Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter and VMware* vSphere 5.1 Product Reference

Flexible I/O Virtualization
Intel®VirtualizationTechnologyforConnectivity(Intel®
VT-c),reducesdataprocessingbottlenecksandimproves
overall server performance using hardware optimizations
intheIntel®EthernetController.Thequalityofservice
featuresincludedinIntelVT-chelpbalancebandwidth
and improved I/O scalability.
•Virtual Machine Device Queues (VMDq) works in
conjunction with VMware NetQueue to enable
hardware-assistedtrafficsteeringandbalanced
bandwidth allocation across the Intel Ethernet
Controller’s multiple hardware queues.
•PCI-SIG Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) allows
partitioning of a single Intel® Ethernet Converged
NetworkAdapter10GbEportintomultiplevirtual
functions.ITadministratorscanassignthesenetwork
adapter virtual functions directly to a virtual machine,
bypassing the hypervisor and enabling traffic flow
directly between the VM and the adapter.
Native Fibre Channel over Ethernet and iSCSI
for Scalable Performance
ConvergingLANandSANtrafconto10GbElowerscosts
and complexity by eliminating the need for dedicated
storage host bus adapters. Intel Ethernet Converged
NetworkAdaptersusethenativeFibreChannelover
Ethernet(FCoE)andiSCSIinitiatorsinVMwarevSphere
toconsolidatestorageareanetwork(SAN)trafcon
10GbE.IntelligenthardwareofoadsintheIntel®Ethernet
Controlleracceleratestoragetrafcperformance.This
powerful combination of hardware and software delivers
performance that scales with advancements in Intel
architecture and the storage initiators integrated in
VMware vSphere. In addition, Intel Ethernet Converged
Network Adapters work seamlessly with VMware vSphere
Network I/O Control and Storage I/O Control.
Reliable Performance with Intel Ethernet
Intelhasmorethan30years’experiencedelivering
reliable Ethernet products and has shipped more than
600millionEthernetportsoverthelastdecade.Intelis
theindustry’sleading10GbEadaptervendor,and
innovationssuchasintelligenthardwareofoadshelp
Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapters deliver
outstandingperformance,efciency,andvalueacross
a wide range of applications.
Intel and VMware: The Foundation of Virtualization
Intel and VMware can help you transform your
organizationandalignITwithyourorganization’sbusiness
needs by delivering infrastructure as a service (IaaS)
solutions that let you virtualize any workload, simplify
network provisioning and management, and increase
data center and cloud security.
Learnmore:
www.intel.com/go/vtc
www.vmware.com
Solution provided by:
1
Source: Crehan Research, Q1’12
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Copyright © 2012 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
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