ISCSI TCP/IP TOE card specifications

Key specifications for a cross-section of popular iSCSI TOE cards.

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 [email protected].

Go to the first product snapshot, or select the desired product below:

  • Alacritech; SEN2000 Accelerator card
  • Alacritech; SEN2100 Accelerator card
  • Alacritech; SES2000 Accelerator card
  • Alacritech; SES2100 Accelerator card
  • LeWiz Communications; Talon 3220 10 Gb Copper TCP/IP Accel. NIC
  • LeWiz Communications; Magic 2028-4P 1 Gb Copper TCP/IP Accel. NIC
  • QLogic Corp.; QLA4050C/QLA4052C iSCSI HBA

    Return to the beginning

    Product Snapshot #1
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Product Snapshot #2
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Product Snapshot #3
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Product Snapshot #5
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Product Snapshot #6
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Product Snapshot #7
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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

    Go to beginning
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  • Read more on Networking hardware