Installation guide

QLogic NPIV solution
179
Miscellaneous Planning and Procedures
QLogic NPIV solution
NPIV allows a single physical FC HBA port to function as multiple
logical ports, each with its World Wide Port Name (WWPN). An
example is shown in Figure 125.
Figure 125 N_Port ID sharing
QLogic FC adapter NPIV solution
To complement Microsoft and other server virtualization software
solutions, QLogic has extended virtualization capabilities to the HBA
hardware through NPIV. All QLogic 2400 and 2500 series FC adapters
implement and support NPIV. QLogic provides support for creating,
deleting, and managing NPIV ports through its SANsurfer FC HBA
Manager tool.
With the combined QLogic and Microsoft solution, storage
administrators can create virtual HBA ports within multiple zones
and assign them to VMs for migration without having to reconfigure
any zoning or LUN masking settings. This solution creates a
virtualized network that is easier to manage and maintain. In
addition, support for Microsoft’s virtualization solutions combined
with QLogic’s HBA virtualization technologies further increase
hardware utilization and enables organizations to rapidly configure
and deploy Virtual Machines.