Loop Capable Fabric Port (L_Port)

Definition - What does Loop Capable Fabric Port (L_Port) mean?

A loop capable fabric port (L_Port) is a basic port in the fiber channel arbitrated loop (FC-AL) topology. It is interconnected to other elements by point-to-point links between ports, switches and individual nodes.

A L_Port is also known as a loop port.

Techopedia explains Loop Capable Fabric Port (L_Port)

L_Port does not reference a specific port type but is used for any adjudicated loop port, such as the NL_Port and FL_Port, with conditions. The L_Port is known as an NL_Port if an N_Port operates on the loop. It is also known as an FL_Port if an F_Port operates on a loop.

The FC-AL (also called just FC) is a type of interface mostly used for storage networking. It is designed for high-end systems with multiple hard drives. A single FC bus can support up to 127 devices, which is much more than the small computer system interface (SCSI) that only supports up to 16 devices. The FC is standardized by the International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) in the T11 (X3T9.3) Technical Committee.

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