Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity
The growing adoption of virtualization in the data center enables a more efficient use of server resources that have historically left compute power underutilized by the model of running a single application on a physical server. With server performance scaling by a factor of ten in the last decade, the opportunity to consolidate multiple applications on one server utilizing virtualized resource management has created a more cost-effective alternative for data center deployments.
Today’s virtualization-enabled data center solutions also enable flexible allocation of resources to handle unexpected changes in required workloads. With these tools, many IT organizations have lowered both capital and operational costs associated with server hardware, while simultaneously improving datacenter agility. The rapid adoption of virtualization-enabled servers has also created a major increase in I/O overhead affecting the overall server performance. Hence, a balanced platform approach that addresses virtualization enhancements with hardware assists even at the I/O and networking device level is essential.
Intel Virtualization Technology
Intel has addressed the rise in virtualization demand by creating Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT for Connectivity), a suite of powerful enhancements to Intel® processors, chipsets, and I/O devices enabling hardware-assisted virtualization support from the core platform architecture. The hardware assists that Intel VT provides to the virtualization software helps hypervisor providers to deliver simpler and more robust code, decreasing software overhead and its potential impact to solution performance.
Intel VT comprises:
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for IA-32, Intel® 64 Architecture and Itanium® processors (Intel® VT-x and Intel® VT-i)
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity
VMDq technology enhances networking performance and reduces CPU utilization in the virtualized environment. It reduces I/O over-head on the hypervisor in a virtualized server by performing data sorting in the network silicon. VMDq technology makes use of the multiple queues technology in the network device. With VMDq, as data packets enter the network adapter, they are sorted, and packets to the same destination get grouped together. The packets are then sent to the hypervisor, which directs them to their respective destinations. Relieving the hypervisor of packet filtering improves overall CPU utilization and throughput levels.
Read the full Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity Technology Brief.
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Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity
The growing adoption of virtualization in the data center enables a more efficient use of server resources that have historically left compute power underutilized by the model of running a single application on a physical server. With server performance scaling by a factor of ten in the last decade, the opportunity to consolidate multiple applications on one server utilizing virtualized resource management has created a more cost-effective alternative for data center deployments.
Today’s virtualization-enabled data center solutions also enable flexible allocation of resources to handle unexpected changes in required workloads. With these tools, many IT organizations have lowered both capital and operational costs associated with server hardware, while simultaneously improving datacenter agility. The rapid adoption of virtualization-enabled servers has also created a major increase in I/O overhead affecting the overall server performance. Hence, a balanced platform approach that addresses virtualization enhancements with hardware assists even at the I/O and networking device level is essential.
Intel Virtualization Technology
Intel has addressed the rise in virtualization demand by creating Intel® Virtualization Technology (Intel® VT for Connectivity), a suite of powerful enhancements to Intel® processors, chipsets, and I/O devices enabling hardware-assisted virtualization support from the core platform architecture. The hardware assists that Intel VT provides to the virtualization software helps hypervisor providers to deliver simpler and more robust code, decreasing software overhead and its potential impact to solution performance.
Intel VT comprises:
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for IA-32, Intel® 64 Architecture and Itanium® processors (Intel® VT-x and Intel® VT-i)
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O
• Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity
VMDq technology enhances networking performance and reduces CPU utilization in the virtualized environment. It reduces I/O over-head on the hypervisor in a virtualized server by performing data sorting in the network silicon. VMDq technology makes use of the multiple queues technology in the network device. With VMDq, as data packets enter the network adapter, they are sorted, and packets to the same destination get grouped together. The packets are then sent to the hypervisor, which directs them to their respective destinations. Relieving the hypervisor of packet filtering improves overall CPU utilization and throughput levels.
Read the full Intel® Virtualization Technology for Connectivity Technology Brief.
