Enhance I/O in a Virtualized Environments Using NIC Partitioning
With virtualization comes an increase in the amount and complexity of I/O traffic. Network interface cad (NIC) partitioning enhances I/O performance in a virtualized environment, advancing hardware consolidation and flexible bandwidth provisioning for heightened IT agility.
Thu, January 19, 2012
Network World — This vendor-written tech primer has been edited by Network World to eliminate product promotion, but readers should note it will likely favor the submitter's approach.
With virtualization comes an increase in the amount and complexity of I/O traffic. Network interface cad (NIC) partitioning enhances I/O performance in a virtualized environment, advancing hardware consolidation and flexible bandwidth provisioning for heightened IT agility.
Envisioning the many potential benefits of virtualization -- simplified IT management, optimized resource utilization, and reduced energy costs, among others -- it's no wonder that organizations are stepping up their efforts to transform physical IT infrastructures into virtual ones. As they do so, the impact of virtualization on network I/O is a top-of-mind consideration. Increases in platform performance, multi-core processing, hardware resource utilization, I/O speed and the number and density of virtual machines (VM) all contribute to a corresponding rise in the volume and complexity of I/O traffic.
I/O bottlenecks are particularly troublesome because they impair application performance and limit the number of VMs deployed. One method that helps reduce bottlenecks and improve system performance involves giving VMs direct access to hardware I/O devices. This approach avoids the overhead of embedded software switches.
Six factors slowing adoption of converged I/O
Server and interconnect vendors are driving next-generation server I/O virtualization with NIC partitioning. NIC partitioning is a method of dividing a single physical Ethernet port into four partitions, or virtual ports, which enables administrators to conserve PCI Express (PCIe) slots in the physical host server. In addition, NIC partitioning allows administrators to dedicate bandwidth for VMs and associated applications and to apply QoS to the virtual ports, helping improve I/O performance. NIC partitioning does not require special OS or hypervisor support, so it can be incorporated in existing IT infrastructures.
Easing the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet
NIC partitioning helps manage the transition to 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10G) networking by eliminating the need to deploy multiple dedicated Gigabit Ethernet ports for different traffic types in a single physical server. Instead, they can replace multiple gigabit Ethernet ports with fewer 10G ports while still maintaining the high performance, bandwidth provisioning flexibility, and isolation attributes found in the physical server environments.
NIC partitioning paves the way to a smooth 10G Ethernet migration by enabling administrators to divide a single 10G Ethernet adapter into multiple independent partitions. Each partition is designed to support concurrent storage and data networking protocols, including TCP/IP, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and iSCSI. As a result, this approach minimizes deployment disruptions and avoids OS changes to implement flexible bandwidth provisioning to applications running in the VMs.
