Qlogic 4010 User manual

CASE STUDY
Indus
Corporation
QLogic 4010 HBAs Connect iSCSI
SAN Environment
Objective
To separate storage from servers without increasing
costs and sacrificing performance.
Solution
Develop an iSCSI SAN using existing Ethernet infra-
structure.
Result
QLogic SANblade™4010 iSCSI host bus adapters
offload TCP/IP and iSCSI processing to free expensive
server resources for business applications.
At Indus Corp., IT experts know from experience that monolithic storage
environments most often have two major points of failure: disk drives and
CPU heat. The challenge then becomes finding a way to maintain cost and
performance while separating storage from the servers.
For the past 15 years,Indus has focused on software engineering and enterprise
infrastructure support to build IT solutions in database management, data
warehousing and data mining.Applications include dynamicWeb development,
geographic information systems, convergent communications solutions and
network/data security.
So when Robert Nase, Indus Director of Information Technology, designed a
storage platform to guide the IT services provider into the future, he created
an innovative iSCSI Ethernet-based SAN — powered by six SANblade 4010
iSCSI host bus adapters by QLogic.
“With a computing box and a storage box you can divide and conquer,” said
Nase, who consolidated his storage into several pools.“Essentially, we isolated
the disk drives and CPUs into their own elements.”
Why iSCSI?
iSCSI is a new protocol that enables block-oriented storage data to be carried by
Ethernet networks. The principal benefit of iSCSI is that it simplifies a network
by merging block and file data traffic onto a single Ethernet infrastructure.
Nase said he didn’t agonize over selecting iSCSI instead of Fibre Channel
(FC), with its high bandwidth and almost limitless ability to connect devices.
Though familiar with FC, he believed that the more sophisticated interface was
unnecessary for his company of 500 employees in 12 U.S. offices, and opted
to maintain his existing Ethernet infrastructure.
With this specific mindset,Nase began exploring solutions that met performance
and cost requirements.
“I’ve tried every kind of TOE adapter and NIC, and there wasn’t an acceptable one
on the market; I like QLogic the best for performance and functionality. The other
products just don’t work for cost and performance. When I want to depend on the
transaction rate and error checking, I turn to QLogic.”
Robert Nase, Indus Director of CIO

Corporate Headquarters QLogic Corporation 26650 Aliso Viejo Parkway Aliso Viejo, CA 92656 949.389.6000 www.qlogic.com
Europe Headquarters QLogic (UK) LTD. Surrey Technology Centre 40 Occam Road Guildford Surrey GU2 7YG UK [phone]
CASE STUDY
“iSCSI provides optimal performance for our type of computing
environment,” he said. “I didn’t think we needed the 2Gb throughput
of Fibre Channel; the 1Gb performance found with iSCSI was enough
for me.”
In addition, Nase said he was impressed with the QLogic TCP offload
engine (TOE) that accelerates the performance of TCP/IP traffic.
Without this kind of engine, the host system can become burdened
and starve both application performance and I/O performance.
What the Future Holds Indus is also in the midst of changing its backup
strategy to a multiple point solution that includes disk mirroring and
tape. The company will keep several iterations online, as well as
mirroring data to an offsite location for disaster recovery.
“This greatly simplifies our procedures and lowers the cost of our
licenses,” Nase said.
But one thing is certain: as the company migrates its three Sun
servers into yet another array, QLogic and its SANblade 4010 iSCSI
adapters will be hard at work.
“I’ve tried every kind of TOE adapter and NIC, and there wasn’t an
acceptable one on the market; I like QLogic the best for performance
and functionality,” said Nase. “The other products just don’t work for
cost and performance. When I want to depend on the transaction rate
and error checking, I turn to QLogic.”
The Ethernet SAN Solution
The Indus SAN environment includes:
• Microsoft Exchange 2003 cluster with two Dell 6350 quad processor
servers.
• harePoint/KMS environment with two Dell 6350 quad processor
servers at the front end, and two Dell 6350 quad processor servers
as back-end database (SQL) servers.
• Each Dell server has a QLogic SANblade 4010 iSCSI HBA
• All six servers are connected to two networks; the front-end
network provides end-user access and the back-end network
connects the servers to two SANRAD Vswitch 3000 iSCSI targets
in a fault-tolerant pair.
• The SANRAD switches are connected to two arrays: a Nexsan
ATAboy (1.6TB), and an Infortrend SATA-based array (4TB).
Indus Corporation
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of QLogic Corporation, which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders. Information supplied by QLogic Corporation is believed to be accurate and reliable.
QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this brochure. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications.
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