|
Xsigo I/O Director
Streamline I/O Management
Save capital cost and respond quickly to changing server and application requirements with the Xsigo I/O Director™, a hardware and software solution that streamlines server I/O management. Instead of deploying multiple I/O cards and cables to every server, Xsigo lets you connect servers with a single cable and then create virtual I/O resources on the fly. The result is 50% less capital cost, 100X faster server management, and a 70% simpler infrastructure. Learn more about the cost savings here.
Simple integration, high performance, consolidated management
In seconds you can deploy virtual NICs and HBAs, to give you isolated storage and networks connections from your servers to specific resources. And you can set quality of service parameters to guarantee bandwidth. Create the equivalent of a cabled connection without ever touching a wire.
Only Xsigo offers your choice of fabrics -- standard Ethernet and InfiniBand -- so you can optimize the deployment to meet your performance and cost objectives. Both can be managed from a single management environment.
I/O Director VP560
I/O Director VP780
Choose Ethernet Fabric
The easiest integration. Connects to standard 1G and 10G Ethernet ports on your servers. The only virtual I/O that works with all of the servers you have now..
Or choose InfiniBand Fabric
The fastest performance. Choose either 20Gbps or 40Gbps for each server link. Scale to hundreds of nodes.
50% less capital cost
The Xsigo I/O Director replaces fixed resources (HBAs and NICs) with easily managed virtual resources
(virtual NICs and virtual HBAs) that can be deployed in seconds. Changing a server’s connectivity becomes a 30 second task that can be accomplished from anywhere. Moving connectivity from one server to another can also be done in 30 seconds, with no re-cabling.
Benefits of the Xsigo I/O Director include:
- Scalable storage and network connectivity
- High-speed, low latency hardware-based design
- Instantly deployable I/O resources
- Persistent I/O identities, even through I/O migration
Open and Easy to Manage
With an open, standards-based architecture, the Xsigo I/O Director is non-disruptive and simple to integrate.
- Interoperates with your existing servers, storage, and networking equipment
- Transparent to applications, networking, and storage
- Easily managed through CLI or intuitive GUI
- Integrates with existing management frameworks via an open API
Virtualization Technology Comes to Server I/O
Xsigo’s virtual I/O resources operate exactly like traditional server I/O. The physical NICs and HBAs are replaced by virtual resources that appear to the OS and application exactly as their physical counterparts, so they require no application or OS modification. To the network and the SAN resources, they also appear as traditional server I/O, so they can be easily discovered and managed. But unlike traditional I/O, they can be deployed at any time, in seconds, without a server re-boot.
"Xsigo virtual I/O simplifies and accelerates our server deployments.
It is now a standard part of our infrastructure."
~ Jay Leone, Lab Manager, Avaya
70% Less Infrastructure
Xsigo simplifies the server connectivity infrastructure by replacing all of the NICs and HBAs found with an inexpensive InfiniBand card (or two cards for redundancy). Each InfiniBand card supplies 10Gb/s of bandwidth that can be dynamically allocated between network and storage requirements. Multiple Ethernet and FibreChannel connections are replaced by a thin, easily routed InfiniBand cable. In a typical deployment, the result is 70% fewer cables and cards.
How It Works
The Xsigo I/O Director is an open solution designed to interoperate with existing resources, including industry standard servers, operating systems, and networking equipment. Solution elements include:
- Xsigo I/O Director: Available in two models, the 2U-high VP560 and the 4U-high VP780, the I/O Director connects to servers via InfiniBand or conventional Ethernet ports. The I/O Director then connects to the LAN and SAN via Ethernet and Fibre Channel I/O modules. The VP780 includes 15 available I/O module slots, while the VP560 includes four I/O module slots.
- Conventional Ethernet or InfiniBand server connectivity: Only Xsigo lets you connect to servers via standard 1G and 10G server ports. No need to add cards such as converged network adapters.
- I/O Modules: Available I/O modules include:
 |
- 10-port Gigabit Ethernet
- 10 Gigabit Ethernet
- Dual 4 Gigabit Fibre Channel
|
- Virtual NIC: The vNIC (virtual network interface) resides in the server and appears to the server and the network exactly as a physical NIC. A vNIC can be created on the fly without a server reboot and can be migrated among physical servers. The MAC address remains persistent through a migration, eliminating the need for network re-mapping.
- Virtual HBA: The vHBA (virtual storage adapter) resides in the server and appears to servers and storage exactly as a physical Fibre Channel HBA. A vHBA can be created on the fly without a server reboot and can be migrated among physical servers. The WWN remains persistent through a migration, eliminating the need for network re-mapping.
- Xsigo drivers: The Xsigo driver resides on each server. It creates virtual NICs and HBAs under the control of the Xsigo I/O Director, replacing the standard NIC and HBA drivers.
Powerful I/O Control with the Xsigo Management System
The Xsigo Management System (XMS) provides an intuitive, browser-based GUI interface that dramatically simplifies I/O management. With XMS, you get a single-pane-of-glass view of servers, storage targets, and Xsigo resources, allowing remote management of virtual I/O resources without entering the data center. Moves, adds, and changes can be managed 100x faster than with traditional I/O.
What’s more, XMS is fully integrated with VMware Infrastructure so you have comprehensive visibility and control of your virtualized IT environment from within your virtualization management application.
XMS gives you the power to:
- Graphically manage your complete inventory of I/O resources including physical servers, storage targets, Xsigo chassis, and Xsigo I/O modules.
- Create, migrate, and allocate virtual connectivity, virtual NICs, and virtual HBAs without physical recabling.
- Assign Access Control Lists, RBAC security profiles, QoS profiles, and SAN boot profiles.
- Receive and manage system alerts when QoS limits are exceeded or servers go down.
|
|
For administrators who want a more hands-on approach to data center management, a command line interface is also available.
QoS for Guaranteed Bandwidth
Deliver guaranteed data bandwidth to mission critical applications with Xsigo’s integrated quality of service features. Each virtual Ethernet interface has its own rich set of QoS attributes that manage Shaper and Policer CIR and PIR traffic controls. Applications can be guaranteed predictable service levels for all ingress and egress traffic. QoS parameters can be changed dynamically, as dictated by business and policy requirements.
Learn more
|
Data Sheet
Solution Overview
Compatibility Matrix