E10G42BFSR - Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X520-SR2

Dual-Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Server Adapters Provide Ultimate Flexibility and Scalability in Virtual and Unified Storage Environments

Intel’s new family of Intel® Ethernet X520 Server Adapters are the most flexible and scalable Ethernet adapters for today’s demanding data center environments. Data center networks are being pushed to their limits. The escalating deployments of servers with multi-core processors and demanding applications such as High Performance Computing (HPC), database clusters, and video-on-demand are driving the need for 10 Gigabit connections. Customers require flexible and scalable I/O solutions to meet the rigorous requirements of running mission-critical applications in virtualized and unified storage environments. Powered by Intel’s third-generation 10 GbE network controller, the Intel® Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, the X520 server adapter family addresses the demanding needs of the next-generation data center by providing unmatched features for virtualization, flexibility for LAN and SAN networking, and proven, reliable performance.

Best Choice for Virtualization

The explosive growth in virtualization is leading to an increasing demand for network performance. With more Virtual Machines (VMs) running on each multi-core server, networking traffic is dramatically increased with each VM competing for available I/O bandwidth. Intel’s new family of Intel Ethernet X520 Server Adapters addresses networking bottlenecks in virtualized environments. These new adapters enable network-intensive applications to achieve the performance expected in a virtualized environment. The Intel Ethernet X520 family of server adapters provides the best networking performance available in the industry, whether the physical port is configured in an emulation mode using the virtual switch in the Virtual Machine Monitor (VMM), or is directly assigned to a virtual machine.

In the emulation mode, Intel’s I/O technology, Virtual Machine Device queues1 (VMDq) optimizes network performance by offloading data sorting and copying from the software Virtual Switch in the VMM to the Intel Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Controller.

This configuration is best suited for a large number of VMs running standard applications that have limited bandwidth and latency requirements. For mission-critical applications, where dedicated I/O is required for maximum network performance, users can assign a dedicated virtual adapter port to a VM. Using another Intel technology, Virtual Machine Direct Connect (VMDc), on an Intel Ethernet X520 server adapter provides direct VM connectivity and data protection across VMs. VMDc technology allows the data to bypass the software virtual switch and provides near-native performance.

It assigns either physical or virtual I/O ports to individual VMs directly. This technology is best suited for applications that demand the highest I/O throughput and lowest latency performance such as database, storage, financial and other applications. VMDc uses the PCI-SIG SR-IOV capability which is a mechanism for devices to advertise their ability to be directly assigned to multiple virtual machines. SR-IOV allows for the partitioning of a PCI function into many virtual interfaces for the purpose of sharing the resources of a PCI Express* (PCIe) device in a virtual environment. These virtual interfaces are called Virtual Functions. Each virtual function can support a unique and separate data path for I/O-related functions within the PCI Express hierarchy. Use of SR-IOV with a networking device, for example, allows the bandwidth of a single port (function) to be partitioned into smaller slices that may be allocated to specific VMs, or guests, via a standard interface.

Unified Networking and Storage

The family of Intel Ethernet X520 server adapters lowers your data center total cost of ownership (TCO) by providing the ability to route LAN and SAN traffic over a single fabric.

Support for Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

FCoE encapsulates Fiber Channel frames over standard Ethernet networks, enabling Fiber Channel to take advantage of 10 GbE networks while preserving its native protocol. The X520 server adapters offer FCoE hardware acceleration to provide performance comparable to FC HBAs. The new server adapters support Data Center Bridging, also known as Converged Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), which allows customers to configure traffic classes and priorities to deliver a lossless Ethernet fabric. An Intel Ethernet X520 server adapter reduces TCO by eliminating redundant fabrics and saves the cost of expensive FC HBAs and FC switch ports.

Support for iSCSI

The server adapters provide complete support for proven native OS and VMM iSCSI initiators as well as iSCSI boot. Historically, CRC32C computation has degraded system performance, but now with the CRC instruction set included in the latest Intel® Xeon® processors, CRC validation is possible with minimal impact to network throughput while delivering superior data integrity. The new Intel Ethernet family of X520 server adapters do it all: 10 Gigabit LAN, FCoE, and iSCSI; truly delivering on the promise of unified networking.

Reliable Performance

The family of X520 server adapters include a number of advanced features that allow it to provide industry-leading performance and reliability.

Security Optimizations

The adapters support IPsec offload for Microsoft’s Network Access Protection (NAP), Active Directory,* and future security capabilities in Windows* 7. An X520 server adapter allows customers to run a secure network environment without sacrificing performance.

PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s)

PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s) support enables customers to take full advantage of 10 GbE by providing a maximum of 20 Gbps bi-directional throughput per port on a single dual port card.

Designed For Multi-core Processors

Support for technologies such as Intel® QuickData, multiple MSI-X vectors, and Low Latency Interrupts allow the X520 server adapters to provide high-performance, 10 Gigabit connectivity in multi-core server blades. These technologies distribute network processing across multiple CPU cores, improving overall performance. For today’s demanding virtualized data center environments, the new family of X520 server adapters deliver ultimate flexibility and scalability.

E10G42BFSR - Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X520-SR2 Features and Benefits

Feature	Benefit
Tx/Rx IP, SCTP, TCP, and UDP checksum offloading (IPv4, IPv6) capabilities	• Lower processor usage • Checksum and segmentation capability extended to new standard packet type
Tx TCP segmentation offload (IPv4, IPv6)	• Increased throughput and lower processor usage • Compatible with large-send offload feature (in Microsoft Windows* Server operating systems)
Receive and Transmit Side Scaling for Windows environment and Scalable I/O for Linux* environments (IPv4, IPv6, TCP/UDP)	• This technology enables the direction of the interrupts to the processor cores in order to improve the CPU utilization rate
IPsec Offload	• Offloads IPsec capability onto the adapter instead of the software to significantly improve I/O throughput and CPU usage (for Windows* 2008 Server and Vista*)
LinkSec	• IEEE spec: 802.1ae • Layer 2 data protection that provides encryption and authentication ability between two individual devices (routers, switches, etc.) • LinkSec is designed into the network adapter hardware. These adapters are prepared to provide LinkSec functionality when the ecosystem is ready to support this new technology
Virtualization Features
VMDq	• Offloads the data-sorting functionality from the Hypervisor to the network silicon, improving data throughput and CPU usage • Provides QoS feature on the Tx data by providing round-robin servicing and preventing head-of-line blocking • Sorting based on MAC addresses and VLAN tags
Next-Generation VMDq1 (64 queues per port)	• Enhanced QoS feature by providing weighted round-robin servicing for the Tx data • Provides loopback functionality, where data transfer between the virtual machines within the same physical server need not go out to the wire and come back in, improving throughput and CPU usage • Supports replication of multicast and broadcast data
PC-SIG SR-IOV Implementation (64 virtual functions per port)	• Provides an implementation of the PCI-SIG standard for I/O Virtualization. The physical configuration of each port is divided into multiple virtual ports. Each virtual port is assigned to an individual virtual machine directly by bypassing the virtual switch in the Hypervisor, resulting in near-native performance. • Integrated with Intel® VTI for Directed I/O (VT-d) to provide data protection between virtual machines by assigning separate physical addresses in the memory to each virtual machine
IPv6 Offloading	• Checksum and segmentation capability extended to the new standard packet type
Advanced Packet Filtering	• 24 exact-matched packets (unicast or multicast) • 4096-bit hash filter for unicast and multicast frames • Lower processor usage • Promiscuous (unicast and multicast) transfer mode support • Optional filtering of invalid frames
VLAN support with VLAN tag insertion, stripping and packet filtering for up to 4096 VLAN tags	• Ability to create multiple VLAN segments
Manageability Features
Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) Support	• Enables system boot up via the LAN (32-bit and 64-bit) • Flash interface for PXE image
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Remote Network Monitoring (RMON) Statistic Counters	• Easy system monitoring with industry-standard consoles
iSCSI Boot	• Enables system boot up via iSCSI • Provides additional network management capability
Watchdog Timer	• Gives an indication to the manageability firmware or external devices that the chip or the driver is not functioning