QLogic BR-825 - Manual (Page 2)

BR0058004-00 Rev. A 03/14 2
QLogic BR-815 and BR-825 Data Sheet
QLogic also provides open APIs and standards-based interfaces for
integration with popular third party applications.
QLogic adapters also enable VM discovery in VMware ® ESX ® environments
within BNA. VM discovery provides an end-to-end view of the VM-to-
LUN path information for all the VMs running on each physical server,
with detailed information such as host OS, assigned CPU and memory
resources, and all the data stores associated with each VM. This level
of visibility into the virtual server infrastructure for SAN administrators
enables them to more efficiently manage their storage network resources.
Coupled with N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV), Network Advisor can also
provide end-to-end performance statistics with VM granularity, increasing
visibility down to the LUN level.
Boot-over-SAN enables the deployment of both direct-attached storage
(DAS) point-to-point topology as well as diskless servers and centralized
management of OS images in the shared storage pool. Traditional boot-
over-SAN environments, however, require access to each individual
adapter BIOS (and each individual server console), making them
cumbersome to configure, laborious to maintain, and prone to human
error. To simplify the management of boot-over-SAN environments, QLogic
adapters provide fabric-based boot LUN discovery—a feature that enables
each server to automatically retrieve its boot LUN information from the
switch fabric. Boot LUN discovery provides a centralized management
point for all boot-over-SAN operations, enabling organizations to fully
reap the benefits of diskless servers. In addition, to account for the disk
spinup delay time when servers and storage devices are powered on
simultaneously, users can configure a 1-, 2-, 5-, or 10-minute delay to
boot with the boot-up delay feature.
UNMATCHED PERFORMANCE
With the recent advances in server technology, including Intel ® Romley
processors, servers are now capable of running more workloads than
ever. This increased capacity drives higher consolidation and virtualization
ratios, with more VMs being deployed per server, which in turn drives
unprecedented I/O requirements. The superior performance of QLogic
adapters provides the necessary bandwidth and I/O power for the most
demanding environments.
Ultimately, increased performance means that businesses of all sizes can
scale their virtual server deployments and virtualize highly demanding
applications with greater confidence, resulting in better server resource
utilization and lower capital and operational costs.
OPTIMIZED FOR VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
In a non-virtualized environment, every application is tied to a physical
server, which in turn connects to a physical SAN switch port in a
“static” manner. Applying network policies such as zoning or QoS—or
monitoring application performance—is simple because the application is
permanently associated with the physical port.
With server virtualization, multiple applications reside in a physical server
and share a physical SAN port. Furthermore, applications can move across
the virtualized server infrastructure, based on a number of user-defined
policies, to respond to dynamic business requirements. A virtualization-
aware SAN infrastructure and server connectivity solution enables
organizations to apply network policies at the VM level. Such policies will
then be able to “follow” the application transparently as it moves to a new
physical server.
QLogic adapters were built from the ground up with virtualization in mind.
They support NPIV with up to 255 virtual ports, and they are qualified
with all major hypervisor solutions in the industry. Leveraging NPIV
technology, organizations can not only extend QLogic fabric services to
the server, but all the way to the VM and application level. Brocade Server
Application Optimization (SAO)
helps IT organizations avoid downtime and
more effectively meet their SLAs by allowing them to apply QoS policies
with a per-VM granularity and ensure that mission-critical VMs will not
be affected in the event of adapter link congestion—even as they move
across the infrastructure. SAO also provides isolation to protect individual
VMs from the effect of slow-drain devices that would otherwise impact the
entire physical server and all applications.
High
Medium
Low
VM3 VM2 VM1
Hypervisor
OS OS OS
SAO extends QoS to the VM level