Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL)

CONTEXT [Fibre Channel] A form of Fibre Channel network in which up to 126 nodes are connected in a loop topology, with each node’s L_Port transmitter connecting to the L_Port receiver of the node to its logical right. Nodes connected to a Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) arbitrate for the single transmission that can occur on the loop at any instant using an FC-AL protocol that is different from Fibre Channel switched and point-to-point protocols. An arbitrated loop may be private (no fabric connection) or public (attached to a fabric by an FL_Port). The network is defined by the FC-AL-2 standard INCITS 332 - 1999 [R2004]. (The Dictionary of Storage Networking Terminology, 2004)