Grass Valley PFR 500/E Dec 10 2001 - Manual (Page 28)

Chapter 2 Installing a PFC500/E
28 PFC500/E Instruction Manual November 17, 2000
Cabling requirements
You mst use copper cables for the FC-AL connections between the RCs and the server
adapters or hubs. You should use a common ground distribution grid for all
interconnected devices.
IMPORTANT: You must use a copper cable only (not an optical cable) to connect
a PFC 500 to a PFC 500E.
Any copper cables you use must meet the appropriate standards for 1-Gbaud FC-AL
loops. Such cables are fully shielded, twin-axial, full-duplex cables with DB-9
connectors. Cables greater than 10 meters must be equalized; cables equal to or less than
10 meters do not need to be equalized.
PFC500 and PFC500E interconnections should maintain LCC consistency. That is, one
FC loop should connect the PFC500’s RC A and each PFC 500E’s LCC A. The other FC
loop should connect the PFC500/E’s RC B and each PFC500E’s LCC B.
Do not leave an unused (that is, dangling) cable connected to an RC port because it may
cause excess noise on the loop.
Addressing requirements
There are two addresses for the PFC 500: the Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop address ID
(FC-AL address ID) and the chassis address.
FC-AL address ID
Each node (such as an RC) on the Fibre Channel front-end loop must have a unique
FC-AL address ID. The FC-AL protocol translates the FC-AL address ID into an 8-bit
arbitrated loop physical address (ALPA). You set the RC FC-AL address ID using
switches, as explained later in this chapter. If your PFC500 has a second, redundant RC,
it should be set to a different FC-AL address ID than the primary FC.
Chassis address (CA)
Each PFC500 and PFC 500E on a back-end loop needs a unique chassis address (CA)
that identifies the chassis and determines disk module addresses. The PFC 500 must have
a CA of 0. You must set that CA using the chassis address switches, as explained later
in this chapter. If you cable any PFC 500Es to the PFC500, you might want to set the
nearest PFC 500E’s CA to 1, and the next to 2. The chassis address is displayed in lights
visible behind the front door.