User`s guide

1 – Introduction

What is Fibre Channel?

1-2 FC2354601-00 E

(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).

With its increased connectivity and performance, Fibre Channel is the I/O

technology preferred and used by system designers.

1.4

Features

n Compliance with PCI Local Bus Specification revision 2.2

n Compliance with PCI-X Addendum (revision 1.0) to the PCI Local Bus

Specification

n Compliance with Third Generation Fibre Channel-Physical and Signaling

Interface (FC-PH-3) standard

n Compliance with Fibre Channel-Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL-2) standard

n Compliance with U.S. and international safety and emissions standards

n Support for bus master DMA

n Fast!UTIL BIOS utility to customize the configuration parameters on the QLA23xx

HBA and attached drives

n Two independent channels on a single HBA: QLA2342/2342L

n Four independent channels on a single HBA: QLA2344

n Supports Fibre Channel protocol-SCSI (FCP-SCSI), IP, and Fibre

Channel-virtual interface (FC-VI) protocols

n Supports point-to-point fabric connection (F-PORT FABRIC LOGIN)