• Links are the physical media that connect ports together in a Fibre Channel SAN: – Cables and connectors – Signal converters (transceivers)
• ISL = Inter Switch Link Links
ISL HBA Server Fibre Channel links:
Carry Fibre Channel transmissions from the transmitting port to the receiving port
Include cables, connectors, and optical-electrical transceivers
Ports communicate across links. Here is a port in an HBA, connected to a port in a switch. Between the two ports there is a point to point link.
If two switch ports are joined together, at that point, it is still a link. This is how an inter switch link (ISL) is created. A node port joined to a switch port is a link.
Nodes communicate through ports and nodes can be accessible through one or more ports.