Using Intel Multi-Port Server Adapters to Optimize Server Virtualization and Consolidation

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Using Intel® Multi-Port Server Adapters to Optimize Server Virtualization and Consolidation White Paper
In addition, IT administrators must be able to
segment traffic to maintain a flexible and secure
network. The flexibility to assign NICs to servers
and virtual machines enables administrators to
incr
ease performance quickly during peak times.
Server workloads are always growing in size as
w
ell, which means that enterprises need multiple
network connections that provide the throughput
required to respond immediately to employee
and customer requests for data.
All of these requirements consume server ports.
For that reason, Intel PRO/1000 Dual and Quad
P
ort Server Adapters—available for PCI/PCI-X
or PCI Express* and optimized for Intel Xeon
processor–based servers—play an essential role
in virtualization, providing the foundation for a
flexible and reliable virtual infrastructure.
Intel multi-port adapters conserve valuable PCI
slots in servers while helping to eliminate network
bottlenecks—especially in a connection-dense
virtual machine environment. Migration to high-
speed Gigabit Ethernet can also be achieved easily
and cost-effectively using Intel multi-port NICs.
Dedicated ports for virtualization. Intel
PRO/1000 Dual and Quad Port Server Adapters
have two or four Gigabit Ethernet connections in
a single PCI card, delivering increased port density
for slot-constrained servers. A single, integrated,
dual-port Gigabit Ethernet controller chip provides
high perf
ormance and reliability along with low
power consumption. For servers running VMware
In
frastructure 3 server virtualization software,
ESX Server 3 best practices strongly recommend
extra ports to establish separate physical networks
for application production traffic, management,
and VMotion virtual machine migration
(see Figures 3 and 4).
High perf
ormance.
Multi-port In
tel Gigabit
Ethernet adapters can reduce network downtime
and optimize utilization of the server's processing
capability. Intel PRO multi-port network adapters
for PCI Express (PCIe) enable organizations to
realize maximum benefit from server virtualization
and consolidation by taking advantage of the
higher bandwidth and scalability support by PCI
Express. Intel multi-port adapters also include
support for advanced server features, including
adapter fault tolerance to provide redundant
network links for server failover; adaptive load bal-
ancing and link aggregation for increased scalability
and throughput; PCI Hot Plug and ActivePCI for
Intel
®
PRO/1000
Dedicated NIC for
VMware service console,
which administers
virtual machines
(GbE)
Dedicated NIC for
VMware VMotion*
(GbE)
One or more
NIC for each
virtual machine
(GbE)
Figure 4. VMware ne
twork best practices recommend the creation of network labels for each virtual NIC through VMware ESX Server 3*.
Network labels should be global across server farms, and VMware VMotion* automatically maps virtual machines to appropriate virtual NICs
based on network labels. Virtual machines mus
t have access to the necessary subnets on the target ESX Server. VMware recommends a Gigabit
Ethernet connection between the ESX Server—based platform, the VMware service console, and VMotion. Intel® multi-port NICs can provide the
necessary number of ports to meet this requirement, in addition to dedicated ports for each virtual machine on a server.