Enterprise Strategy Group Lab Validates Emulex FCoE Adapters

Emulex Corporation announced the results of an Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) Lab Validation, which evaluated the Emulex LightPulse LP21000 family of converged network adapters (CNAs) within a virtualized server environment. The lab results confirm that Emulex Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)-based CNAs provide transparent network and storage connectivity for physical and virtual servers, while leveraging existing management tools and processes as traditional Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs).
 
"The results of the ESG Lab Validation offer further proof that Emulex CNAs reduce data center complexity and lower operational costs with a unified fabric," said Joe Gervais, senior director of product marketing, Emulex. "The Emulex LP21000 family of CNAs leverages eight generations of field-proven Fibre Channel technology, allowing companies to extend their Fibre Channel investments, while deploying a next generation unified fabric in their data centers under a common management platform. In short, the LightPulse family of CNAs delivers all the functionality that our OEM partners rely on and expect from an industry leader like Emulex."
 
ESG tested Emulex CNAs within a VMware ESX 3.5 server environment running Microsoft Windows Server 2003 guests. Overall, the results showed that Emulex CNAs mirror the capabilities of Emulex Fibre Channel HBAs and deliver the value behind FCoE. A converged network, utilizing FCoE, allows traffic to be  seamlessly transported over an Enhanced 10Gb/s Ethernet network with fewer ports, fewer cards inside servers and fewer cables, while providing investment protection for existing Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs).
 
“Recent research conducted by ESG indicates that data growth, risk mitigation, complexity, cost and performance are the top concerns of today’s enterprises,” said Tony Palmer, Lab Engineer, Enterprise Strategy Group. “FCoE addresses many of these issues and our testing confirmed that Emulex CNAs easily drop into existing data center environments using the same qualified and proven drivers, management tools and techniques that Emulex’s Fibre Channel HBAs have used for over ten years.”
 

Other key findings include:

• 
  Reduced Network Complexity: ESG found that because Emulex CNAs share a common driver stack, field-proven HBAnyware management tools and N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) support, customers will see a reduction in network complexity and total cost of ownership, as well as overall data center consolidation benefits.
• 
  Simplified Configuration and Use: In an ease-of-use and configuration test, ESG found that Emulex CNAs are recognized by both VMware and Windows as a Fibre Channel HBA and a 10Gb/s Ethernet adapter, without any special software. The configuration is exactly the same as with traditional Fibre Channel adapters and Ethernet and network interface cards (NICs). A customer currently evaluating Emulex CNAs commented that the installation was very simple as the LP21000 “looked just like any HBA” in their environment and was easily installed using the same driver package used for standard Fibre HBAs.  Even more telling was the statement: “In fact, I didn’t even have to read the manual.”
• 
  Dependable Performance: The review also demonstrated that virtual machine migration using Emulex CNAs takes just moments, without interrupting ongoing activities, even with data-intensive applications, such as live streaming video. A migration between servers took just seconds to accomplish without interruption to ongoing activity. In addition, Emulex CNAs support NPIV, allowing multiple Fibre Channel initiators to occupy the same physical port, simplifying adapter migration. During customer testing using both Emulex CNAs and HBAs, performance was on par across both, with a negligible difference in latency.

 
To view the Enterprise Strategy Group Lab Validation evaluation results