Four Network Ports Shown in Operating System for Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family

What am I seeing?

Four network ports are shown in the device manager of the operating system including Windows*, Linux*, or VMware* ESXi for Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family.

Why am I seeing it?

The Intel® Server Board S2600ST Product Family offers 4 network controllers, two are 10 Gbit onboard Ethernet ports, and the other two controllers offer SFP+ 10Gbps connectivity through an optional LAN riser accessory card AXXSTSFPPKIT. All 4 network controllers are integrated into the Platform Controller Hub (PCH), two onboard Ethernet ports provide the physical interface for Ethernet connectivity and the optional riser accessory provides the physical interface for SFP+ connectivity. The 2 SFP+ NICs are being detected by the Operating System, even with no riser card installed. SFP+ NICs listed in Device Manager (or equivalent) are the ones integrated into the PCH. The 4 controllers are managed by the PCH, and they are always present.

The AXXSTSFPPKIT SFP+ LAN Riser option is only supported when installed into PCIe* add-in slot #5 on the server board, which includes an expansion connector allowing for communication to the onboard PCH and BMC. The SFP+ LAN Riser option can be used in single or dual-processor configurations.

For further references, review the Technical Product Specification for the Intel® Server Board S2600ST Family.