NVIDIA 900-9X662 Ethernet Adapter Cards User Manual

June 15, 2024
Nvidia

NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx PCIe HHHL Ethernet
Adapter Cards User Manual 

900-9X662 Ethernet Adapter Cards

About This Manual
This User Manual describes NVIDIA® ConnectX®-6 Lx Ethernet adapter cards. It provides details as to the interfaces of the board, specifications, required software and firmware for operating the board, and relevant documentation.
Ordering Part Numbers
The table below provides the ordering part numbers (OPN) for the available ConnectX-6 Lx Ethernet adapter cards.

NVIDIA SKU| Legacy OPN| Supported Speed| Port Type| PCIe Interface| Crypto| Secure Boot| Bracket
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
900-9X662-0053-ST1| MCX631102AN -ADAT| 25GbE| Dual-port SFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| –| –| Tall Bracket
900-9X662-0083-ST0| MCX631102AC -ADAT| 25GbE| Dual-port SFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| ✔| ✔| Tall Bracket
900-9X662-0073-ST0| MCX631102AS -ADAT| 25GbE| Dual-port SFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| –| ✔| Tall Bracket

Legacy (EOL) Ordering Part Numbers

NVIDIA SKU| Legacy OPN| Supported Speed| Port Type| PCIe Interface| Crypto| Secure Boot| Bracket
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---
900-9X662-0063-ST0| MCX631102AE -ADAT| 25GbE| Dual-port SFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| ✔| –| Tall Bracket
900-9X601-0025-ST0| MCX631105AE -GDAT| 50GbE| Single-port QSFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| ✔| | Tall Bracket
900-9X601-0015-SQ0| MCX631105AN -GDAT| 50GbE| Single-port QSFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| –| –| Tall Bracket
900-9X601-0045-ST0| MCX631105AC -GDAT| 50GbE| Single-port QSFP28| PCIe 4.0 x8| ✔| ✔| Tall Bracket

Intended Audience
This manual is intended for the installer and user of these cards. The manual assumes basic familiarity with Ethernet network and architecture specifications.
Technical Support
Customers who purchased NVIDIA products directly from NVIDIA are invited to contact us through the following methods:

Customers who purchased NVIDIA M-1 Global Support Services, please see your contract for details regarding Technical Support.
Customers who purchased NVIDIA products through an NVIDIA-approved reseller should first seek assistance through their reseller.
Related Documentation

NVIDIA MLNX_OFED for Linux User Manual and Release Notes| User Manual and Release Notes describing MLNx_OFED features, performance, band diagnostic, tools content and configuration. See NVIDIA MLNX_OFED for Linux Documentation.
---|---
WinOF-2 for Windows User Manual and Release Notes| User Manual describing WinOF-2 features, performance, Ethernet diagnostic, tools content and configuration. See WinOF-2 for Windows Documentation.
NVIDIA VMware for Ethernet User Manual and Release Notes| User Manual describing the various components of the NVIDIA ConnectX® NATIVE ESXi stack. See VMware® ESXi Documentation.
NVIDIA Firmware Update| NVIDIA firmware update and query utility used to update the firmware. See NVIDIA Firmware Utility (mlxup) Documentation.
NVIDIA Firmware Tools (MFT) User Manual| User Manual describing the set of MFT firmware management tools for a single node. See MFT User Manual.
IEEE Std 802.3 Specification| IEEE Ethernet Specifications
PCI Express Specifications| Industry Standard PCI Express Base and Card Electromechanical Specifications.
LinkX Interconnect Solutions| LinkX Ethernet cables and transceivers are designed to maximize the performance of High-Performance Computing networks, requiring high-bandwidth, low-latency connections between compute nodes and switch nodes. NVIDIA offers one of the industry’s broadest portfolio of 40GbE, 56GbE, 100GbE, 200GbE and 400GbE cables, including Direct Attach Copper cables (DACs), copper splitter cables, Active Optical Cables (AOCs) and transceivers in a wide range of lengths from 0.5m to 10km. In addition to meeting Ethernet standards, NVIDIA tests every product in an end-to-end environment ensuring a Bit Error Rate of less than 1E-15. Read more at LinkX Cables and Transceivers.

Document Conventions
When discussing memory sizes, MB and MBytes are used in this document to mean size in mega Bytes. The use of Mb or Mbits (small b) indicates size in mega bits. In this document PCIe is used to mean PCI Express.
Revision History
A list of the changes made to this document are provided in Document Revision History.

Introduction

Product Overview
This is the User Manual for Ethernet adapter cards based on the ConnectX®-6 Lx integrated circuit device.
Providing up to two ports of 25GbE or a single-port of 50GbE connectivity, and PCIe Gen 3.0/4.0 x8 host connectivity, ConnectX-6 Lx is a member of NVIDIA’s world-class, award-winning, ConnectX family of network adapters. Continuing NVIDIA’s consistent innovation in networking, ConnectX-6 Lx provides agility and efficiency at every scale. ConnectX-6 Lx delivers cutting-edge 25GbE performance and security for uncompromising data centers.
ConnectX-6 Lx SmartNICs are available in several form factors, including low- profile PCIe and OCP 3.0 cards with SFP28 connectors for 10/25GbE applications, or QSFP28 for 50GbE applications. Lowprofile PCIe cards are available with tall and short brackets.
Please refer to Feature and Benefits for more details.
NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx PCIe HHHL Cards – 25GbE Cards

MCX631102AS-ADAT|
---|---
Part Number| MCX631102AN- ADAT| MCX631102AE- ADAT| MCX631102AC- ADAT| MCX631102AS- ADAT
Form Factor/ Dimensions| Size : 3.79in. x 2.71in (96.30mm x 68.90mm)
Data Transmission Rate| Ethernet : 1/10/25 Gb/s
Network Connector Type| Dual-port SFP28
PCIe Interface| PCIe Gen 4.0 SERDES @ 16.0GT/s x8
Crypto (IPsec Offload)| | ✔| ✔| –
Secure Boot| | | ✔| ✔
Adapter IC Part Number| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE
RoHS| RoHS Compliant

NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx PCIe HHHL Cards– 50GbE Cards

Part Number| MCX631105AN-GDAT| MCX631105AE-GDAT| MCX631105AC-GDAT
---|---|---|---
Form Factor/Dimensions| Size : 3.79in. x 2.71in (96.30mm x 68.90mm)
Data Transmission Rate| Ethernet : 1/10/25/50 Gb/s
Network Connector Type| Single-port QSFP28
PCIe Interface| PCIe Gen 4.0 SERDES @ 8.0GT/s x8
Crypto (IPsec Offload)| | ✔| ✔
Secure Boot| | | ✔
Adapter IC Part Number| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE| MT28942A0-YCCF-AE| MT28942A0 -YCCF-AE
RoHS| RoHS Compliant

For more detailed information, see Specifications.
Features and Benefits
This section describes hardware features and capabilities. Please refer to the relevant driver and/or firmware release notes for feature availability.

Feature Description
PCI Express (PCIe) PCIe Gen 4.0 [email protected]/s through x8 Edge Connector
Up to 50Gb/s Ethernet NVIDIA adapters comply with the following IEEE 802.3

standards: 50GbE / 25GbE / 10GbE / 1GbE
–  IEEE 802.3by, Ethernet Consortium25, 50 Gigabit Ethernet, supporting all FEC modes
–  IEEE 802.3by 25 Gigabit Ethernet
–  IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
–  IEEE 802.3ap based auto-negotiation and KR startup
–  IEEE 802.3ad, 802.1AX Link Aggregation
–  IEEE 802.1Q, 802.1P VLAN tags and priority
–  IEEE 802.1Qau (QCN)
–  Congestion Notification
–  IEEE 802.1Qaz (ETS)
–  IEEE 802.1Qbb (PFC)
–  IEEE 802.1Qbg
–  IEEE 1588v2
–  Jumbo frame support (9.6KB)
Memory| • FRU EEPROM – Stores the parameters and personality of the card. The EEPROM capacity is 32Kbit. FRU I2C address is (0x50) and is accessible through the PCIe SMBus (Note: Address 0x58 is reserved.)
• SPI Quad – includes 256Mbit SPI Quad Flash device (MX25L25645GXDI-08G device by Macronix)
Overlay Networks| In order to better scale their networks, data center operators often create overlay networks that carry traffic from individual virtual machines over logical tunnels in encapsulated formats such as NVGRE and VXLAN. While this solves network scalability issues, it hides the TCP packet from the hardware offloading engines, placing higher loads on the host CPU. NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx effectively addresses this by providing advanced NVGRE and VXLAN hardware offloading engines that encapsulate and de-capsulate the overlay protocol.
RDMA over Conve rged Ethernet (RoCE)| NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx, utilizing RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) technology, delivers low- latency and high- performance over Band and Ethernet networks. Leveraging data center bridging (DCB) capabilities, as well as NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx, advanced congestion control hardware mechanisms, RoCE provides efficient low-latency RDMA services over Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks.
NVIDIA PeerDirect®| NVIDIA PeerDirect® communication provides high-efficiency RDMA access by eliminating unnecessary internal data copies between components on the PCIe bus (for example, from GPU to CPU), and therefore significantly reduces application run time. NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx advanced acceleration technology enables higher cluster efficiency and scalability to tens of thousands of nodes.
CPU Offload| Adapter functionality enables reduced CPU overhead leaving more CPU resources available for computation tasks.
Open vSwitch (OVS) offload using ASAP2(TM)
•  Flexible match-action flow tables
•  Tunneling encapsulation/decapsulation
Quality of Service (QoS)| Support for port-based Quality of Service enabling various application requirements for latency and SLA.
Hardware- based I/O Virtualization| NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx provides dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual machines within the server.
Storage Acceleratio n| A consolidated compute and storage network achieves significant cost-performance advantages over multi-fabric networks. Standard block and file access protocols can leverage
•  RDMA for high-performance storage access
•  NVMe over Fabric offloads for target machine
SR-IOV| NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx SR-IOV technology provides dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual machines (VM) within the server.
High- Performan ce Acceler ations| •  Tag Matching and Rendezvous Offloads
• Adaptive Routing on Reliable Transport
•  Burst Buffer Offloads for Background Checkpointing
Connection tracking| ConnecX-6 Lx ASAP² connection-tracking hardware offload accelerates L4 firewall performance.
IPSec Offload (in selected OPNs)| ConnectX-6 Lx adapters offer a range of advanced built-in capabilities that bring infrastructure security down to every endpoint with unprecedented performance and scalability. ConnectX-6 Lx offers IPsec inline encryption/decryption acceleration to offload the CPU and run the entire data path encryption or decryption in the NIC hardware while maintaining line rate.
Secure Boot (Hardware Root Of Trust)| ConnectX-6 Lx delivers supply chain protection with hardware Root-of-Trust (RoT) for Secure Boot as well as Secure Firmware Update using RSA cryptography and cloning protection, via a device- unique key, to guarantee firmware authenticity

Operating Systems/Distributions

  • RHEL/CentOS
  • Windows
  • FreeBSD
  • VMware
  • OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED)
  • OpenFabrics Windows Distribution (WinOF-2)

Connectivity

  • Interoperable with 1/10/25/50 Gb/s Ethernet switches
  • Passive copper cable with ESD protection
  • Powered connectors for optical and active cable support

Manageability
NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx technology maintains support for manageability through a BMC. NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx PCIe stand-up adapter can be connected to a BMC using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols as if it is a standard NVIDIA PCIe stand-up adapter. For configuring the adapter for the specific manageability solution in use by the server, please contact NVIDIA Support.

Interfaces

The below figure show the component side of the NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card. Each numbered interface that is referenced in the figures is described in the following table with a link to detailed information.
The below figures are for illustration purposes only and might not reflect the current revision of the adapter card.

Callout Item Description
1 “ConnectX-6 Lx IC” NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx IC on the board.
2 “PCI Express Interface” PCIe Gen 3.0/4.0 through an x8 edge connector.
3 “Ethernet SFP28/QSFP28 Interface” Ethernet traffic is transmitted through

the adapter’s SFP28/QSFP28 connectors. The networking connectors allow for the use of modules, optical and passive cable interconnect solutions.
4| “Networking Ports LEDs Interface”| There are two I/O LEDs per port to indicate speed and link status.
| “SMBus Interface”| Allows BMC connectivity using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols.
| “Voltage Regulators”| Voltage supply pins that feed onboard regulators.

ConnectX-6 Lx IC Interface
The ConnectX®-6 Lx EN family of adapter IC devices delivers two ports of 10/25 or a single-port of 50Gb/s Ethernet connectivity paired with best-in-class hardware capabilities that accelerate and secure cloud and data-center workloads.
Encryption
Applies to Crypto OPNs only.
ConnectX-6 Lx brings security to every end-point, including:

  • Purpose-built inline acceleration engines that offload IPsec and TLS data-in-motion and XTSAES data-at-rest cryptographic operations.
  • Stateful firewall solution acceleration, powered by Open vSwitch connection tracking and NVIDIA’s ASAP2 technology.
  • Embedded hardware root-of-trust and support for RSA-based secure firmware update and secure boot, providing guaranteed integrity of the network adapter.

Ethernet SFP28 / QSFP28 Interfaces
The network ports of the ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card are compliant with the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards listed in Features and Benefits. Ethernet traffic is transmitted through the SFP28 / QSFP28 connector on the adapter card.
The adapter card includes special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when plugging copper cables.
PCI Express Interface
ConnectX-6 Lx adapter cards support PCI Express Gen 3.0/4.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through x8 edge connectors. The device can be either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations, or a subordinate responding to PCI bus operations.
The following lists PCIe interface features:

  • PCIe Gen 4.0 and 3.0 compliant, 2.0 and 1.1 compatible
  • 2.5, 5.0, 8.0, or 16.0 GT/s link rate x8 lanes
  • Auto-negotiates to x8, x4, x2, or x1
  • Support for MSI/MSI-X mechanisms

Networking Ports LEDs Interface
There is one bicolor (Yellow and Green) I/O LED per port to indicate speed and link status.
Link Indication

State Bi-color LED (Yellow/Green) – Link speed
Beacon command for locating the adapter card 1Hz blinking Yellow
Error 4Hz blinking Yellow Indicates an error with the link. The error can be

one of the following:
Error Type| Description| LED Behavior
I2C| I2C access to the networking ports fails| Blinks until error is fixed
Over-current| Over-current condition of the networking ports| Blinks until error is fixed
Link Activity| The Green LED will blink.
Link Up| The Green LED will be solid.

SMBus Interface
ConnectX-6 Lx technology maintains support for manageability through a BMC. ConnectX-6 Lx PCIe stand-up adapter can be connected to a BMC using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols as if it is a standard NVIDIA PCIe stand-up adapter. For configuring the adapter for the specific manageability solution in use by the server, please contact NVIDIA Support.
Voltage Regulators
The voltage regulator power is derived from the PCI Express edge connector 12V supply pins. These voltage supply pins feed on-board regulators that provide the necessary power to the various components on the card.

Hardware Installation

Installation and initialization of ConnectX-6 Lx adapter cards require attention to the mechanical attributes, power specification, and precautions for electronic equipment.
Safety Warnings
**Safety warnings are provided here in the English language. For safety warnings in other languages, refer to the Adapter Installation Safety Instructions document available on nvidia.com**.
Please observe all safety warnings to avoid injury and prevent damage to system components.
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Installation Procedure Overview
The installation procedure of ConnectX-6 Lx adapter cards involves the following steps:

Step Procedure Direct Link
1 Check the system’s hardware and software requirements. Refer to System

Requirements
2| Pay attention to the airflow consideration within the host system| Refer to Airflow Requirements
3| Follow the safety precautions| Refer to Safety Precautions
4| Unpack the package| Refer to Unpack the package
5| Follow the pre-installation checklist| Refer to Pre-Installation Checklist
6| (Optional) Replace the full-height mounting bracket with the supplied short bracket| Refer to Bracket Replacement Instructions
7| Install the ConnectX-6 Lx and PCIe Auxiliary connection cards in the system| Refer to Installation Instructions
8| Connect cables or modules to the card| Refer to Cables and Modules
9| Identify ConnectX-6 Lx in the system| Refer to Identifying Your Card

System Requirements
Hardware Requirements
Unless otherwise specified, NVIDIA products are designed to work in an environmentally controlled data center with low levels of gaseous and dust (particulate) contamination.
The operation environment should meet severity level G1 as per ISA 71.04 for gaseous contamination and ISO 14644-1 class 8 for cleanliness level.
A system with a PCI Express slot of corresponding bus width is required for installing the card.
For proper operation and performance, please make sure to use a PCIe slot with a corresponding bus width and that can supply sufficient power to your card. Refer to the Specifications section of the manual for more power requirements.
Airflow Requirements
ConnectX-6 Lx adapter cards are offered with two airflow patterns: from the heatsink to the network ports.
Please refer to the Specifications section for airflow numbers for each specific card model.
All cards in the system should be planned with the same airflow direction.
Software Requirements

  • See Operating Systems/Distributions section under the Introduction section.
  • Software Stacks – NVIDIA OpenFabric software package MLNX_OFED for Linux, WinOF-2 for Windows, and VMware. See the Driver Installation section.

Safety Precautions
The adapter is being installed in a system that operates with voltages that can be lethal. Before opening the case of the system, observe the following precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to system components.

  • Remove any metallic objects from your hands and wrists.
  • Make sure to use only insulated tools.
  • Verify that the system is powered off and is unplugged.
  • It is strongly recommended to use an ESD strap or other antistatic devices.

Unpacking the Package
Check against the package contents list that all the parts have been sent. Check the parts for visible damage that may have occurred during shipping. Please note that the cards must be placed on an antistatic surface.

Category Qty. Item
Cards 1 ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card
Accessories 1 Adapter card short bracket
1 Adapter card tall bracket (shipped assembled on the card)

** Please note that if the card is removed hastily from the antistatic bag, the plastic ziplock may harm the EMI fingers on the networking connector. Carefully remove the card from the antistatic bag to avoid damaging the EMI fingers.
Pre-Installation Checklist
**

  1. Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements stated above.

  2. Shut down your system if active.
    Turn off the power to the system, and disconnect the power cord. Refer to the system documentation for instructions.

  3. (Optional) Check the mounting bracket on the card.
    If required for your system, replace the full-height mounting bracket that is shipped mounted on the card with the supplied low-profile bracket. Refer to Bracket Replacement Instructions.

Bracket Replacement Instructions
The ConnectX-6 Lx card is usually shipped with an assembled high-profile bracket. If this form factor is suitable for your requirements, you can skip the remainder of this section and move to Installation Instructions. If you need to replace the high-profile bracket with the short bracket that is included in the shipping box, please follow the instructions in this section.
****Due to risk of damaging the EMI gasket, it is not recommended to replace the bracket more than three times.
To replace the bracket you will need the following parts:

  • The new brackets of the proper height
  • The 2 screws saved from the removal of the bracket

Removing the Existing Bracket

  • Using a torque driver, remove the two screws holding the bracket in place.

  • Separate the bracket from the ConnectX-6 Lx card.
    **** Be careful not to put stress on the LEDs on the adapter card.

  • Save the two screws.

Installing the New Bracket

  1. Place the bracket onto the card until the screw holes line up.
    **** Do not force the bracket onto the adapter card.

  2. Screw on the bracket using the screws saved from the bracket removal procedure above.
    **** Use a torque driver to apply up to 2 lbs-in torque on the screws.

Installation Instructions
This section provides detailed instructions on how to install your adapter card in a system.
Please note that the following figures are for illustration purposes only.
▣ Connect the adapter Card in an available PCI Express x16 slot in the chassis.
Step 1: Locate an available PCI Express x16 slot and insert the adapter card to the chassis.
Step 2: Applying even pressure at both corners of the card, insert the adapter card in a PCI Express slot until firmly seated.
Do not use excessive force when seating the card, as this may damage the chassis.
▣  Secure the adapter card to the chassis.
Step 1: Secure the bracket to the chassis with the bracket screw.
Uninstalling the Card
Safety Precautions
The adapter is installed in a system that operates with voltages that can be lethal. Before uninstalling the adapter card, please observe the following precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to system components.

  • Remove any metallic objects from your hands and wrists.
  • It is strongly recommended to use an ESD strap or other antistatic devices.
  • Turn off the system and disconnect the power cord from the server.

Card Removal
**** Please note that the following images are for illustration purposes only.

  1. Verify that the system is powered off and unplugged.
  2. Wait 30 seconds.
  3. To remove the card, disengage the retention mechanisms on the bracket (clips or screws).
  4. Holding the adapter card from its center, gently pull the ConnectX-6 Lx out of the PCI Express slot.

** To uninstall the adapter card, see Uninstalling the Card.
Cables and Modules
Cable Installation**

  1. All cables can be inserted or removed with the unit powered on.

  2. To insert a cable, press the connector into the port receptacle until the connector is firmly seated.
    a. Support the weight of the cable before connecting the cable to the adapter card. Do this by using a cable holder or tying the cable to the rack.
    b. Determine the correct orientation of the connector to the card before inserting the connector. Do not try and insert the connector upside down. This may damage the adapter card.
    c. Insert the connector into the adapter card. Be careful to insert the connector straight into the cage. Do not apply any torque, up or down, to the connector cage in the adapter card.
    d. Make sure that the connector locks in place.
    When installing cables make sure that the latches engage.
    **** Always install and remove cables by pushing or pulling the cable and connector in a straight line with the card.

  3. After inserting a cable into a port, the Green LED indicator will light when the physical connection is established (that is, when the unit is powered on and a cable is plugged into the port with the other end of the connector plugged into a functioning port). See LED Interface under the Interfaces section.

  4. After plugging in a cable, lock the connector using the latching mechanism particular to the cable vendor. When data is being transferred the Green LED will blink. See LED Interface under the Interfaces section.

  5. Care should be taken as not to impede the air exhaust flow through the ventilation holes. Use cable lengths which allow for routing horizontally around to the side of the chassis before bending upward or downward in the rack.

  6. To remove a cable, disengage the locks and slowly pull the connector away from the port receptacle. LED indicator will turn off when the cable is unseated.

Identifying the Card in Your System
On Linux
Get the device location on the PCI bus by running lspci and locating lines with the string “Mellanox Technologies”:
lspci |grep -i Mellanox
Network controller: Mellanox Technologies MT2892 Family [ConnectX-6 Lx]

On Windows

  1. Open Device Manager on the server. Click Start => Run, and then enter devmgmt.msc.
  2. Expand System Devices and locate your NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card.
  3. Right click the mouse on your adapter’s row and select Properties to display the adapter card properties window.
  4. Click the Details tab and select Hardware Ids (Windows 2012/R2/2016) from the Property pull-down menu.
  5. In the Value display box, check the fields VEN and DEV (fields are separated by ‘&’). In the display example above, notice the sub-string “PCI\VEN_15B3&DEV_1003”: VEN is equal to 0x15B3 – this is the Vendor ID of NVIDIA Technologies; and DEV is equal to 1018 (for ConnectX-6 Lx) – this is a valid NVIDIA Technologies PCI Device ID.

If the PCI device does not have a NVIDIA adapter ID, return to Step 2 to check another device.
The list of PCI Device IDs can be found in the PCI ID repository at http://pciids.ucw.cz/read/PC/15b3.

Uninstalling the Card
Safety Precautions
The adapter is installed in a system that operates with voltages that can be lethal. Before uninstalling the adapter card, please observe the following precautions to avoid injury and prevent damage to system components.

  1. Remove any metallic objects from your hands and wrists.
  2. It is strongly recommended to use an ESD strap or other antistatic devices.
  3. Turn off the system and disconnect the power cord from the server.

Card Removal
**** Please note that the following images are for illustration purposes only.

  1. Verify that the system is powered off and unplugged.
  2. Wait 30 seconds.
  3. To remove the card, disengage the retention mechanisms on the bracket (clips or screws).
  4. Holding the adapter card from its center, gently pull the ConnectX-6 Lx out of the PCI Express slot.

Driver Installation

Please use the relevant driver installation section.

  • Linux Driver Installation
  • Windows Driver Installation
  • VMware Driver Installation

Linux Driver Installation
This section describes how to install and test the MLNX_OFED for Linux package on a single server with a NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card installed.
Prerequisites

Requirements Description
Platforms A server platform with an NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx EN adapter card

installed (firmware: fw-ConnectX6Lx)
Required Disk Space for Installation| 1GB
Operating System| Linux operating system.
For the list of supported operating system distributions and kernels, please refer to the MLNX_OFED Release Notes.
Installer Privileges| The installation requires administrator (root) privileges on the target machine.

2. Download the ISO image to your host.
The image’s name has the format MLNX_OFED_LINUX--<CPU arch>.iso.
You can download and install the latest OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) software package available via the NVIDIA web site at nvidia.com/en- us/networking → Products → Software → InfiniBand Drivers → NVIDIA MLNX_OFED
a. Scroll down to the Download wizard, and click the Download tab.
b. Choose your relevant package depending on your host operating system.
c. Click the desired ISO/tgz package.
d. To obtain the download link, accept the End User License Agreement (EULA).
3. Use the Hash utility to confirm the file integrity of your ISO image. Run the following command and compare the result to the value provided on the download page.
SHA256 MLNX_OFED_LINUX--.iso

Installing MLNX_OFED
Installation Script
The installation script, mlnxofedinstall, performs the following:

  • Discovers the currently installed kernel
  • Uninstalls any software stacks that are part of the standard operating system distribution or another vendor’s commercial stack
  • Installs the MLNX_OFED_LINUX binary RPMs (if they are available for the current kernel)
  • Identifies the currently installed InfiniBand and Ethernet network adapters and automatically upgrades the firmware

Note: To perform a firmware upgrade using customized firmware binaries, a path can be provided to the folder that contains the firmware binary files, by running –fw-image-dir. Using this option, the firmware version embedded in the MLNX_OFED package will be ignored.
Example:
./mlnxofedinstall –fw-image-dir /tmp/my_fw_bin_files
If the driver detects unsupported cards on the system, it will abort the installation procedure. To avoid this, make sure to add –skip-unsupported- devices-check flag during installation.
Usage
./mnt/mlnxofedinstall [OPTIONS] The installation script removes all previously installed OFED packages and re-installs from scratch. You will be prompted to acknowledge the deletion of the old packages.
Pre-existing configuration files will be saved with the extension “.conf.rpmsave”.

  • If you need to install OFED on an entire (homogeneous) cluster, a common strategy is to mount the ISO image on one of the cluster nodes and then copy it to a shared file system such as NFS. To install on all the cluster nodes, use cluster-aware tools (suchaspdsh).
  • If your kernel version does not match with any of the offered pre-built RPMs, you can add your kernel version by using the “mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh” script located inside the MLNX_OFED package.

On Redhat and SLES distributions with errata kernel installed there is no need to use the mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh script. The regular installation can be performed and weak-updates mechanism will create symbolic links to the MLNX_OFED kernel modules.
If you regenerate kernel modules for a custom kernel (using –add- kernelsupport), the packages installation will not involve automatic regeneration of the initramfs. In some cases, such as a system with a root filesystem mounted over a ConnectX card, not regenerating the initramfs may even cause the system to fail to reboot.
In such cases, the installer will recommend running the following command to update the initramfs:
dracut -f
On some OSs, dracut -f might result in the following error message which can be safely ignore.
libkmod: kmod_module_new_from_path: kmod_module ‘mdev’ already exists with different path
The “mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh” script can be executed directly from the mlnxofedinstall script. For further information, please see ‘–add-kernel- support’ option below.
On Ubuntu and Debian distributions drivers installation use Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) framework. Thus, the drivers’ compilation will take place on the host during MLNX_OFED installation.
Therefore, using “mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh” is irrelevant on Ubuntu and Debian distributions.
Example: The following command will create a MLNX_OFED_LINUX ISO image for RedHat 7.3 under the /tmp directory.

./MLNX_OFED_LINUX-x.x-x-rhel7.3-x86_64/mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh -m

/tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-x.x-x-rhel7.3x86_64/ –make-tgz
Note: This program will create MLNX_OFED_LINUX TGZ for rhel7.3 under /tmp directory.
All Mellanox, OEM, OFED, or Distribution IB packages will be removed.
Do you want to continue?[y/N]:y
See log file /tmp/mlnx_ofed_iso.21642.log
Building OFED RPMs. Please wait…
Removing OFED RPMs…
Created /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-x.x-x-rhel7.3-x86_64-ext.tgz

  • The script adds the following lines to /etc/security/limits.conf for the userspace components such as MPI:
      • soft memlock unlimited
      • hard memlock unlimited
    • These settings set the amount of memory that can be pinned by a userspace application to unlimited. If desired, tune the value unlimited to a specific amount of RAM.

For your machine to be part of the InfiniBand/VPI fabric, a Subnet Manager must be running on one of the fabric nodes. At this point, OFED for Linux has already installed the OpenSM Subnet Manager on your machine.
For the list of installation options, run:
./mlnxofedinstall –h
Installation Procedure
This section describes the installation procedure of MLNX_OFED on NVIDIA adapter cards.

  1. Log in to the installation machine as root.

  2. Mount the ISO image on your machine.
    host1# mount -o ro,loop MLNX_OFED_LINUX---.iso /mnt

  3. Run the installation script.
    /mnt/mlnxofedinstall
    Logs dir: /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-x.x-x.logs
    This program will install the MLNX_OFED_LINUX package on your machine.
    Note that all other Mellanox, OEM, OFED, RDMA or Distribution IB packages will be removed.
    Those packages are removed due to conflicts with MLNX_OFED_LINUX, do not reinstall them.
    Starting MLNX_OFED_LINUX-x.x.x installation …
    ……..
    ……..
    Installation finished successfully.
    Attempting to perform Firmware update…
    Querying Mellanox devices firmware …
    For unattended installation, use the –force installation option while running the MLNX_OFED installation script:
    /mnt/mlnxofedinstall –force
    MLNXOFED for Ubuntu should be installed with the following flags in chroot environment:
    ./mlnxofedinstall –without-dkms –add-kernel-support –kernel <kernel version in chroot> –without-fw-update –force
    For example:
    ./mlnxofedinstall –without-dkms –add-kernel-support –kernel 3.13.0-85-generic -without-fw-update –force
    Note that the path to kernel sources (–kernel-sources) should be added if the sources are not in their default location.
    In case your machine has the latest firmware, no firmware update will occur and the installation script will print at the end of installation a message similar to the following:
    Device #1:
    ———
    Device Type: ConnectX-X
    Part Number: MCXXXX-XXX
    PSID: MT

    PCI Device Name: 0b:00.0
    Base MAC: 0000e41d2d5cf810
    Versions: Current Available
    FW XX.XX.XXXX
    Status: Up to date
    In case your machine has an unsupported network adapter device, no firmware update will occur and one of the error messages below will be printed. Please contact your hardware vendor for help with firmware updates.
    Error message #1:
    Device #1: ———
    Device Type: ConnectX-X
    Part Number: MCXXXX-XXX
    PSID: MT_
    PCI Device Name: 0b:00.0
    Base MAC: 0000e41d2d5cf810
    Versions: Current Available
    FW XX.XX.XXXX
    Status: No matching image found
    Error message #2:
    The firmware for this device is not distributed inside NVIDIA driver: 0000:01:00.0 (PSID: IBM2150110033)
    To obtain firmware for this device, please contact your HW vendor.

  4. Case A: If the installation script has performed a firmware update on your network adapter, you need to either restart the driver or reboot your system before the firmware update can take effect. Refer to the table below to find the appropriate action for your specific card.
    Action \ Adapter| Driver Restart| Standard Reboot (Soft Reset)| Cold Reboot (Hard Reset)
    ---|---|---|---
    Standard ConnectX-4/ ConnectX-4 Lx or higher| –| +| –
    Adapters with Multi-Host Support| –| –| +
    Socket Direct Cards| –| –| +

Case B: If the installations script has not performed a firmware upgrade on your network adapter, restart the driver by running: “/etc/init.d/openibd restart”.

  1. (InfiniBand only) Run the hca_self_test.ofed utility to verify whether or not the InfiniBand link is up. The utility also checks for and displays additional information such as:
    – HCA firmware version
    – Kernel architecture
    – Driver version
    – Number of active HCA ports along with their states
    – Node GUID
    For more details on hca_self_test.ofed, see the file docs/readme_and_user_manual/hca_self_test.readme.

After installation completion, information about the OFED installation, such as prefix, kernel version, and installation parameters can be retrieved by running the command /etc/infiniband/ info. Most of the OFED components can be configured or reconfigured after the installation, by modifying the relevant configuration files. See the relevant chapters in this manual for details. The list of the modules that will be loaded automatically upon boot can be found in the /etc/ infiniband/openib.conf file.
Installing OFED will replace the RDMA stack and remove existing 3rd party RDMA connectors.
Installation Results

Software| • Most of MLNX_OFED packages are installed under the “/usr” directory except for the following packages which are installed under the “/ opt” directory:
• fca and ibutils
• iproute2 (rdma tool) – installed under /opt/Mellanox/iproute2/ sbin/rdma
• The kernel modules are installed under
• /lib/modules/uname -r/updates on SLES and Fedora Distributions
• /lib/modules/uname -r/extra/mlnx-ofa_kernel on RHEL and other RedHat like Distributions
• /lib/modules/uname -r/updates/dkms/ on Ubuntu
---|---
Firmware| • The firmware of existing network adapter devices will be updated if the following two conditions are fulfilled:
• The installation script is run in default mode; that is, without the option ‘–without- fw-update’
• The firmware version of the adapter device is older than the firmware version included with the OFED ISO image
Note: If an adapter’s Flash was originally programmed with an Expansion ROM image, the automatic firmware update will also burn an Expansion ROM image.
•In case your machine has an unsupported network adapter device, no firmware update will occur and the error message below will be printed.
“The firmware for this device is not distributed inside NVIDIA driver: 0000:01:00.0 (PSID: IBM2150110033)
To obtain firmware for this device, please contact your HW vendor.”

Installation Logging
While installing MLNX_OFED, the install log for each selected package will be saved in a separate log file.
The path to the directory containing the log files will be displayed after running the installation script in the following format:
Example:
Logs dir: /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-4.4-1.0.0.0.IBMM2150110033.logs

Driver Load Upon System Boot
Upon system boot, the NVIDIA drivers will be loaded automatically.
▣ To prevent the automatic load of the NVIDIA drivers upon system boot:

  1. Add the following lines to the “/etc/modprobe.d/mlnx.conf” file.
    blacklist mlx5_core
    blacklist mlx5_ib

  2. Set “ONBOOT=no” in the “/etc/infiniband/openib.conf” file.

  3. If the modules exist in the initramfs file, they can automatically be loaded by the kernel. To prevent this behavior, update the initramfs using the operating systems’ standard tools. Note: The process of updating the initramfs will add the blacklists from step 1, and will prevent the kernel from loading the modules automatically.

mlnxofedinstall Return Codes
The table below lists the mlnxofedinstall script return codes and their meanings.

Return Code Meaning
0 The Installation ended successfully
1 The installation failed
2 No firmware was found for the adapter device
22 Invalid parameter
28 Not enough free space
171 Not applicable to this system configuration. This can occur when the

required hardware is not present on the system
172| Prerequisites are not met. For example, missing the required software installed or the hardware is not configured correctly
173| Failed to start the mst driver
Software| • Most of MLNX_OFED packages are installed under the “/usr” directory except for the following packages which are installed under the “/ opt” directory:
• fca and ibutils
• iproute2 (rdma tool) – installed under /opt/Mellanox/iproute2/ sbin/rdma
• The kernel modules are installed under
• /lib/modules/uname -r/updates on SLES and Fedora Distributions
• /lib/modules/uname -r/extra/mlnx-ofa_kernel on RHEL and other RedHat like Distributions
• /lib/modules/uname -r/updates/dkms/ on Ubuntu
---|---
Firmware| • The firmware of existing network adapter devices will be updated if the following two conditions are fulfilled:
• The installation script is run in default mode; that is, without the option ‘–without- fw-update’
• The firmware version of the adapter device is older than the firmware version included with the OFED ISO image
Note: If an adapter’s Flash was originally programmed with an Expansion ROM image, the automatic firmware update will also burn an Expansion ROM image.
• In case your machine has an unsupported network adapter device, no firmware update will occur and the error message below will be printed.
“The firmware for this device is not distributed inside NVIDIA driver: 0000:01:00.0 (PSID: IBM2150110033)
To obtain firmware for this device, please contact your HW vendor.”

Installation Logging
While installing MLNX_OFED, the install log for each selected package will be saved in a separate log file.
The path to the directory containing the log files will be displayed after running the installation script in the following format:
Example:
Logs dir: /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-4.4-1.0.0.0.IBMM2150110033.logs
Uninstalling MLNX_OFED
Use the script /usr/sbin/ofed_uninstall.sh to uninstall the MLNX_OFED package. The script is part of the ofed-scripts RPM.
Additional Installation Procedures
Installing MLNX_OFED Using YUM
This type of installation is applicable to RedHat/OL and Fedora operating systems.
Setting up MLNX_OFED YUM Repository

  1. Log into the installation machine as root.

  2. Mount the ISO image on your machine and copy its content to a shared location in your network.

    mount -o ro,loop MLNX_OFED_LINUX---.iso /mnt

  3. Download and install NVIDIA’s GPG-KEY:
    The key can be downloaded via the following link:
    http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox
    # wget http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox
    –2018-01-25 13:52:30– http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY- Mellanox
    Resolving www.mellanox.com … 72.3.194.0
    Connecting to www.mellanox.com |72.3.194.0|:80… connected.
    HTTP request sent, awaiting response… 200 OK
    Length: 1354 (1.3K) [text/plain] Saving to: ?RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox?
    100%[=================================================>] 1,354 –.-K/s in 0s
    2018-01-25 13:52:30 (247 MB/s) – ?RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox? saved [1354/1354]

  4. Install the key.

    sudo rpm –import RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox

    warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6224c050: NOKEY
    Retrieving key from file:///repos/MLNX_OFED//RPM-GPG-KEY- Mellanox
    Importing GPG key 0x6224C050:
    Userid: “Mellanox Technologies (Mellanox Technologies – Signing Key v2) < [email protected] >”
    From : /repos/MLNX_OFED//RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox
    Is this ok [y/N]:

  5. Check that the key was successfully imported.

    rpm -q gpg-pubkey –qf ‘%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n’ | grep

    Mellanox
    gpg-pubkey-a9e4b643-520791ba gpg(Mellanox Technologies < [email protected] >)

  6. Create a yum repository configuration file called “/etc/yum.repos.d/mlnx_ofed.repo” with the following content:
    [mlnx_ofed] name=MLNX_OFED Repository
    baseurl=file:////RPMS
    enabled=1
    gpgkey=file:///
    gpgcheck=1

  7. Check that the repository was successfully added.

    yum repolist

    Loaded plugins: product-id, security, subscription-manager
    This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
    repo id repo name status
    mlnx_ofed MLNX_OFED Repository 108
    rpmforge RHEL 6Server – RPMforge.net – dag 4,597
    repolist: 8,351

Setting up MLNX_OFED YUM Repository Using –add-kernel-support

  1. Log into the installation machine as root.

  2. Mount the ISO image on your machine and copy its content to a shared location in your network.

    mount -o ro,loop MLNX_OFED_LINUX---.iso /mnt

  3. Build the packages with kernel support and create the tarball.

    /mnt/mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh –make-tgz <optional –kmp> -k $(uname -r) -m

    /mnt/
    Note: This program will create MLNX_OFED_LINUX TGZ for rhel7.6 under /tmp directory.
    Do you want to continue?[y/N]:y
    See log file /tmp/mlnx_iso.4120_logs/mlnx_ofed_iso.4120.log
    Checking if all needed packages are installed…
    Building MLNX_OFED_LINUX RPMS . Please wait…
    Creating metadata-rpms for 3.10.0-957.21.3.el7.x86_64 …
    WARNING: If you are going to configure this package as a repository, then please note
    WARNING: that it contains unsigned rpms, therefore, you need to disable the gpgcheck
    WARNING: by setting ‘gpgcheck=0’ in the repository conf file.
    Created /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-5.2-0.5.5.0-rhel7.6-x86_64-ext.tgz

  4. Open the tarball.

    cd /tmp/

    tar -xvf /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-5.2-0.5.5.0-rhel7.6-x86_64-ext.tgz

  5. Create a YUM repository configuration file called “/etc/yum.repos.d/mlnx_ofed.repo” with the following content:
    [mlnx_ofed] name=MLNX_OFED Repository
    baseurl=file:////RPMS
    enabled=1
    gpgcheck=0

  6. Check that the repository was successfully added.

    yum repolist

    Loaded plugins: product-id, security, subscription-manager
    This system is not registered to Red Hat Subscription Management. You can use subscription-manager to register.
    repo id repo name status
    mlnx_ofed MLNX_OFED Repository 108
    rpmforge RHEL 6Server – RPMforge.net – dag 4,597
    repolist: 8,351

Installing MLNX_OFED Using the YUM Tool
After setting up the YUM repository for MLNX_OFED package, perform the following:

  1. View the available package groups by invoking:

    yum search mlnx-ofed-

    mlnx-ofed-all.noarch : MLNX_OFED all installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-all-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED all-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-basic.noarch : MLNX_OFED basic installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-basic-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED basic-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-bluefield.noarch : MLNX_OFED bluefield installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-bluefield-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED bluefield-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk.noarch : MLNX_OFED dpdk installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-upstream-libs.noarch : MLNX_OFED dpdk-upstream-libs installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-upstream-libs-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED dpdk-upstream-libs- user-only installer package
    (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED dpdk-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-eth-only-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED eth-only-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-guest.noarch : MLNX_OFED guest installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-guest-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED guest-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-hpc.noarch : MLNX_OFED hpc installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-hpc-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED hpc-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-hypervisor.noarch : MLNX_OFED hypervisor installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-hypervisor-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED hypervisor-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-kernel-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED kernel-only installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-eth installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-eth-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-vpi installer package (with KMP support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi-user-only.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-vpi-user-only installer package (User Space packages only
    where:**** mlnx-ofed-all| Installs all available packages in MLNX_OFED
    ---|---
    mlnx-ofed-basic| Installs basic packages required for running NVIDIA cards
    mlnx-ofed-guest| Installs packages required by guest OS
    mlnx-ofed-hpc| Installs packages required for HPC
    mlnx-ofed-hypervisor| Installs packages required by hypervisor OS
    mlnx-ofed-vma| Installs packages required by VMA
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth| Installs packages required by VMA to work over Ethernet
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi| Installs packages required by VMA to support VPI
    bluefield| Installs packages required for BlueField
    dpdk| Installs packages required for DPDK
    dpdk-upstream-libs| Installs packages required for DPDK using RDMA-Core
    kernel-only| Installs packages required for a non-default kernel

Note: MLNX_OFED provides kernel module RPM packages with KMP support for RHEL and SLES. For other operating systems, kernel module RPM packages are provided only for the operating system’s default kernel. In this case, the group RPM packages have the supported kernel version in their package’s name.
Example:
mlnx-ofed-all-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED all installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc21.x8 6_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-basic-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED basic installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc2 1.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-guest-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED guest installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc2 1.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-hpc-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED hpc installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc21.x8 6_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-hypervisor-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED hypervisor installer package for kernel 3.17.401.fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc21.x8 6_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-eth-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-eth installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301. fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-vpi installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301. fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-hypervisor-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED hypervisor installer package for kernel 3.17.401.fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301.fc21.x8 6_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-eth-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-eth installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301. fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi-3.17.4-301.fc21.x86_64.noarch : MLNX_OFED vma-vpi installer package for kernel 3.17.4-301. fc21.x86_64 (without KMP support)
When using an operating system different than RHEL or SLES, or you have installed a kernel that is not supported by default in MLNX_OFED, you can use the mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh script to build MLNX_OFED for your kernel.
The script will automatically build the matching group RPM packages for your kernel so that you can still install MLNX_OFED via yum.
Please note that the resulting MLNX_OFED repository will contain unsigned RPMs, therefore, you should set ‘gpgcheck=0’ in the repository configuration file.

  1. Install the desired group.

    yum install mlnx-ofed-all

    Loaded plugins: langpacks, product-id, subscription-manager
    Resolving Dependencies
    –> Running transaction check
    —> Package mlnx-ofed-all.noarch 0:3.1-0.1.2 will be installed
    –> Processing Dependency: kmod-isert = 1.0-OFED.3.1.0.1.2.1.g832a737.rhel7u1 for package: mlnx-ofedall-3.1-0.1.2.noarch
    ………………
    ………………
    qperf.x86_64
    0:0.4.9-9
    rds-devel.x86_64
    0:2.0.7-1.12
    rds-tools.x86_64
    0:2.0.7-1.12
    sdpnetstat.x86_64
    0:1.60-26
    srptools.x86_64
    0:1.0.2-12
    Complete!

Installing MLNX_OFED using the “YUM” tool does not automatically update the firmware.
To update the firmware to the version included in MLNX_OFED package, run:

yum install mlnx-fw-updater

Installing MLNX_OFED Using apt-get
This type of installation is applicable to Debian and Ubuntu operating systems.
Setting up MLNX_OFED apt-get Repository

  1. Log into the installation machine as root.

  2. Extract the MLNX_OFED package on a shared location in your network.
    It can be downloaded from https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking /  → Products →  Software →  InfiniBand Drivers.

  3. Create an apt-get repository configuration file called “/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mlnx_ofed.list” with the following content:
    deb file://DEBS ./

  4. Download and install NVIDIA’s Technologies GPG-KEY.

    wget -qO – http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox

    | sudo apt-key add –

  5. Verify that the key was successfully imported.

    apt-key list

    pub 1024D/A9E4B643 2013-08-11
    uid Mellanox Technologies < [email protected] >
    sub 1024g/09FCC269 2013-08-11

  6. Update the apt-get cache.

    sudo apt-get update

Setting up MLNX_OFED apt-get Repository Using –add-kernel-support

  1. Log into the installation machine as root.

  2. Mount the ISO image on your machine and copy its content to a shared location in your network.

    mount -o ro,loop MLNX_OFED_LINUX---.iso /mnt

  3. Build the packages with kernel support and create the tarball.

    /mnt/mlnx_add_kernel_support.sh –make-tgz <optional –kmp> -k $(uname -r) -m

    /mnt/
    Note: This program will create MLNX_OFED_LINUX TGZ for rhel7.6 under /tmp directory.
    Do you want to continue?[y/N]:y
    See log file /tmp/mlnx_iso.4120_logs/mlnx_ofed_iso.4120.log
    Checking if all needed packages are installed…
    Building MLNX_OFED_LINUX RPMS . Please wait…
    Creating metadata-rpms for 3.10.0-957.21.3.el7.x86_64 …
    WARNING: If you are going to configure this package as a repository, then please note
    WARNING: that it contains unsigned rpms, therefore, you need to disable the gpgcheck
    WARNING: by setting ‘gpgcheck=0’ in the repository conf file.
    Created /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-5.2-0.5.5.0-rhel7.6-x86_64-ext.tgz

  4. Open the tarball.

    cd /tmp/

    tar -xvf /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-5.2-0.5.5.0-rhel7.6-x86_64-ext.tgz

  5. Create an apt-get repository configuration file called “/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mlnx_ofed.list” with the following content:
    deb [trusted=yes] file://DEBS ./

  6. Update the apt-get cache.

    sudo apt-get update

Installing MLNX_OFED Using the apt-get Tool
After setting up the apt-get repository for MLNX_OFED package, perform the following:

  1. View the available package groups by invoking:

    apt-cache search mlnx-ofedapt-cache search mlnx-ofed ……..

    knem-dkms – DKMS support for mlnx-ofed kernel modules
    mlnx-ofed-kernel-dkms – DKMS support for mlnx-ofed kernel modules
    mlnx-ofed-kernel-utils – Userspace tools to restart and tune mlnx-ofed kernel modules
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi – MLNX_OFED vma-vpi installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-kernel-only – MLNX_OFED kernel-only installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-bluefield – MLNX_OFED bluefield installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-hpc-user-only – MLNX_OFED hpc-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-user-only – MLNX_OFED dpdk-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-all-exact – MLNX_OFED all installer package (with DKMS support) (exact)
    mlnx-ofed-all – MLNX_OFED all installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi-user-only – MLNX_OFED vma-vpi-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-eth-only-user-only – MLNX_OFED eth-only-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-user-only – MLNX_OFED vma-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-hpc – MLNX_OFED hpc installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-bluefield-user-only – MLNX_OFED bluefield-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk – MLNX_OFED dpdk installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth-user-only – MLNX_OFED vma-eth-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-all-user-only – MLNX_OFED all-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth – MLNX_OFED vma-eth installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-vma – MLNX_OFED vma installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-upstream-libs-user-only – MLNX_OFED dpdk-upstream-libs-user- only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-basic-user-only – MLNX_OFED basic-user-only installer package (User Space packages only)
    mlnx-ofed-basic-exact – MLNX_OFED basic installer package (with DKMS support) (exact)
    mlnx-ofed-basic – MLNX_OFED basic installer package (with DKMS support)
    mlnx-ofed-dpdk-upstream-libs – MLNX_OFED dpdk-upstream-libs installer package (with DKMS support)
    where:**** mlnx-ofed-all| MLNX_OFED all installer package
    ---|---
    mlnx-ofed-basic| MLNX_OFED basic installer package
    mlnx-ofed-vma| MLNX_OFED vma installer package
    mlnx-ofed-hpc| MLNX_OFED HPC installer package
    mlnx-ofed-vma-eth| MLNX_OFED vma-eth installer package
    mlnx-ofed-vma-vpi| MLNX_OFED vma-vpi installer package
    knem-dkms| MLNX_OFED DKMS support for mlnx-ofed kernel modules
    kernel-dkms| MLNX_OFED kernel-dkms installer package
    kernel-only| MLNX_OFED kernel-only installer package
    bluefield| MLNX_OFED bluefield installer package
    mlnx-ofed-all-exact| MLNX_OFED mlnx-ofed-all-exact installer package
    dpdk| MLNX_OFED dpdk installer package
    mlnx-ofed-basic-exact| MLNX_OFED mlnx-ofed-basic-exact installer package
    dpdk-upstream-libs| MLNX_OFED dpdk-upstream-libs installer package

  2. Install the desired group.
    apt-get install ‘
    Example:
    apt-get install mlnx-ofed-all

Installing MLNX_OFED using the “apt-get” tool does not automatically update the firmware.
To update the firmware to the version included in MLNX_OFED package, run:

apt-get install mlnx-fw-updater

Performance Tuning
Depending on the application of the user’s system, it may be necessary to modify the default configuration of network adapters based on the ConnectX® adapters. In case that tuning is required, please refer to the Performance Tuning Guide for NVIDIA Network Adapters.
Windows Driver Installation
For Windows, download and install the latest WinOF-2 for Windows software package available via the NVIDIA website at: WinOF-2 webpage. Follow the installation instructions included in the download package (also available from the download page).
The snapshots in the following sections are presented for illustration purposes only. The installation interface may slightly vary, depending on the operating system in use.
Software Requirements

Description Package
Windows Server 2022 MLNX_WinOF2-_All_x64.exe

Windows Server 2019
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2012 R2
Windows 11 Client (64 bit only)
Windows 10 Client (64 bit only)
Windows 8.1 Client (64 bit only)

Note: The Operating System listed above must run with administrator privileges.
Downloading WinOF-2 Driver
▣ To download the .exe file according to your Operating System, please follow the steps below:

  1. Obtain the machine architecture.
    a. To go to the Start menu, position your mouse in the bottom-right corner of the Remote Desktop of your screen.
    b. Open a CMD console (Click Task Manager–>File –> Run new task and enter CMD).
    c. Enter the following command.
    echo %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%
    On an x64 (64-bit) machine, the output will be “AMD64”.

  2. Go to the WinOF-2 web page at: https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking / > Products > Software > InfiniBand Drivers (Learn More) > Nvidia WinOF-2.

  3. Download the .exe image according to the architecture of your machine (see Step 1).  The name of the .exe is in the following format: MLNXWinOF2-.exe.

Installing the incorrect .exe file is prohibited. If you do so, an error message will be displayed.
For example, if you install a 64-bit .exe on a 32-bit machine, the wizard will display the following (or a similar) error message: “The installation package is not supported by this processor type. Contact your vendor”

Installing WinOF-2 Driver
The snapshots in the following sections are for illustration purposes only. The installation interface may slightly vary, depending on the used operating system.
This section provides instructions for two types of installation procedures, and both require administrator privileges:

  • Attended Installation
    An installation procedure that requires frequent user intervention.

  • Unattended Installation
    An automated installation procedure that requires no user intervention.

Attended Installation
The following is an example of an installation session.

  1. Double click the .exe and follow the GUI instructions to install MLNX_WinOF2.

  2. [Optional] Manually configure your setup to contain the logs option (replace “LogFile” with the relevant directory).
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v”/l*vx [LogFile]”

  3. [Optional] If you do not want to upgrade your firmware version (i.e., MT_SKIPFWUPGRD default value is False).
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v” MT_SKIPFWUPGRD=1″

  4. [Optional] If you do not want to install the Rshim driver, run.
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v” MT_DISABLE_RSHIM_INSTALL=1″
    The Rshim driver installanion will fail if a prior Rshim driver is already installed. The following fail message will be displayed in the log:
    “ERROR!!! Installation failed due to following errors: MlxRshim drivers installation disabled and MlxRshim drivers Installed, Please remove the following oem inf files from driver store:

  5. [Optional] If you want to skip the check for unsupported devices, run.
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v” SKIPUNSUPPORTEDDEVCHECK=1″

  6. Click Next in the Welcome screen.

  7. Read and accept the license agreement and click Next.

  8. Select the target folder for the installation.

  9. The firmware upgrade screen will be displayed in the following cases:
    – If the user has an OEM card. In this case, the firmware will not be displayed.
    – If the user has a standard NVIDIA® card with an older firmware version, the firmware will be updated accordingly. However, if the user has both an OEM card and a NVIDIA® card, only the NVIDIA® card will be updated.

  10. Select a Complete or Custom installation, follow Step a onward. a. Select the desired feature to install:
    – Performances tools – install the performance tools that are used to measure performance in user environment
    – Documentation – contains the User Manual and Release Notes
    – Management tools – installation tools used for management, such as mlxstat
    – Diagnostic Tools – installation tools used for diagnostics, such as mlx5cmd
    b. Click Next to install the desired tools.

  11. Click Install to start the installation.

  12. In case firmware upgrade option was checked in Step 7, you will be notified if a firmware upgrade is required (see ****).

  13. Click Finish to complete the installation.

Unattended Installation
If no reboot options are specified, the installer restarts the computer whenever necessary without displaying any prompt or warning to the user.
To control the reboots, use the /norestart or /forcerestart standard command- line options.
The following is an example of an unattended installation session.

  1. Open a CMD console-> Click Start-> Task Manager File-> Run new task-> and enter CMD.

  2. Install the driver. Run:
    MLNXWinOF2-[Driver/Version]All-Arch.exe /S /v/qn

  3. [Optional] Manually configure your setup to contain the logs option:
    MLNXWinOF2-[Driver/Version]All-Arch.exe /S /v/qn /v”/l*vx [LogFile]”

  4. [Optional] if you wish to control whether to install ND provider or not (i.e., MT_NDPROPERTY default value is True).
    MLNXWinOF2-[Driver/Version]_All_Arch.exe /vMT_NDPROPERTY=1

  5. [Optional] If you do not wish to upgrade your firmware version (i.e.,MT_SKIPFWUPGRD default value is False).
    MLNXWinOF2-[Driver/Version]_All_Arch.exe /vMT_SKIPFWUPGRD=1

  6. [Optional] If you do not want to install the Rshim driver, run.
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v” MT_DISABLE_RSHIM_INSTALL=1″
    The Rshim driver installanion will fail if a prior Rshim driver is already installed. The following fail message will be displayed in the log:
    “ERROR!!! Installation failed due to following errors: MlxRshim drivers installation disabled and MlxRshim drivers Installed, Please remove the following oem inf files from driver store:

  7. [Optional] If you want to enable the default configuration for Rivermax, run.
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v”MT_RIVERMAX=1 /l*vx C:\Users\\log.txt “

  8. [Optional] If you want to skip the check for unsupported devices, run/
    MLNXWinOF2_All_Arch.exe /v” SKIPUNSUPPORTEDDEVCHECK=1″

Firmware Upgrade
If the machine has a standard NVIDIA® card with an older firmware version, the firmware will be automatically updated as part of the NVIDIA® WinOF-2 package installation. For information on how to upgrade firmware manually, please refer to MFT User Manual.
If the machine has a DDA (pass through) facility, firmware update is supported only in the Host.
Therefore, to update the firmware, the following must be performed:

  1. Return the network adapters to the Host.
  2. Update the firmware according to the steps in the MFT User Manual.
  3. Attach the adapters back to VM with the DDA tools.

VMware Driver Installation
This section describes VMware Driver Installation.
Hardware and Software Requirements

Requirement Description
Platforms A server platform with an adapter card based on NVIDIA ConnectX-6

Lx (EN) (firmware: fw-ConnectX6 Lx)
Operating System| ESXi 6.5
Installer Privileges| The installation requires administrator privileges on the target machine.

Installing NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere
Please uninstall all previous driver packages prior to installing the new version.
To install the driver:

  1. Log into the ESXi server with root permissions.

  2. Install the driver.

    > esxcli software vib install –d /

    Example:

    > esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/MLNX-NATIVE-ESX-

    ConnectX-4-5_4.16.8.8-10EM-650.0.0.4240417.zipesxcli

  3. Reboot the machine.

  4. Verify the driver was installed successfully.
    esxcli software vib list | grep nmlx
    nmlx5-core 4.16.8.8-1OEM.650.0.0.4240417 MEL PartnerSupported 2017-01-31
    nmlx5-rdma 4.16.8.8-1OEM.650.0.0.4240417 MEL PartnerSupported 2017-01-31

After the installation process, all kernel modules are loaded automatically upon boot.
Removing Earlier NVIDIA Drivers
  Please unload the previously installed drivers before removing them.
To remove all the drivers:

  1. Log into the ESXi server with root permissions.

  2. List all the existing NATIVE ESXi driver modules. (See Step 4 in Installing NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere.)

  3. Remove each module:

    > esxcli software vib remove -n nmlx5-rdma

    > esxcli software vib remove -n nmlx5-core

    To remove the modules, you must run the command in the same order as shown in the example above.

  4. Reboot the server.

Firmware Programming

  1. Download the VMware bootable binary images v4.6.0 from the Firmware Tools (MFT) site.
    a. ESXi 6.5 File: mft-4.6.0.48-10EM-650.0.0.4598673.x86_64.vib
    b. MD5SUM: 0804cffe30913a7b4017445a0f0adbe1

  2. Install the image according to the steps described in the MFT User Manual.

The following procedure requires custom boot image downloading, mounting and booting from a USB device.

Updating Adapter Firmware

Each adapter card is shipped with the latest version of qualified firmware at the time of manufacturing. However, NVIDIA issues firmware updates occasionally that provide new features and bug fixes. To check that your card is programmed with the latest available firmware version, download the mlxup firmware update and query utility. The utility can query for available NVIDIA adapters and indicate which adapters require a firmware update. If the user confirms, mlxup upgrades the firmware using embedded images. The latest mlxup executable and documentation are available in mlxup – Update and Query Utility.
Firmware Update Example
[server1]# ./mlxup
Querying Mellanox devices firmware …
Device Type: ConnectX-6 Lx
Part Number: MCX631105AE-GDAT
Description: ConnectX®-6 Lx EN adapter card, 50GbE, Single-port QSFP28, PCIe 4.0 x8, Crypto Enabled, No Secure Boot, Tall Bracket
PSID: MT_2190110032
PCI Device Name: 0000:06:00.0
Base GUID: e41d2d0300fd8b8a
Versions: Current Available
FW 16.23.1020 16.24.1000
Status: Update required
Device Type: ConnectX-6 Lx
Part Number: MCX631105AE-GDAT
Description: ConnectX®-6 Lx EN adapter card, 50GbE, Single-port QSFP28, PCIe 4.0 x8, Crypto Enabled, No Secure Boot, Tall Bracket
PSID: MT_2170110021
PCI Device Name: 0000:07:00.0
Base MAC: 0000e41d2da206d4
Versions: Current Available
FW 16.24.1000 16.24.1000
Status: Up to date
Perform FW update? [y/N]: y
Device #1: Up to date
Device #2: Updating FW … Done
Restart needed for updates to take effect.
Log File: /var/log/mlxup/mlxup-yyyymmdd.log

Troubleshooting

General Troubleshooting

Server unable to find the adapter| • Ensure that the adapter is placed correctly
• Make sure the adapter slot and the adapter are compatible Install the adapter in a different PCI Express slot
• Use the drivers that came with the adapter or download the latest
• Make sure your motherboard has the latest BIOS
• Try to reboot the server
---|---
The adapter no longer works| • Reseat the adapter in its slot or a different slot, if necessary
• Try using another cable
• Reinstall the drivers for the network driver files may be damaged or deleted
• Reboot the server
Adapters stopped working after installing another adapter| • Try removing and re-installing all adapters
• Check that cables are connected properly
• Make sure your motherboard has the latest BIOS
Link indicator light is off| • Try another port on the switch
• Make sure the cable is securely attached
• Check you are using the proper cables that do not exceed the recommended lengths
• Verify that your switch and adapter port are compatible
Link light is on, but with no communication established| • Check that the latest driver is loaded
• Check that both the adapter and its link are set to the same speed and duplex settings
Event message received of insufficient power| • When [ adapter’s current power consumption ] > [ PCIe slot advertised power limit ] – a warning message appears in the server’s system even logs (Eg. dmesg: “Detected insufficient power on the PCIe slow”)
• It’s recommended to use a PCIe slot that can supply enough power.
• If a message of the following format appears – “mlx5_core 0003:01:00.0: port_module:254:(pid 0): Port module event[error]: module 0, Cable error, One or more network ports have been powered down due to insufficient/unadvertised power on the PCIe slot” please upgrade your Adapter’s firmware.
• If the message remains – please consider switching from Active Optical Cable (AOC) or transceiver to Direct Attached Copper (DAC) connectivity.

Linux Troubleshooting

Environment Information| cat /etc/issue uname -a
cat /proc/cupinfo | grep ‘model name’ | uniq
ofed_info -s ifconfig -a ip link show
ethtool
ethtool -i ibdev2netdev
---|---
Card Detection| lspci | grep -i Mellanox
Mellanox Firmware Tool (MFT)| Download and install MFT: MFT Documentation 
Refer to the User Manual for installation instructions. Once installed, run:
mst start mst status
flint -d q
Ports Information| ibstat ibv_devinfo
Firmware Version Upgrade| To download the latest firmware version, refer to the NVIDIA Update and Query Utility.
Collect Log File| cat /var/log/messages dmesg >> system.log
journalctl (Applicable on new operating systems) cat /var/log/syslog

Windows Troubleshooting

Environment Information| From the Windows desktop choose the Start menu and run: msinfo32
To export system information to a text file, choose the Export option from the File menu.
Assign a file name and save.
---|---
Mellanox Firmware Tool (MFT)| Download and install MFT: MFT Documentation
Refer to the User Manual for installation instructions.
Once installed, open a CMD window and run:
WinMFT
mst start
mst status
flint –d q
Ports Information| vstat
Firmware Version Upgrade| Download the latest firmware version using the PSID/board ID from here.
flint –d –i b
Collect Log File| • Event log viewer
• MST device logs:
• mst start
• mst status
• flint –d dc > dump_configuration.log
• mstdump dc > mstdump.log

Specifications

MCX631102AC-ADAT / MCX631102AE-ADAT / MCX631102AN-ADAT / MCX631102AS-ADAT

Physical Size : 3.79in. x 2.71in (96.30mm x 68.90mm)

Connector: Dual SFP28 Ethernet (copper and optical)
Protocol Support| Data Rate| Ethernet| 1/10/25 Gb/s
Ethernet : 25GBASE-R, 20GBASE-KR2, 10GBASE-LR,10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-CX4, 10GBASE- CR, 10GBASE-KR, SGMII, 1000BASE-CX, 1000BASE-KX, 10GBASE-SR
PCI Express Gen 3.0/4.0 : SERDES @ 16.0GT/s, 8 lanes (2.0 and 1.1 compatible)
Power and Airflow (a)| Voltage : 12V
Power| Cable| PCIe Gen 3.0| PCIe Gen 4.0
Typical Power (b)| Passive Cables| 10.73W| 11.53W
Maximum Power| Passive Cables| 12.14W| 12.94W
Voltage : 3.3Aux Maximum current: 100mA
Airflow Requirements @ 55C (c)| Cable Type| Hot Aisle – Heatsink to Port
Passive Cable| 300LFM
Active 0.8W Cable| 350LFM
Active 1.5W Cable(d)| 400LFM
Environmental| Temperature| Operational| 0°C to 55°C
Non-operational| -40°C to 70°C(e)
Humidity| Operational| 10% to 85% relative humidity
Non-operational| 10% to 90% relative humidity
Altitude (Operational)| 3050m
Regulatory| Safety| CB / cTUVus / CE
EMC| CE / FCC / VCCI / ICES / RCM
RoHS| RoHS compliant

a. Power numbers are provided for passive cables only. For board power numbers while using active cables, please add the outcome of the following formula to the passive cables power numbers stated above: Active_Module_Power x Number_of_Modules x 1.1 (efficiency factor)
b. Typical power for ATIS traffic load.
c. Airflow is measured in wind tunnel.
d. The LFM number is based on a thermotical 1.5W module. The actual LFM requirement may change depending on the active module thermal design.
e. The non-operational storage temperature specifications apply to the product without its package.

MCX631105AC-GDAT / MCX631105AE-GDAT / MCX631105AN-GDAT

Physical Size : 3.79in. x 2.71in (96.30mm x 68.90mm)

Connector: Single QSFP28 Ethernet (copper and optical)

Protocol Support

| Data Rate| Ethernet| 1/10/25/50 Gb/s
Ethernet : 50GBASE-R2, 50GBASE-R4, 25GBASE-R, 20GBASE-KR2, 10GBASE-LR ,10GBASE-ER, 10GBASE-CX4, 10GBASE-CR, 10GBASE-KR, SGMII, 1000BASE-CX, 1000BASE-KX, 10GBASE-SR
PCI Express Gen 3.0/4.0 : SERDES @ 16.0GT/s, 8 lanes (2.0 and 1.1 compatible)
Power and Airflow (a)| Voltage : 12V
Power| Cable Type| PCIe Gen 3.0| PCIe Gen 4.0
Typical Power (b)| Passive Cables| 11.72W| 11.93W
Maximum Power| Passive Cables| 13.02W| 13.23W
Voltage : 3.3Aux Maximum current: 100mA
Maximum power available through QSFP28 port: 2.5W (each port)
Airflow Requirements @ 55C| | Hot Aisle – Heatsink to Port
Passive Cable| 250LFM
Active 1.8W NVIDIA 50G Cable| 350LFM
Environmen tal| Temperature| Operational| 0°C to 55°C
Non-operational| -40°C to 70°C(c)
Humidity| Operational| 10% to 85% relative humidity
Non-operational| 10% to 90% relative humidity
Altitude (Operational)| 3050m
Regulatory| Safety| CB / cTUVus / CE
EMC| CE / FCC / VCCI / ICES / RCM
RoHS| RoHS compliant

a. Power numbers are provided for passive cables only. For board power numbers while using active cables, please add the outcome of the following formula to the passive cables power numbers stated above: Active_Module_Power x Number_of_Modules x 1.1 (efficiency factor)
b. Typical power for ATIS traffic load.
c. The non-operational storage temperature specifications apply to the product without its package.
Board Mechanical Drawing and Dimensions
3D model of the cards are available through the customer portal following login.
All dimensions are in millimeters. The mechanical tolerances are as follows:

  • Width: +/- 0.13mm
  • Height:  +0/-0.13mm

Dual-Port SFP28 x8 Adapter Cards Mechanical Drawing| Single-Port QSFP28 x8 Adapter Cards Mechanical Drawing
---|---
|

Bracket Mechanical Drawing
All dimensions are in millimeters. The mechanical tolerances is +/- 0.2mm.
Single-Port QSF28 Adapter Card

Short Bracket Tall Bracket

Dual-Port SFP28 Adapter Card

Short Bracket Tall Bracket

Monitoring

Thermal Sensors
The adapter card incorporates the ConnectX IC, which operates in the range of temperatures between 0°C and 105°C.
Three thermal threshold definitions impact the overall system operation state:

  • Warning – 105°C: On managed systems only: When the device crosses the 105°C threshold, a
  • Warning Threshold message is issued by the management SW, indicating to system administration that the card has crossed the warning threshold. Note that this temperature threshold does not require nor lead to any action by hardware (such as adapter card shutdown).
  • Critical – 115°C: When the device crosses this temperature, the firmware automatically shuts down the device.
  • Emergency – 130°C: If the firmware fails to shut down the device upon crossing the critical threshold, the device automatically shuts down upon crossing the emergency (130°C) threshold.

The card’s thermal sensors can be read through the system’s SMBus. The user can read these thermal sensors and adapt the system airflow following the readouts and the needs of the abovementioned IC thermal requirements.
Adapter Card Heatsink
The heatsink is attached to the ConnectX-6 Lx IC in order to dissipate the heat. It is attached either by using four spring-loaded push pins that insert into four mounting holes, or by screws. ConnectX-6 Lx IC has a thermal shutdown safety mechanism that automatically shuts down the ConnectX-6 Lx card in cases of high-temperature event, improper thermal coupling or heatsink removal. For the required airflow (LFM) per OPN, please refer to the Specifications chapter.

Finding the MAC on the Adapter Card

Each NVIDIA adapter card has a different identifier printed on the label: serial number and the card MAC for the Ethernet protocol.
The product revisions indicated on the labels in the following figures do not necessarily represent the latest revisions of the cards.

Document Revision History

Date Description of Changes
May. 2023 • Updated Specifications to include non-operational storage

temperature specifications
• Updated airflow specifications
Nov. 2022| Updated Specifications
Aug. 2022| • Added MCX631102AS-ADAT support across the document.
• Updated the memory component.
Jun, 2022| Updated the brackets’ mechanical tolerance.
Jun. 2022| Updated board and bracket dimensions and mechanical tolerances.
May. 2022| Updated bracket dimensions.
Feb. 2022| Added table “Legacy (EOL) Ordering Part Numbers”.
Jun. 2021| Updated Interfaces.
Aug. 2020| First release

Notice
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