Support for NetXen 10GbE NIC?

I currently have my VMWare ESX 3.5 server accessing my Open-e 4TB SAN using 2 bonded/trunk 1 Gb network connections, but (naturally) I am not very happy with the IO performance.

So, I am looking to add a 10GbE to both servers and wire them up back-to-back. (I don't want to go to a FC based solution since in the long run I want to use the NIC to connect my other Win2003 servers using a CX4 module I can add to my HP switch)

Ideally I would like to use the same brand of NIC in both the VMWare and SAN units.

My problem is that the only NIC brand which is supported by both products are the Neterion Xframe cards, but they are not available in a low-profile size -- so I can't use them.

The only other 10GbE NIC which VMWare supports are those based on the NetXen chip, unfortunately, it is not listed in the supported hardware list.

So, has anyone tried to use the NetXen NICs with Open-e?

We have NetXen in our labs and they will be listed very soon.

Tom,

That's good to hear, so I can order the NICs and it will be supported in the next 15-30 days?

Yes, we just released 5.0_42 build 30007 today and new drivers for 3, we should be updating the HCL. You can also use TESTING mode to change the kernel and it will work for 1.37.

Tom,

A note about the HCL, the Network Card HCL shows support for additional Chelsio cards, which are not included in the Network/NIC 10GB HCL.

Perhaps, the HCLs should be combined into a single Network - Ethernet (ala Network - Infiniband) rather than trying to keep 2 lists "in sync".

Thanks SeanLeyne for pointing this out, I will ask if this can be changed around - though we did in the past have others ask to separate this. But this should be corrected - thanks :)