Table of Contents
Advertisement
Quick Links
®
Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II for IBM
BladeCenter
IBM Redbooks Product Guide
The Emulex 10 GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II and Emulex 10 GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter Advanced II are
enhancements to the existing IBM® BladeCenter® Virtual Fabric portfolio. These adapters allow IBM
clients to simplify their I/O infrastructure by reducing the number of switches needed inside the chassis.
The Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II is a dual-port 10 Gb Ethernet card that supports 1 Gbps or
10 Gbps traffic, or up to eight virtual NIC (vNIC) devices.
The virtual NICs are configured to meet the client's mix of network connectivity and throughput demands
for today's complex server application environments. Each physical 10 Gbps port can be divided into four
virtual ports with bandwidth allocation in 100 Mbps increments to the maximum 10 Gbps per physical port.
The Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II Advanced adds FCoE and iSCSI hardware initiator
functionality.
The Emulex 10 GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II supports the BNT Virtual Fabric 10Gb Switch Module in IBM
Virtual Fabric Mode. A firmware update is planned that will enable this card to function in Switch
Independent Mode with other IBM BladeCenter 10 GbE switch offerings from Cisco and Brocade, and the
10Gb Ethernet Pass-Thru Module for IBM BladeCenter. Figure 1 shows the adapter.
Figure 1. Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II for IBM BladeCenter
Did you know?
This adapter is based on industry-standard PCIe architecture and offers the flexibility to operate as a
Virtual NIC Fabric Adapter or as a dual-port 10Gb or 1Gb Ethernet device. Because this adapter supports
up to eight virtual NICs on a single dual-port Ethernet adapter, you see benefits in cost, power/cooling,
and data center footprint by deploying less hardware. The adapter enables you to configure up to 12 NIC
devices on a single blade server: eight virtual NICs with the Emulex 10 GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II plus
the two onboard NICs plus two from a CIOv expansion card.
Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II for IBM BladeCenter
1
Advertisement
Table of Contents
Related Manuals for IBM 10GBE
Summary of Contents for IBM 10GBE
- Page 1 I/O infrastructure by reducing the number of switches needed inside the chassis. The Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II is a dual-port 10 Gb Ethernet card that supports 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps traffic, or up to eight virtual NIC (vNIC) devices.
-
Page 2: Part Number Information
Important Notices flyer The standard Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II can be upgraded to the same features as the Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II Advanced with the addition of the Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Advanced Upgrade option, part number 49Y4265. -
Page 3: Modes Of Operation
(Support for Switch Independent Mode will require a firmware upgrade which is expected in 4Q/2011.) Modes of operation The original Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter can be configured in pNIC or vNIC mode. The new Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II now offers two vNIC modes of operation in addition to pNIC... -
Page 4: Supported Servers
Supported servers The Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II and Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II Advanced are supported in the IBM BladeCenter servers listed in Table 2. Table 2. Supported servers Expansion card Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II... - Page 5 Supported BladeCenter chassis and I /O modules IBM BladeCenter chassis support is based on the blade server type in which the expansion card is installed. Consult the IBM ServerProven® website to see in which chassis each blade server type is supported: http://www.ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/...
- Page 6 Figure 3. IBM BladeCenter H I/O topology showing the I/O paths from CFFh expansion cards The Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II and Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II Advanced require that two I/O modules be installed in bays 7 and 9 of the BladeCenter H and HT chassis (Table 4).
-
Page 7: Popular Configurations
This section shows a configuration that uses the Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II. Figure 4 shows the use of the Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II to route either two physical ports or eight virtual ports to the BNT Virtual Fabric 10Gb Switch Modules installed in the BladeCenter chassis. -
Page 8: Operating Environment
Support for operating systems is based on the combination of the expansion card and the blade server on which it is installed. See the IBM ServerProven Web site for the latest information about the specific versions and service packs supported. Select the blade server, and then select the expansion card to see the supported operating systems. -
Page 9: Related Publications
Related publications For more information refer to the following resources: Emulex 10GbE Virtual Fabric Adapter II for IBM BladeCenter Installation and User's Guide http://www.ibm.com/support BladeCenter Ethernet home page http://ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/hardware/openfabric/ethernet.html IBM RETAIN® tip H197476: vNIC support - Emulex 10 Gigabit Ethernet Virtual Fabric Adapters ... - Page 10 Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this IBM product and use of those Web sites is at your own risk.IBM may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.
- Page 11 Machines Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. These and other IBM trademarked terms are US registered or common law trademarks owned by IBM at the time this information was published. Such trademarks may also be registered or common law trademarks in other countries. A...