HPE 817709-B21 - HPE Ethernet 10/25Gb 2-port 631FLR-SFP28 Adapter

Brand: HPE | Category: Network Adapters & NICs

SKU: HPE-817709-B21 | Part #: 817709-B21 | MPN: 817709-B21

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FlexibleLOM (FLR) mezzanine cards sit in a dedicated slot on HPE ProLiant servers, occupying no PCIe slot real estate in the main riser—a constraint that matters when you're already maxing out expansion cards in a blade or dense 1U server. The HPE 817709-B21 is a dual-port 10/25Gb network adapter built specifically for this mezzanine form factor, and that physical compatibility decision is the first filter any network engineer or infrastructure architect applies before evaluating performance. If your HPE ProLiant Gen9 or Gen10 server has a FlexibleLOM slot available, this adapter fits. If you're working with older generation hardware or non-HPE platforms, you won't use it at all. That's the reality of mezzanine cards—form factor determines deployment possibility before bandwidth or feature set ever enters the conversation.

The 817709-B21 is built around the Cavium FastLinQ QL41132HLRJ controller, a network processor that handles both 10GbE and 25GbE per port with automatic speed negotiation. This isn't a card that forces you to choose one speed and lock in; the adapter detects transceiver type and link partner capability, then negotiates accordingly. You install SFP28 transceivers for 25GbE operation or backward-compatible SFP+ modules for 10GbE, and the card simply works at both speeds. The PCIe 3.0 x8 interface provides sufficient bandwidth for sustained dual-port 25Gb traffic without bottlenecking at the bus level—a consideration that becomes visible when you're pushing 50Gb combined throughput across a single mezzanine slot.

HPE positioned this adapter for converged networking workloads, and the offload engine proves it. RoCE v2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) is native, which means low-latency communication paths exist for high-performance computing clusters, AI training frameworks, and scale-out storage systems that benefit from microsecond-level latency reduction. Beyond RDMA, the 817709-B21 handles iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol offload, meaning your CPU isn't burning cycles on encapsulation and decapsulation logic. Hardware capabilities include TCP Segmentation Offload (TSO), Large Receive Offload (LRO), Receive Side Scaling (RSS), and checksum offload—features that reduce per-packet processing overhead in environments where you're moving millions of frames per second. Storage architects and network engineers who manage SAN consolidation or all-flash storage arrays often specify this card because it moves the computational load away from the processor and onto silicon built for the job.

Support for SR-IOV (Single-Root I/O Virtualization) up to 128 virtual functions per port makes this adapter attractive in virtualized environments. A hypervisor administrator can partition the physical ports into dozens of virtual network interfaces, assigning them to guest VMs or containers without a software switching penalty. This is especially relevant in HPE OneView-managed environments, where the adapter integrates with lifecycle management, firmware updates, and capacity reporting. HPE iLO firmware bundles ship with drivers and firmware for the 817709-B21, and HPE Intelligent Provisioning can detect and configure the card during OS deployment. The Smart Component designation ensures firmware stays aligned with HPE firmware bundles, reducing compatibility drift. On the operating system side, HPE supports Windows Server (2012 R2 through 2019), Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and VMware ESXi—the full stack you'd expect in an enterprise data centre or cloud infrastructure environment.

Network engineers responsible for rack density and power efficiency find this card relevant because it consolidates multiple network functions into a single dual-port adapter. Rather than deploying separate NICs for management, storage, and application traffic across multiple PCIe slots, the 817709-B21 can handle multiple VLANs, RDMA, and protocol offload on two ports from one mezzanine slot. That frees up PCIe real estate for GPUs, storage controllers, or other accelerators—a particularly valuable trade-off in GPU-dense servers or AI labs where every slot matters. The adapter operates within standard HPE thermal and environmental specifications (10°C to 35°C ambient), and compliance covers CE, FCC Class A, and RoHS, meeting regulatory requirements across GCC, European, and Asian deployments.

Network & Virtualization Capabilities

• Dual 10GbE/25GbE ports with automatic speed negotiation on SFP28 transceiver interface
• RoCE v2 support for RDMA workloads requiring sub-microsecond latency in HPC and AI applications
• iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) protocol offload for storage consolidation
• SR-IOV virtualization up to 128 virtual functions per port for guest VM and container isolation
• Hardware offloads: TSO, LRO, RSS, VLAN tagging/stripping, and checksum processing to reduce CPU load
• HPE iLO, OneView, and Intelligent Provisioning integration for unified lifecycle management across ProLiant deployments
• Compatible with Windows Server 2012 R2/2016/2019, RHEL, SLES, and VMware ESXi across Gen9 and Gen10 servers

Omnixon Global supplies HPE network adapters and connectivity hardware to data centres, AI infrastructure teams, and enterprises across the UAE, GCC region, and expanding customer bases in Asia and Europe. We maintain stock of the 817709-B21 and comparable HPE networking solutions for immediate deployment or planned infrastructure rollouts. If you're evaluating mezzanine network cards for ProLiant servers, designing a converged storage and compute environment, or planning a virtualized networking migration, contact our technical sales team to discuss application fit, transceiver pairing, and delivery timelines. Request a quotation or speak with a network infrastructure specialist—we're here to support your build.