Cisco offers a variety of mezzanine adapter cards designed for use with Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers. All Cisco UCS B-Series network adapters:
- Allow for the reduction of the number of required network interface cards and host bus adapters
- Are managed using Cisco UCS Manager software
- Feature dual 10 Gigabit connections to the chassis midplane
- Can be used in a redundant configuration with two fabric extenders and two fabric interconnects
- Enable a "wire-once" architecture that allows cabling to be configured once, with features enabled and configured using software
Support fibre channel multipathing
| Models | Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1240 | Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1280 | Cisco UCS P81E Virtual Interface Card | Cisco UCS M81KR Virtual Interface Card |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Interfaces | 256 | 256 | 128 | 128 |
| Interface Type | Dynamic | Dynamic | Dynamic | Dynamic |
| Ethernet Interfaces | 0-256 | 0-256 | 0-128 | 0-128 |
| Fibre Channel Interfaces | 0-256 | 0-256 | 0-128 | 0-128 |
| VM-FEX | Hardware/Software | Hardware/Software | Hardware/Software | Hardware/Software |
| Failover Handling | Hardware, no driver needed | Hardware, no driver needed | Hardware, no driver needed | Hardware, no driver needed |
| Form Factor | Modular LOM | Mezzanine | PCIExpress | Mezzanine |
| Network Thoughput | 40-80* GB | 80 GB | 20 GB | 20 GB |
| UCS Server Compatibility | UCS M3 Blades | UCS M2 and M1 Blades | Rack servers | M1 and M2 Blades |
* With use of Port Expander Card for the VIC 1240 in the optional mezzanine slot
| Parameter Column VVV | Cisco UCS M72KR-E Emulex Converged Network Adapter | Cisco UCS M72KR-Q QLogic Converged Network Adapter | Cisco UCS M71KR Emulex Converged Network Adapter1 | Cisco UCS M71KR QLogic Converged Network Adapter1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Interfaces | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Interface Type | Fixed | Fixed | Fixed | Fixed |
| Ethernet Interfaces | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Fibre Channel Interfaces | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| VM-FEX | Software | Software | Software | Software |
| Failover Handling | Software via bonding driver | Software via bonding driver | Hardware, no driver needed | Hardware, no driver needed |
1 Hardware-enabled Ethernet NIC teaming feature will be available for these products in future version releases.
| Author Note: Parameter Column VVV | Cisco UCS CNA M61KR-I Intel Converged Network Adapter | Cisco UCS 82598KR CI 10-GE Adapter | Cisco UCS M61KR-I Intel Converged Network Adapter | Cisco UCS NIC M51KR-B Broadcom BCM57711 Network Adapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Interfaces | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Interface Type | Fixed | Fixed | Fixed | Fixed |
| Ethernet Interfaces | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Fibre Channel Interfaces | 0 | 0* | 0 | |
| VM-FEX | Software | Software | Software | Software |
| Failover Handling | Yes | Software, via bonding driver | Software via bonding driver | Software via bonding driver |
* Will have Fibre Channel support in the future