Intel 10GbE Adapter Performance Evaluation for FCoE and iSCSI

Table Of Contents

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Demartek

Intel

10GbE Adapter Performance Evaluation

September 2010

Page 6 of 18

3 – Real-world Adapter Testing

For this evaluation, we performed a spectrum of application performance tests using real-world

configurations of servers and storage that customers actually use in production. We used two

different, well-known enterprise storage targets that use a large number of spinning disks

configured as they are typically configured in customer environments. We tested single-port and

dual-port adapter configurations because both are used in production environments and we wanted

to ensure that the adapters performed well in both configurations. We also tested iSCSI and FCoE

performance for these adapters.

All the Data

Further, we are publishing all the results of the tests, not cherry-picking a few results that might

look favorable to one particular product or vendor. In the real world, there are many different

configurations used in datacenters and we want to show as much data as possible in order to

represent as many environments as possible.

Converged Adapters Tested

We chose current adapters from three of the most popular Ethernet and Fibre Channel adapter

vendors in today’s market.

• Emulex OCE10102-FM UCNA

• Intel

Ethernet Server Adapter X520-SR2

• QLogic QLE8142 CNA

These adapters represent the Ethernet vendor perspective and the Fibre Channel vendor

perspective.

These adapters were tested in single-path and multi-path configurations in order to show different

ways that customers might choose to deploy these adapters, and to provide some general

expectations of performance in these two configurations. The multi-path tests were configured with

load balancing and failover functions in mind.

Pricing

In addition to the basic functions of

the adapters, IT managers and

administrators are also interested in

the price of these products. The chart

shows the list pricing for these brands

of adapters for copper and optical

connections. We tested the optical

versions of these adapters.

These prices are for quantities of one

adapter. Pricing may vary by supplier,

quantity and any negotiated discounts.