Fibre Channel vs. SCSI

[dl]

[Cheetah X15 Fibre Channel 200MB/s vs. Cheetah X15 160MB/s]

I think I'm gonna have to give FC my Hell Yeah rating

 

[Soccerman]

hey dl, can you tell me more about fiber channel? I've heard a bit abuot it before...

 

[Pariah]

Fibre channel has no advantages over SCSI for home users.

 

[Gunbuster]

FC is great if you need a ton of drives and a long cable run on one host card.

But host adapters for fibre channel can be mucho grande expensive and have limited OS support (no 9X)

 

[Soccerman]

ok, I expected them to be expensive (I really don't care, I just want to know for the sake of knowing). I want the whole smash, not just "you'll never afford it, or need it, so don't bother."

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Would also like to know more about this stuff. Obviously the 200MB/sec vs. 160MB/sec will not really come into play here...

 

[Pariah]

Fibre channel is a full duplex 100MB interface. Much like a network switch, it can send and receive data at the same time which can total 200MB/s. The result is that SCSI 160 can burst higher in one direction. Full duplex with one drive is pretty useless considering a drive can't read and write at the same time. Fibre channel can have up to 126 devices on the same channel where SCSI in most cases is "limited" to 15 including the card. By using fibre, cable lengths can extend into the kilometers range which should be extremely handy for home users who have fibre running from their house to a computing center in the next town.

 

[dl]

what pariah said...

plus, dual channel cards offer 400MB/s data access on the I/O side so, it kicks SCSI's @ss

however, to take advantage of this outrageous speed, u'll to to run several drives...similar to SCSI RAID...

Some drives offer loopback, which will also double performance...

as stated above, the length is the cable is ourstanding because u're not just limited to standard "flat" cabling...optical cables offer performance as well as length.

In addition to that, some fibre adapter cards offer the ability to add simm ram, adaptec's version can hold up to 256MB!

newer gen fc cards also come in 64bit/32bit pci interfaces...64bit pci is prevalent in modern server mobos as well as some consumer type mobos...like supermicro.

and yes, if you think SCSI is expensive, joo ain't seen noth'n yet

 

[downhiller80]

You need to change the smilies you use to something with better contrast:


:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|
:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|:|



Seb

 

[dl]

OH









that's much better

 

[downhiller80]

GOd damn you! Must have sunglasses!

 

[utopia]

FC is kindda like firewire

 

[Pariah]

Fibre channel drives don't cost any more than SCSI drives, the additional cost comes from the 4 digit controller cards. Fibre channel and firewire are not related technologies at all.

 

[Soccerman]

thanks alot! I appreciate more info!

ahh so, it's alot like SCSI, except you can increase the cable distance alot (cause it's fiber). and full duplex I know will only work if you have more then 1 drive. it doesn't have to be raid though.

"newer gen fc cards also come in 64bit/32bit pci interfaces...64bit pci is prevalent in modern server mobos as well as some consumer type mobos...like supermicro."

don't u mean 64 bit 66mhz interfaces? I know They are available in server mobos...

"Some drives offer loopback, which will also double performance..."

what's loopback?

thanks for the info guys! it's appreciated!