The difference between a fibre optic network card and an HBA card

In the early SAN storage system, the data transfer between the server and the switch was done through optical fiber, because the server was transferring the SCSI instruction to the storage device, could not take the IP protocol of the ordinary LAN network, so it needed to use FC transport, so this SAN is called Fc-san, And later appeared with the IP protocol encapsulated SAN, can completely walk the ordinary LAN network, so called Ip-san, which is the most typical of the now popular iSCSI.

Both of these methods require heavy packet-reading operations on the blocks, so high-performance san systems need to be installed on the server with a network card dedicated to relieving the burden of the processor, which is called an HBA card. In addition to performing the unpack work, it can certainly provide a fibre optic interface (if it is an iSCSI HBA card that provides a common RJ45 interface) for connection to the corresponding switch, and the HBA physically you can plug it as a NIC? CI or pci-e slot, so the use of this device is very phase of a network card, many people also put it with the normal network card or ordinary fiber card confused. Of course, some iSCSI HBA cards can be used as a normal network card, but it is very luxurious to consider from the price.

The general definition of HBAs is the I/O adapter that connects the host I/O bus and the computer's memory system. According to this definition, like the video card is connected to the bus and memory, the network card is connected to the bus and memory, SCSI-FC card is connected to SCSI or FC bus and memory, they should be regarded as HBAs. HBA cards have Fc-hba and iSCSI HBAs there will be other HBA cards in the future, but HBAs are usually used in SCSI. Adapter (adapters) and NICs are used for FC, and NICs are also used for Ethernet and Token Ring networks.

In fact, the network card is commonly referred to a type of equipment collectively, is installed in the host, through the network cable (twisted pair, fiber cable, coaxial cable, etc.) and network switches (Ethernet switches, FC switches, iSCSI switches, etc.), or with other network devices (storage devices, servers, workstations, etc.) to connect , thus forming a network of hardware devices.

So, the fiber-optic network card is the name in the end is the fiber port HBA card?

In fact, the fiber-optic network card that you often refer to is the HBA card in the Fibre Channel networks.

Because of the different transmission protocol, the network card can be divided into three kinds, one is Ethernet cards, the other is FC network card, the third is iSCSI network card.

• Ethernet Card: Scientific name Ethernet Adapter, transport protocol for IP protocol, generally through fiber-optic cable or twisted-pair cable and Ethernet switch connection. The interface types are divided into light ports and electric ports. The optical port is generally through the fiber cable for data transmission, the interface module is generally SFP (transmission rate 2gb/s) and Gbic (1gb/s), the corresponding interface for SC, ST and LC. The current commonly used interface type is RJ45, used to connect with twisted pair, also have connection with coaxial cable, but now used relatively less.

FC Network card: Commonly known as fiber card, the scientific name fibre Channel HBA. The transport protocol is a fibre Channel protocol that is typically connected to a fibre Channel switch via a fibre optic cable. The interface types are divided into light ports and electric ports. Optical ports are generally transmitted through fiber optic cable, the interface module is generally SFP (transmission rate 2gb/s) and Gbic (1gb/s), the corresponding interface is SC and LC. The interface type of the electric port is generally DB9 needle or HSSDC.

iSCSI Network adapter: Scientific name iSCSI HBA, Transport iSCSI protocol, interface type same as Ethernet card.

"Fiber network card" generally refers to the FC HBA card, plugged into the server, the external storage of the optical switch, and the optical port of the Ethernet card is generally called "Fiber Ethernet card", but also inserted in the server, but it is external with the optical port of the Ethernet switch.

HBA Card: Fc-hba card (commonly known as: Fiber optic network card), ISCSI-HBA card (RJ45 interface)

Ethernet Card: Ethernet Card for Fiber interface (commonly known as: Fiber Ethernet card)