The mainline Linux kernel will gain new support this quarter for virtualized SANs (storage area networks). Emulex says its LightPulse virtual HBA driver gives each virtual machine (VM) on an enterprise storage server independent access to the SAN peripheral, through a shared HBA (host-bus adapter).

SANs are arrays of disks that attach to the host via low-level disk protocols (i.e., SCSI, ATA, etc), rather than the higher-level network protocols (ftp, cifs, nfs, etc.) used by NAS (network-attached storage) equipment. SANs typically connect to servers via fiber channel cables that attach to an HBA card in the server.

The contributed LightPulse virtual HBA driver will support Emulex's LightPulse family of 4Gb HBAs. The drivers are said to allow each Xen or VMware-based virtual machine on an enterprise storage server to have “private, protected and managed storage access” over a shared set of physical adapters.

Emulex says its LightPulse HBAs and driver implement an open ANSI T11 standard called NPIV (N-Port ID virtualization; PDF download), which it says it developed in partnership with IBM. The LightPulse driver will bring the first NPIV implementation to “open source Linux,” Emulex said.

Additionally, Emulex said its LightPulse HBAs support the ANSI T11 Virtual Fabric (PDF download) standards, said to provide “the ability to segment a SAN into many logical SANs, each with its own set of fabric services,” and to consolidate multiple SAN “islands” into one larger physical SAN, “while still maintaining the same logical topologies, fabric services and tools.”

Mike Smith, executive VP of marketing at Emulex, stated, “Emulex virtual HBA technology provides breakthrough capabilities to optimize, control, tune, and secure storage connections for virtual machines.”

Availability

The Emulex LightPulse virtual HBA driver will be widely available as a standard part of the 2.6.23 kernel, expected to ship this quarter, Emulex said.

—Henry Kingman

 
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