Converged Network Adapters (CNAs)

Converged Network Adapters (CNA) Overview

What are Converged Network Adapters?

A converged network adapter (CNA) is a dual-function network appliance for consolidating IT setups. CNAs achieve this by connecting servers to an FC-based storage area network (SAN), and to an Ethernet-based local area networks (LAN). The hardware itself connects to the server through a PCIe interface. Essentially it spares IT managers the need for two separate adapters.

Benefits of Converged Network Adapters (CNA):

Converged network adapters supply the following advantages:

• Contain all basic NIC features

• Singularly provide Ethernet, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity

• Lossless data integrity

• Software-defined networking (SDN) programmable

• Reduce needed power, fewer necessary cables

• Reduce impact of overlay network

• Overlay network hardware offload

• Support DPDK with benefit for packet processing acceleration

• Support high performance virtualization over NIC

• Remote direct memory access (RDMA) for data acceleration

• FCoE & iSCSI hardware offload

Pricing Information

Converged network adapters present a single up-front cost. The cost for a new appliance ranges from $150 to $500. However used and refurbished adapters are available from some vendors and resellers.