IPFC explained

IPFC stands for Internet Protocol over Fibre Channel. It governs a set of standards created in January 2006 for address resolution (ARP) and transmitting IPv4 and IPv6 network packets over a Fibre Channel (FC) network.^[1] IPFC makes up part of the FC-4 protocol-mapping layer of a Fibre Channel system.^[2]

In IPFC, each IP datagram packet is wrapped into a FC frame, with its own header, and transmitted as a sequence of one or more frames. The receiver at the other end receives the frames, strips the FC headers and reassembles the IP packet.^[3] IP datagrams of up to 65,280 bytes in size may be accommodated.^[4] ARP packet transmission works in the same fashion. Each IP datagram exchange is unidirectional, although IP and TCP allow for bidirectional communication within their protocols.

IPFC is an application protocol that is typically implemented as a device driver in an operating system.^[5] IP over FC plays a less important role in storage area networking than SCSI over Fibre Channel or IP over Ethernet.^[6] IPFC has been used, for example, to provide clock synchronization via the Network Time Protocol (NTP).^[7]

See also

• iFCP - Internet Fibre Channel Protocol
• Fibre Channel over IP

External links

• RFC 4338 - Transmission of IPv6, IPv4, and Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) Packets over Fibre Channel
• RFC 5494 - An update of RFC 4338 specifying IANA guidelines for ARP
• RFC 2625, RFC 3831 were older versions of IPFC obsoleted by RFC 4338

Notes and References

1. RFC 4338. datatracker.ietf.org. January 2006 . IETF. 3 November 2016 . Desanti . Claudio . Nixon . Robert . Carlson . Craig .
2. Web site: Black. David L.. A Storage Menagerie: SANs, Fibre Channel, Replication and Networks. www.nanog.org. NANOG 51 Conference. 3 November 2016.
3. Book: (Corporation). NIIT. Special Edition Using Storage Area Networks. 2002. Que Publishing. 9780789725745. 256. 3 November 2016. en.
4. Book: DeCusatis. Casimer. Handbook of Fiber Optic Data Communication: A Practical Guide to Optical Networking. 9 August 2013. Academic Press. 9780124016958. 199. 3 November 2016. en.
5. Book: Troppens. Ulf. Erkens. Rainer. Muller-Friedt. Wolfgang. Wolafka. Rainer. Haustein. Nils. Storage Networks Explained: Basics and Application of Fibre Channel SAN, NAS, iSCSI, InfiniBand and FCoE. 24 August 2011. John Wiley & Sons. 9781119965435. 3 November 2016. en.
6. Book: Long. James. Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals. 30 May 2013. Cisco Press. 978-0133490558. 400. 3 November 2016. en.
7. Book: Shamsee. Navaid. Klebanov. David. Fayed. Hesham. Afrose. Ahmed. Karakok. Ozden. CCNA Data Center DCICT 640-916 Official Cert Guide. 12 February 2015. Cisco Press. 9780133860450. 309. 3 November 2016. en.