Corporate Headquarters
QLogic Corporation 26650 Aliso Viejo Parkway Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 949.389.6000
www.qlogic.com
Europe Headquarters
QLogic (UK) LTD. Surrey Technology Centre 40 Occam Road Guildford Surrey GU2 7YG UK +44 (0)1483 295825
C A S E S T U D Y
The Industry’s Best-Performing and
Most Reliable HBA
The QLA
®
2460, a single-port 4Gbps Fibre Channel to
PCX 2.0 266-MHz HBA, provides new intelligent storage
features that redefine enterprise-class HBAs, providing
increased data protection, advanced frame routing, and
enterprise-wide management capabilities. Key Features
of QLogic’s QLA2460 HBA
Intelligent interleaved DMA (iiDMA) ensures
maximum utilization of data links in mixed-speed
SAN environments
Virtualization-ready Multi-ID and N_Port support
allow physical ports to be part of multiple logical
networks
Operating system driver support includes
Windows, Linux, Sun
®
Solaris
®
, VMware, NetWare,
and Apple
®
Mac OS
Overlapping protection domains provide
continuous protection for internal data paths
Universal boot support manages multiple hardware
platforms and boot options
Enhanced link and transceiver diagnostics enable
to monitor the health of HBA proactively
•
•
•
•
•
•
50 HP ProLiant Servers, Each
with 2 QLogic QLA2460 HBAs
HP EVA 8000
Storage Array
HP EVA 8000
Storage Array
HP BladeSystem
Servers, Each with a
QLogic Mezzanine Card
FC Switch
FC Switch
According to Flowers, “Our primary goal in adopting the SAN was to provide
high availability, centralized management, and enterprise features that allow
us to operate more efficiently. In this very competitive business, we cannot
tolerate downtime. QLogic’s failover driver for Linux is great, just set it up
once and leave it alone, it just works.”
Additionally, Flowers noted that QLogic’s “Unified Driver” approach
eliminated the need for firmware maintenance. The firmware is packaged
along with the driver, reducing the number of components that need to
be managed by NetBank’s administrators. He noticed that the firmware
upgrades of QLogic HBAs were not required unlike similar upgrades for
the Emulex adapters. “The QLogic Unified Drivers are linked with firmware,
eliminating potential interoperability issues, simplifying the installation
process and easing upgrades,” he said, “I was able to upgrade the QLogic
HBAs in half the time.” The ease of use of the QLogic HBAs allows NetBank
IT administrators to focus on improving applications that enhance bank
services rather than doing HBA maintenance.
The Adapter of Choice
QLogic has become the adapter of choice at NetBank. In fact, they are looking
at standardizing all of the IT facilities on QLogic. Over the course of the past
few months, Flowers and his colleagues have followed the suggestions of the
QLogic engineers to nondisruptively replace the 2Gbps Emulex adapters with
4Gbps QLogic HBAs throughout the primary storage environment. This process
also allowed Flowers and his team to begin upgrading existing 2Gbps QLogic
HBAs with faster 4Gbps models for faster performance and greater availability.
Flowers observed also that QLogic engineers understood how important
adapters are to financial institutions. “In our conversations with QLogic
engineers, they provided us with a blueprint for switching out the Emulex
adapters without disrupting our operations—and also showed us how we
could gain faster access to information as well,” he said.
NetBank Challenge/QLogic Solution
“The replacement process required almost no outside assistance because
QLogic HBA installation is a plug-and-play procedure,” Flowers said.
“Whenever we bring down a server with Emulex adapters, we simply install
the faster, more reliable and scalable 4Gb QLogic adapters. During this
process, using QLogic’s single-click install process makes the transition
absolutely painless.”
“The HBAs from QLogic helped NetBank ensure uninterrupted data access
for key operations,” explained Flowers. “And in our business, which is largely
defined by regulatory mandates and customer requirements, there really is
no margin for error. With the QLogic HBAs sold through HP, we meet these
challenges with ease.”
© 2007 QLogic Corporation. All rights reserved. QLogic, the QLogic Logo, Powered by QLogic and QLA are registered trademarks or trademarks of QLogic Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners. Information supplied by QLogic is believed to be accurate and reliable. QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this brochure. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to makes changes in product design
or specifications.
SN0130946-00 Rev A 5/07
NetBank
