One means of improving
iSCSI traffic performance is to include TOE (TCI/IP Offload
Engine) capability on the Ethernet card itself. An iSCSI TOE allows
the network adapter to process iSCSI traffic (often all Ethernet
LAN traffic) locally -- relieving those burdensome processing tasks
from the host server or other computers connected to the LAN. To
implement this capability, iSCSI servers must be upgraded with
Ethernet NICs that include a TOE chip onboard.
Although the selection of iSCSI TOE cards is generally limited
to just a few manufacturers, it's important to consider the
available ports, host interface, and other card characteristics
before making a purchase. The product snapshots in this chapter
highlight key specifications for a cross-section of popular iSCSI
TOE cards.
The following products were selected based on input from
industry analysts and SearchStorage.com editors, and specifications
are current as of February 2007.
The following specifications have been provided by vendors and
are periodically updated. Vendors are welcome to submit their
updates and new product specifications to
sbigelow@techtarget.com.
Go to the
first
product snapshot, or select the desired product below:
Return
to the beginning
Product Snapshot
#1
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Product:Alacritech; SEN2000 Accelerator card
Available Ports:1 or 2
Technology:Both copper and fiber are available
Throughput per Channel:1Gb/port
Interface:PCI-X
Boot Support:Yes, through PXE with emBoot
software
Management Tools:Management tools are integrated into
Windows as part of the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP)
Security Features:Not provided
TOE Enhancements:Alacritech's patented Dynamic TCP
Offload, the basis for Microsoft Chimney, performs offload on all
TCP traffic for faster access to data, networks that can scale to
support more clients, and lower overall total cost of ownership on
both the IP SAN and the LAN.
Operating Systems:All Microsoft Windows operating
systems
Other Features:802.3ad network teaming and Jumbo Frame
support
System Requirements:A compatible PCI-X slot on a system
running Microsoft Windows
Vendor Comment:The Alacritech TCP offload cards perform
acceleration on all TCP based network traffic. This means that file
and application servers can support more clients, iSCSI and NAS
storage can be accessed with higher throughput, and the overall
total cost of ownership can be greatly reduced.
Availability:Currently available
Base Cost:Models starting at $999.00 USD list
price
Detailed Specs:http://www.alacritech.com/html/SEN2000_Accelerator.shtml
Vendor URL:www.alacritech.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#2
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Product:Alacritech; SEN2100 Accelerator card
Available Ports:2 or 4
Technology:Both copper and fiber are available
Throughput per Channel:1Gb/port
Interface:4x PCIe
Boot Support:Yes, through PXE with emBoot
software
Management Tools:Management tools are integrated into
Windows as part of the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP)
Security Features:Not provided
TOE Enhancements:Alacritech's patented Dynamic TCP
Offload, the basis for Microsoft Chimney, performs offload on all
TCP traffic for faster access to data, networks that can scale to
support more clients, and lower overall total cost of ownership on
both the IP SAN and the LAN.
Operating Systems:All Microsoft Windows operating
systems
Other Features:802.3ad network teaming and Jumbo Frame
support
System Requirements:A compatible PCIe slot on a system
running Microsoft Windows
Vendor Comment:The Alacritech line of TCP Accelerators
can perform offload on all TCP network traffic for improved
performance on both the IP SAN and the LAN. This means that file
and application servers can scale to support more clients than ever
before.
Availability:Currently available
Base Cost:Models starting at $1,649.00 USD list
price
Detailed Specs:http://www.alacritech.com/html/SEN2100_Accelerator.shtml
Vendor URL:www.alacritech.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#3
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Product:Alacritech; SES2000 Accelerator card
Available Ports:1 or 2
Technology:Both copper and fiber are available
Throughput per Channel:1Gb/channel
Interface:PCI-X
Boot Support:Yes, through PXE with emBoot
software
Management Tools:Management tools are integrated into
Windows as part of the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP)
Security Features:Not provided
TOE Enhancements:Alacritech's patented Dynamic TCP
Offload, the basis for Microsoft Chimney, performs offload on all
TCP traffic for faster access to data, networks that can scale to
support more clients, and lower overall total cost of ownership on
both the IP SAN and the LAN.
Operating Systems:All Microsoft Windows operating
systems
Other Features:802.3ad network teaming and Jumbo Frame
support
System Requirements:A compatible PCI-X slot on a system
running Microsoft Windows
Vendor Comment:The Alacritech line of iSCSI Accelerators
perform offload acceleration on iSCSI traffic for the highest
possible throughput while allowing the connection of NAS based
storage as well.
Availability:Currently available
Base Cost:Models starting at $599.00 USD list
price
Detailed Specs:http://www.alacritech.com/html/SES2000_Accelerator.shtml
Vendor URL:www.alacritech.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#4
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Product:Alacritech; SES2100 Accelerator card
Available Ports:2 or 4
Technology:Both copper and fiber are available
Throughput per Channel:1Gb/port
Interface:4x PCIe
Boot Support:Yes, through PXE with emBoot
software
Management Tools:Management tools are integrated into
Windows as part of the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP)
Security Features:Not provided
TOE Enhancements:Alacritech's patented Dynamic TCP
Offload, the basis for Microsoft Chimney, performs offload on all
TCP traffic for faster access to data, networks that can scale to
support more clients, and lower overall total cost of ownership on
both the IP SAN and the LAN.
Operating Systems:All Microsoft Windows operating
systems
Other Features:802.3ad network teaming and Jumbo Frame
support
System Requirements:A compatible PCIe slot on a system
running Microsoft Windows
Vendor Comment:The Alacritech PCIe iSCSI Accelerators
allow systems to connect to iSCSI storage with greater redundancy
and higher throughput than any iSCSI HBA.
Availability:Currently available
Base Cost:Models starting at $1,079.00 USD list
price
Detailed Specs:http://www.alacritech.com/html/SEN2100_Accelerator.shtml
Vendor URL:www.alacritech.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#5
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Product:LeWiz Communications; Talon 3220 10 Gb Copper
TCP/IP Accelerated NIC
Specifications not available at this time.
Detailed Specs:http://www.lewiz.com/talon3220.html
Vendor URL:www.lewiz.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#6
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Product:LeWiz Communications; Magic 2028-4P 1 Gb
Copper TCP/IP Accelerated NIC
Specifications not available at this time.
Detailed Specs:http://www.lewiz.com/magic2028-4p.html
Vendor URL:www.lewiz.com
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to beginning
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Product Snapshot
#7
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Product:QLogic Corp.; SANBlade (QLA4050C/QLA4052C)
iSCSI HBA
Available Ports:Up to 2 ports
Technology:Copper (QLA4050C/QLA4052C) or Fiber
(QLA4050)
Throughput per Channel:1 Gb/channel
Interface:PCI-X
Boot Support:Intel AMD IA32 and x64 systems, Sun SPARC
systems with FCODE
Management Tools:SANsurfer device manager utility and
CLI
Security Features:CHAP User Authentication
TOE Enhancements:Full hardware based iSCSI and TCP/IP
offload engine provides DAS / FC equivalent predictable host
performance for Enterprise storage deployment. Just like storage
today, there is no extra CPU processing power required to support
iSCSI.
Operating Systems:Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows
XP, Linux Novell SLES, Linux Red Hat, Solaris x86, Solaris SPARC,
ESX3.01 (from VMware), AIX (from IBM)
Other Features:iSCSI Data Digests for
reliability
System Requirements:Not provided
Vendor Comment:The QLogic full iSCSI TOE Offload HBA
provides the performance, reliability, and management required to
deploy SANs over Ethernet. iSCSI HBAs provide true remote storage
boot and the ability to manage multiple operating systems with a
common utility to reap the full benefits of networked block
storage.
Availability:Currently available
Base Cost:$645.00 USD MSRP
Detailed Specs:http://www.qlogic.com/products/iscsi_products_hba.asp
Vendor URL:www.qlogic.com
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