mode used to manage the director or switch; it does not affect F_Port operation. FCP devices can communicate with each other when the attached fabric element is set to FICON management style, and FICON devices can communicate with each other when the attached fabric element is set to open systems management style. Planning Considerations for Fibre Channel Topologies 3-41