Intel X520 SFP+ Specifications

Intel® Ethernet X520 SFP+
Direct Attach Server Adapter

10 Gigabit Ethernet Dual Port Server Adapter Provides
Ultimate Flexibility and Scalability in Virtual and Unified
Storage Environments

Product Brief

Intel® Ethernet X520
SFP+ Direct Attach
Server Adapter for Dell
PowerEdge Servers

Network Connectivity

Third-party information brought to you courtesy of Dell.

The Intel® Ethernet X520 SFP+ Direct Attach

(DA) Server Adapter for Dell PowerEdge Rack

and Tower servers is one of the most flexible

and scalable Ethernet adapters for today’s

demanding data center environments. Data

center networks are being pushed to their

limits. The escalating deployments of servers

with multi-core processors and demanding

applications such as High Performance

Computing (HPC), database clusters, and video-

on-demand are driving the need for 10 Gigabit

connections. Customers require flexible and

scalable I/O solutions to meet the rigorous

requirements of running mission-critical

applications in virtualized and unified storage

environments.

Designed as a low-cost, low-power adapter, the

Intel Ethernet X520 SFP+ DA Server Adapter

provides direct attach copper twinaxial cable

connections between servers and a top-of-rack

switch. Two ports, coupled with a low-profile

PCI Express* form factor, make this adapter

ideal for slot-constrained environments. Using

direct attach copper cables compliant with the

SFP+ MSA SFF-8431 specification, the Intel

x520 SFP+ DA Server Adapter is well-suited for

customers who require low-cost “in-the-rack”

connections of up to 7 meters between server

and top-of-rack switch.

Powered by Intel’s third-generation 10 GbE

network controller, the Intel® Ethernet 82599

10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller, the X520 server

adapter addresses the demanding needs of

the next-generation data center by providing

unmatched features for virtualization, flexibility

for LAN and SAN networking, and proven,

reliable performance.

Best Choice for Virtualization

The explosive growth in virtualization is

leading to an increasing demand for network

performance. With more Virtual Machines (VMs)

running on each multi-core server, networking

traffic is dramatically increased with each

VM competing for available I/O bandwidth.

Dell’s new Intel Ethernet X520 Server

Adapter addresses networking bottlenecks

in virtualized environments. This new adapter

enables network-intensive applications

to achieve the performance expected in a

virtualized environment.

The Intel Ethernet X520 SFP+ DA Server

Adapter provides the best networking

performance available in the industry, whether

the physical port is configured in an emulation

mode using the virtual switch in the Virtual

Machine Monitor (VMM), or is directly assigned

to a virtual machine. In the emulation mode,

2

Intel’s I/O technology, Virtual Machine Device queues

1

(VMDq)

optimizes network performance by offloading data sorting and

copying from the software Virtual Switch in the VMM to the Intel

Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Controller. This configuration is best

suited for a large number of VMs running standard applications

that have limited bandwidth and latency requirements.

For mission-critical applications, where dedicated I/O is required

for maximum network performance, users can assign a dedicated

virtual adapter port to a VM. The Intel Ethernet X520 Server

Adapter provides direct VM connectivity and data protection

across VMs using SR-IOV.

2

SR-IOV technology allows the data

to bypass the software virtual switch and provides near-native

performance. It assigns either physical or virtual I/O ports

to individual VMs directly. This technology is best suited for

applications that demand the highest I/O throughput and lowest

latency performance such as database, storage, financial and

other applications.

The PCI-SIG SR-IOV capability is a mechanism for devices

to advertise their ability to be directly assigned to multiple

virtual machines. This technology allows for the partitioning

of a PCI function into many virtual interfaces for the purpose

of sharing the resources of a PCI Express* (PCIe) device in a

virtual environment. These virtual interfaces are called Virtual

Functions. Each virtual function can support a unique and

separate data path for I/O-related functions within the PCI

Express hierarchy. Use of SR-IOV with a networking device, for

example, allows the bandwidth of a single port (function) to be

partitioned into smaller slices that may be allocated to specific

VMs, or guests, via a standard interface.

The Intel Ethernet X520 Server Adapter delivers the same

functionality and throughput as ten dual-port one-Gigabit

adapters, saving cost, power, and complexity. For more

information on virtualization please go to www.intel.com/go/vtc.

Unified Networking and Storage

The family of Intel Ethernet X520 server adapters lowers your

data center total cost of ownership (TCO) by providing the ability

to route LAN and SAN traffic over a single fabric.

Support for Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

2

FCoE encapsulates Fiber Channel frames over standard Ethernet

networks, enabling Fiber Channel to take advantage of 10

GbE networks while preserving its native protocol. The X520

server adapter offers FCoE hardware acceleration to provide

performance comparable to FC HBAs. The new server adapters

support Data Center Bridging, also known as Converged

Enhanced Ethernet (CEE), which allows customers to configure

traffic classes and priorities to deliver a lossless Ethernet

fabric. An Intel Ethernet X520 Server Adapter reduces TCO by

eliminating redundant fabrics and saves the cost of expensive FC

HBAs and FC switch ports.

Support for iSCSI

The server adapters provide complete support for proven native

OS and VMM iSCSI initiators as well as iSCSI boot. Historically,

CRC32C computation has degraded system performance, but

now with the CRC instruction set included in the latest Intel®

Xeon® processors, CRC validation is possible with minimal impact

to network throughput while delivering superior data integrity.

The new Intel Ethernet X520 SFP+ DA Server Adapter for Dell

PowerEdge servers does it all: 10 Gigabit LAN, FCoE, and iSCSI;

truly delivering on the promise of unified networking.

Reliable Performance

The X520 server adapter includes a number of advanced

features that allow it to provide industry-leading performance

and reliability.

Security Optimizations

The adapter supports IPsec offload for Microsoft’s Network

Access Protection (NAP), Active Directory,* and future security

capabilities in Windows* 7. An X520 server adapter allows

customers to run a secure network environment without

sacrificing performance.

PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s)

PCIe v2.0 (5 GT/s) support enables customers to take full

advantage of 10 GbE by providing a maximum of 20 Gbps

bi-directional throughput per port on a single dual port card.

Designed For Multi-core Processors

Support for technologies such as Intel® QuickData, multiple MSI-X

vectors, and Low Latency Interrupts allow the X520 server

adapter to provide high-performance, 10 Gigabit connectivity

in multi-core PowerEdge servers. These technologies distribute

network processing across multiple CPU cores, improving overall

performance.

For today’s demanding virtualized data center environments,
the new X520 server adapter delivers ultimate flexibility and
scalability.

3

Features Benefits

General

Intel® 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

• Industry-leading, energy-efficient design for nex t-generation 10 Gigabit performance and multi-core
processors

Low-profile

• Enables higher bandwidth and throughput from standard and low-profile PCIe slots and servers

Load balancing on multiple CPUs

• Increases performance on multi-processor systems by efficiently balancing network loads across CPU
cores when used with Receive-Side Scaling (R SS) from Microsoft or Scalable I/O on Linux*

iSCSI remote boot support

• Provides centralized storage area network (SAN) management at a lower cost than other iSCSI
solutions

Support for most network operating systems (NOS)

• Enables widespread deployment

RoHS-compliant

2

• Complies with the European Union directive 2002/95/EC to reduce the use of hazardous materials

Intel® PROSet Utility for Windows* Device Manager

• Provides point-and-click management of individual adapters, advanced adapter features, connection­teaming, and vir tual local area network (VLAN) configuration

Time Sync (IEEE 1588, 802.1as)

• Lets networked Ethernet equipment synchronize internal clocks according to a network master clock;
endpoint can then acquire an accurate estimate of the master time by compensating for link latency

I/O Features for Multi-core Processor Servers

Intel® QuickData Technology

• DMA Engine: enhances data acceleration across the platfor m (network, chipset, processor), lowering
CPU usage

• Direct Cache Access (DCA): enables the adapter to pre-fetch the data from memor y, avoiding cache
misses and improving application response time

MSI-X support

• Minimizes the overhead of interrupts

• Allows load-balancing of interrupt handling between multiple cores/CPUs

Low latency interrupts

• Based on the sensitivity of the incoming data, the adapter can bypass the automatic moderation of
time intervals between the interrupts

Header splits and replication in receive

• Helps the driver focus on the relevant part of the packet without the need to parse it

Multiple Queues: 16 queues per por t

• Network packet handling without waiting or buf fer overflow providing ef ficient packet prioritization

Tx/Rx IP, SCTP, TCP, and UDP checksum offloading (IPv4,
IPv6) capabilities

• Lower processor usage

• Check sum and segmentation capability extended to new standard packet t ype

Tx TCP segmentation of fload (IPv4, IPv6)

• Increased throughput and lower processor usage

• Compatible with large send off-load feature (in Microsoft Windows* Server OSs)

Receive and Transmit Side Scaling for Windows
environment and Scalable I/O for Linux* environments
(IPv4, IPv6, TCP/UDP)

• This technology enables the direction of the interrupts to the processor cores in order to improve the
CPU utilization rate

LinkSec

• IEEE spec: 802.1ae

• Layer 2 data protection that provides encryption and authentication ability between two individual
devices (routers, switches, etc.)

• LinkSec is designed into the network adapter hardware. These adapters are prepared to provide
LinkSec functionality when the ecosystem is ready to suppor t this new technology

Virtualization Features

VMDq

• Offloads the data-sorting func tionality from the Hypervisor to the network silicon, improving data
throughput and CPU usage

• Provides QoS feature on the Tx data by providing round-robin servicing and preventing head-of-line
blocking

• Sorting based on MAC addresses and VL AN tags

Next-Generation VMDq1 (64 queues per por t)

• Enhanced QoS feature by providing weighted round-robin servicing for the Tx data

• Provides loopback functionality, where data transfer between the vir tual machines within the same
physical server need not go out to the wire and come back in, improving throughput and CPU usage

• Supports replication of multicast and broadcast data

PC-SIG SR-IOV Implementation (64 virtual functions per
port)

• Provides an implementation of the PCI-SIG standard for I/O Virtualization. The physical configuration of
each port is divided into multiple virtual por ts. Each virtual port is assigned to an individual vir tual ma­chine directly by bypassing the virtual switch in the Hypervisor, resulting in near-native performance.

• Integrated with Intel® VTI for Directed I/O (VT-d) to provide data protection between virtual machines
by assigning separate physical addresses in the memory to each vir tual machine

IPv6 Offloading

• Check sum and segmentation capability extended to the new standard packet type

Advanced packet filtering

• 24 exact-matched packets (unicast or multicast)

• 4096-bit hash filter for unicast and multicast frames

• Lower processor usage

• Promiscuous (unicast and multicast) transfer mode support

• Optional filtering of invalid frames

VLAN support with VLAN tag insertion, stripping and
packet filtering for up to 4096 VL AN tags

• Abilit y to create multiple VLAN segments

4

General

Product Codes 430-3638 Intel® Eth ernet Server A dapter

X520-DA2

Conne ctors 330-8721 One or two LC ber-optic

connectors
SFP+ Di rect Attach cab les

Networ k Standards Physical Layer
Interface

IEEE 802.3:
SFF-8431:
10GSFP+Cu (a.k.a. Direc t
Attach)

Adapter Product Features

Intel® PROSet Utility For eas y conguration

and man agement

Plug an d play specication su pport Standard

Receive Side Sca ling Multiple Rx qu eues enable th e

efcient distribution of net­work receive processing a cross
multiple CPUs in multi processor
system s

Direct Cache A ccess (DCA) The I/O device activate s a pre-

fetch engine in the C PU that
loads t he data into the CPU
cache a head of time, before
use, eli minating cache misses
and reducing CPU load

Network Operating Systems (NOS) Software Support

Operating System IA32 X64

Window s Server 2008 R2 •

•

Window s Server* 2003 S P2

• •

Window s Server 2008 SP2

• •

Window s Server 2008 SP2 Core

• •

FreeBS D* 7.0 N/A

Linux* R HEL 4.8

• •

Linux R HEL 5.4

• •

Linux S LES 10 SP3

• •

Linux S LES 11

• •

Solar is* 10

• •

UEFI* 2.1

•

Advanced Software Features

Adapter fault tolerance (A FT) •

Switch fault tolerance (SFT) •

Adaptive load balanci ng (ALB) •

Teaming sup port •

IEEE 802.3ad (li nk aggregation co ntrol protocol) •

Test switch congurat ion •

PCIe Hot Plug*/Active p eripheral compon ent interconnec t (PCI) •

IEEE 802.1Q* VLA Ns •

IEEE 802.3 2005* ow cont rol support •

Tx/Rx IP, TCP, & UDP checksum of oading (IPv4, IPv6 )
capab ilities (Transmissio n control protocol ( TCP), user
datagram protoco l (UDP), Internet protocol (IP)

•

IEEE 802.1p* •

TCP segmentatio n/large send ofoa d •

MSI-X sup ports Multiple Independent Queues •

Interrupt mode ration •

IPv6 of oading — Ch ecksum and se gmentation ca pability
extended to new standard packet t ype

•

Specifications

Features Benefits

Manageability Features

Preboot eXecution Environment (PXE) Support

• Enables system boot up via the LAN (32-bit and 64-bit)

• Flash interface for PXE image

Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and
Remote Network Monitoring (RMON) Statistic Counters

• Easy system monitoring with industry-standard consoles

iSCSI Boot

• Enables system boot up via iSCSI

• Provides additional network management capability

Watchdog Timer

• Gives an indication to the manageability firmware or external devices that the chip or the driver is
not func tioning

Technical Features

Data rate suppor ted per port : • Optica l: 1 GbE/10 GbE

• Direct Attach: 10 GbE

Bus type PCI Ex press 2.0 (5 GT/s)

Bus width 8-lan e PCI Express

Interrupt levels INTA, MSI, M SI-X

Hardware certi cations FCC B, UL , CE, VCCI, BSMI, CTIC K, KCC

Controller-processor Intel® 82599

Typical powe r consumption

SKU

Dual- port 10GBASE-SR /1000B ASE-SX
Dual- port Direct Attached

Maximu m Power

10.7 W

8.6 W

Typical Power

10.0 W

7.9 W

Operating temperatu re 0° C to 55° C (32 ° F to 131° F)

Air Flow Minimum of 100 LFM requ ired

Storage tem perature -40° C to 70° C (-4 0° F to 158° F )

Storage hu midity 90% non-con densing relative humid ity

at 35° C

LED Indicators LINK (solid) an d ACTIVITY ( blinking)

LINK SPEED (gree n = 10G / yellow = 1G)

Physical Dimensions

Low-pro le PCI Express 5.73 inches lon g, measured wit hout

PCI bracket

1 VMDq requir es a virtualiz ation o perating system that suppor ts VMDq.

2

Available in 2H 2010.

3

Lead an d other materia ls bann ed in EU RoH S Direc tive are eithe r (1) below all ap plicable sub stance thres holds o r (2) an app roved exemption applies.

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