HPE Q0L14A — StoreFabric SN1200E 16Gb Dual-Port Fibre Channel HBA (PCIe 3.0, Low-Profile)

What it is: A dual-port 16Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapter for ProLiant (and other) servers. Plugs into PCIe 3.0 x8, presents two 16G FC ports, and auto-negotiates to 8G/4G for mixed fabrics. Ideal for resilient, high-throughput server-to-SAN connectivity.

Why buyers pick Q0L14A (plain English)

• Two fabrics, one slot: true A/B fabric redundancy without burning two PCIe slots.

• Low CPU, predictable latency: hardware offloads keep SAN I/O efficient and consistent.

• Enterprise SAN features baked in: Boot-from-SAN, NPIV, big queues, T10 DIF/PI end-to-end data integrity; SR-IOV on modern OSes.

• Fits tight racks: low-profile card; typically ships with LP and full-height brackets.

60-second spec box (Q0L14A)

Host interface

• PCI Express 3.0 x8 (backward-compatible with PCIe 2.0)

Fibre Channel ports

• 2 × 16Gb FC, auto-negotiates 16/8/4G

• Each port uses an FC SFP+ transceiver; LC-duplex fiber

Throughput & features

• Line-rate 16G per port

• NPIV, Boot-from-SAN, fabric login offloads

• T10 DIF/PI (data integrity)

• SR-IOV / virtualization support (OS-dependent)

Form factor / power

• Low-profile PCIe adapter (full-height bracket commonly included)

• Typical board power: low double-digit watts (varies with optics/firmware)

OS & ecosystem

• Broad support: VMware ESXi, Windows Server, RHEL, SLES (use current driver/firmware)

• Works with common FC arrays (Alletra, Nimble, MSA, 3PAR, and third-party FC targets)

Cabling & optics

• Pair with 16G SW FC SFPs for OM3/OM4 intra-DC runs; LW optics for long-wave fabrics

What’s in the box

• HBA, bracket(s); FC SFPs and LC fiber ordered separately

Warranty

• Option-kit coverage (varies by region; commonly 1–3 years)

Where it fits (and when to choose something else)

• Perfect for: virtualization clusters, databases, VDI, and backup hosts that need redundant, high-bandwidth FC uplinks to SAN.

• Choose single-port (e.g., P9D93A) if one 16G link is enough and you want to save cost/slot.

• Choose 32G FC if your core/array already runs Gen6 FC or you want more headroom.

Quick design tips (no-regret)

• Dual fabrics, always: cable Port A → Fabric A, Port B → Fabric B for true HA.

• Enable MPIO: use native OS multipathing (or vendor DSMs) and set the array’s preferred path policy.

• Match optics to fabric: 16G SW-LC for short-wave; LW for campus/metro spans.

• Keep firmware/driver aligned with your SAN’s interoperability matrix.

TL;DR

Q0L14A is the dual-port 16G FC HBA that gives a server two resilient fabrics from a single PCIe slot—PCIe 3.0 x8, NPIV, Boot-from-SAN, T10 DIF/PI, and broad OS/SAN compatibility. Perfect for serious SAN workloads without complicating your host build.