Host Bus Adapters
A host bus adapter (HBA) is the card that connects a server to storage: a Fibre Channel HBA connects it to a Fibre Channel SAN, and a SAS HBA connects SAS and SATA drives, enclosures and JBODs. Fibre Channel HBAs come in 8Gb, 16Gb and 32Gb generations from QLogic, Emulex and Brocade, in single-, dual- and quad-port and blade mezzanine versions that Dell and HPE also sell under their own part numbers, and SAS HBAs run at 6Gb or 12Gb. Our lab tests every HBA on arrival and before it ships, and each one is covered by an Enterasource warranty.
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![Dell VV004 CML SC7020 SC9000 2-Port 10GB SFP+ PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | T520-CR Small View](data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR4nGP6zwAAAgcBApocMXEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=)
Dell VV004 CML SC7020 SC9000 2-Port 10GB SFP+ PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | T520-CRAvailability: Only 1 leftManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyBuy Now$26.89 - NetApp X2028A-R6 Dual Port 320MB SCSI Copper PCI-E HBA | 111-00291Availability: Only 2 leftManufacturer: NetApp Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyBuy Now$69.99
- LSI SAS9211-8i 9211-8i 8 Port 6Gbps SAS PCI-E Host Bus AdapterAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: LSI Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Cisco UCSC-SAS-M5HD UCS 12Gbps SAS HBA ControllerAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Cisco Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell NFYVN PERC HBA350i 12Gbps SAS HBA PCI-E Controller [Low Profile]Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 6CWM6 Single Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Low Profile] | Emulex LPe31000Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell TCK3G Dual Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Low Profile] | QLogic QLE2692Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Sun Oracle 7047852 8-Port 6Gbps SAS-2 PCI-E Host Bus AdapterAvailability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Sun Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 01JFY Dual Port 32GB FC Host Bus Adapter [Low Profile] | Emulex LPe32002-M2Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- Dell 3T3T7 Single Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | Emulex LPe31000Availability: Only 1 leftManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyBuy Now$32.89
- Dell 9J1RG Dual Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | QLogic QLE2662Availability: Available by QuoteManufacturer: Dell Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyRequest PricingOut of stock
- HPE 407620-001 FC1142SR Single Port 4Gbps PCIe FC Host Bus AdapterAvailability: In StockManufacturer: HPE Condition: Refurbished 1 Year WarrantyBuy Now$8.49
![Dell VV004 CML SC7020 SC9000 2-Port 10GB SFP+ PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | T520-CR Small View](https://enterasource.com/media/catalog/product/cache/edfa14e1d5b26a0f8da1ee83d5b45a31/d/a/daily-receiving-5860_small.jpg)
![Dell NFYVN PERC HBA350i 12Gbps SAS HBA PCI-E Controller [Low Profile] Small View](https://enterasource.com/media/catalog/product/cache/edfa14e1d5b26a0f8da1ee83d5b45a31/d/a/daily-receiving-5863_small.jpg)
![Dell 6CWM6 Single Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Low Profile] | Emulex LPe31000 Small View](https://enterasource.com/media/catalog/product/cache/edfa14e1d5b26a0f8da1ee83d5b45a31/d/a/daily-receiving-5864_small.jpg)
![Dell TCK3G Dual Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Low Profile] | QLogic QLE2692](https://enterasource.com/media/catalog/product/placeholder/default/placeholder-small_3.jpg)
![Dell 3T3T7 Single Port 16GB FC PCI-E HBA [Full Height] | Emulex LPe31000 Small View](https://enterasource.com/media/catalog/product/cache/edfa14e1d5b26a0f8da1ee83d5b45a31/d/a/daily-receiving-6362_small.jpg)
Shop host bus adapters by type
Fibre Channel and SAS HBAs each have their own page: Fibre Channel HBAs for 8Gb to 32Gb SAN connections and SAS HBAs for 6Gb and 12Gb drive and enclosure connections. Fibre Channel HBAs take SFP+ optics, which sit under optical transceivers, and HBAs sold as storage-array spares are on storage array HBAs.
HBA, RAID controller or NIC
An HBA passes storage through to the operating system, a RAID controller builds and manages arrays itself, and a NIC carries network traffic:
| Card | What it connects | Protocol | Who manages RAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fibre Channel HBA | The server to a Fibre Channel SAN | Fibre Channel, 8 to 32GFC | The storage array |
| SAS HBA | SAS and SATA drives, JBOD enclosures and tape | SAS and SATA | The operating system or software, since Dell's HBA-series cards are non-RAID |
| RAID controller | Drives behind the controller | SAS and SATA, and NVMe on models built for it | The controller, at RAID levels 0 to 60 on Dell's PERC 11 |
| Network adapter (NIC) | The server to an Ethernet network | Ethernet, with iSCSI carried over it | The storage target, for iSCSI |
Software-defined storage picks the HBA: Proxmox advises avoiding RAID controllers for Ceph and using an HBA instead. For hardware RAID, browse RAID controllers.
Fibre Channel speeds and controller series
Fibre Channel HBAs negotiate down to slower SAN links: Broadcom lists its Emulex LPe31000-series 16GFC HBAs as auto-negotiating 16, 8 or 4GFC, and its LPe32000-series 32GFC HBAs as auto-negotiating 32, 16 or 8GFC. The controller series by speed generation:
| Speed | QLogic series | Emulex series |
|---|---|---|
| 32GFC | QLE27xx | LPe32000 and LPe35000 |
| 16GFC | QLE26xx | LPe16000 and LPe31000 |
| 8GFC | QLE25xx | LPe12000 |
| 4GFC | QLE24xx | LPe11000 |
SAS HBAs
A SAS HBA attaches SAS and SATA devices to the server; an eight-port external 12Gb/s Broadcom HBA, for example, puts its lanes on two mini-SAS HD (SFF-8644) connectors and can address as many as 1,024 SAS or SATA devices. Dell and HPE sell SAS HBAs under their own HBA names, with internal or external ports. For how a JBOD differs from RAID, read What is JBOD?
Multipath: two HBAs, one array
Two HBAs give a server two independent paths to the same storage. Dell's best-practice guide for Microsoft MPIO with its SC Series arrays describes the purpose of multipath I/O as redundant paths, so that when one path goes down another keeps the storage connected, with load balancing across the active paths; it covers Fibre Channel and iSCSI SANs and SAS direct-attach connections, notes that MPIO can use up to 32 paths per device, and calls two to four paths common.
Host bus adapter questions
- What is a host bus adapter?
- A host bus adapter (HBA) is the expansion card that connects a server to storage. A Fibre Channel HBA links the server to a Fibre Channel SAN, and Broadcom rates its Emulex LPe32000-series cards to negotiate 32, 16 or 8GFC links automatically. A SAS HBA connects SAS and SATA drives and enclosures; an eight-port external 12Gb/s card from Broadcom, for one, carries up to 1,024 devices.
- How does a host bus adapter differ from a RAID controller?
- Who builds the array. An HBA passes each drive or LUN straight to the operating system, and Dell describes its 12Gb/s HBA-series cards as non-RAID adapters for drives, JBODs and tape. A RAID controller such as Dell's PERC 11 builds virtual disks itself, at RAID levels from 0 up to 60. Software storage such as Ceph wants the HBA, and Proxmox advises against RAID controllers there.
- Can I use two HBAs for multipathing?
- Yes, that is the usual design. Dell's MPIO best-practice guide describes multipath I/O as giving a server redundant paths to its storage, so a failed path does not interrupt access, with load balancing across active paths over Fibre Channel, iSCSI or SAS. Cable each HBA to a separate path to the array and enable the operating system's multipath feature; two to four paths per device is common.
