QLogic and Novell Flex SUSE Virtualisation Muscles

April 12, 2007: QLogic has announced a new Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBA) virtualisation solution for Novell’s SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, enabling easier creation and management of virtual machines across data centres.

Novell is the first vendor to support QLogic’s N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV) technology for Linux, enabling the creation of virtual HBA ports and provision virtual HBA ports across multiple physical servers in conjunction with Novell’s ZENworks Orchestrator and Virtual Machine Management.

QLogic says that without virtual HBA ports, storage administrators must use the physical World Wide Port Name (WWPN) of the HBA to define fabric zones, mask storage LUNs, and configure virtual machines. In addition to this, one zone where all disks are exposed to every server are typically defined to support live migrations of virtual machines to new servers. QLogic claims that this design creates security concerns for disks with sensitive information.

Virtual HBA ports enable virtual machines to be bound to storage and multiple zones to be defined using virtual port parameters. The company says this creates an easier-to-manage and more secured virtualised environment.

"Novell ZENworks Orchestrator and Virtual Machine Management provide comprehensive tools to configure, deploy, and manage virtual machines in a heterogeneous SAN environment," says Richard Whitehead, director of product marketing for Novell. "Novell's cross-platform solution combined with NPIV capabilities from QLogic further simplifies the overall management of virtual machines and related physical and virtual resources."

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