After resolving a problem that at first appeared to be a performance issue, we found we really like Emulex Corp.'s LP9002L-F2. Because of this glitch, however, we could not include the Emulex HBA in our comparative review.

So what kept the Emulex card out of the review? In a nutshell, the LP9002L-F2 has quite a few more Fibre Channel buffer credits than the other devices we tested. Buffer credits work like this: The sender keeps track of how many buffer credits (which translates into frames) the receiver has. When the sender has sent the full quota of frames, the receiver sends an authorization code, starting the cycle over. The LP9002L-F2 has a huge amount of buffer credits -- 64 -- while most other HBAs have four. However, our Vixel switch, used to send data to the other HBAs, did not acknowledge that the LP9002L-F2 has 64 buffer credits and filled just four of them, then stopped. The LP9002L-F2, having not received its quota of buffer credits, would not send the authorization for more data until the time-out period had expired, then the cycle would start again. This caused an approximately 16-MB-per-second performance gap between the LP9002L-F2 and the other HBAs we tested. We brought this problem to the attention of Emulex engineers, who re-created the test in the company's labs and confirmed that the problem lay with the buffer credits and the Vixel switch. Emulex and Vixel have worked together on a fix, and Vixel will have released a patch by the time you read this. Once we figured out the problem, we hooked up the QLogic SANbox 2 switch and ran the maximum throughput test. The performance of the LP9002L-F2 was in line with the other switches in the test (see "Performance Test Results" and "Emulex Performance," at right).

Emulex Performance Click here to enlarge

The LP9002L-F2 was easy to set up, and the BIOS has quite a few features for the advanced Fibre Channel user. The interface, though a bit clumsy, was very serviceable, letting us configure any number of LP9002L-F2s, making multiple adapter configurations easy. The included software, lputilnt, simplifies such tasks as updating the adapter BIOS, and the unit does not require the use of an MS-DOS boot disk, as the other HBAs tested do. Another nice thing about the lputilnt utility is that it is installed with the driver. You do have to do a bit of searching, but once you have it, the utility is worthwhile, offering a wealth of information about adapter firmware revision levels, driver revision levels, PCI registers, statistics and counters, and other information that makes the storage geek's heart flutter. Emulex also offers an MD2 faceplate for low-profile installations, though the LP9002L-F2 box did not come with the MD2 faceplate inside, as Adaptec's did.

Finally, the Emulex unit sports a CD containing documentation for all the company's Fibre Channel HBAs and hubs, as well as a copy of Netscape Navigator 4.08. This documentation is stored in HTML and is easy to navigate and use. In many ways, we prefer this setup to the standard PDF document.

One of the things that really impressed us about the Emulex unit was that it remained competitive with the other cards in all the other tests, despite the buffer-credit issue. Buffer credits become very important as distances increase, and the LP9002L-F2, with its extra buffer credit capacity, is an excellent choice for long-distance applications, even those in excess of 10 kilometers. The LP9002L-F2 is a high quality card with good speed and support.

LP9002L-F2, $1,695. Available: Now. Emulex Corp., (800) 854-7112, (714) 662-5600; fax (714) 513-8270. www.emulex.com