Question : Can I install an external fibre channel tape drive onto a traditional non-fibre channel server by adding a fibre channel board in the server?

I have never played with fibre channel before but I am a vereran server guy and not afraid of a challenge.  

I inherited a great IBM TS3100 (3573-L2U) autochanger tape drive that only has a fibre channel interface, and want to make it work as a regular tape backup on a new HP Proliant ML370 G6 server running Windows 2008 R2 with Backup Exec 2010.  I also have a QLogic (QLE2462-CK) 2 channel fibre channel board that I can install in the HP server.  I don't have any other fibre channel devices.  The server just has a standard SAS Raid controller that is built into the mother board and that is what is running the SAS internal drives.

So since I know next to nothing about fibre channel, can I just install the QLogic card and drivers, plug in the tape drive directly into the QLogic card with a fiber cable and go?  Does this work from a hardware standpoint?  I assume I will have to also install software that comes with the QLogic card to make the fibre channel work - is this tricky?  Am I missing something I need?  Then finally can I get Backup Exec to see the drive and use it for a backup device?  They tell me that this QLogic card is certified with IBM fibre channel.  Hopefully the non-HP fibre channel card & tape drive would work in an HP server.  Thanks a bunch for helping a fibre channel newbie!  

Answer : Can I install an external fibre channel tape drive onto a traditional non-fibre channel server by adding a fibre channel board in the server?

From the perspective of what you want to do, just get the cable and you're done.  The tape is 4Gbit, the QLE2462CK is also 4Gbit.   You direct-attach the cable.  No such thing as terminators.

Obviously make sure that the HBA has drivers for your O/S.    One of the big advantages of FC is cable distance, so get one that is plenty long.  Don't worry about a non IBM FC adapter. As long as the software works with the tape drive, and drivers exist for your O/S, then you will be fine.