1 Port Intel X540-T1 PCI-e 10GbE Network Adapter Card

Smooth Migration to 10GbE

The black Intel X540T1 Single Port Ethernet Converged Network Adapter simplifies migration to 10 GbE, provides iSCSI, FCoE, virtualisation, and flexible port partitioning. The adapter works with legacy Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) switches and Cat 6A cabling. By simply installing the adapter into a server, the auto-negotiation between 1 and 10 GbE provides the necessary backwards compatibility that most customers require for a smooth transition and easy migration to 10 GbE.

Power Efficient

The X540T1 allows you to deploy 10 GbE in your existing data centre. The adapter uses Cat6 and Cat 6A cabling. Thanks to this controller, the MAC and the PHY are integrated into a single-chip solution. A single-chip solution uses less power than two separate components. This means no more active heat sink and reduces the per-port power consumption.

Performance & Reliability

The X540T1 adapter provides bandwidth-intensive applications with efficient 10 GbE network performance and reliable RJ-45 connectivity for distances up to 328′ (100 m). Virtualisation changes the way server resources are deployed and managed by running multiple applications and operating systems independently on a single server.

Versatile

The I/O virtualisation advances network connectivity by providing FPP, multiple Rx/Tx queues, and on-controller QoS functionality that can be used in both virtual and non-virtual server deployments.

With FPP, virtual controllers can be used by the Linux host directly and/or assigned to virtual machines. FPP allows you to use the functionality of SR-IOV to assign up to 63 processes per port to virtual functions in Linux. This enables an administrator to partition their 10 GbE bandwidth across multiple processes, ensuring a QoS by giving each assigned process equal bandwidth. Network administrators may also rate-limit each of these services to control how much of the 10 GbE pipe is available to each process.

Cost Effective

Unified Networking solutions on the adapter let you combine the traffic of multiple data center networks like LAN and SAN onto a single efficient network fabric. You can choose NFS, iSCSI, or Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) to carry both network and storage traffic at speeds of up to 10 Gb/s. The adapter combines support for all of these traffic types in one adapter at no additional cost and with no additional licensing fees for the adapter.

Unified networking is available on every server either through LAN-on-Motherboard (LOM) implementation or via an add-in Network Interface Card (NIC). iSCSI uses Ethernet to carry storage traffic, extending the familiarity and simplicity of Ethernet to storage networking, without the need for SAN-specific adapters or switches. The X540 is a reliable and effective method of connecting servers to iSCSI SANs.

The Open-FCoE architecture uses a combination of FCoE initiators in Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems and in the VMware ESXi hypervisor to deliver high-performance FCoE solutions using standard 10 GbE Ethernet adapters. This approach enables IT managers to simplify the data center and standardise on a single adapter for LAN and SAN connectivity. The adapter is designed to fully offload the FCoE data path to deliver full-featured converged network adapter (CNA) functionality without compromising on power efficiency and interoperability.

Features

• Integrated single port MAC+PHY adapter reduces cost and power.
• Low-profile enables higher bandwidth and throughput from standard and low-profile PCIe slots and servers.
• Load balancing on multiple CPUs increases performance on multi-processor systems by efficiently balancing network loads across CPU cores when used with Receive-Side Scaling from Microsoft or Scalable I/O on Linux.
• Remote boot iSCSI and FCoE supports remote booting to an iSCSI or FCoE drive.
• Support for most Network Operating Systems (NOS) enables widespread deployment.
• RoHS compliant lead-free technology is compliant with the European Union directive (July 2006) to reduce hazardous materials.
• MSI-X support minimises the overhead of interrupts and allows load balancing of interrupt handling between different cores/CPUs.
• Based on the sensitivity of the incoming data, the adapter can bypass the automatic moderation of time intervals between the interrupts.
• Header splits and replication in receive helps the driver focus on the relevant part of the packet without the need to parse it.
• Packet handling without waiting/buffer overflow provides efficient packet prioritisation.
• Lower processor usage and checksum and segmentation capability extended to new standard packet type.
• Increased throughput and lower processor usage.
• Compatible with large-send offload feature (in Microsoft Windows Server operating systems).
• Offloads IPsec capability to adapter instead of software to significantly improve throughput and CPU usage (for Windows 7, Windows 2008 Server R2, Windows 2008 Server, and Windows Vista).
• Compatible with x8 and x16 standard and low-profile PCI Express slots enables each slot port to operate without interfering or competing with other ports.
• Receive/Transmit Side Scaling for Windows and Scalable I/O for Linux (IPv4, IPv6, TCP/ UDP) enables direction of the interrupts to the processor cores in order to improve the CPU usage rate.
• RJ-45 connections over CAT-6a cabling ensures compatibility with cable lengths up to 328′ (100 m).