NVIDIA acquired Mellanox Technologies in April of last year. Its line of NIVIDIA® ConnectXTM network adapters and NVIDIA® SpectrumTM switches are now part of the NVIDIA family, helping ensure NVIDIA’s positioning as the leader in end-to-end networking. NVIDIA continues to make strides, providing superior validated networking solutions for Azure Stack HCI.
Here are five things about NVIDIA networking for Azure Stack HCI:
1. NVIDIA networking provides end-to-end networking solutions, from network adapters to switch fabric, for Azure Stack HCI
From server connectivity to cables to switching, NVIDIA networking offers complete end-to-end Ethernet solutions. These solutions deliver industry-leading performance, scalability, reliability, and value across a wide range of applications such as cloud computing, data storage, artificial intelligence, and are validated for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI.
NVIDIA is the only vendor to provide a complete end-to-end Ethernet fabric with its ConnectX adapters and Spectrum switches. Also deployed in Azure Stack HCI, NVIDIA offers Zero Touch RoCE simplifying RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) deployments for administrators and eliminating the need for switch configuration.
2. NVIDIA networking delivers industry-leading network performance and efficiency with RoCE for Azure Stack HCI
For Azure Stack HCI solutions, NVIDIA ConnectX SmartNICs offer flexibility, higher performance and lower latency, by offloading CPU transport processing, needed to make the infrastructure run as efficiently and productively as possible. They deliver higher-efficiency RoCE v2 technology for better server utilization, including SMB multi-channel compatibility for load balancing.
NVIDIA ConnectX SmartNICs are extremely efficient and reduce costs, power usage, and cable complexity, allowing for more virtual appliances, virtual machines (VMs) and tenants to co-exist on the same hardware.
For all-NVMe SQL Server, VDI, backup, disaster recovery, and virtualized workloads running on Azure Stack HCI, NVIDIA ConnectX adapters deliver higher bandwidth and more IOPS, improving overall performance and eliminating bottlenecks. They reduce application runtime and provide remote storage at the speed of direct attached storage at 2x over TCP.
3. NVIDIA networking ConnectX-6 Dx SmartNICs deliver next-gen performance
Featuring PCIe Gen4 compatibility for 3rd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Processors, NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Dx SmartNICs support 10/25/40/50/100/200 Gb Ethernet speed connectivity and deliver up to sub 0.8usec latency and 215 million messages per second, enabling the highest performance, flexibility, and scalability in Azure Stack HCI deployments.
ConnectX-6 Dx offers ASAP2 Mellanox Accelerated Switch and Packet Processing® technology to offload the vSwitch/vRouter by handling the data plane in the NIC hardware, eliminating the need for software-based virtual switches. This improves vSwitch/vRoute performance and removes the load off the CPU.
ConnectX-6 also provides programmable flexible parser and flexible match-action tables, which enable hardware offloads for future protocols.
As ransomware attacks become more prevalent, companies like NVIDIA and Microsoft have invested significantly in security. ConnectX-6 Dx offers hardware accelerated encryption/decryption of TLS, IPsec, and AES-XTS. When data in transit is stored or retrieved, the ConnectX-6 hardware offloads the IEEE AES-XTS encryption/decryption from the CPU, saving latency and CPU utilization. The adapter also supports Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) compliance.
4. NVIDIA networking Spectrum switches provide best-in-class switch performance for Azure Stack HCI
NVIDIA Spectrum switches deliver the highest performing open Ethernet switch systems at port speeds ranging from 1GbE through 400GbE, enabling data centers, cloud computing, storage, Web2.0 and high-performance computing applications to operate with maximum functionality at scale.
NVIDIA Spectrum switches provide the lowest latency, superior burst absorption, and fair bandwidth sharing in Azure Stack HCI deployments. With zero packet loss, NVIDIA Spectrum switches ensure predictable buffer allocation and line-rate performance for all packet sizes and port combinations.
NVIDIA Spectrum switches offer the flexibility, higher performance and lower latency by offloading CPU transport processing and scalability to make an Azure Stack HCI infrastructure run as efficiently and productively as possible.
5. DataON offers complete validated NVIDIA Networking and Azure Stack HCI solutions
Committed to providing its customers superior 24/7 customer support and best all-around customer experience, DataON offers fully integrated systems for Azure Stack HCI. DataON AZS solutions combine Intel® and NVIDIA networking technology with Azure Stack HCI software to provide a powerful hybrid platform for data center modernization.
Simple to deploy and procure, DataON AZS solutions are ideal for customers who require turnkey solutions with little deployment effort from IT staff. They come with pre-installed software, integrated drivers, and firmware updates, and include a three-year warranty, next-business day replacement parts, 24/7 technical support for hardware and software as well as integrated joint support with Microsoft.
DataON AZS solutions include DataON MUST, which includes hardware disk mapping, alert services, real-time inventory scans, call home service for drive replacements and predictive drive failures. And DataON MUST Pro, a one-click cluster aware updating solution making it easy for administrators to update to the latest Microsoft-validated OS, drivers, firmware, BIOS, and BMC versions, with minimum disruptions to the clusters.
Each solution is baseline tested, benchmarked, and stress tested. To further simplify deployment, DataON provides sixteen hours of customer deployment services with pre-deployment readiness review and planning, Azure subscription setup, remote deployment & training, and project documentation and knowledge transfer. If you’re interested in learning about NVIDIA networking solutions for Azure Stack HCI, DataON can help.
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