What are the differences between Arbitrated Loop and Fabric?
Arbitrated Loop is a topology in which host computers and storage devices are connected together with hubs. Hubs may be cascaded to increase the number of loop participants (up to 126). The available Fibre Channel bandwidth of 100 MBPS is shared amongst all of the devices. If four computers were communicating with four separate storage devices on the loop, each connection would be able to sustain approximately 25 MBPS. Because of this sharing, devices must arbitrate for access to the loop before sending data. A Fabric requires one or more switches to interconnect host computers with storage devices. With a Fabric, the bandwidth is not shared. Each connection between two ports on the switch has a dedicated 100 MBPS.
