Fibre Channel HBAs (Host Bus Adapters)

Speed generations and reach

The cards here negotiate down to slower links, so a newer HBA can join an older fabric: QLogic states that its 16GFC QLE2690 and QLE2692 are backward compatible with 4GFC and 8GFC, and Broadcom's Emulex LPe35002 negotiates 32GFC, 16GFC and 8GFC automatically. Shortwave reach falls as speed rises:

Reach figures: QLogic's QLE2690 data sheet for 8GFC and 16GFC, Cisco's MDS transceiver data sheet for 32GFC.

Fitting an FC HBA

An FC HBA is the server end of a SAN: it reaches the storage arrays through Fibre Channel switches. QLogic builds its 2690-series cards on PCIe 3.0 x8 and Broadcom builds the LPe35000 series on PCIe 4.0 x8, so both suit an x8 or wider slot, such as the up to eight PCIe 3.0 slots of a PowerEdge R740; blade cards like the QLogic QME2572-based Dell 2H47D fit blade servers instead. Check each listing for the bracket height and for whether optics ship with the card; FC optics are on optical transceivers.

For directly attached shelves and tape, see SAS HBAs; for SAN storage itself, storage arrays, and the background in SAN vs NAS vs DAS. Each HBA carries an Enterasource warranty whose term is on its listing. All adapter types: host bus adapters.