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A World Wide Name (WWN) is an identifier associated with an entity in a Fibre Channel (FC) network. The name identifies a node or a port: WWNN means World Wide Node Name, while WWPN means World Wide Port Name. A WWN is not the same as the FC address ID that a switch assigns within a fabric.
What is a World Wide Name (WWN)?
A WWN names a Fibre Channel entity. The term covers names associated with FC components, including nodes and ports. In practical terms, it helps distinguish an FC device or one of its ports from other entities in a storage network.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defines the WWN in RFC 4044 as the name associated with an FC entity. Its meaning becomes more specific when the acronym includes the final two letters: WWNN names a node, and WWPN names a port.
What is the difference between WWNN and WWPN?
| Identifier | What it names | Context |
|---|---|---|
| WWNN | An FC node or device | RFC 4171 describes the WWNN as the FC device key in iSNS. Attributes associated with a node can apply to multiple FC ports. |
| WWPN | An FC port | The port-level name distinguishes a particular port on an FC entity. |
These are related but not interchangeable names: one identifies the node, while the other identifies a port. This distinction matters when a device has multiple FC ports.
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Is a WWN the same as an FC address ID?
No. A WWN is a name associated with an FC entity; an FC address ID is a separate, 24-bit identifier used within a Fibre Channel fabric. RFC 4044 says the address ID is unique within the fabric’s address space and, when a fabric is in use, is dynamically assigned by a switch.
RFC 4044 also says WWNs are expected to persist across agent and unit resets. The contrast is useful: a WWN names an entity, whereas the fabric address ID is a switch-assigned identifier for use within that fabric.
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How long is a WWN?
The length depends on the standard and context being discussed. RFC 4044 says WWNs were initially defined as 64 bits and that the latest definition “for future use” is 128 bits. It represents the name as an 8- or 16-byte octet string, and allows an empty value when a name is unassigned or unknown.
For the specific FC Node Name attribute in iSNS, RFC 4171 defines the WWNN as a 64-bit identifier. Do not treat that context-specific WWNN definition as proof that every WWN has the same length in every FC context.
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What does a WWN identify in a storage network?
In Fibre Channel usage, the WWN provides a name for an entity such as a node or port. Node-level information can relate to a device and therefore to multiple ports, while a port-level name identifies an individual port. NIST’s glossary also places the term in the Fibre Channel storage-area-network context.
These definitions are specific to the cited Fibre Channel standards. Related WWN or WWID terminology may appear in other storage technologies, but the details above should not automatically be applied outside the FC contexts described by the standards.
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Primary references
- RFC 4044, Fibre Channel Management MIB (IETF, May 2005): WWN definition, length wording, address-ID distinction, and persistence expectation.
- RFC 4171, Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) (IETF, September 2005): WWNN definition and its role as an FC device key in iSNS.
- NIST CSRC glossary: World-Wide Name: contextual definition in Fibre Channel SANs.
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