An iSCSI HBA will work; so will a standard GbE network card. If you use a standard GbE network card, give it an IP address on the iSCSI network, and use open-iscsi (or any other iSCSI initiator you choose) to connect to the iSCSI volume.

You can use any filesystem you want - i usually use ext3, but i know other people prefer different things for different reasons.

Thanks for the info and I have few additional questions.

In my configuration, I have four Dell EqualLogic PS5000 arrays and each array has three active GbE NICs and three passive GbE NICs. So these (6X4) 24 GbE ports are connected to two Cisco Nexus 2148T extenders (active ports on one extender and the passive port on another extender).

I have a DELL PE 900R server, which I would like connect this Dell EqualLogic PS5000 iSCSI storage array. If I use the iSCSI HBA on my server side, how many iSCSI HBAs I need? It is my understanding, if I use the standard GbE, i will need at least three GbE cables should connect to the Cisco Nexus 2148T extender, to match with the three GbE NICs on the EqualLogic array side, in order to get the maximum through put. But in the case iSCSI HBA, do I need equal number (three) of connections or in other words, my questions is do I need to procure two dual port iSCSI HBAs for my server to get at least three connections between my server and the Cisco Nexus 2148 extender.

On my DELL PE 900R server, I have 7 PCI Express slots. According to the Qlogic web site, the iSCSI HBA it shows only Copper as an option for the PCI Express slots. See the link http://www.qlogic.com/Products/SANandDataNetworking/iSCSIAdapters/Pages/iSCSIAdaptersHome.aspx for details on this. So I believe I can connect this iSCSI HBA over the CAT6A Ethernet Cable with RJ45 connector on both ends to the the Cisco Nexus 2148T Extender, am I right? Is there an option on the iSCSI HBA/PCI Express to connect over FCoE?

Thanks

-- Gigi Mathew

You can have as few or as many ports as you want. Since you have four EqualLogics (but I think volumes span over three maximum), you can get up to 9 or 12 Gb/s of throughput to your disks. Make sure that whether you use an iSCSI HBA or NIC, they are capable of multipathing. You can use the iSCSI HBA and NICs with standard CAT5e or CAT6 cables, and connect them to the Cisco switch that your EqualLogic is connected to, no problem.