In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for establishing links between Fiber Channel (FC) protocol node devices through a FC fabric. In the method a common name is assigned to a pair of ports. Each port in the pair is located on first and second FC node devices, respectively. The common name-to-port assignment is then stored within a name server for the FC fabric. Each port in the pair of ports is configured to query the name server to establish an identity for the other port in the pair of ports based on the common name. The first and second FC node devices are configured to create a link between the pairs of ports that have been assigned a common name.