iSCSI advice DL360G9

[bostonuk]

We currently have 3 HP DL360 G7's connected to SAN network via HP nic's NC382i(4 x 1GB ethernet)

We have purchased a new DL360 G9 as we were short on CPU power and will retire one of the G7's and will keep incase of host failure

The problem is the DL360 G9 uses BCM5719 which doesn't support TOE and does not show as an iSCSI storage adapter. The option is to replace the BCM5719(331T) with a different card or use iSCSI Software Adapter.

I have no experience with the latter and no idea on potential performance issues. Could some advise on whether to use Software or purchase a new adapter? If a new adapter could you recommend one(same 4 x 1gb) that would work in the G9?

Thanks!

Paul

[a_p_]

I've actually always used Software iSCSI with ESXi in my own company as well as in my customer's environments, and never had any performance issues.

André

[bostonuk]

So the fact the adapter we are using doesn't support TOE TCP offloading this won't matter one bit?

Paul

[a_p_]

It certainly depends on the workload. TOE may certainly be helpful in high performance environments, but current CPUs are usually powerful enough, so that you may not necessarily notice a difference (except when running benchmarks etc.).

André