Overview
Intel continues its legacy of Ethernet
leadership by introducing the latest 10 gigabit family of adapters
powered by, the Intel� Ethernet X710 Controller, codenamed
Fortville.
The X710 adapter family addresses the
demanding needs of the next-generation agile data center by
providing unmatched features for both server and network
virtualization, flexibility for
LAN and SAN networks, and proven,
reliable performance.
Leading
10GbE Performance
The X710 adapter family delivers
superior performance with a theoretical throughput of 80 Gb/s
(40Gb/s Tx; 40Gb/s Rx) bi-directional throughput (quad-port
adapter required), in a PCI Express v3.0 x8 slot.Optimized
performance vectors (and key uses) include:
- Small
Packet Performance: Achieves wire-rate throughput on
smaller payload sizes (>128 Bytes at 40 GbE and >64
Bytes at 10 GbE
- Bulk
Transfer Performance: Delivers line-rate performance
with low CPU usage for large application buffers
- Virtualized
Performance: Alleviates hypervisor I/O bottlenecks by
providing flow separation for Virtual Machines (VMs)
- Network
Virtualization: Network virtualization overlay offloads
including Geneve, VXLAN and NVGRE
- Storage
Performance: Intelligent Offloads accelerate operating
systems storage initiators to deliver high performance for NAS
(NFS, SMB), and SAN (iSCSI, and FCoE)
A
Complete, Unified Networking Solution
Converging data and storage onto one
fabric eliminates the need for multiple adapters, cables and
switches. Furthermore 10 gigabit Ethernet provides the bandwidth
to converge these multiple fabrics onto a single wire. A key
capability that makes all this possible is traffic class
separation provided by Data Center Bridging (DCB)1�providing
a one-wire solution with virtual pipes for the different classes
of traffic:
- Data:
Best effort delivery of standard LAN traffic
- Storage:
Lossless network for FCoE and iSCSI
- Management:
Guaranteed connectivity of data center IP management
One
Adapter, One Price
With the Intel�s adapters, iSCSI and
FCoE support are included in the price of an adapter. There is no
need to purchase multiple adapters or additional licensing for an
X710 adapter. It�s simple and easy. Everything you need to unify
your networking is included in a single SKU. One Adapter, One
Price.
Power
Savings
Power efficiency is critical to IT
specialists as energy consumption is a real OpEx concern.
- Lowest
Power Consumption: The new generation of X710 adapters
are power misers. They deliver double the throughput with only
half the power of the previous X520 generation.
- Energy
Efficient Ethernet (EEE): Reduces power consumption
during periods of low data activity. Energy is used to
maintain the physical layer transmitters in a �ready
state�to transmit data on the wire. During periods of low
data traffic, EEE sends a low-power-idle signal to put the
transmitters into a �low power state� saving power and
cost. When data needs to be sent, EEE sends a normal idle
signal to wake up the transmit system before data is due to be
sent so there is no degradation of performance.
Server
Virtualization
With Intel� Virtualization Technology
(VT), the X710 family of adapters deliver outstanding I/O
performance in virtualized server environments. They reduce I/O
bottlenecks by providing intelligent offloads for networking
traffic per virtual machine (VM), enabling near-native performance
and VM scalability. The host-based virtualization technologies
supported by Intel� VT include:
- VMDq
for Emulated Path: Adapter-based VM Queue sorting
enabling efficient hypervisor-based switching
- SR-IOV
for Direct Assignment: Adapter-based isolation and
switching for various virtual station instances enabling
optimal CPU usage in virtualized environments.
Additionally, X710 adapters provide
Virtual Bridging1 support that delivers both host-side
and switch-side control and management of virtualized I/O as well
as the following modes of virtualized operation:
- VEPA1:
IEEE 802.1Qbg support for Virtual Ethernet Port Aggregator1
- VEB:
Virtual Ethernet Bridge support via Intel� VT
Network
Virtualization
Network virtualization is the next big
trend in creating an agile data center. The family of X710
adapters are ready to help you take that next step.
- VXLAN,
NVGRE, GENEVE Offloads: These stateless offloads
preserve application performance for overlay networks. With
these offloads it is possible to distribute network traffic
across CPU cores. At the same time X710 offloads LSO, GSO, and
checksum from the host software reducing CPU overhead.
Intel�
Ethernet Flow Director
Flow Director is an advanced traffic
steering capability built into the X710 controller. It consists of
a large number of flow affinity filters that direct receive
packets by their flows to queues for classification, load
balancing, and matching between flows and CPU cores.It eliminates
context switching required within the CPU. As a result, Flow
Directorsignificantly increasingthe number of transactions per
second and reduces latency for cloud applications like Memcached.
Intelligent
Offloads
The Xeon� family of processors has
demonstrated increased computing perfor�mance and increased
integration of key server subsystems generation after gen�eration.
To offload is to leverage the ever-escalating computing power of
the Xeon processor where appropriate and implementing
complementary accelerations in the network controller�this is
what Intel refers to as �intelligent offloads.� By employing a
balanced hybrid of compute and offload, intelligent offloads are
able to achieve the optimized point of performance and efficiency.
This is most notably observed in the following usage models:
- TCP
Stateless Offloads: Demonstrates leading performance
vs. TOE solutions without restricting feature usage (TOE usage
usually requires that key features be disabled). Supported
stateless off- loads include Checksum, TSO, VMDq, and RSS.
- Host
iSCSI/FCoE Initiators: Providing exceptional
performance without the need for full-offload HBA2methods.
- Flow
Classification: Trafficking data flows across multiple
consumers and connections
Manageability
The X710 family of adapters
incorporate the manageability required by IT personnel for remote
control and alerting. Communication to the Board Management
Controller (BMC) is available either through an on-board SMBus
port or through the DMTF-defined NCSI, providing a variety of
management protocols, including IPMI, BMC Pass-thru, OS2BMC, and
MCTP/SMBus and MCTP/PCIe.
Specifications
Award One Technology
Pty Ltd
