Which technology is commonly used for high-speed storage networking and is a core SAN protocol?

Which technology is commonly used for high-speed storage networking and is a core SAN protocol?

• A. Ethernet
• B. iSCSI
• C. Fibre Channel
• D. SAS

Answer: (C)

Fibre Channel is built specifically for storage networks, delivering the fast, low-latency, deterministic performance that a Storage Area Network requires. It runs over its own fabric of switches and storage devices, which provides reliable, high-throughput communication, efficient multipathing, and features like zoning that help isolate and manage storage traffic. These characteristics make it the traditional and widely used core protocol for SANs in many enterprise environments, capable of handling very high speeds (often 8, 16, or 32 Gbps and beyond) with predictable performance. Other options are more general or direct-attached. Ethernet is a versatile network used for many types of traffic, and while iSCSI can carry SCSI commands over IP networks, it relies on existing Ethernet infrastructure and doesn’t inherently provide the same level of dedicated, lossless performance as Fibre Channel. SAS is intended for direct-attached storage within a server or enclosure, not for a storage-area network.

Fibre Channel is built specifically for storage networks, delivering the fast, low-latency, deterministic performance that a Storage Area Network requires. It runs over its own fabric of switches and storage devices, which provides reliable, high-throughput communication, efficient multipathing, and features like zoning that help isolate and manage storage traffic. These characteristics make it the traditional and widely used core protocol for SANs in many enterprise environments, capable of handling very high speeds (often 8, 16, or 32 Gbps and beyond) with predictable performance.

Other options are more general or direct-attached. Ethernet is a versatile network used for many types of traffic, and while iSCSI can carry SCSI commands over IP networks, it relies on existing Ethernet infrastructure and doesn’t inherently provide the same level of dedicated, lossless performance as Fibre Channel. SAS is intended for direct-attached storage within a server or enclosure, not for a storage-area network.