Glossary E-F

E-F

embedded database

Many computer applications come with a database integrated with each function. Other applications are unattended and utilize databases to collect or store data for its operations, such as an automobile, HVA systems, and aeronautical systems. Each database included in these applications integrates an embedded database. The embedded database is tightly integrated with the application programs and cannot be used for other general- purpose applications. These applications, and moreover their embedded database elements, can be challenging to storage given they have limited performance and allocation parameters. Therefore, their inherent limitations have to be compensated for by the processing infrastructure.

F_Port

A FC switch port designated to connect participating nodes, known as N_Ports, to the FC network. These nodes can be devices such as storage arrays and servers.

fabric

A Fibre Channel switch, or multiple Fibre Channel switches, that are interconnected in a networked topology to facilitate the physical transmission of FC frames between any two N_Ports. This includes the software operating within the control of a microkernel that facilitates the operation of a FC switch. The software functioning within the control of a microkernel operating system provides the base level services that form the switch fabric network. The fabrics are vendor-dependent and although compliant with FC standards, they have levels of differences in how they implement many of the FC operations.

Fibre Channel (FC)

Fibre Channel is a network connectivity standard for a serial I/O bus, with the capability of transmitting data between two N_Ports at 100 MBps. Principally, the X3T11 committee of ANSI governs this standard.

file allocation table

Disks have tables of contents so they can access the data stored in a responsive manner. Most operating environments support some type of file allocation table that resides on the disk and stores information regarding the files and physical locations of the data on that disk.

file system

File systems are the operating system functions that manage the stored data within the computer. Most file systems allow users to organize their data into a defined naming and hierarchical structure. File systems function in networked environments by permitting other computers to access their data by providing access to segments of the file system. File systems maintain various levels of data integrity by monitoring and managing the processes that allocate and write data to the files. This becomes problematic with storage network environments as multiple systems with their own file systems attempt to manage the files they own-a particularly difficult problem in a SAN where multiple servers may access the same storage array, device, and subsequent file. NAS devices have less of a problem with this since they provide remote file services and offer centralized ownership of files that reside on NAS storage devices.

frame

A component of the Fibre Channel standard that describes the method and specifications of the basic transmission packet that encapsulates the user data.