distracted247
Occasional Visitor
I recently bought a server and I would like to connect it to a Fibre Channel Storage Array that I already own. I am on a very tight budget and I spent more than I intended to on the server hardware leaving me very little for the actual connection from Server to Storage.
I know that by buying a FC HBA I can make a direct connection from the server to the array but I can't find anything in my budget (pcie). Recently though, while I was searching for a HBA (daily!
) I was offered a new IBM 42C1800 CNA card at a fraction of the asking price for a used single port HBA. 
Thinking I had just made huge progress with my home SAN I accepted the deal and threw myself at google in search of FCoE information.
Things are never that simple though and I am sure you probably already know what I am about to say, but at the time I didn't.
A great deal of research later and all of a sudden my budget CNA purchase needs a $$$$$ switch to get it talking to my Fibre Channel storage; suddenly that bargain I scored is looking very, very, expensive.
Because FCoE hardware is relatively new and my knowledge on the subject (though growing) is limited, I am struggling to identify which switches support FCoE CNAs. Unfortunately even when I do manage to find these rare beasts, I take one look at their age and asking price and I know that they are incredibly unlikely to appear any-time soon in my price range.
On the other hand Fibre Channel technology is so much older and more widespread that supply outstrips demand and the hardware can be found at massively discounted prices. Everything that is, except the pcie HBAs which naturally is the only piece of this puzzle I am missing. Since these are still sought after(presumably) because they use the newer bus demand drives the asking price up so that even the oldest and most limited pcie HBA can command a premium that keeps them just out of my reach!
So now I'm a bit stuck, beyond trying to find a converged switch that's in my budget is there any way at all to make a direct connection from the CNA in my server to the storage Array?
I'm pretty sure I can't avoid the expensive hardware that takes the FCoE information and identifies, separates and forwards the FC signal to the array but I'm not going to rule it out before asking first.
If it simply can't be done point to point, can anyone recommend a switch or other hardware solution that I could use apart from a Cisco 5000/Brocade 8000 series (or OEM versions of them)?
Once I know what my options are, I should be well armed enough to decide which will be cheaper in the long-run; sell the CNA and go back to searching for a HBA solution, or stick with the CNA and head down the FCoE road. At this point based on the knowledge I've acquired since I picked up the CNA I'm fairly confident that it will be cheaper for me to sell the IBM card and start over with the HBA search, but I'm hoping someone here will tell me otherwise.
I know that by buying a FC HBA I can make a direct connection from the server to the array but I can't find anything in my budget (pcie). Recently though, while I was searching for a HBA (daily!
) I was offered a new IBM 42C1800 CNA card at a fraction of the asking price for a used single port HBA. Thinking I had just made huge progress with my home SAN I accepted the deal and threw myself at google in search of FCoE information.
Things are never that simple though and I am sure you probably already know what I am about to say, but at the time I didn't.
A great deal of research later and all of a sudden my budget CNA purchase needs a $$$$$ switch to get it talking to my Fibre Channel storage; suddenly that bargain I scored is looking very, very, expensive.
Because FCoE hardware is relatively new and my knowledge on the subject (though growing) is limited, I am struggling to identify which switches support FCoE CNAs. Unfortunately even when I do manage to find these rare beasts, I take one look at their age and asking price and I know that they are incredibly unlikely to appear any-time soon in my price range.
On the other hand Fibre Channel technology is so much older and more widespread that supply outstrips demand and the hardware can be found at massively discounted prices. Everything that is, except the pcie HBAs which naturally is the only piece of this puzzle I am missing. Since these are still sought after(presumably) because they use the newer bus demand drives the asking price up so that even the oldest and most limited pcie HBA can command a premium that keeps them just out of my reach!
So now I'm a bit stuck, beyond trying to find a converged switch that's in my budget is there any way at all to make a direct connection from the CNA in my server to the storage Array?
I'm pretty sure I can't avoid the expensive hardware that takes the FCoE information and identifies, separates and forwards the FC signal to the array but I'm not going to rule it out before asking first.
If it simply can't be done point to point, can anyone recommend a switch or other hardware solution that I could use apart from a Cisco 5000/Brocade 8000 series (or OEM versions of them)?
Once I know what my options are, I should be well armed enough to decide which will be cheaper in the long-run; sell the CNA and go back to searching for a HBA solution, or stick with the CNA and head down the FCoE road. At this point based on the knowledge I've acquired since I picked up the CNA I'm fairly confident that it will be cheaper for me to sell the IBM card and start over with the HBA search, but I'm hoping someone here will tell me otherwise.
Last edited:
Anyway please do correct me where I'm wrong, like I keep saying, it's all very new! 
