Choosing and implementing a host bus adapter for small and medium businesses
Host bus adapters can also be a common pain point when setting up your storage environment. Tony Palmer, senior lab engineer with Enterprise Strategy Group, answers some frequently asked questions about HBAs in this Q&A.
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Table of contents:
>> Are there HBAs designed for SMBs?
>> What features should an HBA have?
>> What else should you consider when purchasing an HBA?
>> What should users look out for when installing an HBA?
There aren't HBAs designed specifically for SMBs that wouldn't also be appropriate for enterprises. HBA hardware is all very similar, and really what makes an HBA for an SMB comes down to two things. 1) Ease of implementation and management; and 2) after-sales support. If you look at all the major vendors, you can find Fibre Channel host bus adapters or iSCSI HBAs that have everything necessary to support the needs of an SMB.
What features should you be looking for when purchasing a host bus adapter?
N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) definitely comes to mind. Since server virtualization in particular is so prevalent and popular now, NPIV is pretty much an essential feature. NPIV allows each virtual server to present a different world wide name to the storage area network (SAN). So, each virtual server can see its storage and no other storage.
Otherwise, you have to do some "unnatural acts" with logical unit number (LUN) mapping. You have to present all of your storage to all of the virtual servers on a particular physical server, and then map out LUNs to servers. It quickly becomes very complicated. NPIV simplifies management tremendously.
What else you should consider before choosing a host bus adapter?
What should users watch out for when installing a host bus adapter?