光纖通道使用類似網絡osi模型的分層協定。與網絡osi模型不同的是，光纖通道協定隻有5層：
fc0：實體層，包括線纜，光纖子產品等。
fc1：資料鍊路層，負責8b/10b的信号編碼與解碼。
fc2：網絡層，定義fc-pi-2标準，由核心的光纖通道組成，并且定義了主要的協定。
fc3：公共服務層，瘦層，這一層可以實作資料加密或raid等功能。
fc4：協定映射層，這一層可以封裝其他協定，如scsi，封裝成資訊單元在fc2層上傳輸。
fc0,1,2被稱為實體層。
fibre channel routers operate up to fc4 level (i.e. they may operate as scsi routers), switches up to fc2, and hubs on fc0 only.
fibre channel products are available at 1 gbit/s, 2 gbit/s, 4 gbit/s, 8 gbit/s, 10 gbit/s and 20 gbit/s. products based on the 1, 2, 4 and 8 gbit/s standards should be interoperable, and backward compatible. the 10 gbit/s standard (and 20 gbit/s derivative), however, is not backward compatible with any of the slower speed devices, as it differs considerably on fc1 level (64b/66b encoding instead of 8b/10b encoding). 10gb and 20gb fibre channel is primarily deployed as a high-speed “stacking” interconnect to link multiple switches.
也就是說10g以上都采用64b/66b編碼了，是以不再向下相容8b/10b編碼的速率.