FAQs
The following list answers many of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding Virtensys' VIO-4000 series of I/O Virtualization appliances.
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.
How many servers can one VIO-4000 series appliance support?
A single VIO-4000 series appliance supports up to 16 servers.
Does Virtensys provide an I/O management suite?
How does the VIO-4000 I/O Virtualization appliance work in a server virtualization environment?
The VIO-4000 appliance creates virtual I/O adapters that emulate the physical I/O adapters and work without requiring any changes to virtual servers.
How can high availability solutions be implemented using the VIO-4000 appliance?
How is network security implemented when VIO-4000 appliances are used?
How does Virtensys VIO-4000 series differ from other I/O Virtualization solutions?
- VIO-4000 appliances 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 appliances are non-disruptive to the existing servers, networks and storage infrastructures. The appliances 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 appliances provide industry best I/O price / performance and lowest energy usage for deploying network and storage connectivity to servers.
- VIO-4000 appliances preserve previous investments in people, process and technology.
- VIO-4000 appliances are the only products that can virtualize all of server I/O including Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and RAID adapter types.
What is I/O Virtualization?
- 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 appliances 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 appliance which creates a virtual image of each of the I/O adapter (virtual adapter) that is presented to each server. The virtual adapter exactly emulates the physical adapter and thus requires no changes to the server, OS, application or device driver.
The VIO-4000 appliance shares physical adapters and dynamically allocate them across many physical servers with no loss of throughput. The VIO-4000 appliance 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 appliance eliminates the network and storage access layer switches as these switching functions are performed by the VIO-4000 appliance.
How do you connect a VIO-4000 appliance to the servers?
The VIO-4000 appliance 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.
What management capabilities are provided with the VIO-4000 series?
The VIO-4000 series of I/O Virtualization appliances support a remote management web console, accessed through commonly used web browsers. The VIO-4000 appliance 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.
Are special I/O device drivers needed to implement virtual I/O adapters?
No; the VIO-4000 appliance 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.
If one of the servers connected to the VIO-4000 appliance is infected by a virus, does it affect the other servers?
No; Each server connected to the VIO-4000 applaince 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.
What is the VIO-4000 series?
Virtensys introduced a family of I/O Virtualization appliances: the VIO-4000 series. There are three members in this series:
VIO-4001: I/O Virtualization appliance that virtualizes 4x 10Gb Ethernet (LAN) and 4x 8G Fibre Channel (SAN) connectivity to the servers.
VIO-4004: I/O Virtualization appliance that virtualizes 8x 10Gb Ethernet (LAN) connectivity to the servers.
VIO-4008: I/O Virtualization appliance that virtualizes 4x 10Gb Ethernet (LAN) and 2x 6Gbps local virtualized Direct Attached Storage to the servers. The VIO-4008 includes 8 disk drive bays which can be populated and shared between the connected servers.
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.
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.
Can the VIO-4000 series of appliances be deployed in existing cloud computing or virtualized server environments?
Yes; VIO-4000 appliances 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 appliances 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.
What is the I/O cloud?
Virtensys VIO-4000 series of appliances 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 I/O adapters are supported by the VIO-4000 series?
The VIO-4000 series of appliances 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 appliance; 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.
Will the VIO-4000 series of appliances 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.
What are the key benefits of the VIO-4000 series?
The VIO-4000 I/O Virtualization series of appliances 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.
