October 2nd, 2009 
Kiwi Si 
During my recent trip to VMworld 2009 I had the opportunity to speak with some of the vendors in the ‘Solutions Exchange’ area. One such person was Sameer Shurpalekar, the manager of product marketing from the networking device solutions provider, QLogic.
Of particular interest on the QLogic stand was their new converged networking adapter (CNA) range of cards. Watch the video with Sameeer below as he describes these new CNA cards and how they can benefit a virtualized environment.
There is an informative CNA FAQ pdf available for download from the QLogic site here and for more general information on QLogic’s CNA range follow this link.
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My name is Simon Seagrave and I am a London (UK) based Senior Technology Consultant and vSpecialist working for EMC. 
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If you check through the HCL, vsphere 4 are not certify with Qlogic CNA adaptor. I really cannot understand about this and escalated to VMware team and yet to get a reply. Maybe you should check with them on this
[Reply]
Kiwi Si Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Hi Craig,
Hmm, I’d noticed that as well.I have email Sameer to see if he can shed out light and an ETA on this.
Will keep you posted.
Simon
[Reply]
Kiwi Si Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I have had a prompt response back from Sameer at QLogic regarding the CNA’s and vSphere HCL:
“VMware does not have a qualification program yet to qualify 2nd Generation Converged Network Adapters (CNAs). You will need to check with VMware to get an official response on when they will have this qualification program in place. QLogic will enable support for ESX/ESXi soon after VMware releases a qualification program for 2nd Generation CNAs.”
So it’s a case of watch this space – though I’d imagine it won’t take too long.
[Reply]
If you check through the HCL, you will find that EMULEX had been certified on vSphere 4, but not qlogic. You may need to ask them why
[Reply]
CNAguy Reply:
October 3rd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Craig
My comment was about Gen 2 CNAs.
Gen 1 CNAs will be on the HCL shortly. it is already on the 3.5 HCL.
End users are demanding a size, performance and power optimized CNA and hence Gen 2 CNAs is what users will be deploying the most. You can check out the size and other features of Gen 1 vs. Gen 2 yourself and you will see what I mean.
Also, QLogic has announced design wins with EMC, IBM, and NetApp with Gen 2 CNAs and is shipping today. Emulex on the other hand is yet to announce any OEM shipping their CNA. check out http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/EMC_Joins_QLogic‘s_FCoE_Converged_Network_Adapter_(CNA)_Club
Sameer
[Reply]
[...] adapter (CNA) space. One of my blogging colleagues, Simon Seagrave at TechHead has this informative video on the emerging CNA space. Whether CNAs are used to deliver FCoE with Ethernet or simply using 10GigE for storage and [...]