Product guide

IBM Flex System x440 Compute Node 19
Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric
Some models of the x440 include two Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric controllers (VFA, also known as
LAN on Motherboard (LOM)) built into the system board. Table 2 lists what models of the x440 include the
Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric controllers. Each x440 model that includes the embedded 10 Gb also has
the Compute Node Fabric Connector installed in each of I/O connectors 1 and 3 (and physically screwed
onto the system board) to provide connectivity to the Enterprise Chassis midplane.
The Fabric Connector enables port 1 of each embedded 10 Gb controller to be routed to I/O module bay 1
and port 2 of each controller to be routed to I/O module bay 2. The Fabric Connectors can be unscrewed
and removed, if required, to allow the installation of an I/O adapter on I/O connector 1 and 3.
The Embedded 10Gb controllers are based on the Emulex BladeEngine 3 (BE3), which is a single-chip,
dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) Ethernet Controller. Here are some of the features of the
Embedded 10Gb controller:
PCI-Express Gen2 x8 host bus interface

Supports connection to 10 Gb and 1 Gb Flex System Ethernet switches

Supports multiple virtual NIC (vNIC) functions

TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE enabled)

SRIOV capable

RDMA over TCP/IP capable

iSCSI and FCoE upgrade offering via FoD

The following table lists the ordering information for the IBM Flex System Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric
Upgrade, which enables the iSCSI and FCoE support on the Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric controller. To
upgrade both controllers, you need two FoD licenses.
Table 11. Feature on Demand upgrade for FCoE and iSCSI support
Part number Feature code Description Maximum
supported
90Y9310 A2TD IBM Flex System Embedded 10Gb Virtual Fabric Upgrade 2