QLogic iSCSI PCI-E HBA

[pfuller]

I was wondering if the QLogic SANblade HBA QLE4060C or QLE4062C would work with ESX 3.0.1 or 3.0.2?

Also does anyone else know if there are any other iSCSI HBA cards that are supported for ESX server that have a PCI-E interface?

[ascheler]

I have a QLE4062C in a test ESX 3.0.2 box and ESX does not recognize it. The QLE4062C is not on the VMWare HCL, but a Qlogic support engineer suggested that the HCL may not have been recently updated and that he "thinks" the QLE4062C has been recently certified. He did admit that the information he was viewing did not give him absolute certainty, but he is fairly certain and suggested that I contact VMWare support to see if there is a patch available to work some magic with the QLE4062C. I'm currently on the phone with VMWare. I'll let you know what I find.

[George_B]

I would be interested to know the answer as I was checking the HCL and none of the PCI-E QLOGIC iSCSI HBAs have yet to be added. My new DL 380's have no PCI-X slots so their other cards are not an option.

[doubleH]

i was in the same boat. when i bought my DL385 g2's they came with PCIe so I had to I had to purchase PCIx/PCIe riser boards and then I was off to the races and able to use my QLogic PCIx 4052c HBAs.

[Jae_Ellers]

Of course, these are completely unsupported by HP, but if they work, they work.

There are no other iSCSI HBA cards at this time. I'd expect to see the 4062 on the HCL soon. I'd also expect support for some of the onboard TOE in 3.1, whenever that may land.

[doubleH]

you are correct. I've had no issues at all so far with the 4052c's. i'm surprised HP still hasn't produced an iSCSI HBA yet.

[christianZ]

They needn't produce it - they should only rebrand Qlogic (like IBM)

That will be enough for us !

[George_B · Accepted solution]

Any further news on this topic?

All I got from VMware support was the standard reply :

"[i]I cannot determine if the new QLE4062 is certified as yet, it is being evaluated by our engineering teams.

The card may be supported in the future as VMware are constantly approving new devices onto the HCL, however there is no definitive date for this. "

"[i]Unfortunately I cannot say when or if this card will eventually be supported.

Only when a card has been passed through QA process and certified, will it be updated on the HCL.

I am unaware of the evalution procedure and therefore cannot commit to an estimated release date.

Vmware will release updates on its support site when new hardware has been certified.[/i]"

Which is not too helpfull when planning a server purchase. If I know that they will be supported in 2-3 months time than I can get by with the software initiator but I don't want to spend a large sum of money on cards I will never use.

[jomccon]

Anyone have any updated info if the VMWare plans to support the QLE4062C any time soon?

[tsightler]

I have no new information, however, I don't suspect it will be any time soon.

Now, this is only a guess, but it's based on the fact that the drivers included with ESX3 are mostly derived from Linux 2.4 kernel drivers (for example the included qla4022 driver is version 3.24, whereas the very lasted RHEL3 driver for use with the 2.4 kernel is 3.3, drivers for 2.6 kernel systems are 5.x).

As far as I am aware Qlogic has not released any 3.x version of the driver that includes support for the QLE406x HBA's and there are significant differences between the 3.x and 5.x drivers that would make backporting support difficult, although certainly not impossible. Also, the current driver in ESX only support 2.x.x.x firmware versions even with QLA405x HBAs, but the QLE406x HBA's required 3.x firmware. In other words, there are a lot of things to work out for that card to be supported.

I don't know what driver interface ESX3.5 uses, maybe it's different, but I haven't seen anything about the QLE406x HBA's being supported there either. That being said, I've been told the ESX3.5 will include support for 10GE adapters like Neterion (although I don't know if that includes the PCI-E version, but I'd guess it does). These adapters support both network and storage connectivity via TOE and can push serious amounts of data.

Later,

Tom

[George_B]

I have given up waiting and bought a PCI-X riser card for my DL380 and a 4052c.

[Jae_Ellers]

You do know that ESX 3.5 is due out in the next few days, right? Or at least by Christmas. But no later than the beginning of January. Early Q1, for sure.

My prediction is Dec. 7.

Many times you can get NDA info out of your sales guys just by asking them. I recommend that approach.

But hey, at least you have hardware on the way, right?

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Check my blog:

http://blog.mr-vm.com

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[George_B]

When you have to have it orderd before Dec 1st to get it into the last bit of budget, January is not a good time frame

Just not sure how my ESX box is going to take to having a riser and iSCSI HBA installed.

[tsightler]

You do know that ESX 3.5 is due out in the next few days, right? Or at least by Christmas. But no later than the beginning of January. Early Q1, for sure.

Are the QLE406xC PCI-E iSCSI HBA's supported with ESX3.5? The information from my VMware sales team is that it is not, at least not in the initial release, and that there is no timeline for it to be supported. I would hope their information is wrong, but that's what they told me.

[Jae_Ellers]

Of course, since HP doesn't support the 405x in any way, shape, or form, all you can do is cross your fingers.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Check my blog:

http://blog.mr-vm.com

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