The term used in Fibre Channel environments to describe a switched network.
fabric manager
A SAN management application that provides the ability to discover, inventory, monitor, visualize, provision, and reclaim storage network resources.
failover
The process by which a service is moved from a failed component to a backup component.
Fast Link Pulse (FLP)
A well-defined series of electrical pulses representing 17 clock signals and 16 bits of configuration information that is used for auto-negotiation of Ethernet link parameters in copper-based implementations.
FC-SAN
Acronym for Fibre Channel (FC) storage area network (SAN). A SAN built on FC for the purpose of transporting SCSI or SBCCS traffic.
Fibre Channel Connection (FICON)
A proprietary channel architecture based on an open-systems networking technology and used by IBM mainframes to access storage.
file-level protocol
A protocol used to store and retrieve data via file system constructs.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
A file-level protocol used for rudimentary access to storage across an IP network.
floppy disk
A round, thin platter of celluloid-like material covered with a magnetic substance. Data blocks on a floppy disk are accessed randomly, but capacity, throughput, and reliability are very low relative to hard disks. Floppy disks are classified as removable media.
floppy disk drive
See floppy drive.
floppy drive
A device used to read from and write to floppy disks.
fragmentation
The process by which an intermediate network device fragments an in-transit frame into multiple frames for the purpose of MTU matching. Fragmentation occurs when the MTU of an intermediate network link is smaller than the MTU of the transmitter's directly connected link.
Frequency-Division Multiplexing (FDM)
A technique for multiplexing signals onto a shared medium in which a fixed percentage of the bandwidth of the medium is simultaneously allotted to each source full time.
full-duplex
A method of communication in which a device can transmit and receive data simultaneously. See also half-duplex.
