Logins There are three different types of login for Fibre Channel.

These are: * Fabric login * Port login * Process login Fabric login After the fabric capable Fibre Channel device is attached to a fabric switch, it will carry out a fabric login (FLOGI). Similar to port login, FLOGI is an exten ded link service command that sets up a session between two participants. With F LOGI a session is created between an N_Port or NL_Port and the switch. An N_Port will send a FLOGI frame that contains its Node Name, its N_Port Name, and servi ce parameters to a well-known address of 0xFFFFFE. A public loop NL_Port first opens the destination AL_PA 0x00 before issuing the FLOGI request. In both cases the switch accepts the login and returns an accept (ACC) frame to the sender. If some of the service parameters requested by the N_ Port or NL_Port are not supported, the switch will set the appropriate bits in t he ACC frame to indicate this. When the N_Port logs in it uses a 24-bit port address of 0x000000. Because of th is the fabric is allowed to assign the appropriate port address to that device, based on the Domain-Area-Port address format. The newly assigned address is cont ained in the ACC response frame. When the NL_Port logs in a similar process starts, except that the least signifi cant byte is used to assign AL_PA and the upper two bytes constitute a fabric lo op identifier. Before an NL_Port logs in it will go through the LIP on the loop, which is started by the FL_Port, and from this process it has already derived a n AL_PA. The switch then decides if it will accept this AL_PA for this device or not. If not a new AL_PA is assigned to the NL_Port, which then causes the start of another LIP. This ensures that the switch assigned AL_PA does not conflict w ith any previously selected AL_PAs on the loop. After the N_Port or public NL_Port gets its fabric address from FLOGI, it needs to register with the SNS. This is done with port login (PLOGI) at the address 0x FFFFFC. The device may register values for all or just some database objects, bu t the most useful are its 24-bit port address, 64-bit Port Name (WWPN), 64-bit N ode Name (WWN), class of service parameters, FC-4 protocols supported, and port type, such as N_Port or NL_Port. Port login Port login is also known as PLOGI. Port login is used to establish a session bet ween two N_Ports (devices) and is necessary before any upper level commands or o perations can be performed. During the port login, two N_Ports (devices) swap se rvice parameters and make themselves known to each other. Process login Process login is also known as PRLI. Process login is used to set up the environ ment between related processes on an originating N_Port and a responding N_Port. A group of related processes is collectively known as an image pair. The proces ses involved can be system processes, system images, such as mainframe logical p artitions, control unit images, and FC-4 processes. Use of process login is opti onal from the perspective of Fibre Channel FC-2 layer, but may be required by a specific upper-level protocol as in the case of SCSI-FCP mapping.

================================================================================ ==================================================== N_Port: an end device connecting to a switched fabric network, such as a SCSI in itiator or a SCSI target. F_Port: a port on a switch that provides access to Fabric Services (eg. the Fabr ic Nameserver & the Fabric Login Server etc)

Fabric_point_2_point initialization (ie. N_Port to F_Port initialization) involv es the following ordered sequence: FLOGI, PLOGI, PRLI.

* FLOGI o N_Port requests a unique 24-bit address from the Fabric Lo gin Server (accessible via an F_port on a Fabric switch). * PLOGI o N_Port informs the Fabric Name Server of its personality a nd capabilities. For example: * WWNN, WWPN * Buffer credits for flow control * clock frequency ('speed capability') * Upper layer protocol support (eg. SCSI-3, IP) * PRLI o Upper layer protocol communication. Well, ever since SCSI was design ed and engineered (1970s, or so, previously SASI...), SCSI initiators need to di scover SCSI targets. So, during PRLI, N_Port SCSI initiators discover N_Port SCS I targets (which is an opportunity for the host (maybe a UNIX host) to assign a target ID to the device path).

* Depending on the OS, you may be able to investigate further with comm ands like: + egrep -i 'flogi plogi prli' /var/adm/messages