The Adaptec 9210LP is noteworthy in that Adaptec partnered with Agilent Technologies for this card, which even has Adaptec/Agilent Technologies silk-screened on the top. The 9210LP uses Agilent's new Tachyon XL2 chipset and is the smallest card in the review. The 9210LP also comes with interchangeable faceplates for installation in servers that require MD2 form factor or standard card slots, and Adaptec's boot-time BIOS screen can be accessed in the same manner as its omnipresent SCSI cards: ctrl-A when prompted.

We had some issues with the 9210LP, however. In our first round of testing it scored only 101.49 MB per second on the maximum throughput test. Puzzled, we rechecked our switch configuration. Everything was set at the full 2 Gb (200 MB) per second rate. The 9210LP was logging into the switch as a 2-Gbps device. We called Adaptec tech support to see what the problem was, and it turns out that the current versions of Adaptec's drivers are having difficulty reading a registry key to set the adapter to N_port mode. Adaptec provided us with a fix, which forced the card into N_port mode operation for reliable performance measurement. Running the card under N_port, we were able to achieve 195.30 MB per second, a considerable increase and what we would expect. The updated driver will be available on Adaptec's Web site by the time you read this, according to company officials.

In the other tests, the Adaptec 9210LP came up short -- extremely so in some cases. The results in our two real-world simulation tests -- database server and Web server -- were particularly dismal. In these tests the 9210LP moved far less data than did the other cards and at a slower rate.

There are also a couple of other issues with this card. First, it lacks the ability to boot through a fabric network. This is a serious shortcoming, as all the other HBAs in this review have that ability. Another thing we noticed was that there is a feature in the 9210LP's BIOS to scan the devices connected to the HBA and show them on screen, similar to what the company's SCSI HBAs do. This feature does not work when connected to a switch. It works only in arbitrated loop mode. Not a huge problem, but when we were first hooking this HBA up, we assumed that this feature worked and that we had a connection problem to the JBODs. If this feature worked it would give all kinds of information on the devices connected to the HBA, such as device number, ALPA and Fibre Channel World Wide Name.

The BIOS settings on this card are also particularly sparse. The only settings we could change were the boot BIOS support, Fibre Channel hard ALPA, device scanning order and host adapter speed. While we don't like to monkey with base settings if we can avoid it, we do like to be given the option. Although we think this will be a good card after Adaptec and Agilent work out the bugs with performance and add all the features that the other cards offer, we cannot recommend it in its current incarnation. When asked, Adaptec was vague on when an updated version will be released.

9210LP, $1,290. Available: Now. Adaptec, (800) 442-7274; fax (408) 262-2533. www.adaptec.com

Steven J. Schuchart Jr. covers storage and servers for Network Computing. Previously he worked as a network architect for a general retail firm, a PC and electronics technician, a computer retail store manager, and a freelance disc jockey. Send your comments on this article to him at sschuchart@nwc.com.