Fabric Shortest Path First

Fabric Shortest Path First (FSPF) is a routing protocol used in Fibre Channel computer networks. It calculates the best path between network switches, establishes routes across the fabric and calculates alternate routes in event of a failure or network topology change. FSPF can guarantee in-sequence delivery of frames, even if the routing topology has changed during a failure, by enforcing a 'hold down' time before a new path is activated.

FSPF was created by Brocade Communications Systems in collaboration with Gadzoox, McData, Ancor Communications (now QLogic), and Vixel; it was submitted as an American National Standards Institute standard.[1] It was introduced in 2000. The protocol is similar in conception to the Open Shortest Path First used in IP networks.[1] FSPF has been adopted as the industry standard for routing between Fibre Channel switches within a fabric.

A management information base for FSPF was published as RFC 4626.