The Cisco MDS 9000 Port Analyzer Adapter enables effective, low-cost analysis of Fibre Channel traffic anywhere in the network at any time. The device is a standalone Fibre Channel-to-Ethernet adapter that allows for simple, transparent analysis of Fibre Channel traffic in a switched fabric. Specifically, Fibre Channel layers FC-2, FC-3, and FC-4 may be examined without any network disruption. The FC-2 layer specifies the structure, format, and usage of Fibre Channel frames and defines flow control and classes of service. The FC-3 layer defines common service features like multicast. The FC-4 layer specifies the mapping rules for upper-layer protocols. The Cisco MDS 9000 Port Analyzer Adapter supports all Fibre Channel frame sizes. Additionally, EISL headers can be encapsulated to be included for analysis.