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Jasmine Lognnes
Asked: 2014-07-05 01:07:43 +0800 CST

What to look for when buying a FiberChannel card?

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I have a couple of these LSI arrays

LSI Model 0834
LSI product name: 1932
LSI Product codename: Mary Jane
Enclosure name: Shea (DM1300)
End of Life: 31-Dec-2010

but I can't find any information about the FiberChannel interface is uses to the host. Right now it is connected for a BlueArc Mercury 50 filer, which also is have reached EOL.

Question

Can I buy any FC card, or What should I look for, when I want to connect this array to a Linux host?

linux

2 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    First off - check vendor recommendations. Some vendors are more scrupulous than others, but they'll generally have a list of 'known compatible' cards.

    If you lack this information - as you seem to - I would start with buying Emulex or QLogic HBAs, and avoid anything else unless you have a specific entry in an interoperability matrix.

    You will probably need to look as array specific card settings though - whilst they generally work by default, there's a noticeable performance advantage to getting settings/firmware/drivers aligned. (And note - some vendors have specific firmware/drivers that they recommend/support. That's not to say others won't work just fine, but these ones will be the ones they've tested specifically).

    More generally:

    • always dual path your fiber channel. Ideally with two separate physical cards, going across two completely separate sets of switches.
    • keep the cards identical. Firmware, drivers etc. (You can mismatch if you're connecting to different storage infrastructure if you must)
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  2. That's actually an LSI Engenio Class 4600 (0834) which was bought by NetApp in 2011 and is no longer available - I was struggling to find documentation either to be honest.

    I know some are huge fans of Q-Logic FC HBAs but I'm personally a fan of Emulex ones and although I can't find any form of interoperability matrix for this product I think that if you stick to these manufacturers (or LSI's own of course) you will almost certainly be ok.

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