Do I need a hub/switch port for each Fibre Channel node or can I just chain Fibre Channel nodes together?
Fibre Channel nodes can be directly connected to one another in a point-to-point topology, but this is not very practical. Because each Fibre Channel node acts as a repeater for every other node on a Fibre Channel Loop, one down or disconnected node can take the entire loop down. It is highly recommended that each node be cabled through a hub or switch. Hubs and switches, with their ability to automatically bypass a down node, are an essential availability tool in many Fibre Channel networks. For disk subsystems and RAID subsystems connected to a arbitrated loop, it is strongly recommended that each device or node within the subsystem have a Port Bypass Circuit associated with it so that any node may be bypassed and allow for “Hot Swapping” of a device. Some people do choose to daisy chain drive enclosures together off of the same hub/switch port.
