Data Center iSCSI: Building next generation storage networks

Data Center iSCSI – Building next generation storage networks

integratedintotheoperatingsystem.Thisremovestheneedforproprietarysoftwarethatcanadd

complexitytotheOSdriverandmanagementtoolsutilized. IntelEthernetServerAdaptersalsoinclude

anumberofhardwarefeaturesthataccelerateiSCSItrafficandimprovedataprocessingonmulticore

processor‐basedservers.IntelligenthardwareoffloadingdeliversiSCSIperformancethatexceedsother

iSCSIinterfacealternatives.

Intel’sportfolioof10GbEserveradaptersisamongthebroadestintheindustrywithsingleanddual

portversionsavailableforbothcopperandfibernetworkssupportingiSCSI.Somekeyfeaturesofthe

IntelEthernet10GbEfamilyinclude:

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Feature Benefit

10Gbconnectivity HighspeedconnectivityforI/Ointensiveorvirtualizedsystems

NativeiSCSIDriverSupport FlexibilityforOSdriverssupport&lowcostconnectivity

iSCSIbootsupport Supportsdisklessserversandimprovessystemavailability

NativeOSTCP/UDPandiSCSI

HardwareAcceleration

ReducesCPUutilization,andimprovesperformance

DCB&FCoEsupport Supportsemergingstandardsforfutureflexibility

Send/ReceiveCoalescing Combinesmultipleoperationstoreducesystemoverhead

VTcsupport ProvidesvirtualizationI/Oenhancement

128queues(64VMDq) OffloadsdatacopyingforenhancedI/Ovirtualizationperformance

AESencryptionwithIPSecsupport EnsuressecuritywithiSCSIstorage

PCIIOVirtualization

SupportssharingofI/OdevicesbymultiplevirtualOS–delivering

nearnativeperformanceviadedicatedI/Ochannels

Table1:Intel10GbServerFeature–BenefitOverview

IntelEthernetServerAdaptersalsoimplementthehardwareassistsprovidedbyIntelVirtualization

TechnologyforConnectivity(IntelVT‐c)toaccelerateI/Oinvirtualizedservers,forgreateriSCSI

scalability,andperformance.

ThelatestIntel10GigabitEthernetControllersincludesupportforVirtualMachineDevicequeue

(VMDq)technologyandI/Ovirtualization(PCI‐SIGSR‐IOV).IntellabtestshaveshownIntelEthernet

ServerAdapterswithVMDqachievingnearline‐rate10GbEperformanceinbothVMwareESX3.5and

laterandMicrosoftHyper‐VR2.

NetAppiSCSIProducts

NetApp’siSCSIcapabilitiesspantheirentireproductlineofprimarystorageproducts.NetApphas

offerediSCSIstorageaccessontheFASandV‐SeriessystemssinceiSCSIhasbeenastandard,andfirst

introduced10GbEthernetsupportin2006.

ANetApptechnicalreportexaminingtherelativeperformanceofmultipleprotocols includingNFS,FC

andiSCSIwithVMwareESX3.5environmentsshowsthatiSCSI’sperformanceisnearlyidenticalto

alternativesundermultiple workloads.Additionally,continualiSCSIperformanceimprovementsare

beingmadeinproductssuchasHyper‐V,VMwarevSphere andgeneral‐purposeoperatingsystems.

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