Ethernet Products
Determine ramifications of Intel® Ethernet products and technologies
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Need a simple way to identify products which support DDIO

idata
Employee
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I spent an hour trying to figure what server ethernet adapter supports DDIO.

The only credible information I found is X540-AT2 controller...

I know X540-T2 adapter uses X540 controller. But again there is no clear information whether that controler is X540-AT2 or something else.

I need to know for sure whether X540-T2 supports DDIO.

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Mark_H_Intel
Employee
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The short answer is yes. The Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X540-T2 supports Intel® DDIO.

Intel® Data Direct I/O Technology (Intel® DDIO) is a new feature introduced with the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 family. You will not find a list of network adapters supporting Intel DDIO, because any network adapter benefits from this new feature. Intel DDIO is enabled by default and does not require any configuration.

Because of their design and software tuning, Intel's Ethernet controllers take more advantage of Intel DDIO and thus perform better. http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/faqs/data-direct-i-o-faq.pdf Intel® Data Direct I/O (Intel® DDIO): Frequently Asked Questions has the details.

Intel DDIO is only one part of a set of improvements known collectively as Intel® Integrated I/O that are integrated with the the Intel Xeon processor E5 family platforms. Check out the short demo at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-e5-integrated-i-o-demo.html Reduce Latency, Improve Data Throughput with Intel® Integrated I/O.

Mark H

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idata
Employee
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> You will not find a list of network adapters supporting Intel DDIO, because any network adapter benefits from this new feature

Thank you Mark. Could you please elaborate on this. is Integrated I/O only available with PCIe v 3 ? If yes then did you mean "any network adapter" [which supports PCIe rev 3] ? Is that right?

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idata
Employee
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I mean can Intel PRO/1000 $20 a piece be a part of DDIO ?

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Mark_H_Intel
Employee
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PCIe v3 support is not required for a network adapter to take advantage of Intel DDIO. Any network adapter will benefit from Intel DDIO. Intel® PRO/1000 Adapters are great adapters, but the designs are old. I would recommend using the latest Intel® Ethernet adapters in any new server to get the greatest benefit.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/gigabit-network-adapters/ethernet-server-adapter-i350.html Intel® Ethernet I350 Server Adapter Family represents the latest gigabit adapters.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/10-gigabit-network-adapters/ethernet-x540.html Intel® Ethernet X540 Server Adapter Family represents the latest 10 GbE adapters for the familiar twisted pair cabling.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/network-adapters/gigabit-network-adapters/ethernet-x520.html Intel® Ethernet X520 Server Adapter Family represents the latest 10 GbE adapters with SFP+ connections.

I would recommend one of the above adapters for any new servers.

Mark H

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idata
Employee
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Hi,

Need a simple way to identify which CPUs support DDIO. I am assuming the answer is: Xeon E5, and E5 only?

I have been searching around for a couple of hours today for a definitive answer to this question, and it seems very hard to come by. Even the E5 tech spec pages make no mention of DDIO. Searching various Intel websites turns up various documents, which I could attempt to read in order to find the answer, or not. I'm surprised how hard it is to find a way of searching Intel to find a simple answer to this question.

Something like: Search CPUs -> Tick feature DDIO -> List of CPUs that support.

Would be nice, and no doubt, very useful to your customers (or whatever features they are looking for besides DDIO). My contribution to your suggestions box.

Rupert Smith

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