IBM Ethernet Expansion Card At-a-glance Manual
Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) for IBM BladeCenter
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Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) for IBM BladeCenter
IBM BladeCenter at-a-glance guide
The Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) is an Ethernet expansion card with two 1 Gb Ethernet ports
designed for BladeCenter servers with CIOv expansion slots. It is based on proven Broadcom 5709S
ASIC technology and offers value added features like TCP Offload (TOE) and software-based iSCSI
support for high performance.
This card is installed into the CIOv slot of the supported blade server. It provides connections to
Ethernet-compatible modules located in bays 3 and 4 of supported BladeCenter chassis. The CIOv slot is
a second generation PCI Express x8 slot. A maximum of one Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) is
supported per single-wide blade server.
The Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv) is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Ethernet Expansion Card (CIOv)
Did you know?
Today's virtualized servers require a larger number of network adapters. This adapter is a perfect fit for
these environments because it can enable up to eight Ethernet ports per blade server.
The adapter is based on the PCI Express bus, which can be thought of as a high-speed serial
replacement of the older technology. Its use offers many benefits including higher speeds and the ability
to send and receive data at the same time.
When using the CIOv adapter, you can simultaneously use a CFFh adapter to enable more types of I/O to
supported blade servers such as the HS22 when installed in the IBM BladeCenter H chassis. The
innovative design of the CIOv adapter is designed to work with the CFFh adapter to support this
combination workload.