NPIV
Encyclopedia
N_Port ID Virtualization or NPIV is a Fibre Channel
facility allowing multiple N Port IDs to share a single physical N_Port. This allows multiple Fibre Channel initiators to occupy a single physical port, easing hardware requirements in Storage Area Network
design, especially where virtual SANs
are called for. NPIV is defined by the Technical Committee T11 in the Fibre Channel - Link Services (FC-LS) specification.
Normally N_Port initialization proceeds like this:
However with NPIV it may continue like this:
FDISC is abbreviation of "Discover Fabric Service Parameters", which is a misleading name in this context. It works just like FLOGI
.
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel, or FC, is a gigabit-speed network technology primarily used for storage networking. Fibre Channel is standardized in the T11 Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards , an American National Standards Institute –accredited standards...
facility allowing multiple N Port IDs to share a single physical N_Port. This allows multiple Fibre Channel initiators to occupy a single physical port, easing hardware requirements in Storage Area Network
Storage area network
A storage area network is a dedicated network that provides access to consolidated, block level data storage. SANs are primarily used to make storage devices, such as disk arrays, tape libraries, and optical jukeboxes, accessible to servers so that the devices appear like locally attached devices...
design, especially where virtual SANs
VSAN
In computer networking, a virtual storage area network is a collection of ports from a set of connected Fibre Channel switches, that form a virtual fabric. Ports within a single switch can be partitioned into multiple VSANs, despite sharing hardware resources...
are called for. NPIV is defined by the Technical Committee T11 in the Fibre Channel - Link Services (FC-LS) specification.
Normally N_Port initialization proceeds like this:
- N_Port sends FLOGI to address 0xFFFFFE to obtain a valid address
- N_Port sends PLOGI to address 0xFFFFFC to register this address with the name server
- N_Port sends SCR to address 0xFFFFFD to register for state change notifications
However with NPIV it may continue like this:
- N_Port sends FDISC to address 0xFFFFFE to obtain an additional address
- N_Port sends PLOGI to address 0xFFFFFC to register this additional address with the name server
- N_Port sends SCR to address 0xFFFFFD to register for state change notifications.
- ... (repeat FDISC/PLOGI/SCR for next address)
FDISC is abbreviation of "Discover Fabric Service Parameters", which is a misleading name in this context. It works just like FLOGI
Fibre Channel Logins
Fibre Channel logins takes place after a link is operational. There are three different types of logins in Fibre Channel technology:* Fabric Login * Port Login * Process Login...
.
Sources
- [ftp://ftp.t11.org/t11/member/fc/da/02-340v1.pdf NPIV Functionality Protocol]
- T11 latest draft standards page