Last month I ran a poll asking “how many NICs do you use for virtualization on your blade servers” and the results may surprise you.

Over 10% of the readers replied, and here are the results:

• 2 x 10GbE – 49.59%
• 4 x 10GbE – 26.02%
• 4 x 1GbE – 4.88%
• 6 x 1GbE  – 4.88%
• Other (see below) – 4.88%
• 8 x 1GbE – 3.25%
• 6 x 10GbE – 2.44%
• Greater than 6 x 10GbE Greater than 8 x 1GbE – .81%

“Other answers” included:

• 2x10GbE std, 4x10GbE for DB-hosting blades
• 2xFDR and 4x10GbE
• 2 or 4 depends on models of VIC adapters
• 2 x 1GbE

As you can see, nearly 50% stated they use 2 x 10GbE NICs for their virtualization on blade servers.  What are your thoughts on these findings?

Kevin Houston is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of BladesMadeSimple.com.  He has over 17 years of experience in the x86 server marketplace.  Since 1997 Kevin has worked at several resellers in the Atlanta area, and has a vast array of competitive x86 server knowledge and certifications as well as an in-depth understanding of VMware and Citrix virtualization.  Kevin works for Dell as a Server Sales Engineer covering the Global Enterprise market.