Cisco Cisco UCS 6120XP 20-Port Fabric Interconnect 전단

 

 

Solution Overview 

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Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card: Design a Flexible and 
Scalable Data Center 

With traditional servers, I/O is inflexible and rigid. Changing the I/O configuration generally requires physical 

intervention and results in application downtime. The rapid adoption of virtualization brings with it additional 

configuration complexity. The Cisco

®

 UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card (VIC) helps address these challenges by 

creating more I/O connections to a given server while limiting the number of required physical connections to 

the server. 

Cisco developed the Cisco UCS M81KR to provide I/O flexibility within the Cisco Unified Computing System™. This 
document discusses how to use the Cisco UCS M81KR’s capability to virtualize I/O, in combination with other Cisco 

Unified Computing System features such as a wire-once cabling model and service profiles, to make moving or 

rehosting a physical or virtualized environment a straightforward and easily scalable operation. 

Data centers face increasing challenges resulting from two related trends: an increasing overall number of 

transactions, and accelerating adoption of virtualization. These trends are creating unprecedented demand for I/O 

accessibility and vastly improved I/O management within every server, both physical and virtual. This growing 

demand is affecting overall data center economics and operations in three fundamental ways: 

● 

Need to scale applications while containing physical costs: Most existing servers are deployed with multiple 

network interface cards (NICs) and host bus adapters (HBAs) that all need to be powered, cooled, and 

stocked for sparing. Adding new servers to keep up with transaction demands also leads to cable and switch 

proliferation. Looking forward, I/O needs to scale with the increasing performance of processor and memory 

technologies. In a virtual environment, I/O also needs to scale to accommodate virtual machine mobility. 

● 

Need to simplify dynamic operations: End users expect their applications to be available on demand, which 

forces IT to repurpose and reprovision servers with increasing frequency. Proliferation of components and 

devices

—from servers and adapters to switches and cables—creates more management complexity and also 

more points of potential failure. Since management paradigms are typically device based and have generally 

not kept pace with the scale and complexity of physical implementations, troubleshooting becomes 

increasingly challenging. IT departments often separate server, SAN, and LAN teams, making synchronization 

of servers with I/O difficult. 

● 

Need to optimize I/O for virtualized environments: Currently, it is difficult to apply consistent network policies 

(security, quality of service [QoS], etc.) as virtual servers move around, or to provide consistent management 

and troubleshooting mechanisms between a physical server and a virtual server. 

Cisco addresses the I/O challenges faced by customers today with the Cisco UCS M81KR (Figure 1).