Blade Server I/O and Workloads of the Future (slides)

Technology Brief

Blade Server I/O and Workloads of the Future

Comparing Cisco UCS and HP BladeSystem

November, 2014

Where IT perceptions are reality

New Generation of Blade Servers and Workloads

2

HP and Cisco are the two most popular blade server brands on the planet. A big reason why is the networks embedded in

the HP BladeSystem and Cisco UCS products are the most powerful and flexible networks for virtualized workloads.

On August 28th, HP announced new HP ProLiant Gen9 servers, including several enhancements to their HP BladeSystem

I/O design. Shortly afterwards, on September 4th, Cisco announced long-awaited enhancements to UCS.

The UCS enhancements centered around the UCS Mini blade system which is targeted at SMBs and the edge of the

enterprise. There were no significant changes to the 5108 chassis used for larger systems, which after 5 years, is getting

long in the tooth. With only 1.2Tb/s of mid-plane bandwidth, the 5108 is limited in its ability to support more than 8 servers

and single links greater than 10Gb.

The new HP BladeSystem c7000 Platinum chassis offers 7TB/s of mid-plane bandwidth, with new support for 20GbE

downlinks as well as 40GbE uplinks. The HP ProLiant Gen9 BladeSystem also takes converged networks to the next level

with hardware offload of important new networking protocols supporting tunneling of L2 traffic over L3 networks, and scale-

out file storage traffic.

The new HP and Cisco blade systems are hitting the market just as hyperscale-driven applications and data center

architectures are reaching the enterprise. Our conclusion? There’s a new generation of blade servers and workloads, but

the same HP advantage.

This Report Compares 3 Facets of Cisco UCS and HP BladeSystem I/O

3

To set the stage for comparing the capabilities that will matter most in the future, this Technology Brief reviews the trend towards a new mix of applications and server workloads in Webscale private clouds.

2

1

3

I/O Capabilities Which Will Differentiate Blade Servers in Webscale Environments

Performance

Consolidation

Flexibility

Inflection Point

4

Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3

In 2014, the server

industry reached a major

inflection point with the

introduction of a new

generation of Intel server

processors launched v3

of the Xeon E5-2600

family. At this inflection

point, x86 server product

lines are being refreshed,

and new technologies are

being introduced which

complement the

capabilities of the Xeon

E5-2600.

Hierarchical Networks LAN/SAN Convergence with FCoE 10GbE

20GbE and 40GbE Virtual Networks

Converged cloud , RDMA , FC and Ethernet Connectivity

Virtualized Servers

Webscale Servers

Complementary Technologies are what Differentiate Blade Server Offerings

5

Given that HP and Cisco blade systems will feature the same Xeon E5-2600

processor, it’s the complementary technologies which will differentiate the

systems. The factors which are expected to separate leaders from followers,

is 20GbE connectivity to servers, 40GbE uplinks from blade server chassis to

network, switchless connectivity to storage, and convergence of Ethernet,

FCoE, native Fibre Channel, RDMA, and cloud tunneling protocols on the

same port. Servers with the best implementations of these technologies will be

better suited to handle traditional workloads, plus a new class of Webscale

workloads.

Workload Mix of the Future

6

Share Everything Applications + Share Nothing Applications

Enterprise IT organizations, who for the most part have become private cloud builders, are blending

traditional Enterprise and Hyperscale IT into a Webscale model. Traditional IT encompasses support for

workloads such as SQL databases, and ERP applications, with “share-everything” infrastructure

featuring many VMs sharing physical servers, and many servers sharing networked storage.

Webscale IT must support traditional workloads as well as a new generation of workloads such as

NoSQL databases and predictive analytics. Many of the new applications are designed to run in “share-

nothing” distributed computing environments featuring scale-out server and storage clusters.

Workload Mix of the Future

7

Private cloud builders are also trending

towards cloud platforms like OpenStack

and vCloud. Cloud operating systems

incorporate a software defined data

center architecture which allows a

single cloud operating system to

manage servers, storage and

networking systems in different data

centers. As a result, new cloud

tunneling protocols, such as VXLAN

and NVGRE, are being deployed as a

software defined datacenter foundation,

along with a new generation of NICs

which can offload the tunnel protocol

processing.

Traditional IT + Hyperscale IT = Webscale IT

Environment for Workloads of the Future

8

Webscale Private Cloud

The defining characteristic of a Webscale Private

Cloud is data center infrastructure which efficiently

supports two distinctly different application

environments — a shared infrastructure environment

and a distributed infrastructure environment. A

Webscale Private Cloud also includes an overlapping

environment with software defined (virtualized)

servers, networking and storage.

Converged Networks Make it Possible

A key capability of blade servers in a Webscale Private

Cloud is a higher level of network convergence. In the

next generation of 2.0 Converged Networks, the

RDMA network protocol for scale-out clusters, and

hardware offload of tunneling protocol processing for

carrying L2 traffic over L3 networks, are integrated as

standard features in Webscale CNAs and/or switches.

Webscale Private Cloud Environment

Shared environments include servers heavily loaded with virtual machines, and

networked storage shared by many servers. Distributed environments support database

and application workloads spread across many servers, and scale-out storage. Cloud

operating platforms such as vCloud and OpenStack are introducing management tools for

a software defined data center, including software defined networks.

Anatomy of Blade Server I/O

9

Application Performance Depends

on a Healthy Network

Every blade server has an entire

network embedded to carry east-west

traffic between servers, and north-

south traffic to top-of-rack, end-of-

row, and core switches upstream.

The I/O performance of applications

running on blade servers can differ

significantly depending on the

capabilities of their embedded

networks.

The Blade Servers

10

Blade Server Systems Cisco UCS

in 5108 Chassis

HP BladeSystem

in c7000 Chassis

The Products

Chassis Size 6U 10U

Max. Blade Servers 8 16

Mid-plane Bandwidth 1.2Tb/s 7.168 Tb/s

Server Downlinks 10Gb 20Gb

Chassis Uplinks 10Gb 10/40Gb

Interconnect Options Ethernet/FCoE Ethernet/FCoE, Fibre

Channel, SAS, InfiniBand

I/O Slots 2 8

Cisco UCS and HP

BladeSystem

In the following pages we

will compare the

performance, network

convergence, flexibility and

software defined

networking of the Cisco

UCS in a 5108 chassis,

and the HP BladeSystem

in a c7000 Platinum

chassis.

Comparing I/O Performance

11

Why it Matters

Meeting application performance service levels is directly related to the I/O performance of a blade

server system. In addition, the new generation of servers with Xeon E5-2600 processors hosting a

generation of demanding new applications, need higher bandwidth and lower latency I/O than ever

before. And in Webscale private cloud environments, performance is needed more cost-effectively than

ever before, bringing CPU efficiency to the forefront of important performance metrics.

I/O Performance Metrics

In the following pages, we will examine the capabilities of Cisco UCS and HP BladeSystem against the

following I/O performance metrics:

· Bandwidth

· Useable Bandwidth

· Latency

· CPU Efficiency

1

I/O Bandwidth

12

80GbE is Specmanship

There are some discussions in the blogosphere about how UCS achieves 80Gb of bandwidth per blade. Based on a the Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Server

Spec Sheet for details, that scenario refers to the configuration of a Cisco B200 M4 blade with a VIC1340 adapter and added mezzanine card (port

expander) that allows four 10Gb links to each IO Module (2208 FEX) for a total of 80Gb of bandwidth (2 x 4 x 10Gb).

40GbE is Expensive

From the point of view of pure technology, 40GbE is a perfect solution for delivering the performance needed in a single server link, and eliminating the

need for teaming. But the cost per port for 40GbE network adapters is typically more than 3x the cost per port of 10GbE adapters. In another case of

specmanship, Cisco is promoting the availability of a 40Gb port on the new 6324 Fabric Interconnect (FI) for the USC Mini. However, as of the writing of

this report, the 40G port, called a Scalability Port, is not a native 40GbE port and can only be used to breakout to four 1GbE or 10GbE SFP+ (4x1G or 4

x10G) connections. In addition, this 40GbE port requires an expensive software license to activate.

20GbE is Juuust Right

A choice that has only recently been made available to server architects is 20GbE. Each 20GbE ports offers bandwidth equivalent to twenty 1GbE ports or

two 10GbE ports. 20GbE is juuuust right because a single 20GbE port is enough bandwidth for all but the most I/O intensive supercomputing applications,

and is available for a fraction of the price of 40GbE technology. According to the Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Server Spec Sheet all Cisco UCS 5108

midplane, FEX and FI network connectivity ports are currently 10GbE, including the 40Gb scalability port on the 6324 FI which must be split into multiple

10GbE ports.

The HP BladeSystem provides 20GbE links between blade server adapters and the chassis interconnects, as well as inter-switch links. With HP Flex-20

technology, Ethernet network adapters deliver twice the bandwidth of 10Gb adapters, while reducing the management overhead associated with multiple

10Gb adapters.

With 20Gb downlinks, HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric-20/40 F8 Modules offer more than twice the throughput of other 10Gb extenders and fabric

interconnects. In addition, ports on the HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric-20/40 F8 Modules can be dynamically configured to support Ethernet, Fibre

Channel, or FCoE.

Almost no Oversubscription with HP BladeSystem

13

Oversubscription occurs when the I/O capacity of the adapter ports connected

to chassis switch ports exceeds the capacity of the switch ports. The

oversubscription ratio is the sum of the capacity of the adapter ports divided

by the capacity of the switch port. Below you can see that if you actually

configured 80Gb of bandwidth per UCS blade as mentioned above, you would

be building a blade server network with 4:1 oversubscription. In contrast, a

comparable configured HP BladeSystem would result in 1.1:1

oversubscription — almost a 100% improvement in oversubscription when

compared to Cisco.

Oversubscription

14

16 ports x 20Gb from Mid-plane to 4 x Virtual Connect Modules = 1,280Gb

4 Virtual Connect Modules. Each with 4 x 40Gb ports + 8 x 10Gb ports + 2 x20Gb ISL ports = 1,120Gb

2 ports x 20Gb from FLOM + 2 ports x 20Gb for Mezz. Card x 16 Servers = 1,280Gb

HP BladeSystem: Oversubscription = 1.1:1

8 ports x 10Gb from Mid-Plane x 2 IO

Modules = 160 Gb

8 ports x 10Gb x 2 IO Modules = 160Gb

4 ports x 10Gb from VICs and 4

ports x 10Gb from expansion cards

(80Gb) x 8 Servers = 640Gb

Cisco UCS: Oversubscription = 4:1

Oversubscription occurs when the I/O capacity of the adapter ports connected to chassis switch ports exceeds the capacity of the switch

ports. The oversubscription ratio is the sum of the capacity of the adapter ports divided by the capacity of the switch port. Below you can

see that if you actually configured 80Gb of bandwidth per UCS blade as mentioned above, you would be building a blade server network

with 4:1 oversubscription. In contrast, a comparable configured HP BladeSystem would result in 1.1:1 oversubscription — almost a 100%

improvement in oversubscription when compared to Cisco.

What Oversubscription Means

15

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Cisco HP

Blade Server I/O Hits

The Wall

If you configured 80Gb of

bandwidth per blade on

both a Cisco UCS and HP

BladeSystem, the Cisco

5108 chassis switches are

oversubscribed with the

second server. In contrast,

fifteen HP blade servers

can be configured before

reaching the bandwidth

limit of the HP c7000

Platinum chassis

switches.

1.12TB/s

Chassis

Bandwidth

160Gb/s

Chassis

Bandwidth

# Blade Servers to Hit Limit of Chassis Bandwidth

Two fully configured UCS blade servers hit the limits of the 5108 fabric extenders (FEX). It takes fifteen fully configured HP Gen 9 servers to hit the bandwidth limit of the HP FlexFabric Modules.

RDMA over Ethernet (RoCE)

16

InfiniBand networks were invented to overcome the need to plow through the Ethernet protocol stack to complete an I/O

transaction. InfiniBand boosts performance by eliminating layers of the stack for Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA). The

Ethernet industry responded by developing an enhanced version of Ethernet called Converged Ethernet (CE), featuring Priority

Flow Control which is necessary to support RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE). Blade systems with switches supporting

CE, and with NICs supporting RDMA, can deliver I/O with lower latency and less CPU usage than previous generations of CNAs.

HP ProLiant Gen9 blade servers incorporate 20Gb FlexibleLOM NICs which are RDMA NICs. Cisco has introduced RDMA LOM

and Mezz NICs called the VIC1340 and VIC1380, respectively.

I/O Without RDMA I/O With RDMA

RoCE Blade Environment

17

Networked Storage Killer Apps for RoCE A killer app for RoCE is SMB 3.0 file servers where users accessing shared storage experience the

response time of local storage. File servers turbo-charged with RoCE are commercially available via

two Windows Server 2012 features called SMB Multi-Channel and SMB Direct. With SMB

Multichannel, SMB 3.0 automatically detects the RDMA capability and creates multiple RDMA

connections for a single session. This allows SMB to use the high throughput, low latency and low

CPU utilization offered by SMB Direct.

HP FlexFabric 20Gb adapters (RDMA NICs) are certified by Microsoft for use in the killer app

described above. As of 11/14/14 the VIC 1340 is not certified by Microsoft for SMB Direct.

RoCE Blade Environment

18

In this diagram a single HP BladeSystem with HP 6125XLG Ethernet Blade Switches required to support RoCE, is a high

performance environment for 3 app clusters and 1 file server cluster. Hyper-V automatically senses the presence of RDMA NICs,

then use multi-channel communications to evacuate VMs in seconds, and uses direct memory access for higher I/O to shared

storage inside the blade server.

IOPS Performance Benefits of RoCE

19

Sequential Read

Performance (IOPs)

The HP FlexFabric 20Gb

2-port 650FLB Adapter

(Emulex OCe14102)

with RoCE, used with

Windows Storage

Server and SMB Direct,

provided 82% more

IOPs than previous

generation adapters

without RoCE.

Efficiency Benefits of RoCE

20

Server Power Efficiency

(IOPs per Watt)

The HP FlexFabric 20Gb

2-port 650FLB Adapter

(Emulex OCe14102) with

RoCE, used with

Windows Storage Server

and SMB Direct, delivered

80% higher server

power efficiency than

adapters not using RoCE

Response Time Benefits of RoCE

21

Read I/O Response Time

(Seconds)

The HP FlexFabric 20Gb

2-port 650FLB Adapter

with RoCE (Emulex

OCe14102) , used with

Windows Storage Server

and SMB Direct, reduced

I/O response time by

70% compared to NICs

without SMB Direct

capabilities.

The Cost Benefits of RoCE Offload

22

Hardware Offload

A key to achieving efficient use of processing power is adapter offload of networking protocols so that

application server CPU cycles are not wasted on network protocol processing. Using a software

initiator instead of hardware offload requires that every TCP/IP, FCoE, and iSCSI packet be sent over

the PCI bus to the NIC. A constant PCI bus busy state can interfere with traffic to other devices on the

PCI bus.

The lack of offload can have a big impact on CPU utilization. For example, a single adapter running an

iSCSI software initiator can utilize 30% of the server CPU for iSCSI protocol processing. Add more

adapters and VMs, and more CPU is needed for network protocol processing.

The lack of offload is expensive. The cost of 30% CPU utilization for a $20,000 server is $6,000 — a

cost that can be easily avoided by simply deploying a network adapter with iSCSI offload.

Cisco UCS 1300 Series VIC adapters support TCP, FCoE , NVGRE, VXLAN and RoCE offload. HP

FlexFabric adapters add to that offload for iSCSI. It is worth noting that at the time this report was

written, HP 20Gb adapter VXLAN offload is certified by VMware, while as of 11/14/14 the Cisco VIC

1340/1380 VXLAN offload does not appear on the VMware Compatibility Guide.

The Lack of Offload Can Be Expensive

23

$3,000 $4,500

$6,000 $9,000

$-

$5,000

$10,000

$15,000

$20,000

$25,000

$30,000

$10K Server $15K Server $20K Server $25K Server

Cost of Network Protocol Processing Cost of Server

There are a variety of different network protocols supported by adapters, and many are used simultaneously. The more

protocol processing that is done in the adapter, the more of your server investment can be applied to applications

instead of network protocol processing.\

Comparing I/O Consolidation

24

Why it Matters

IT consolidation is hugely important because it represents less hardware and simplified

management. The utilization of storage media leaped when storage was configured in a

SAN and could be shared by many servers. The utilization of physical servers

dramatically increased when multiple virtual servers could be hosted on a single physical

server. Similarly, network utilization increases when more network protocols can run on a

single cable, adapter or switch.

Consolidation Metrics

There are two metrics for I/O consolidation: the convergence of network protocols, and

the consolidation of cables into higher bandwidth links.

· Network Convergence

· Cable Consolidation

2

Wanted: One Blade Server Network for LAN, SAN, Cluster and SDN Traffic

25

A new best practice for data center managers is to converge traditional shared computing infrastructure

with their growing infrastructure for distributed apps. This is made possible by a new generation of

network adapters and switches with support for the RDMA, VXLAN and NVGRE protocols. Support for

these protocols enables blade servers to converge LAN, SAN, Cluster and SDN traffic on a single

network. It also allows data center managers to use software defined data center tools.

The HP 20Gb FlexibleLOM adapters supports stateless hardware offload of TCP, iSCSI and FCoE

protocols for LAN/SAN convergence, as well as hardware offload of RDMA, VXLAN and NVGRE for

efficient support of cluster and tunnel traffic. The Cisco VIC1340 supports all of the same protocols,

with hardware offload for all of the above except iSCSI.

Network Convergence Road Map

26

1.0

LAN+SAN

2.0

LAN+SAN+Clusters+SDN

IP

CE

iSCSI

FCoE

IP

iSCSI

FCoE

RoCE

VXLAN

NVGRE

At the Xeon E5-2600 inflection point, specialized adapters will no longer be needed to support RDMA. The new class of adapters will also support new tunneling protocols which are essential components of software defined data centers.

A Perfect Fit for a Webscale Private Clouds

27

Network Convergence 2.0

The added support for RDMA over Converged Ethernet, NVGRE and VXLAN allow one adapter port on a blade server to support four network environments. Hardware offload allow the blade server to use precious CPU resources for applications, instead of for network protocol processing.

Shared Distributed SDN

Cable Consolidation

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A Single 40Gb Link Eliminates Cables for 40 x 1Gb Links or 4 x 10Gb Links

Until recently, 40GbE was used mostly for inter-switch connectivity and in the core of the

network. The availability of 40GbE ports on servers sitting on the edge of the network

has presented the opportunity for IT pros to consolidate dozens of 1GbE links and

handfuls of 10GbE links with a single cable. This is an area where the HP BladeSystem

stand out.

The Cisco UCS architecture makes extensive use of teaming of 10Gb ports to build

uplinks with higher bandwidth. That means lots of cables. Even the 40Gb port on the

UCS Mini must be split into four cables. In contrast, the Virtual Connect Modules on the

HP BladeSystem include four 40GbE ports, which in the apple-to-apples comparison

below reduced the number of cables needed from 24 to 2.

Configuring Redundant 40Gb Uplinks for 16 Blade Servers

29

This diagram shows an apples-to-apples comparison of a 16 blade servers configured with redundant connections between servers and switches, and redundant uplinks. Many more cables are needed in the Cisco UCS configuration because the switches are external, and because of the lack of 40Gb ports. Note the Cisco Mini has a 40Gb port but it can only be used in a 4 x 10GbE configuration.

Cisco UCS (24 cables) HP (2 cables)

4 x 10Gb 1 x 40Gb

Comparing I/O Flexibility

30

Why it Matters

A new era of agility awaits IT organizations who implement cloud operating systems designed to

manage multiple software defined data centers. Years required for a generation of hardware change

will be replaced by months required to deploy a software update. A foundation for this capability is

overlay networks with tunneling of L2 traffic across data centers using L3 networks. Support for

tunneling protocols is embedded in a new class of network adapters making it easy for private cloud

builders to integrate their servers into a cloud platform. Conversely, IT organizations want to continue

using native Fibre Channel SANs and want the flexibility to choose “if” and “when” they converge LANs

and SANs on Ethernet.

I/O Flexibility Metrics

There are two capabilities which are expected to effect I/O flexibility in Webscale private clouds.

· More efficient delivery of tunnel traffic with hardware offload of tunnel protocol processing

· Support for native Fibre Channel

3

Tunneling Unlocks the Cloud

31

Live Migrations a Killer App for VXLAN and NVGRE

One of the most valuable functions of server virtualization is live migration. This function frees system

administrators from the time-consuming and complex process of moving workloads to optimize performance

or mitigate a hardware failure. However, moving VMs on different networks requires extensive network

reconfiguration. IT organizations using data center infrastructure dispersed in public, private or hybrid clouds

simply can’t configure all servers and VMs on one local network, and need a tunneling mechanism to extend

live migrations.

Virtual Extensible LAN (VXLAN) and Network Virtualization using Generic Routing Encapsulation (NVGRE )

are protocols for deploying overlay (virtual) networks on top of a Layer 3 networks. VXLAN and NVGRE are

used to isolate apps and tenants in a cloud and migrate virtual machines across long distances.

While VXLAN and NVGRE allow live migrations across racks and data centers. RoCE accelerates live

migrations. In a Microsoft TechEd demo, migrating Windows Server 2012 to a like system takes just under 1

minute 26 seconds. Windows Server 2012R2 performed the same migration in just over 32 seconds. Then

using RoCE during the live migration process combined with SMB Direct, it took just under 11 seconds,

without utilizing added CPU resources.

Live Migrations Across the Cloud

32

Overlay Network Tunnel

Overlay Network Tunnel

Efficient use of the cloud requires protocols allowing the creation of virtual networks, and allowing Layer 2 network services to traverse Layer 3 networks without network configuration.

Storage Networks

33

Support for Native Fibre Channel Needed for I/O Flexibility

Based on IT Brand Pulse surveys, 40% of IT organizations are not converging

with FCoE. For the 40% of IT professionals who have been too busy to look

at FCoE, or who say they have no plans to converge their LANs and SANs,

parallel Ethernet and Fibre Channel infrastructure will be deployed.

The modular design of blade servers make them inherently flexible. But not

all blade server platforms are equal when it comes to hosting multiple

heterogeneous virtualized workloads and delivering I/O flexibility.

The Cisco UCS blade servers support Ethernet/FCoE connectivity.

The flexible HP BladeSystem supports Ethernet/FCoE, SAS, InfiniBand and

Fibre Channel connectivity.

Wanted: Ethernet & Fibre Channel Networks

34

In 2014, the prevalent data center network architecture remains a parallel network architecture, including a mix of specialized NIC, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel host adapters, as well as Ethernet and Fibre Channel switched fabrics. Cisco UCS blade servers support only Ethernet connectivity. Adoption of FCoE technology is required to access installed Fibre Channel resources.

Advantage HP

35

Blade Server Systems Cisco UCS in 5108 Chassis HP BladeSystem inC7000 Chassis

Chassis Size 6U 10U

Max. Blade Servers 8 16

Mid-plane Bandwidth 1.2Tb/s 7.16Tb/s

Max. Embedded Switches 2 8

Support for native 20Gb Ethernet No Yes

Support for native 40Gb Ethernet

(not including 40Gb port used in 4 x 10 mode) No Yes

Support for native Fibre Channel No Yes

Support for native InfiniBand No Yes

Over subscription 4:1 1.1:1

Hardware offload:

Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) Yes Yes

iSCSI No Yes

TCP offload engine (TOE) Yes Yes

RoCE offload engine (ROE) Yes Yes

VXLAN offload engine (VOE) Yes (not yet qualified by VMware) Yes

NVGRE offload engine (NOE) Yes (not yet qualified by Microsoft for SMB Direct) Yes

Designed for Workloads of the Future

36

The ProLiant Gen9 Blade Server is designed for I/O flexibility with a choice of FlexFabric converged networking or

parallel Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks. The ProLiant Gen9 Blade Server is also fully compliant with Windows

Server 2012 Virtual Fibre Channel—an innovation that will play an important role in the virtualization of Tier-1 workloads

with Microsoft Hyper-V.

HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 20/40 F8 module supports “FlatSAN” direct

connectivity to native Fibre Channel 3PAR storage at a lower cost than using Fibre Channel switches

Native Fibre Channel server adapter Over 12 million ports shipped on this stack

718203-B21 HP LPe1605 16Gb Fibre Channel HBA

HP FlexFabric 20Gb 2-port 650FLB Adapter

HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 20/40 F8 module supports LAN, SAN, NAS, iSCSI and FCoE connectivity

Ethernet LAN on Motherboard (LOM) or Mezz adapter

Dual 10/20GbE Ports Supports LAN, NAS, iSCSI and FCoE connectivity FlexFabric Ready Supports RoCE for scale-out cluster connectivity. Supports NVGRE and VXLAN for migrating VMs

across the cloud.

Summary

37

Infrastructure of the past is functionally defined and purpose-built. Servers are servers, networking is networking

and storage is storage. These purpose-built devices are deployed with little ability to change the function as

needs change. In the future, infrastructure needs to be more transformative, taking the shape of business

demands.

Potential power and flexibility is locked inside the aging Cisco UCS 5108 chassis which severely limits the use of

new high-bandwidth networks and any network other than Ethernet/FCoE.

The new HP BladeSystem answers the call with:

• A new level of convergence which will allow for resources to be allocated at a very granular level, improving

efficiencies and ensuring optimal performance as workload demands change.

• Interfaces to the software-defined data center. HP ProLiant Gen9 blade servers possess the capability to

respond to intelligent orchestration of infrastructure resources in real-time, as applications and user needs

change.

• A cloud-ready architecture ready to scale-out, agile, and always on.

• Workload-optimized for traditional share-everything applications and new share-nothing applications.

Resources

38

Related Links

OCe14000 Test Report

HP FlexFabric Adapters Provided by Emulex

HP BladeSystem

HP Virtual Connect Technology

HP BladeSystem and Cisco UCS Comparison

Cisco Fabric Extender

Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1340

Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect Data Sheet

Cisco UCS Ethernet Switching Modes

IT Brand Pulse

About the Author

Joe Kimpler is a senior analyst responsible for IT Brand Pulse Labs. Joe’s team manages the delivery of technical

services including hands-on testing, product reviews, total cost of ownership studies and product launch collateral.

He has over 30 years of experience in information technology and has held senior engineering and marketing

positions at Fujitsu, Rockwell Semiconductors, Quantum and QLogic. Joe holds an engineering degree from the

University of Illinois and a MBA in marketing.