Cisco Dual-port Enhanced Gen 5 (16Gb) Fibre Channel Adapter

The Cisco Dual-port Enhanced Gen 5 (16Gb) Fibre Channel Adapter is a high-performance HBA designed for modern data centers that demand uncompromising storage throughput, low host CPU overhead, and rock-solid reliability. Built around the QLogic QLE2692-CSC platform, this dual-port 16GFC adapter delivers native Fibre Channel performance with full hardware offloads, letting your servers focus on application workloads while the storage fabric handles data movement with precision. Ideal for enterprise databases, virtualized environments, and large-scale backups, this adapter blends Cisco-level reliability with the mature, proven technology of QLogic Gen 5 FC, unlocking exceptional throughput, latency characteristics, and scale in a compact, PCIe-based form factor.

• Dual-port 16Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity: This adapter provides two independent 16Gbps Fibre Channel ports, enabling robust storage connectivity and enabling multipath configurations for fault tolerance and performance optimization. With dual ports, you gain both redundancy and the ability to aggregate bandwidth across paths, which is particularly valuable for mission-critical databases, virtualization workloads, and high-performance backup pipelines that require consistent, sustained I/O.
• Enhanced Gen 5 performance with exceptional IOPS: The Enhanced Gen 5 FC solution delivers higher per-port performance than earlier Gen 5 generations, pushing throughput and responsiveness to new levels. Expect up to 650K IOPS per port under optimized workloads, along with low latency and predictable behavior. This capability translates into faster data access for OLTP databases, real-time analytics, and large-scale virtual machine storage, helping to reduce query response times and accelerate storage-intensive applications.
• Low CPU usage thanks to hardware offloads: Full hardware offloads handle Fibre Channel protocol processing, including framing, encoding/decoding, and error handling. By shifting these tasks away from the host CPU, you preserve CPU cycles for applications, databases, and virtualization. The result is improved server efficiency, higher VM density, and better overall system responsiveness, even under peak I/O conditions.
• Enterprise-grade reliability and Cisco-ready integration: Designed for Cisco environments, this HBA combines the robustness of Cisco hardware with QLogic’s mature FC technology. It supports essential FC features such as zoning, tagging, and multipathing, and is engineered for seamless integration with Cisco Storage Area Networks, switches, and supported storage arrays. The result is a dependable storage backbone suitable for racked servers, data centers, and centralized storage architectures.
• Broad OS and virtualization support for flexible deployments: The QLE2692-CSC-based adapter is engineered for compatibility across leading operating systems and hypervisors, including Windows, Linux, VMware, and other virtualization platforms. This flexibility makes it an excellent upgrade for diverse environments, enabling consistent performance and simplified management as your infrastructure evolves.

Technical Details of Cisco Dual-port Enhanced Gen 5 (16Gb) Fibre Channel Adapter

• Port speed: 16Gbps Fibre Channel per port
• Ports: 2 (dual-port)
• Product family: Enhanced Gen 5 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) for 16GFC environments
• Hardware offloads: Full hardware offloads for FC protocol processing to minimize host CPU usage
• CPU impact: Extremely low host CPU utilization, freeing CPU resources for applications and virtualization
• Interface: PCIe-based host interface (form factor suitable for data center servers)
• Compatibility: Designed for Cisco environments with broad OS and virtualization support

How to install Cisco Dual-port Enhanced Gen 5 (16Gb) Fibre Channel Adapter

• Power down the server, unplug power cords, and discharge static electricity before handling the hardware.
• Open the server chassis and locate an available PCIe slot; remove the slot cover if needed.
• Insert the HBA firmly into the PCIe slot and secure it with a mounting screw to ensure a stable connection.
• Connect 16Gb Fibre Channel cables to the two ports on the adapter, routing them to your storage arrays or Fibre Channel switch fabric with appropriate zoning considerations.
• Power on the server and install the QLogic driver and management software appropriate for your operating system (Windows, Linux, VMware, etc.).
• Configure the adapter using the management utility to set WWNs, perform initial zoning or multipath policies, and verify path readiness to storage targets.
• Run a basic I/O test to confirm connectivity and performance, then monitor throughput and latency as you scale your storage workloads.

Frequently asked questions

• What is 16Gbps Fibre Channel? 16Gbps Fibre Channel (16GFC) is the maximum data transfer rate per Fibre Channel port, enabling high-speed storage networking for databases, virtualization, and backup solutions.
• How many ports does this adapter have? It has two independent Fibre Channel ports for redundancy and multipath configurations.
• Is this adapter compatible with Cisco servers? Yes. It is designed for Cisco environments and supports standard FC features and wide OS compatibility; verify firmware and driver compatibility with your server model.
• Do I need special drivers? Yes. Install the vendor-provided QLogic drivers and management software to enable full functionality, performance optimization, and configuration of paths, zoning, and multipathing.
• What workloads benefit most from this adapter? Heavy I/O workloads such as large databases, virtualized storage, data backup, and real-time analytics benefit from higher throughput, lower CPU overhead, and reliable multi-path connectivity.
• What is the warranty? Warranty details vary by vendor and region; consult your Cisco/QLogic supplier for exact terms.