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FC2354601-00 A 1-1
Section 1
Introduction
1.1
How to Use this Guide
The SANblade QLogic host bus adapters (HBAs) supported in this document are
described in the following paragraphs; they are collectively referred to as the
QLA23xx HBA unless otherwise noted. These HBAs are all low-profile, 64-bit PCI
to Fibre Channel optical media.
■ QLA2340 (single channel, full-height bracket)
■ QLA2340L (single channel, low-profile bracket)
■ QLA2342 (dual channel, full-height bracket)
■ QLA2342L (dual channel, low-profile bracket)
First, install the QLA23xx HBA according to the directions in the appropriate
hardware installation section. Secondly, install the software driver according to the
directions in the appropriate section.
1.2
General Description
Thank you for selecting the QLA23xx Fibre Channel (FC) HBA. The QLA23xx HBA
is an intelligent, high-performance, DMA bus master host adapter designed for
high-end systems. The intelligence and performance are derived from the ISP23xx
chips, making the QLA23xx HBA a leading-edge host adapter. The ISP23xx
combines a powerful RISC processor, a Fibre Channel protocol manager (FPM)
with one 2-Gb Fibre Channel transceiver, and a peripheral component
interconnect-extended (PCI-X) local bus interface in a single-chip solution. The
QLA23xx HBA supports all FC peripherals that support private loop direct attach
(PLDA) and fabric loop attach (FLA). Installation of the QLA23xx HBA is quick and
easy.
1.3
What is Fibre Channel?
Fibre Channel technology is outlined in the SCSI-3 Fibre Channel Protocol
(SCSI-FCP) standard. Fibre Channel is a high-speed data transport technology
used for mass storage and networking. It connects mainframes, super computers,
workstations, storage devices, and servers.
Fibre Channel supports data transfer rates up to 200 MBps half-duplex and
400 MBps full-duplex on copper and optical interfaces. The QLA23xx HBAs use a
multimode optical interface for intermediate distances (less than 500 meters at the
data rate of 1 Gbps; less than 300 meters at the data rate of 2 Gbps).