Enterprise data storage solutions need a robust testing environment that is evaluated by replicating situations from the real world. That’s why Open-E’s partners regularly test their hardware in our laboratories. Systems that have been certified by Open-E’s engineers’ are fully compatible with Open-E storage software and considered suitable for all storage applications – performing even better in specific setups, depending on the equipment and configuration.

About QLE3442-CU-CK (SFP+)

The network adapter from QLogic delivers 10GbE performance across two ports. It’s a great choice for workload-intense virtualized computing environments. Through switch-independent NIC partitioning it enables provisioning of 10GbE ports for greater flexibility during deployment and improves CPU utilization for TCP/IP network traffic. The adapters can use either copper or optical connectors.

Module Model QLogic FTLX8571D3BCL-QL
Bus Interface PCI Express Gen3 x8
Firmware bc 7.10.36
Manufacturer QLogic 3400 Series
Chipset BCM57840

Testing methodologies

Open-E’s engineers used the following software to perform benchmarks:

  • FIO – an I/O performance benchmarking utility for Linux, UNIX-like systems and Windows

We tested the QLogic network adapter (driver version 1.78.58) with Open-E JovianDSS (b12855) software defined storage and Open-E DSS V7 (b10529).

These are the profiles that were used for the tests:

Profile Block Size Random Sequential READ WRITE IO Depth Job Amount
VDI 4KB 80 20 20 80 8 2
Exchange 2003 4KB 80 20 60 40 3 1
Exchange 2007 8KB 80 20 55 45 3 1
OLTP 4KB 100 0 70 30 2 1
SQL Server 16KB 100 0 66 34 2 1
CCTV 32KB 10 90 20 80 8 2
Database 8KB 100 0 67 33 8 2
Fileserver 32KB 100 0 80 20 8 2
Media Streaming 64KB 0 100 95 5 8 2
WEB Server 4KB 100 0 100 0 8 2
ran_WRITE 512B 100 0 0 0 8 2
ran_READ 512B 100 0 100 0 8 2
seq_WRITE 1M 0 100 0 100 8 2
seq_READ 1M 0 100 100 0 8 2

 

Performance Benchmarks

Open-E engineers tested specific profiles to determine strengths and weaknesses of each component. These are the results:

Performance benchmark Open-E JovianDSS and Qlogic network adapter

Performance benchmark Open-E DSSV7 and Qlogic network adapter

Summary

The QLogic Intelligent Ethernet Adapter QLE3442-CU-CK successfully passed all storage performance and IOPS tests. It provides host offload, which is especially useful in virtualized server environments. Our engineers recommend the adpaters to be used for any storage scenario. The card especially performed well with software-defined Open-E JovianDSS – reaching its maximum performance.

1 Comment

  • Rachel D. /

    16, 06 2015 10:50:00

    Awesome review and test. Just what I needed. Thanks!

    Reply

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