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pascut · Guest

What is the difference between the Emulex Storport, SCSIport and and FC port
drivers?
Sincerely

John Toner [MVP] · Guest

I don't know what a FC port driver is...but you can read about the STORport
and the SCSIport drivers in the following document:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/6/6/5664b85a-ad06-45ec-979e-ec4887d715eb/Storport.doc

Regards,
John

"pascut" <pascut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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pascut · Guest

Thanks John
Here is an explanation I got from Emulex on the same question:
The main difference is how they are layered in the OS. The layering is as
follows:

Storport Miniport (W2k3 only)
=======================
MS Class drivers
MS Storport driver
Emulex Storport mini port
HBA
Driver discovers target devices only. LUNs are discovered by the MS
Storport driver. Requires a filter driver to handle persistent bindings and
LUN masking. Does not generate any SCSI commands.

FC Port Driver (NT/W2K/W2K3)
=========================
MS Class drivers
Emulex FC port driver
HBA
Driver discovers both targets and LUNs. It generates 2 SCSI commands for
device discovery only. Once the target is discovered, it is always
persistently bound. LUNs can be mapped automatically or manually.

SCSIport Miniport (NT/W2K/W2K3)
============================
MS Class drivers
MS SCSI port driver
Emulex SCSI port mini port
HBA
Driver discovers the target device only. LUNs are discovered the MS SCSI
port driver. Requires filter driver for Persistent bindings and LUN
Making/unmasking. Does not generate any SCSI commands.
LUN discovery may have anomalies for device discovery (MS SCSI port driver).
Must have LUN 0, and LUNs must be contiguous by default. May scan to LUN 7
is SCSI 2 device, unless registry parameters are defined for the MS SCSI port
driver.

Eric Bursley [MVP] · Guest

Emulex makes HBA's. Host Bus Adapters. There are two different drivers for
Windows 2003. Storport and SCSIport. Windows NT - 2003 use SCSIport to
talk with SCSI devices. With Windows 2003, Microsoft developed a driver
called Storport that is built specifically for SANS. It is faster and more
efficient that the SCSIport driver. If you plan on using the Storport,
ensure you install the latest hotfix available. Emulex posts this hotfix
along with the drivers on their drivers page.

FC Port is a fibre channel port used in SANs.

Eric Bursley
eric at bursley dot net
Microsoft MVP
RHCE, MCSE, BCFP, EEIE-CS, ESCE-CS
GPG Signature:
Key fingerprint = CEAE CF3A 3876 7ECE 9DA7 946F DA9F DDCA C392 6DCB

"pascut" <pascut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Piotr Truszczynski · Guest

Hi,
Are there any recommendation which driver should I use, when installing
"SAN boot" Win2003 server ?

greetings
Piotrek

"pascut" <pascut@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
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Eric Bursley [MVP] · Guest

I would recommend using the storport.

Eric Bursley
eric at bursley dot net
Microsoft MVP
RHCE, MCSE, BCFP, EEIE-CS, ESCE-CS
GPG Signature: Key fingerprint = CEAE CF3A 3876 7ECE 9DA7 946F DA9F DDCA
C392 6DCB

"Piotr Truszczynski" <truszcz@go2.pl> wrote in message
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