C o n n e C t i v i t y

Introduction

As a dominant force in Fibre Channel (FC) adapter technology, Emulex has released the ultimate FC Host Bus Adapter (HBA) for virtualization, scalable cloud environments and mission critical database applications. Not only is the LightPulse® LPe16000B Fibre Channel HBA the fastest FC adapter available today, it also is the most feature rich. It supports the most logins/open exchanges to support more virtual machines (VMs), and is the only adapter with BlockGuard™ T10 PI data integrity offload, delivering high performance data integrity protection without the 30 percent CPU overhead found in firmware-based T10 PI implementations. While developing the LPe16000B, Emulex focused on features and functionality that count the most to FC Storage Area Network (SAN) administrators, including:

n Supporting more virtual machines (VMs) for large cloud and database deployments

n Maximum FC performance to match the performance of SSDs and Intel PCIe 3.0 servers

n Time-saving management functionality

n Bullet-proof reliability for maximum system uptime

n Investment protection for existing FC SANs with backward compatibility with 4 and 8GFC HBAs

n Interoperability with the broadest range of operating systems, servers and storage to ensure compatibility across data centers and remote offices; along with in-box driver support

n Certification by EMC E-Labs

C o m p e t i t i v eB r i e f

Emulex LPe16000B vs. QLogic QLE2600 HBAs

At a Glance

Emulex Advantagesn More than 1.2 million input/output operations

per second (IOPS) on a single port

- Seven times better maximum IOPS than QLogic QLE2600-series

n 16 times better CPU efficiency than QLogic QLE2600-series

n 11 times more server energy efficient (IOPS per server watt consumed)

- QLogic causes the server to draw 45 more watts at maximum performance

- During three years of operation, QLogic QLE2600 uses an additional Megawatt of power!

n Three times faster for Oracle Database n Two times faster for Microsoft SQL Servern Industry leading reliability on the LightPulse

family of HBAs n Over 70 percent market share* in 16GFC

HBA—chosen by more OEMs than any other 16GFC HBA

n Certified by EMC E-Labsn Supports up to four times more logins/

open exchanges to support more virtual machines (VMs)

n T10 PI Data Integrity offload eliminates the 30 percent performance penalty to the central processing unit (CPU)

n Twice the management functionality, takes half the time to install and manage compared to QLogic

- Centrally manage all Emulex adapters from a single management application

- Robust vCenter plug-in for VMware enabling management directly from the VMware vCenter console

- Exclusive support for the vSphere 5.1 Web Client

n Broad market acceptance with over 12 million HBA ports shipped

Performance numbers in this paper were supplied by Demartek. See the Demartek Lab Evaluation Report for more details.

* Dell’Oro Group Market Share Report Q2 2012

Emulex LPe16002B QLogic QLE2672

Seven Times Better Maximum IOPS Performance than QLogic

Emulex has set the bar for FC performance at an all-time high, achieving a world record of more than 1.2 million IOPS per port for a single-channel 16GFC adapter.

Emulex LPe16000B vs. QLogic QLE2600 HBAs

QLogic claims to support up to 1.2 million IOPS. However, during testing in a Windows Server 2012 environment, QLogic benchmarked at 323K maximum IOPS. Emulex achieved 1.2 million IOPS in the same environment, as can be seen in the graphs above. These test values are actually less than what QLogic claims for their current 8GFC HBAs. Additionally, the above graph shows the Emulex architecture is far superior for customers deploying only single port HBAs.

Sixteen Times Better CPU Efficiency

In the chart below, it can be seen that QLogic’s I/O uses more than 60 percent of the server CPU in processing I/O. The Emulex LPe16000B series uses less than 30 percent. Because the Emulex LPe16000B uses substantially fewer CPU resources than QLogic QLE2600, the server CPU has more resources available to perform application processing.

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IOPS Reads 512k - Windows Server 2012

Figure 1 Emulex achieves almost 7 times more IOPS than the Qlogic QLE2600 in a Windows Server 2012 environmnet.

Figure 2 Emulex LPe16002B demonstrates superior CPU utilization-under 30%. The QLogic QLE2672 uses over

60% of the server CPU. (Windows Server 2012).

Figure 3 QLE2672 uses up to 48.8% more Host Processor Utilization (Emulex Labs testing).

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A similar trend is seen in in VMware vSphere 5.1 environments as shown in the chart below. Starting at around 4k block sizes, the QLogic HBA uses considerably more host processor utilization- up to 48.8% more than the Emulex LPe160002B.

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Eleven Times Better IOPS per Server Watt Efficiency-Saves More Than 1 Megawatt of Power Versus QLogic

As can be seen in the charts below, QLogic’s poor CPU efficiency causes the server to draw 45 more watts at maximum performance. When looking at IOPS performance per watt, it can be seen that Emulex delivers eleven times better IOPS per server watt efficiency. This means that customers using an Emulex 16GFC HBA will save well over 1 Megawatt of power per board during a three-year server life.

LPe16000B QLE2600 series Emulex Advantage

Logins 8192 concurrent 2048 4x more with LPe16000-series!

Exchanges 8192 concurrent 2048 4x more with LPe16000-series!

Figure 6 Emulex delivers four times more logins and open exchanges than QLogic.

Figure 4 In VMware vSphere 5.1, QLE2672 struggles with large block sizes whereas Emulex delivers maximum throughput

consistently across large block sizes (Emulex Labs testing).

Four Times More Logins/Open Exchanges to Support More Virtual Machines, Bigger Clouds and Databases

As shown in the table below, the Emulex LPe16000-series delivers four times more logins/open exchanges than QLogic QLE2600-series. More logins/open exchanges enables more users and more VMs per HBA and server.

Emulex LPe16000B vs. QLogic QLE2600 HBAs

Figure 5 Power Consumption: Two Ports Active— The Emulex LPe16000B is up to eleven times more efficient

in terms of IOPS/server watt (16,527 vs. 1,487) and allows the server to consume 14% fewer active watts (311 vs. 356 watts)

while performing more than seven times the I/O traffic.

LPe16000B QLE2672

Emulex Delivers Full Line Rate in VMware 5.1 Environments for large block sizes

The Emulex LPe1600B delivers full line rate for large block sizes whereas the QLogic QLE2672 struggles with large block sizes with 20VM workloads. As can be seen in the graph below, at around 128k block sizes, the QLogic HBA struggles to keep up with the workload. Large block sizes are typically used when backing-up entire VMs or for applications such as data mining, analytics, decision making and rich media content.

16GFC Host Link MB/s - 50% Reads / 50% Writes

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Emulex LPe16000B vs. QLogic QLE2600 HBAs

50 Percent More Efficient Management

Emulex leads the HBA industry in management functionality and efficiency. In testing, Emulex OneCommand® Manager (OCM) provides twice the management functionality and takes half the time to manage when compared to QLogic’s management application. This kind of efficiency can save an administrator several days each year in adapter installation and management. For more information, see the OneCommand Manager report card.

For data centers that have deployed VMware, utilizing the OneCommand Manager for VMware® vCenter™ Server plug-in, the added support for the vSphere 5.1 Web Client further streamlines the management process by enabling adapters to be managed directly from the vCenter console. With this new release, Emulex is the first adapter vendor to offer VMware users an integrated management solution that supports both the vCenter desktop client and the vSphere 5.1 Web Client. Emulex adapters ship with OneCommand Manager at no extra charge.

Figure 8 Application to disk data integrity with T10 PI.

Figure 7 Management efficiency comparison of the time it takes annually to manage 175 HBA ports using Emulex OneCommand Manager

versus QLogic’s HBA management tool. Per this chart, it would take eight hours to install and manage 175 Emulex FC HBAs compared

to 17 hours to install and manage QLogic FC HBAs.

OS Adapter Switch Storagearray

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* Based on the LighPulse family of 2,4,8 and 16GFC HBAs.

Exclusive Support for the T10 PI Standard for Advanced Protection Against Silent Data Corruption— with Hardware Offload!

Emulex LPe16000B adapters are the only HBAs that support the T10 Protection Information (T10 PI) standard with hardware offload. Known as Emulex BlockGuard™, this feature ensures that data corruption events do not go undetected as data traverses the system from the OS and application all the way to the disk array storing your valuable data. With BlockGuard T10 PI hardware offload, you get the most robust protection against silent data corruption without the 30 percent performance tax to the server CPU found in software-based T10 PI implementations. The LPe16000B series is Emulex’s second-generation of adapter with BlockGuard support.

LightPulse LPe16000-series Adapters—Designed for Reliability

Data centers trust Emulex to deliver industry-leading reliability. Emulex has shipped more than 12 million FC adapter ports worldwide and proudly publishes reliability data. The LightPulse family of adapters boast an impressive 10 million hours mean time between failure (MTBF) to ensure SLAs are met.* Emulex knows that data is the lifeblood of Enterprise organizations and designs each HBA to strict reliability standards. The LPe16000-series design minimized on-board components for increased reliability and performance, featuring passive heat sinks for optimum reliability.

Broadest OS, Server and Switch Support for Greater Interoperability

Significant, long-term investment in Emulex’s host bus adapter R&D has yielded a solid, market-proven driver portfolio that supports a broad range of OS environments and system platforms. For example, Emulex has in-box driver support for Windows Server 2012 and VMware vSphere 5.1, whereas QLogic QLE2600 does not have in-box driver support.

©2013 Emulex, Inc. All rights reserved. This document refers to various companies and products by their trade names. In most, if not all cases, their respective companies claim these designations as trademarks or registered trademarks. This information is provided for reference only. Although this information is believed to be accurate and reliable at the time of publication, Emulex assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Emulex reserves the right to make changes or corrections without notice. This report is the property of Emulex and may not be duplicated without permission from the Company.

www.emulex.com

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16GFC HBA Market Share Leadership with Over 70 Percent Market Share and EMC E-Lab Certification

Emulex is the leader in 16GFC adapter technology, with a massive FC install base and interoperability with the broadest range of operating systems and servers. The LPe16000-series is the most widely deployed 16GFC HBA and has been field proven by the largest OEMs since 2011. It has also been rigorously tested and qualified by EMC E-Labs. By purchasing an Emulex 16GFC HBA, you are buying field proven technology. On the other hand, QLogic 16GFC has limited OEM adoption and has not been field proven.

Conclusion

Emulex LightPulse LPe16000B 16Gb FC HBAs are light-years ahead in performance, manageability and market adoption compared to QLogic QLE2600 adapters:

n More than 1.2 million IOPS on a single channel

- 7x better maximum IOPS than QLogic QLE2600-series

n 16x better CPU efficiency than QLogic QLE2600-series

n Three times faster for Oracle Database

n Two times faster for Microsoft SQL Server

n 11x better IOPS per server watt efficiency than QLogic QLE2600

- QLogic causes server to draw 45 more watts at max performance

- During three years, QLogic QLE2600 uses an additional Megawatt of power!

n Industry-leading adapter management with OneCommand Manager—provides twice the management functionality and takes half the time to configure and manage compared to Brocade’s HCM tool

- OneCommand® Manager for VMware® vCenter™ Server, with added support for the vSphere 5.1 Web Client

- Common driver stack and management tools across FC, FCoE, iSCSI and NIC Interoperability with the broadest range of operating systems, servers, switches and storage to ensure compatibility across data centers and remote offices

n Up to four times more logins/open exchanges to support more virtual machines and larger scalable cloud environments.

n Market leader in 16GFC HBAs with over 70 percent market share, whereas QLogic has zero market share

n Certified by EMC E-Labs and trusted by every major OEM

n Bullet-proof reliability

n The only adapter with BlockGuard™ T10 PI data integrity offload, delivering high performance data integrity protection without the 30 percent CPU overhead found in HBAs that have software-based T10 PI.

n Huge adapter install base and investment protection for existing FC SANs with backward compatibility with 4 and 8GFC adapters.

Emulex LPe16000B vs. QLogic QLE2600 HBAs

Emulex QLogic

16GFC HBA Market Share > 70% 0%

E-Labs Certification Yes No