Fabric OS

Last updated

In storage area networking, Fabric OS (FOS) is the firmware for Brocade Communications Systems's Fibre Channel switches and Fibre Channel directors. [1]

Contents

First generation

The first generation of Fabric OS was developed on top of a VxWorks kernel and was mainly used in the Brocade Silkworm 2000 and first 3000 series on Intel i960.

Second generation

The second generation of Fabric OS (4.0) was developed on a PowerPC platform, and uses MontaVista Linux, a Linux derivative with real-time performance enhancements. With the advent of MontaVista, switches and directors have the ability of hot firmware activation (without downtime for Fibre Channel fabric), and many useful diagnostic commands.

According to free software licenses terms, Brocade provides access to sources of distributed free software, on which Fabric OS and other Brocade's software products are based.

Additional licensed products

Additional products for Fabric OS are offered by Brocade for one-time fee. They are licensed for use in a single specific switch (license key is coupled with device's serial number). Those include:

Versions

Fabric OS current "Posted" versions [3]
Major
Version
VersionDateTarget Path FICON QualifiedPosting StatusNotes
Current stable version:9.2.1x9.2.1aMarch 1, 2024NoNoPosted
9.2.1December 20, 2023NoNoPosted
Older version, yet still maintained: 9.2.0x9.2.0bFebruary 21, 2024NoYesPosted
9.2.0aJune 21, 2023NoYesPosted
9.2.0April 28, 2023NoNoPosted
Older version, yet still maintained: 9.1.x9.1.1dJanuary 11, 2024YesYesPosted (LW)
9.1.1cJune 23, 2023YesYesPosted
9.1.1bJanuary 20, 2023YesYesPostedMinimum recommended for Gen 7 platforms
Older version, yet still maintained: 9.0.x9.0.1e1August 19, 2022YesYesPosted (LW)
9.0.1dMarch 16, 2022YesYesPostedMinimum recommended for Gen 6 platforms
Older version, yet still maintained: 8.2.x8.2.3dApril 14, 2023YesYesPostedAvailable and supported for Gen 5 platforms only
FICON qualified for 7840 only
Older version, yet still maintained: 7.4.x7.4.2j1July 14, 2022YesNoPostedSupported on Gen 4 (8G) 300 and 7800 platforms only
Legend:
Old version
Older version, still maintained
Latest version
Latest preview version
Future release

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References

  1. "Broadcom Fibre Channel Networking".
  2. "Brocade SAN Fabric Technologies Provide Solid Foundation for New EMC VSPEX with VMAX3 100K Infrastructure Solution - MarketWatch". Archived from the original on 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2015-08-12.
  3. FOS Release Support and Posting Status Matrices (PDF) - Version 2.17; Brocade-SW-Support-RM119; March 4, 2024