Chelsio Communications has released a new driver Virtual Multi-port Software, which it claims to give users of VMware ESX 4.0 the flexibility for virtual consolidation of existing gigabit links over Chelsio 10Gb Unified Wire adapters.
According to Chelsio, the Virtual Multi-port Software allows for consolidation of switch ports and cabling by using 10Gb infrastructure while maintaining the existing gigabit-based ESX setup. The software enables the consolidation by keeping the infrastructure update transparent to the ESX hypervisor, enabling a 10Gb adapter to appear to the hypervisor as eight virtual gigabit adapters. By offloading the tasks performed by the hypervisor, the Chelsio adapters can offer I/O performance for virtualised applications.
An ESX server generates four categories of traffic (Virtual Machine I/O, SAN/NAS, VMotion Network, and Console Management). The new software segregates all these traffic types across virtual NICs while enabling programmable sustained bandwidth in both transmit and receive directions, the company said.
The Chelsio Virtual Multi-port Software runs on all of the N and S class adapters, and is available as a free download from Chelsio and its distributors.
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Kianoosh Naghshineh, president and CEO of Chelsio Communications, said: Our Virtual Multi-port Software driver offloads hypervisor tasks and maintains the existing ESX infrastructure, accelerating I/O performance, simplifying management and providing an easy migration path to 10Gb ethernet. With the Virtual Multi-port Software driver, our customers will immediately realise the benefits of future technologies such as SR-IOV.
