Network Interface Card (NIC) Requirements

Challenge

Prepare NIC requirements for a virtualization solution. Virtualization allows different applications – even different operating systems – to run simultaneously on the same enterprise-level server by partitioning the server resources into multiple virtual machines (VMs). Each VM acts just like an individual, stand-alone server, but actually runs under the umbrella of one virtualized server.

Solution

Often taken for granted in servers, the NIC capacity must be carefully maintained on servers hosting multiple virtual machines; best practices for VMware ESX Server* recommend a minimum of three network adapters:

One for the virtual machine and its applications
One for the VMware service console to handle system administration
One for VMotion* to enable dynamic workload balancing. This can be challenging if servers are Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot–constrained.

In implementations that use VMotion, remote storage is needed, so a good PCIE adapter card should be used. Note also that the use of iSCSI will require another NIC, and PCIE NICs can offer better bandwidth. If performance is a consideration, use additional NICs rather than the software switch in the virtualization software. Moreover, using a separate NIC per virtual machine can help to avoid the performance overhead of the virtualized (software) switch.

Every IT administrator also needs to mitigate reliability risks. On a server that is operating multiple applications on multiple virtual machines, a connection failure can be a costly business interruption that is time-consuming to fix. If redundant network connections are desired to enhance the reliability of servers hosting many applications, the issue intensifies, and up to four ports could be required per server.

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 increase performance quickly during peak times. Server workloads are always growing in size as well, which means that enterprises need multiple network connections that provide the throughput to respond immediately to employee and customer requests for data.

All of these requirements consume server ports. For that reason, Intel created the Intel® PRO/1000 MT Dual Port and Quad Port Server Adapters, which are optimized for Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers. They provide the foundation for a flexible and reliable virtual infrastructure.

Intel dual- and quad-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 MT Dual Port 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 performance and reliability, along with low power consumption. For servers running VMware server virtualization software, ESX Server best practices strongly recommend extra ports to establish separate physical networks for application production traffic, for management, and for VMotion virtual machine migration.

High performance. Multi-port Intel Gigabit Ethernet adapters can reduce network downtime and increase processor utilization. Intel multi-port adapters include support for advanced server features, including adapter fault tolerance to provide redundant network links for server failover, adaptive load balancing and link aggregation for increased scalability and throughput, PCI Hot Plug and ActivePCI for increased uptime, and interrupt moderation for significantly enhanced processor utilization.

Extensive compatibility. With a flexible design that fits almost any type of PCI bus, dual- and quad-port Intel® adapters include standards-based management features and wide network operating system support to help ensure extensive compatibility with the latest server and networking environments. Intel adapters are compatible with full-height and low-profile PCI slots. The standard, full-height bracket can be easily swapped out and replaced by the shorter, low-profile bracket for installation in high-density servers that feature low-profile PCI slots.

Increased reliability. Intel® Advanced Network Services (Intel® ANS) software allows administrators to increase uptime with redundant teamed connections. Switch fault tolerance and test switch configuration features help test compatibility and further increase uptime. Intel multi-port adapters can be configured to automatically switch to a secondary link when a server’s primary link fails. Server performance can be further enhanced by teaming connections on adapters with each other, with connections on other Intel PRO Server Adapters, or with LAN on Moth erboard (LOM) components, using Intel ANS features to achieve multi-gigabit scalability and redundancy for server-failover capability. Advanced cable diagnostics can dynamically test and report network problems such as interrupts and automatically compensate for cable issues.

Server expandability and business continuity. Proactively including an Intel multi-port NIC at the time of server purchase or installation of VMware ESX Server ensures server expandability by helping avoid the cost of taking a server offline to install a new NIC when adding servers or virtual machines. Intel multi-port adapters also enable business continuity by allowing IT administrators to dedicate ports for remote storage and management, including storage area network/network attached storage (SAN/NAS) and direct attached storage (DAS).

Network segmentation. To help ensure that IT organizations can support unpredictable network demands, such as heavy traffic on Web servers and intranets, IT departments are increasingly segmenting enterprise networks. Segmentation helps provide better data security and uptime for each network. Within dedicated subsystems, hardware and software operating environments cannot be modified without proper authentication. Employing multi-port network adapters can provide the platform flexibility to respond to evolving needs for segmentation and enable the connection to multiple switches to segment traffic on a network.

Cabling advantages. Intel offers dual- and quad-port adapters with both copper and fiber-optic connections. Both types of adapters use a common driver technology—Intel® SingleDriver™ technology—for Gigabit Ethernet, which helps reduce IT complexity. These network adapters support cost-effective 10/100/1000 transmission rates over existing Category 5 (Cat 5) cabling and gigabit connection rates over existing fiber-optic cabling. IT administrators can upgrade Fast Ethernet connections to Gigabit Ethernet using Intel PRO NICs. This added flexibility reduces training costs associated with the upgrade and expedites the Gigabit Ethernet rollout.

Centralized remote management. Dual- and quad-port Intel adapters support standard management protocols to further reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). These protocols include Wired for Management (WfM), Microsoft Remote Installation Service (RIS), Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and Desktop Management Interface (DMI).