A World Wide Name, or WWN, is a 64-bit or 128-bit name assigned to each manufacturer of network storage devices and fiber channels by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. Each network storage device that a manufacturer produces must include the manufacturer’s WWN, which is used to identify a network storage device on a Storage Area Network, or SAN.

 

World Wide Name Vs Mac Address

World Wide Names are similar to Mac Addresses, but are formatted differently. While a MAC address is used to identify a computer that is connected to a network, a World Wide Name is specifically used for identify a storage device connected to a network. World Wide Names may also be confused with IP addresses, which are associated with the World Wide Web and are used to identify servers and websites that are publicly accessible.

How To Find A World Wide Name

Users can find a WWN by downloading and installing the Microsoft Product Support Reporting Tool which includes the Microsoft Fibre Channel Information Tool utility. Once the user installs this self-extracting file, he/she can open a command prompt by opening the Start Menu, clicking on Run, and entering “cmd”. From here, the user can enter “fcinfo.exe” and click OK. This will display results about all fibre-based storage devices connected to the user’s network. The user can skim the list for a 16-character string, which will be the WWN.

 

The WWN will look similar to the following example:

15:00:00:f0:8c:08:95:de