QLogic 8200 Series The Value of Full Hardware Offload in a Converged Ethernet Environment - Manual (Page 5)

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the process of resending those that are dropped while requiring minimal
assistance from the CPU and ensuring ongoing performance.
the CPU cycle stealing approach, whether it’s for processing the driver
stack, traversing data packets over the PCi bus, or for verifying the integrity
of the data, is inefficient. By saving a few pennies on a NiC rather than
purchasing a Converged Network adapter, hidden costs will begin to
materialize in the form of degrading performance of the data center.
The QLogic Approach
While a wide range of data centers will benefit from FCoe implementations,
expect to see a majority of applications that move a significant amount
of data, those with compute-intense applications, and environments
with server virtualization to be running FCoe over Converged Network
adapters with offload engines. in addition to the two implementation
choices, software initiators or offload engines, there are other engine
solutions available in the industry. While the below information is relevant
in deciding whether to implement a software initiator, it is also helpful in
deciding which offload engine to implement.
Battle-hardened enterprise Fibre Channel Driver Stack
When it comes to a mature and robust storage driver stack, there is no
comparison to QLogic’s market share leadership install base of more
than 8.5 million Fibre Channel ports. the QLogic 8200 Series Converged
Network adapters leverage these existing Fibre Channel drivers, making
the company’s Converged Network adapter the most dependable and
battle-hardened adapter on the market. Leveraging existing drivers
enables QLogic to offer 12 years of proven field experience, combined
with full hardware offload for FCoe and iSCSi protocol processing. the
QLogic 8200 Series Converged Network adapter has an extensive set of
features to enhance system virtualization while ensuring industry-leading
LaN networking performance. Unproven FCoe implementations from NiC
vendors or storage start ups present a high risk for enterprise-class data
centers.
OeM acceptance and interoperability
QLogic boasts the broadest set of driver certifications in the industry.
this is a result of collaborations with leading server, OS, and storage
manufactures, including eMC
® , Dell ® , hP ® , iBM ® , Microsoft ® , Oracle ® , red
hat, Novell ® , and VMware to name a few. to support this effort, QLogic has
expanded relationships with each company to fully engage and conduct
the industry’s most rigorous interoperability testing, spanning every major
platform and operating system. this highly comprehensive qualification
process tests configurations that replicate real-world environments and
help ensure compatibility in the field.
in addition, QLogic has secured the most tier-one OeM design wins for
FCoe adapters in the industry. this achievement indicates two things about
QLogic FCoe adapters: OeMs are backing an FCoe offload engine from a
storage vendor for their FCoe solutions and QLogic products have passed
intense scrutiny. QLogic is the leading Fibre Channel vendor.
the same Fibre Channel drivers that have passed countless OeM product
and interoperability tests are repurposed by QLogic’s Converged Network
adapters and have been put to additional scrutiny to verify storage and
ethernet capabilities within intricate testing trials. Using the same host
Bust adapter software stack that has been qualified by all of the leading
server and storage vendors brings the QLogic Converged Network adapter
an immense advantage that the OeMs recognize.
From an infrastructure perspective, industry-standard technology solutions
from companies such as QLogic cannot be touched by Open Source or first-
release solutions because their software stacks and hardware will need to
go through qualification and testing cycles that will take years to complete.
OeMs are not trading low-cost solutions with community collaboration
testing because it will result in less interoperability with existing products.
early adopters of the FCoe technology will follow OeMs because they value
enterprise-quality interoperability.
enterprise-quality reliability and Support
reliability and support should be top considerations when deciding on an
FCoe purchase. QLogic Fibre Channel host Bust adapters are unmatched
in the category of reliability; they provide the highest Mean time Between
Failure (MtBF). this level of hardware and software reliability will take
years for FCoe software initiators to attain. With this in mind, where are
you going to turn for support while software initiators are playing catch
up? QLogic has years of experience supporting storage and networking
solutions while NiC companies attempting to enter the storage market will
have no previous knowledge base to reference when they receive storage
support calls.
if you want accountability when implementing an FCoe solution, QLogic’s
enterprise-quality and reliable adapters will emerge as key differentiators
over software initiators. Without a history of reliable products and storage
support, it is not surprising that early adopters are not accepting less
than the enterprise-quality reliability and support that can be offered by a
veteran company, such as QLogic.
Summary and Conclusion
When deciding on an FCoe solution, there are two implementation choices,
software initiators or offload engines as used in the QLogic 8200 Series
Converged Network adapter. Both deliver desired functionality, but only the
Converged Network adapter approach conserves critical CPU resources.
a hardware offload engine strategy provides a much more CPU-efficient