Dual-Port 10GbE Bypass Adapters enabling maximum network uptime and performance for mission-critical applications

The Intel® Ethernet Server Bypass Adapter X540-T2 hosts Intel뭩 latest 10GBASE-T silicon, the Intel® Ethernet Controller X540, which is used by many OEMs as a single chip solution for LAN on Motherboard (LOM) to deliver 10GbE on server platforms. The MAC+PHY integration drives down both cost and power, enabling broad deployment of 10GbE everywhere in the datacenter. BASE-T is the form factor that is well understood by the industry; making it a seamless and cost effective solution. 10GBASE-T is backward compatible with existing network infrastructure, providing a smooth transition and natural migration to 10GbE.

Intel뭩 X520 adapters are known for their high performance, low latency, reliability, and flexibility. The addition of the Intel® Ethernet Server Bypass Adapter X540-T2 delivers all of the 10GbE performance in addition to business continuity in the event of a network failure. The bypass capability removes a single point of failure so that essential business communication can continue while a system failure is diagnosed and resolved. In the event of a power, hardware, or software failure, bypass will automatically activate, allowing network traffic to continue.

Maintaining connectivity during software and power failures ensures maximum uptime for the network. The Intel® Ethernet Server Bypass Adapter Family supports three operational modes: Normal, Bypass, and Isolate. In Normal Mode, data travels into the adapter and is processed by the host server prior to being transmitted back to the network. In Bypass Mode, the LAN controller is disconnected from the ports and the two external ports are connected together into a single pipe whereby packets received from one port are then transmitted to the other port, bypassing the host server failure and maintaining network connectivity. When needed, isolate mode is available to ensure link is not established. Intel® Ethernet Server Bypass Adapters also include an onboard programmable watchdog timer, which gives administrators full control to manage the mode of the adapter. In addition, an event log provides the capability to document operation mode changes based on different detection conditions.

Data center networks are being pushed to their limits. The escalating deployments of servers with multi-core processors and demanding applications such as database clusters, cloud deployments, and video-on-demand are driving the need for 10Gbps connections. Customers require flexible, dependable, and scalable I/O solutions to meet the rigorous requirements of running mission-critical applications. The Intel® Ethernet Server Bypass Adapters address the demanding needs of the next-generation data center providing unmatched features and proven, reliable performance.

Intel leads the industry in virtualization by being the first to provide virtualization for all the major operating systems and working with the OEMs to implement virtualization not only on the adapter but also on the platform.

Intel® Ethernet Controllers include Intel® Virtualization Technology for connectivity (Intel VT-c) to deliver virtualized I/O performance optimizations and Quality of Service (QoS) features designed directly into the controller뭩 silicon. Working in conjunction with virtualization-optimized drivers in Normal Mode, PCI-SIG* Single Root I/O Virtualization and Sharing (SR-IOV) can be used to help reduce I/O bottlenecks, and improve the overall server performance.

In Normal Mode, bypassing the hypervisor and allowing direct hardware access by virtual machines, reduces CPU overhead, reduces latency, and increases network throughput. Most of the current hypervisor releases have been enabled to partition a single physical Ethernet controller in to multiple virtual Ethernet controllers that can be used directly by VMs by taking advantage the PCI-SIG* SR-IOV standard. The use of these virtual controllers, known as Virtual Functions (VF), enables additional QoS features in the controller뭩 silicon to manage and direct traffic such as traffic isolation, port partitioning with bandwidth allocation and on-chip VF-VF switching.

In Normal Mode, this adapter provides complete support for proven native OS iSCSI initiators as well as iSCSI boot. Intel Ethernet server adapters include hardware-based iSCSI acceleration features that do not require offloading to a proprietary TCP/IP stack. iSCSI acceleration uses large send offload, Receive Side Coalescing and transmit send offloads to help reduce latency and lower CPU utilization.