Fibre Channel connections really show what the flow control is meant to do. Turned off, flow control creates the connection from one Fibre Channel device to the other. Turned on, it uses an extended reach feature that breaks the connection into three pieces -- two connections from both OUSPs to the Fibre Channel devices attached to them and one between the two OUSPs.
Go With the Flow
My testing showed that flow control must be turned on for two Fibre Channel devices attached over even a few kilometers. At a distance of 75 km with flow control on, I was able to achieve data rates as if two OUSPs were connected with just a 10-meter fiber connection. In throughput tests from less than one kilometer and up to 75 km, the data rate remained the same regardless of the distance when flow control is turned on.
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Vendor Information
Optical Utility Services Platform 2000 Product Family, starts at $20,000.
Akara Corp., (888) 909-4500, (613) 270-9500; fax (613) 270-9505. |
Akara has built into its OUSM software a complete set of reporting capabilities, including many functions that typically would be found only on a traffic analyzer. Beyond the normal error logs and details, the OUSM 7000 software can also display usage based on service circuit or virtual facility. It displays bidirectional data so both sides of the connection can be monitored along with errors. Polling intervals can be set in seconds and the duration can be specified if you want to monitor the connection for a set amount of time.
Alarms are noted by severity from the main screen of OUSM and are listed by category according to what is in alarm: virtual facility, virtual facility group, system, equipment, service circuit or customer.
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