Introduction
The Intel Ethernet Connection X722 is a network controller embedded into the Intel C624 "Lewisburg" PCH chipset of Lenovo ThinkSystem servers. The controller connects to available 10 GbE and 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) adapter cards and onboard connectors to provide a comprehensive 1 GbE / 10 GbE networking solution for ThinkSystem customers.
ThinkSystem servers support either 10 Gb Ethernet copper or optical connections, or Gigabit Ethernet connections depending on the server model.
The following figure shows the ThinkSystem 10Gb 4-port SFP+ LOM adapter which provides four SFP+ cages for optical or direct-attach copper (DAC) connectivity.
Figure 1. ThinkSystem 10Gb 4-port SFP+ LOM adapter (Port 1 at the top)
Did you know?
The Intel Ethernet Connection X722 shares the same driver package as the Intel X710 adapters making driver management easier for existing customers.
ThinkSystem LOM adapters are cost-effective adapters that take advantage of the X722 controller embedded in Intel Xeon Processor Scalable Family chipset and offer the flexibility advantages of a PCIe adapter while supporting integrated networking features, such as Wake-on-LAN and direct connectivity to the XClarity Controller management processor for NC-SI-compliant systems management.
Supported transceivers and cables
The SFP+ LOM adapters have empty SFP+ cages that support SFP+ SR and LR transceivers as listed in the following table.
The following table lists the fiber optic cables and Active Optical Cables supported by the SFP+ adapters.
The following table lists the direct-attach copper (DAC) cables supported by the SFP+ adapters.
The following table lists the Category 6 (CAT 6) cables supported by the 1Gb and 10Gb RJ45 adapters.
The following table lists the supported Category 5e (CAT 5e) cables supported by the 1Gb RJ45 adapters
The following figure shows the ThinkSystem 10Gb 2-port Base-T LOM adapter which provides two RJ45 10GBASE-T ports.
Tip: Ports 1 is at further away from the edge connector and Port 2 is at the bottom, closer to the edge connector.
Figure 3. ThinkSystem 10Gb 2-port Base-T LOM
Features
The Intel X722 controller is optimized for data center, cloud, and mobile applications and includes the following features:
- VXLAN/NVGRE Hardware Offloads: These stateless offloads preserve application performance for overlay networks. With these offloads, it is possible to distribute network traffic across CPU cores. At the same time, the controller offloads LSO, GSO, and checksum from the host software, which reduces CPU overhead.
- Low latency: Intel Ethernet Flow Director delivers hardware-based application steering and Intel Data Direct I/O makes the processor cache the primary destination and source of I/O data rather than main memory.
- Virtualization performance: With Intel Virtualization Technology (VT), the controller delivers outstanding I/O performance in virtualized server environments. The controller reduces I/O bottlenecks by providing intelligent offloads for networking traffic per virtual machine (VM), which enables near-line rate speeds for small packets and supports almost an unlimited amount of isolated traffic flows so that you can scale your cloud environment.
- Next-generation VMDq: The controller support up to 128 VMDq VMs and offer enhanced Quality of Service (QoS) feature by providing weighted round-robin servicing for the Tx data. The controller offloads the data-sorting functionality from the hypervisor to the network silicon, which improves data throughput and CPU usage.
- SR-IOV implementation: Provides an implementation of the PCI-SIG standard for I/O Virtualization. The physical configuration of each port is divided into multiple virtual ports. Each virtual port is assigned to an individual VM directly by bypassing the virtual switch in the Hypervisor, which results in near-native performance.
- iWarp RDMA support implements kernel bypass and direct data placement and allows for more efficient high-speed networking by eliminating queues and network related interrupts
- VM load balancing: Provides traffic load balancing (Tx and Rx) across VMs that are bound to the team interface. It also provides fault tolerance of a switch, port, or cable.
- Auto-detect (PnP) feature for the LOM adapters, enabling you to change LOM adapters (eg from a 1Gb LOM to 10 Gb LOM) and the network interface will automatically reconfigure during the boot process
The following figure shows the ThinkSystem 10Gb 2-port SFP+ LOM adapter which provides two SFP+ cages for optical or direct-attach copper (DAC) connectivity.
Tip: Ports 1 is at further away from the edge connector and Port 2 is at the bottom, closer to the edge connector.
Figure 4. ThinkSystem 10Gb 2-port SFP+ LOM adapter
Specifications
The ThinkSystem LOM adapters support 1 Gb and 10 Gb Ethernet speeds as shown in the following table.
Note: None of the adapters support 100 Mbps and 10 Mbps Ethernet speeds.
The Intel Ethernet Connection X722 has the following specifications:
The following figure shows the ThinkSystem 1Gb 4-port RJ45 LOM adapter which provides four RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Tip: Ports are numbered sequentially starting with Port 1 at the top of the adapter (furthest away from the edge connector)
Figure 5. ThinkSystem 1Gb 4-port RJ45 LOM
Standards supported
The X722 controller supports the following IEEE standards:
- IEEE 802.1p CoS traffic prioritization
- IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging
- IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation Control Protocol
- IEEE 802.3x Full-duplex flow control
- IEEE 1588, 802.1as Time Sync
10 GbE standards:
- IEEE 802.3ae 10GBASE-SR short range fiber optics 10 Gb Ethernet
- 10GSFP+Cu SFP+ Direct Attach copper
- IEEE 802.3ab 1000BASE-T copper twisted pair Gigabit Ethernet
- IEEE 802.3an 10GBASE-T copper twisted pair 10 Gb Ethernet
Server support
The ThinkSystem LOM adapters are supported in the servers listed in the following table.
As shown in the table, some ThinkSystem servers do not support the LOM adapters even though they offer Intel Ethernet Connection X722:
- The ST550 tower server has two onboard Gigabit ports that connect to the X722 controller
- The SD530 dense server routes two 10 GbE connections form the X722 controller to the Ethernet ports in the EIOM network modules in the D2 Enclosure.
- The SN550 and SN850 Blade servers use use a Fabric Connector ("Periscope connector") to route four 10 GbE connections to the midplane of the Flex System Enterprise Chassis.
The following figure shows the ThinkSystem 1Gb 2-port RJ45 LOM adapter which provides two RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
Tip: Ports 1 is at further away from the edge connector and Port 2 is at the bottom, closer to the edge connector.
Figure 6. ThinkSystem 1Gb 2-port RJ45 LOM
Cabling requirements
The network cables that can be used with the adapters are described in the following sections.
Operating system support
The Intel Ethernet Connection X722 and ThinkSystem LOM adapters support the following operating systems
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2016
- Microsoft Windows Server Version 1709
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.9
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.3
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2
- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3
- VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 U3
- VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
- VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5 U1
- VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
For more information about the specific supported versions and service packs, go to the ServerProven web page, http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven. Click the link for the server you have the adapter installed in, then scroll down to the adapter and click the + button to expand the list of currently supported operating systems.
Warranty
One-year limited warranty. When installed in a supported server, these adapters assume the system’s base warranty and any warranty upgrade.
Agency approvals
The LOM adapters conform to the following standards:
- UL recognized to UL60950-1 2nd Edition
- FCC Rules, Part 15, Class A
- Australian EMC Framework (RCM)
- Japan VCCI, Class A
- Industry Canada, ICES-003, Class A
- EU (CE Mark)
- Korea KC-RRA, Class A
- China RoHS compliant
Top-of-rack Ethernet switches
The following table lists the Ethernet LAN switches that are offered by Lenovo.
For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the following switch categories:
