What is an FC Switch?

A Fibre Channel (FC) switch inspects a data packet header, determines the computing devices of origin and destination, and forwards the packet to the intended system.

Fibre Channel switches come in different types:

  • Modular director switches (also known as backbone switches) with a high port count
  • Fixed-port or semi-modular switches (also known as edge switches)

FC switches can be combined to create large SAN fabrics that interconnect thousands of servers and storage ports. A Fibre Channel switch is designed for high performance, low latency, high availability and lossless data transmission. Director-class FC switches can add additional capabilities such as encryption and zoning to disable unwanted traffic.