{"id":202,"date":"2021-01-19T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T06:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fibermall.com\/?p=202"},"modified":"2022-12-15T02:26:07","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T02:26:07","slug":"fiber-mall-introduced-25g-ethernet-dual-port-sfp28-server-nic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fibermall.com\/news\/25g-server-nic.htm","title":{"rendered":"Fiber Mall Introduced 25G Ethernet Dual-Port SFP28 Server NIC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abstract:<\/b> A Network Interface Controller(NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter, and by similar terms) is a standard computer hardware component for the current servers. With the continuous growth in the number of PCIe links that the CPU can provide externally, the external output bandwidth required by the server is increasing\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span>accordingly<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

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Though the current mainstream network <\/span>adapter<\/span>\u00a0market was dominated by <\/span>NIC<\/span><\/a> based on 10GbE and 40GbE ports, many server users have been making a <\/span><\/span>transition<\/span>\u00a0to \u00a0NIC with 25\/50\/100GbE ports. FMXXV710-25G-S2 newly released by FiberMall is such a 25GbE Ethernet server adapter with dual SFP28 ports.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"25G
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u25ee\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The Observe Side of <\/span><\/i>FiberMall<\/span><\/i>\u00a0FMXXV710-25G-S2<\/span><\/i>\u00a0NIC<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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XXV710<\/span>\u00a0in <\/span>FMXXV710-25G-S2<\/span>\u00a0Network Interface Card indicates that it adopts Intel Ethernet Controller Chip <\/span>XXV710<\/span>\u00a0and S2 refers to its 2 external interfaces. This 25G NIC card is a Low Profile based on the\u00a0<\/span>PCIe Gen3 x8<\/span>\u00a0interface and is compatible with the <\/span>SFP28<\/span><\/a> network port. As the data encoding overhead for <\/span><\/span>PCIe<\/span>\u00a0has been taken into account, the bandwidth differences between the\u00a0<\/span>PCIe Gen3 x8<\/span>\u00a0and dual-port <\/span>50Gbps<\/span>\u00a0network are minimal. There is an <\/span>NC-SI<\/span>\u00a0connector on the <\/span>observed side of <\/span>FiberMall<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>FMXXV710-25G-S2<\/span><\/a><\/span>, making the NIC able to process the Out-Of-Band signal in <\/span>IPMI\/BMC<\/span>\u00a0server.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Diagram
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u25ee\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Schematic Diagram of FiberMall<\/span><\/i>\u00a0FMXXV710-25G-S<\/span><\/i>2 25G NIC<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

According to the logic diagram of <\/span>FMXXV710-25G-S<\/span>2, this newly launched 25G Ethernet adapter applies the typical <\/span>Intel XL710<\/span>\u00a0series network controller in the current market. In April 2019, Intel unveiled the Roadmap of Ethernet controller chip, and its new generation 800 series network controller dubbed as \u201c<\/span>Columbiaville<\/span>\u201d will be applied to <\/span>100GbE network interface cards. As the V1.0 version standardized by OCP NIC 3.0 Has been officially issued, chip <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Columbiaville<\/span>\u201d, if it is rolled out as scheduled, will be widely used in practice.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Intel<\/p>\n

\u25ee\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Roadmap of Intel Ethernet Controller Chip<\/span><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

There is no <\/span>large chip on t<\/span>he <\/span>reserve<\/span>\u00a0side of the\u00a0<\/span>FMXXV710-25G-S<\/span>2 NIC card, which is designed with some surface-mount technology(SMT) resistors and capacitors in a concise way instead. The advantage of such a design is that only one side of the air duct is needed for heat dissipation, and the other air volume in the chassis can be used for hotter plug-in cards such as GPU.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
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\u25ee\u00a0<\/span><\/b>The Reserve Side of <\/span><\/i>FiberMall<\/span><\/i>\u00a0FMXXV710-25G-S<\/span><\/i>2 Server NIC<\/span><\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

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The SFP28 port and the <\/span>QSFP28<\/span><\/a> port cooperate to form a one-to-four passive cable to realize the interconnection between<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>server<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0and the switch<\/span>es<\/span>. This <\/span>working principle <\/span>is consistent with the relation between QSFP+ and SFP+.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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FMXXV710-25G-S<\/span>2 <\/span>dua<\/span>l<\/span>-channel fiber network card<\/span>\u00a0is driven by <\/span>Intel i40e<\/span>, which has been included in the various newly released Linux versions. This indicates that as long as the FMXXV710-25G-S2 network card is inserted into the server, the system can automatically identify the network card, and users are able to plug it in to operate freely. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Before the network card driver update<\/span>s<\/span>, the server has <\/span>boasted <\/span>most of the network functions.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/h4>\n

FiberMall\u2019s 25G dual-channel commercial fiber network card may not the most advanced in technology, it fulfills the demand of many applications with its 25GbE dual-port network capabilities before the OCP NIC 3.0 network card is officially launched on the market. With the launch and population of Intel 800 Series <\/span>Columbiaville<\/span>\u00a0NIC and controller chips as well as the <\/span>OCP NIC 3.0<\/span>, server network bandwidth is evolving into <\/span>100GbE<\/span>. Thus, the update on network devices will be undergoing and the cyclical process will be seen again in the ICT world.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n