Low-latency connectivity, Latency – QLogic 2600 Series vSphere 5 Virtual Server Engine User Manual
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QLogic 8300 Series Converged Network Adapters Offload the VM Kernel from
Switching Virtual NICs
Single Root I/O Virtualization is a standard that allows one PCI Express (PCIe) adapter to be presented as
multiple separate logical devices to VMs for partitioning adapter bandwidth. The hypervisor manages the
Physical Function (PF) while the Virtual Functions (VFs) are exposed to the VMs. In the hypervisor, SR-IOV-
capable network devices offer the benefits of direct I/O, which includes reduced latency and reduced host
CPU utilization.
With SR-IOV, pass-through functionality can be provided from a single adapter to multiple VMs through VFs.
To deploy SR-IOV today, an organization needs to ensure a minimum level of infrastructure (server hardware
and OS) support for SR-IOV.
Low-Latency Connectivity
Latency is the time between the start and completion of one action
measured in microseconds (µs).
Latency
With SR-IOV-enabled on a 10GbE NIC, pass-through functionality can be provided from a single adapter to
multiple VMs through VFs.
Implementing Pass-Through Functions with SR-IOV
8300 Series
Converged
Network
Adapters