converged network adapter (CNA)

A converged network adapter (CNA) is a single networkinterface card (NIC) that contains both a Fibre Channel (FC) host bus adapter(HBA) and a TCP/IP Ethernet NIC.

A converged network adapter (CNA) is a single network interface card (NIC) thatcontains both a Fibre Channel (FC) host bus adapter (HBA) and aTCP/IP Ethernet NIC. It connects servers to FC-based storagearea networks (SANs) andEthernet-based local area networks (LANs).

The CNA connects to the server via a PCI Express (PCIe) interface.The server sends both FC SAN and LAN and traffic to an Ethernet port on a converged switch usingthe Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol for the FC SAN data and the Ethernetprotocol for LAN data. The converged switch converts the FCoE traffic to FC andsends it to the FC SAN. The Ethernet traffic is sent directly to the LAN.

In networks without CNAs,servers have to have at least two adapters: One with a FC HBA to connect theserver to the storage network, and another with a TCP/IP Ethernet NIC toconnect the server to the LAN.

Using a single CNA to connect servers to storageand networks reduces costs by requiring fewer adapter cards, cables, switch ports, and PCIe slots. CNAs also reduce thecomplexity of administration because there is only one connection and cable tomanage.

From Wiki:

A converged network adapter (CNA), also called a converged network interface controller (C-NIC), is a computer input/output device that combines the functionality of a host bus adapter (HBA) with a network interface controller (NIC). In other words it "converges" access to, respectively, a storage area network and a general-purpose computer network.