Unified Networking on 10GbE_Intel and NetApp

2
Unied Networking for 10 Gigabit Ethernet
SIMPLIFYING THE
NETWORK WITH 10GBE
As IT departments look to reduce
costs and improve server eciency,
they are turning increasingly to server
virtualization and consolidation. e
benets of virtualization are widely
understood: less server hardware to
purchase, lower power and cooling
needs, and centralized management.
Today’s servers are based on powerful
new processors, including the Intel®
Xeon® processor 5600 and 7500
series, that support more virtual
machines (VMs) per physical host
than ever before, helping IT realize
greater consolidation ratios.
• elatestgenerationofIntel®Xeon®
processors enables IT to consolidate
servers at a 15:1 ratio, delivering power
savings of up to 90 percent and a ve-
month return on investment.
• Newfour-socketprocessorsare
delivering 20 times the performance
of previous-generation processors.
• Nearly50percentofthefour-socket
servers shipped today are being used
for virtualization.
1
Unfortunately, the success achieved by many
organizations in attaining these benets
has been limited by the complications
of networking virtualized servers. As
VM density increases, a physical server’s
networking needs also increase, adding both
cost and complexity. A typical virtualized
server uses eight to 10 GbE local area
network (LAN) ports and two dedicated
SAN ports.
As server virtualization continues to
grow, 10GbE and unied networking
are simplifying server connectivity.
Consolidating the trac of multiple GbE
connections onto a single 10GbE adapter
signicantly reduces cable and infrastructure
complexity and overall TCO. Recent
enhancements to the Ethernet standard
enable 10GbE support for both LAN and
SAN trac, allowing IT to realize further
benets by converging data and storage
infrastructures. anks to its ubiquity, cost
eectiveness, exibility, and ease of use,
Ethernet has emerged as the unied data
center fabric.
EVOLVING WITH THE
DATA CENTER
e growth in server virtualization has
helped data center networks evolve from
discrete, siloed infrastructures to more
exible fabrics with the scalability and
agility necessary to address the needs of
new usage models and provide an excellent
foundation for enterprise cloud computing.
Over 2.5 billion users will connect to the
Internet in the next ve years
2
with over
10 billion devices.
3
is usage will require
eight times the amount of storage capacity,
16 times the network capacity, and over 20
times the compute capacity by 2015.
4
A
new infrastructure must emerge to power
this growth and enable the most ecient
use of resources; this is cloud computing.
e cloud is an evolution of computing
that delivers services over the Internet
to consumers and enterprises. Services
scale—as needed and only when needed—
without user intervention. A highly scalable
and ecient cloud architecture is needed
to provide both the technical attributes
and the extreme resource utilization and
eciency cloud computing promises.
With its reduced hardware requirements,
fewer points of management, and broad
ecosystem support, 10GbE delivers the
exible, simplied network infrastructure
needed to support cloud computing. ese
key characteristics make 10GbE the ideal
fabric for cloud infrastructures:
Ubiquity. Ethernet connectivity ships
standard on nearly every server today, and
Ethernet infrastructures are a universal data
center component. 10GbE products have
been available for several years, but when
10GbE LAN on motherboard (LOM)
connections are integrated in the next
generation of servers, true unied LAN and
SAN connectivity will be available by default.
Over 2.5 billion users will connect to the Internet in the
next five years
2
with over 10 billion devices.
3
This usage
will require eight times the amount of storage capacity, 16
times the network capacity, and over 20 times the compute
capacity by 2015.
4
A new infrastructure must emerge to
power this growth and enable the most efficient use of
resources; this is cloud computing.