VIO-4001 Consolidates and Virtualizes Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity VIO-4008 Consolidates and virtualizes Ethernet and SAS/SATA RAID hard drives

Virtensys is first-to-market with a new class of data center switches that virtualize server I/O resources. The award-winning VIO-4000 I/O Virtualization switches eliminate and consolidate server I/O adapters, network and storage access layer switches and cables.  This substantially reduces I/O power consumption, capital equipment costs, number of cables, server management complexity and operational expenses by more than 60 percent. The switches are the first products on the market to consolidate, virtualize and share the major types of server networking and storage connectivity including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, FCoE, iSCSI and SAS/SATA. This results in providing servers with the industry’s best I/O price/performance and lowest energy consumption for accessing the corporate networks and storage infrastructures. The VIO-4000 series of top-of-rack I/O Virtualization switches remove the physical I/O adapters from servers, leaving the servers as pure compute and memory engines.  These I/O adapters are pooled and consolidated within the VIO-4000 switches which create a virtual image of each of the I/O adapter (virtual adapter) that is presented to each server. The virtual adaptor exactly emulates the physical adaptor and thus requires no changes to the server, OS, application or I/O device driver. The VIO-4000 switches share the physical adaptors between multiple servers and dynamically allocate them with no loss of throughput. The VIO-4000 switch connects to each server using a single PCI Express® (PCIe) cable that connects directly to the server native PCIe bus, thus removing the need to deploy any new network in the data center. The PCIe cable replaces all network and storage cables per server that were required in traditional I/O deployments. The switches also eliminate the network and storage access layer switches from the rack and provide servers with the full connectivity bandwidth into the corporation IT infrastructure. The VIO-4000 switches are non-disruptive to the existing servers, networks and storage infrastructures. The switches can be deployed immediately and don’t require any changes to the servers, OS, applications, I/O adapters or device drivers.  The VIO-4000 switches enable a rack of servers to be provisioned and wired once.  Any server repurposing, application migration between servers, I/O resource moves/adds/changes can be made from an embedded remote management web console, without any physical modifications. The switches series can be deployed in all popular high availability deployment models - including active/active and active/passive redundancy schemes. There are two members in the VIO-4000 series: VIO-4001: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and Fibre Channel (SAN) connectivity to the servers VIO-4008: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and the hard disk drives (Direct Attached Storage – DAS) to the servers

Features: Consolidate and virtualize LAN and SAN connectivity to the servers 16 server connection ports   Consolidates and virtualizes up to 4 commercial off-the-shelf I/O adapters and share them between the connected servers 2x dual port 10-Gigabit Ethernet adapters 2x dual port 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel adapters Delivers virtual I/O adapters to each connected server Virtual adapters emulate exactly the physical adapters I/O vendor certified adapter device drivers run unmodified on servers Connects to server using native PCI Express interconnect (at 20 Gbps) already available in every server Includes Virtensys Management Suite (VMS), with remote management CLI and web interfaces Support industry standard protocol including SNMP/CIM/ IPMI Deliver full LAN and SAN connectivity bandwidth to servers 2U rack mountable switch  in standard 19” racks Works seamlessly in traditional (non-virtualized) and in cloud / virtualized server environment Remote management LAN port 10/100/1000 MB Hot swap redundant fans Hot swap power supply Support active-active and active-passive deployments Benefits: Up to 60% reduction in I/O equipment costs Up to 60% reduction in I/O power consumption Reduce data center management complexity and expenses by more than 60% Non-disruptive to the existing data center environment No changes to the servers, OS, applications,  I/O adapters, device drivers, networks, storage or management infrastructures No deployment of a new network in the data center Enhance data center flexibility and agility Change servers’ connectivity to LAN and SAN without any physical reconfiguration  Dynamic allocation of LAN and SAN connectivity and bandwidth to servers Dynamic repurposing of servers Dynamic migration of application between servers Enhance data center reliability More than 60% reduction in number of I/O adapters, switch ports and cables Reduction in human intervention Extend data center life cycle Increase network and storage resource utilization to more than 80% Enables adapter-less servers allowing denser data center deployments Reduce power consumption and space requirements

Features: Consolidate and virtualize LAN and DAS connectivity to the servers 16 server connection ports Consolidates and Virtualizes up to 4 commercial off-the-shelf I/O adapters and shares them between the connected servers 2x dual port 10-Gigabit Ethernet NICs 2x dual port 6-Gigabit SAS/SATA RAID HBAs Delivers virtual I/O adapters to each connected server Virtual adapters emulate exactly the physical adapters I/O vendor certified adapter device drivers run unmodified on servers 8 hot-plug 3.5” disk drive bays. Supports SAS drives for performance and SATA drives with capacities exceeding 1TB each Support RAID levels 5 and 6 Connects to server using 20 Gbps PCI Express interconnect Includes Virtensys Management Suite (VMS), with remote management CLI and web interfaces Support industry standard protocol including SNMP/CIM/ IPMI Deliver full LAN and DAS connectivity bandwidth to servers 2U rack mountable switch  in standard 19” racks Works seamlessly in traditional (non-virtualized) and in cloud / virtualized server environment Remote management LAN port 10/100/1000 MB Support active-active and active-passive deployments Support remote boot through the virtualized DAS Hot swap redundant fans Hot swap power supply Benefits: Up to 60% reduction in I/O equipment costs Up to 60% reduction in I/O power consumption Reduce data center management complexity and expenses by more than 60% Non-disruptive to the existing data center environment No changes to the servers, OS, applications,  I/O adapters, device drivers, networks, storage or management infrastructures No deployment of a new network in the data center Enhance data center flexibility and agility Change servers’ connectivity to LAN and DAS without any physical reconfiguration  Dynamic allocation of LAN and DAS connectivity to servers Dynamic allocation of LAN bandwidth to servers Dynamic repurposing of servers Dynamic migration of application between servers Enhance data center reliability More than 60% reduction in number of I/O adapters, switch ports and cables Reduction in human intervention Extend data center life cycle Increase network and storage resource utilization to more than 80% Enables adapter-less servers allowing denser data center deployments Reduce power consumption and space requirements

Virtensys Management Software (VMS) provides an easy-to-use web interface designed for server administrators to quickly and remotely create and deploy LAN/SAN/DAS connectivity to servers. Once the initial installation is complete, VMS enables IT managers to remotely and dynamically monitor, manage and change the network and storage connectivity to each server. The VMS software integrates seamlessly with the existing monitoring and management processes in the data center. Routine administrative tasks can be automated with CLI (command line interfaces) and programmatic APIs. VMS also enables unified views of complex deployments for enhanced reliability, with active-active/active-passive IOV switch configurations Virtensys Remote Web Console Create virtual adapters from off-the-shelf physical adapters Dynamically allocate available bandwidth to virtual adapters Assign network and storage adapters to servers Create LUNs from consolidated disks and assign to connected servers View and export reports of connectivity Set rules for dynamic I/O allocation to servers VirtenSys CLI, APIs and Protocols Scriptable command line interface for automation SNMP support for data center integration Health Monitoring IPMI 2.0 for active system health monitoring SNMP traps and alerts Alerts and events for monitored components

Frequently Asked Questions

The following list answers many of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding Virtensys’ VIO-4000 series of I/O Virtualization switches.

General Questions

VIO-4000 Series Hardware

VIO-4000 Series Management

VIO-4000 Switches Deployment

Redundancy

Security

Differentiation

General Questions

What is server I/O?

Server I/O is comprised of all the I/O adapters, cables, and rack switching hardware required to connect servers to the network (LAN / WAN) and storage (SAN) infrastructure. More specifically, these I/O resources include the I/O adapters and hard disks inside the servers; network and storage aggregation switches in the rack, and the associated network / storage cables connecting servers to the aggregation switches.

What is I/O Virtualization?

I/O Virtualization (IOV) consists of three distinct steps:

• Separation of I/O resources — providing management independence.
• Consolidation of the I/O resources into pools — increasing the utilization, saving cost, power and space.
• Virtualization — emulating the original I/O functions as "virtual" functions to avoid software disruption.

Virtensys VIO-4000 series of I/O Virtualization switches remove physical I/O adapters from servers, leaving the servers as pure compute and memory engines. These resources are pooled and consolidated within the VIO-4000 switches which create a virtual image of each of the I/O adapter (virtual adapter) that is presented to each server. The virtual adaptor exactly emulates the physical adaptor and thus requires no changes to the server, OS, application or device driver.

The VIO-4000 switches share physical adapters and dynamically allocate them across many physical servers with no loss of throughput. The VIO-4000 switch connects to each server using a single PCI Express® (PCIe) cable that connects directly to the server native PCIe bus, thus removing the need to deploy any new network in the data center. The PCIe cable replaces the multiple network and storage cables per server that were required in traditional I/O deployments. The VIO-4000 switch eliminates the network and storage access layer switches as these switching functions are performed by the VIO-4000 switch.

What is the VIO-4000 series?

Virtensys introduced a family of I/O Virtualization switches: the VIO-4000 series. There are two members in this series:

VIO-4001: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and Fibre Channel (SAN) connectivity to the servers.

VIO-4008: I/O Virtualization switch that virtualizes Ethernet (LAN) and the hard disk drives (Direct Attached Storage – DAS) to the servers. The VIO-4008 includes 8 disk drive bays which can be populated and shared between the connected servers.

What is the I/O cloud?

Virtensys VIO-4000 series of switches enable the creation of an I/O cloud. A single domain within which the entire data center’s server I/O resources are managed as a unique entity. In this environment, any individual server’s I/O profile can be changed and dynamically moved to another server without any physical reconfiguration and without disruption to service. This allows an IT manager to dynamically provision servers and easily move an application from one server to another, thereby improving data center flexibility, manageability and agility.

What are the key benefits of the VIO-4000 series?

Provide the industry’s best price / performance and lowest energy usage for server connectivity:

• Up to 70% reduction in I/O equipment costs.
• Up to 70% reduction in I/O power consumption.

Reduce data center management costs by up to 60%:

• Reduction in server deployment and provisioning time from hours to minutes.
• Change servers’ connectivity to LAN and SAN without any physical reconfiguration.

Enhance data center flexibility and agility to respond to dynamic business needs:

• Dynamic allocation of LAN and SAN connectivity and bandwidth to servers depending on application needs.
• Dynamic repurposing of servers depending on workload needs.

Can be deployed immediately and without disruption to the existing servers, network, storage and management infrastructures:

• Doesn’t require the deployment of a new network in the data center.
• Doesn’t require any changes to the servers, OS, applications or I/O adapters.

Enhance data center reliability:

• Up to 70% reduction in the number of I/O adapters, hard drives, switch ports and cables.
• Automated and remote management processes.
• Reduction in human intervention.

Extend data center life cycle:

• Server footprint reduction.
• Increase network and storage resource utilization.
• Decrease power consumption.

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VIO-4000 Series Hardware

How many servers can one VIO-4000 switch support?

A single VIO-4000 switch supports up to 16 servers.

How do you connect a VIO-4000 switch to the servers?

The VIO-4000 switch connects to each of the servers using a standard PCIe cable. A Virtensys PCI Express Extender Card (PEC) must be installed in each server to provide the connection from the native PCIe bus to the PCIe cable.

Is there a need to install a device driver for the PEC card on the server?

No; the PEC is an interface card that is installed in a standard PCIe slot in the server, providing an external server connector for the PCIe cable.

What I/O adapters are supported by the VIO-4000 series?

The VIO-4000 series of switches support commercial off-the-shelf I/O adapters including:

• 10 Gigabit Ethernet Server Adapter - Intel
• 4G Fibre Channel - QLogic
• 6G RAID - LSI

No special software is required to use these adapters with the VIO-4000 switch; the standard I/O adapter device drivers that are provided by the adapter vendors execute without modifications on the servers. Furthermore, no special licensing is necessary.

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VIO-4000 Management

Does Virtensys provide an I/O management suite?

Yes; the Virtensys Management Software (VMS) Suite is provided free with the product. It provides a web (HTTP) console that can be accessed through commonly used web browsers. The VMS enables users to configure and manage the VIO-4000 switch and the I/O connections to each server.

What management capabilities are provided with the VIO-4000 series of switches?

The VIO-4000 switch series support a remote management web console, accessed through commonly used web browsers. The VIO-4000 switch also supports a telnet/ssh command line interface as well as SNMP alerts and events for health and configuration changes. The management console can be easily integrated into popular enterprise management consoles.

Can you integrate the Virtensys Management Suite with other management consoles?

Yes; Virtensys Management Suite can be easily integrated with other management consoles using its CLI interface. SNMP alerts and events from the switch can be used to integrate with popular enterprise management consoles.

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VIO-4000 Switches Deployment

How do the VIO-4000 series of switches work in a server virtualization environment?

The VIO-4000 switch creates virtual I/O adapters that emulate the physical I/O adapters and work without requiring any changes to virtual servers.

Are special I/O device drivers needed to implement virtual I/O adapters?

No; the VIO-4000 switch uses commercially available I/O adapters. The standard I/O adapter device drivers that are provided by the I/O adapter vendors execute without modifications on the servers.

Can the VIO-4000 series of switches be deployed in existing cloud computing or virtualized server environments?

Yes; VIO-4000 switches can be deployed immediately in either a traditional (non-virtualized) server environment or in a cloud / virtualized server environment without any changes to the servers, the OS or the applications. In addition, multiple VIO-4000 switches can be connected to create a Virtual I/O cloud. Within the cloud, server I/O connectivity can be moved from one server to another server with all the associated network and storage connectivity.

Will the VIO-4000 series of switches support future releases of Ethernet, Fibre Channel, FCoE and SAS/SATA adapters?

Yes; Virtensys is continuously increasing its portfolio of supported I/O adapters by identifying and qualifying new adapters.

How does the VIO-4008 switch enable disk-less, adapter-less servers?

The VIO-4008 switch creates virtual I/O adapters and shares them with connected servers. Hence servers do not need any physical I/O adapters in them. Also, instead of booting from hard disks within the server enclosure, servers can use storage devices consolidated within a VIO-4008 switch. The VIO-4008 switch supports up to 8 SAS/SATA 3.5" hot plug disk drives and two RAID adapters. By using the Virtensys VMS management software, the user subdivides the local disks in the VIO-4008 into virtual disks. The virtual disks can then be allocated to each server through the virtual RAID HBA. The server accesses the virtual disks through the virtual RAID HBA as it would with physical disks and physical RAID adapter.

Can the servers boot from the local disks in the VIO-4008 switch?

Yes; the servers connected to the VIO-4008 switch can boot from the local disks inside the VIO-4008. The VIO-4008 presents a virtual RAID adapter and virtual disks to the servers that exactly emulate the physical adapter and disk behavior.

How does the VIO-4001 switch connect to a SAN?

The VIO-4001 switch must be connected to an NPIV capable SAN switch at the core. This SAN switch then connects to SAN storage array. The operating system's disk management capabilities can be used to map the virtual FC HBA to the visible SAN storage drive.

Is there any impact or effect on the storage SAN infrastructure by deploying VIO-4000 switches?

No; there is no impact or effect on the storage SAN infrastructure. The VIO-4000 series of switches are totally transparent to the storage SAN infrastructure. The VIO-4001 switches eliminate Fibre Channel aggregation / access layer switches from the rack and the VIO-SAN-Adapters inside the VIO-4000 switches connect directly to the SAN infrastructure. The management and topology of the SAN is not affected.

Do you support iSCSI storage devices?

Yes; The VIO-4000 series of switches are the best price / performance solution for providing servers with very high performance access to iSCSI storage arrays. Servers connect to an iSCSI storage array using iSCSI capable virtual 10Gb Ethernet NIC provided by the VIO-4000. Software based iSCSI initiators are used to connect to iSCSI targets. Newer 10Gb capable iSCSI storage arrays can connect directly to the VIO-4000 switch’s 10Gb Ethernet ports. Legacy 1Gb iSCSI storage units can be attached to a 1Gb Ethernet switch. The 1G Ethernet switch has 10Gb uplink ports that can be connected directly to the 10Gb Ethernet port of the VIO-4000 switch. The Virtensys iSCSI storage access to the server is provided by a high performance, low latency PCI express based link between the server and the VIO-4000 switch.

Is there any impact or effect on the network (LAN/WAN) infrastructure by deploying VIO-4000 switches?

No; there is no impact or effect on the network (LAN / WAN) infrastructure. The VIO-4000 series of switches are totally transparent to the network infrastructure. The VIO-4000 switches eliminate network aggregation / access layer switches from the rack and the VIO-LAN-Adapters inside the VIO-4000 switches connect directly to the core network. The management and topology of the core network is not affected.

Is there an impact to I/O performance by utilizing the VIO-4000 switches and virtual adapters vs. a traditional server I/O implementations?

Virtensys VIO-4000 series of switches use hardware based I/O virtualization that has negligible impact on the performance of the Virtual I/O adapter and delivers the same level of I/O performance to the servers as traditional I/O configurations whilst lowering I/O costs, I/O power consumption, and manpower requirements.

What operating systems does the VIO-4000 series switch support?

VIO-4000 switches work with standard operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, and virtualized operating systems, provided by vendors such as s VMware and Red Hat. Please visit www.virtensys.com/support or call the support line to see the latest list of supported operating systems.

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Redundancy

How can high availability solutions be implemented using the VIO-4000 switches?

Servers that require high availability are often deployed in failover mode. Each of the servers is given an independent network connectivity path with redundant top-of-rack switches. Virtensys fully supports this model of deployment. The VIO-4000 series of switches can be deployed in either active - active or active - passive configurations. VIO-4000 series of switches provide many modes of independent network connectivity paths. Each adapter within a VIO-4000 switch is dual ported and each of the two ports can be placed on independent network path. Consequently, a single server can be given multiple, dual-port virtual I/O adapters that can be configured for greater Ethernet or Fibre Channel resiliency.

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Security

How is network security implemented when the VIO-4000 switches are used?

The standard network security practices employed in traditional server I/O deployment models can be used to manage LAN/SAN security when the VIO-4000 switches are deployed.

If one of the servers connected to the VIO-4000 switch is infected by a virus, does it affect the other servers?

No; Each server connected to the VIO-4000 switch is totally isolated from the other servers, even when they are sharing the same physical I/O adapter. If a server is infected by a virus the other servers are totally isolated and not affected.

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Differentiation

How do the VIO-4000 series of switches differ from other IOV solutions?

• VIO-4000 switches utilize the native PCIe standard interconnect available on every server and don’t require the deployment of a new network (such as InfiniBand or DCB/CEE) in the data center.
• VIO-4000 switches are non-disruptive to the existing servers, networks and storage infrastructures. The switches use off-the shelf PCIe I/O adapters and don’t require any changes to the servers, OS, applications, I/O adapters or device drivers.
• VIO-4000 switches provide industry best I/O price / performance and lowest energy usage for deploying network and storage connectivity to servers.
• VIO-4000 switches preserve previous investments in people, process and technology.
• VIO-4000 switches are the only products that can virtualize all of server I/O including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and RAID adapter types.