Q-Logic IB0056101-00 G manual Configuring the BIOS, Optical Fibre Option

4 – Hardware Installation Hardware Installation Requirements

S

Optical Fibre Option

The QLogic adapter also supports connection to the switch by means of optical fibres through optical media converters such as the EMCORE™ QT2400. Not all switches support these types of convertors. For more information on the EMCORE convertor, see www.emcore.com.

Intel® and Zarlink™ also offer optical cable solutions. See www.intel.com and www.zarlink.com for more information.

Configuring the BIOS

To achieve the best performance with QLogic adapters, you need to configure your BIOS with specific settings. The BIOS settings, which are stored in non-volatile memory, contain certain parameters characterizing the system. These parameters may include date and time, configuration settings, and information about the installed hardware.

There are two issues concerning BIOS settings of which you need to be aware:

„Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) needs to be enabled.

„Memory Type Range Registers (MTRR) mapping needs to be set to “Discrete”.

MTRR is used by the InfiniPath driver to enable write combining to the on-chip transmit buffers. This option improves write bandwidth to the QLogic chip by writing multiple words in a single bus transaction (typically 64 bytes). This option applies only to x86_64 systems.

However, some BIOS’ do not have the MTRR mapping option. It may have a different name, depending on the chipset, vendor, BIOS, or other factors. For example, it is sometimes referred to as 32 bit memory hole, which must be enabled.

You can check and adjust these BIOS settings using the BIOS Setup utility. For specific instructions, follow the hardware documentation that came with your system.

QLogic also provides a script, ipath_mtrr, which sets the MTRR registers. These registers enable maximum performance from the InfiniPath driver. This script can be run after the InfiniPath software has been installed. It needs to be run after each system reboot.

For more details, see “BIOS Settings” on page A-1.

4-4 IB0056101-00 G