Although Fibre Channel has been around for a while, it's just now starting to be accepted within the enterprise. As such, there are still many IT pros who don't understand Fibre Channel. In this article, I'll introduce you to Fibre Channel technology and discuss some of the pros and cons associated with using this high-speed storage solution.
What is Fibre Channel?
Like Ethernet or ATM, Fibre Channel is a networking standard that is designed to move data through specific devices at specific speeds.
Fibre Channel is used primarily for server backbones and as a way of attaching a server to a storage device, such as a RAID array or a tape backup device. In fact, Fibre Channel is the architecture of choice for many storage area networks.
One of the primary reasons Fibre Channel is becoming so popular in storage networks is because of its high speed. A basic Fibre Channel implementation can move data at 1.06 Gbps.
Obviously this speed is significantly faster than the 100 Mbps achieved using Ethernet or ATM, which runs at 622 Mbps. Gigabit Ethernet is slightly faster at 1.25 Gbps, but presently it's possible to scale Fibre Channel implementations in a way that allows the medium to move data at speeds of 2.12 Gbps or 4.24 Gbps. There's even a 10-Gbps solution in the works.
Another factor that helps Fibre Channel move data so quickly is that it uses a larger frame size than comparable technologies. ATM uses a frame size of a mere 53 bytes. Gigabit Ethernet uses a variable-length frame size of between 0 and 1.5 Kb. In comparison, Fibre Channel's frame size varies between 0 and 2 Kb.
Fibre Channel as a storage solution
Fibre Channel is quickly replacing SCSI as the technology used by storage devices such as RAID arrays and tape backup drives. Although Fibre Channel is roughly three times faster than SCSI, there are compatibility issues because some product manufacturers have interpreted Fibre Channel specifications differently from each other.
Therefore, until things completely stabilise, it's wise to purchase Fibre Channel products from a common manufacturer rather than mixing and matching brands.
Compatibility issues aside, many IT pros find that Fibre Channel is an answer to their storage prayers. Since a company's data grows daily, each night the system is backing up a little bit more data than the night before. Thus, the window for completing the backup tends to shrink a little bit each year.
The only way to back up more data in less time is to get a faster storage device and a faster medium for transmitting the data from the server to the storage device.
In production networks, Fibre Channel products have been able to accomplish a sustained transfer rate of 97 MB per second when backing up large files. Companies that use Fibre Channel on database servers have reported these servers can handle tens of thousands of I/Os per second due to Fibre Channel technology.
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