Hba features – Dell Brocade Adapters User Manual
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Brocade Adapters Installation and Reference Manual
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Adapter features
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VLAN and Teaming Configuration Persistence
VLAN and teaming configurations can be maintained when updating drivers. Configurations
are automatically saved during upgrade and can be restored using BCU commands or HCM.
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VMware NetQueue
This feature improves performance in 10 GbE virtualized environments by providing multiple
receive and transmit queues, which allows processing to be scaled to multiple CPUs. The
Brocade adapter network driver (CNAs only) supports receive (Rx), as well as transmit (Tx)
NetQueues. This feature requires MSI-X support on host systems.
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VMware Network IO Control or NetIOC, also known as NetIORM (Network IO Resource
Management), is a QoS mechanism that allows different traffic types to coexist on a single
physical NIC in a predictable manner. A primary benefit of NetIOC is that it ensures that
adaptive transmit coalescing settings are not lost during data path or device reset.
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VMware VMdirect Path I/O
This allows quest operating systems to directly access an I/O device, bypassing the
virtualization layer. This can improve performance for ESX systems that use high-speed I/O
devices, such as 10 Gbps Ethernet.
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vNICs, or virtual network interface cards (NICs).
Virtual Network Interface Cards (vNICs) are virtual partitions that appear as a virtual or logical
NICs to the host operating system. vNICs are supported on Brocade CNAs and on Fabric
Adapter 10 GbE ports configured in CNA or NIC mode. Multiple vNICs are only supported on
Fabric Adapter ports.
Using BCU commands, you to create up to eight vNICs per Fabric Adapter ports configured in
CNA or NIC mode. You can configure features, such as vNIC teaming, for individual vNICs. For a
two-port Fabric Adapter, 16 total vNICs are possible. For more information, refer to
HBA features
Brocade Fibre Channel HBAs and Fabric Adapter ports configured in HBA mode provide the
following features for enhanced performance and connectivity in the SAN.
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500,000 IOPS per port for maximum IO transfer rates.
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1,600 Mbps throughput per port full duplex.
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Host Connectivity Manager (HCM) device management and Brocade Command Line Utility
(BCU) tools.
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Management APIs for integration with a Management application, such as Network Advisor,
and other management frameworks.
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BIOS support:
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x86 and x64 Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)
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Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)
NOTE
UEFI is not supported on the Brocade 804 adapter.
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PCI BIOS 2.1 or later