HP A7173A PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI Host Bus Adapter Performance White Paper for HP PA-RISC Servers

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System Configuration Guidelines
To get the best performance from an HP Ultra320 SCSI products, it’s important to follow a few simple
guidelines.
Adapter Firmware
Firmware is the embedded system that controls data operations on the SCSI bus. Be sure that the
A7173A dual Ultra320 SCSI adapter is operating with the latest firmware available from HP. Keeping
the adapter firmware up-to-date helps ensure data integrity and overall adapter performance.
Adapter Drivers
Component drivers allow a peripheral device to communicate directly with the Operating System
and other devices. To ensure the stability of an HP Server or Workstation, always install the latest HP
drivers for the A7173A Ultra320 SCSI adapter.
Disk Storage
The A7173A adapter is a powerful solution for critical SCSI applications. To achieve the maximum
performance from an A7173A adapter, HP recommends using HP 15K RPM Ultra320 SCSI hard disks
with HP storage units.
To achieve the highest levels of throughput and I/Ops performance with an A7173A adapter, HP
recommends using as many disks as possible per channel, balanced across both adapter channels.