Dolphin PXH822 User manual

PXH822 User’s Guide – Dolphin Interconnect Solutions Page 1
Dolphin PCI Express PXH822 Adapter
PXH822 Transparent Adapter Users Guide
Version 1.0
Date: 1st November 2019

PXH822 User’s Guide – Dolphin Interconnect Solutions Page 2

PXH822 User’s Guide – Dolphin Interconnect Solutions Page 3
Table of Contents
DISCLAIMER................................................................................................................................................................ 4
TERMS AND ACRONYMS............................................................................................................................................. 4
PXH822 HIGH LEVEL SPECIFICATION ........................................................................................................................... 5
SPECIFICATIONS ...................................................................................................................................................................5
PACKAGING ................................................................................................................................................................ 6
PRE-INSTALLATION QUESTIONS.................................................................................................................................. 6
PCIE SLOT DETERMINATION...................................................................................................................................................6
PXH822 HOST /TARGET CONFIGURATION...............................................................................................................................6
OPERATING ENVIRONMENT....................................................................................................................................................6
CABLE PORTS AND CONNECTIONS............................................................................................................................................7
Cable ports................................................................................................................................................................... 7
PCI Express 3.0 cables.................................................................................................................................................. 7
MiniSAS-HD cables....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Active Optical Cables (AOC) ......................................................................................................................................... 7
CMI FUNCTIONALITY ............................................................................................................................................................7
REAR-IO........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
INSTALLATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 8
STEP 1-UNPACK BOARD .......................................................................................................................................................8
STEP 2-CONFIGURE THE BOARD FOR PROPER OPERATION ..........................................................................................................8
DIP Switch Bank –Configuration ................................................................................................................................. 8
DIP-Switch settings for Host operation........................................................................................................................ 9
DIP-Switch settings for Target operation................................................................................................................... 10
STEP 3-INSTALL THE ADAPTER CARD..................................................................................................................................... 10
STEP 4-INSTALLING AND REMOVING THE CABLE...................................................................................................................... 10
Connecting the Cable................................................................................................................................................. 10
Disconnecting the Cable ............................................................................................................................................ 11
STEP 6-VERIFY INSTALLATION &LEDS..................................................................................................................................11
USE CASES........................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Use Case A - 1 Host –Single Expansion Configuration .............................................................................................. 12
Use Case B –1 Host - Dual Expansion Configuration................................................................................................. 13
Use Case C –1 Host - Quad Expansion Configuration ............................................................................................... 13
EEPROM AND FIRMWARE UPGRADE ....................................................................................................................................14
IDENTIFYING THE CARD........................................................................................................................................................ 14
TECHNICAL INFORMATION ........................................................................................................................................15
PCIE CABLE PORT SIGNALS ..................................................................................................................................................15
EXTERNAL PCIE X4CABLE CONNECTOR PIN-OUT .....................................................................................................................15
PCIE CABLE PORT MAPPING ................................................................................................................................................15
COMPLIANCE AND REGULATORY TESTING.................................................................................................................16
LIMITED WARRANTY..................................................................................................................................................17
WARRANTY PERIOD............................................................................................................................................................17
COVERAGE........................................................................................................................................................................ 17
SERVICE PROCEDURE ..........................................................................................................................................................17
PRODUCT REVISION HISTORY ....................................................................................................................................18

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BMC FIRMWARE VERSIONS .................................................................................................................................................18
EEPROM VERSIONS ..........................................................................................................................................................18
SUPPORT..........................................................................................................................................................................18
DISCLAIMER
DOLPHIN INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE CHANGES WITHOUT FURTHER NOTICE TO ANY OF ITS
PRODUCTS TO IMPROVE RELIABILITY, FUNCTION, OR DESIGN.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DOLPHIN WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST PROFITS, LOST DATA, OR LOSS OF USE) ARISING OUT OF ANY USE OF DOLPHIN’S
PRODUCTS, SOFTWARE OR SERVICE PROVIDED. DOLPHIN’S MAXIMUM LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID FOR
THE PRODUCT BY THE PURCHASER.
Do not use information in this guide to design your own card, always reference the original PCI-SIG or VITA Specification for details.
LIFE SUPPORT POLICY
DOLPHIN INTERCONNECT SOLUTIONS’ PRODUCTS ARE NOT AUTHORIZED FOR USE AS CRITICAL COMPONENTS IN LIFE SUPPORT
DEVICES.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
Dolphin is minimizing the amount of printed documentation and software CDs in its shipments; please download additional
documentation and software from www.dolphinics.com.
Terms and Acronyms
Important terms and acronyms used in this manual
AOC Active Optical Cable. PCIe fiber cable assembly with SFF-8644 connector. Available from Dolphin, orderable part
number MSFCxxxM (where xxx is the length in meters).
CMI Cable Management Interface. The 2-wire management interface for communication between subsystems
connected by a PCIe 3.0 cable. Details can be found in the PCI-SIG External Cabling Specification 3.0.
BMC Microcontroller on the PXH822 used to manage card functionality and CMI communications.
eXpressWare Dolphins software stack for PCIe clustering and IO. Please visit www.dolphinics.com for more information.
Lane One PCI Express Lane contains a differential pair for transmission and a differential pair for reception.
Link A collection of one or more PCI Express Lanes providing the communication path between an Upstream and
Downstream Port.
MiniSAS-HD Standard cable without CMI support. SFF-8644 connectors.
PCIe 3.0 cable PCIe cable compliant to the new PCI-SIG External Cabling Specification 3.0. Support for CMI. SFF-8644
connectors.
Port The PXH822 has four x4 ports, named P1, P2, P3, P4. The physical ports are identified by text on the Front panel
face plate.
Wake A mechanism used by a downstream device to request the reapplication of main power when in the L2 Link
state.

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PXH822 High Level Specification
The PXH822 is a PCI Express Gen3 x8 Transparent XMC adapter card that can be configured as a Transparent Host Adapter card or a
Target Target adapter card. Once installed in any compliant XMC slot, the PXH822 can connect to another PXH822, MXH832,
MXH833 or PXH832 configured for Transparent Target operation or any target device compliant to the PCI Express External Cabling
Specification 3.0.
The PXH822 supports PCIe Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3 speeds and x1, x2, x4, x8 and x16 link-widths both at the XMC connector side and
cable link side. The card will operate at the highest common speed shared between the XMC Carrier card and the PXH822 (up to
Gen3) and the widest common link-width (up to x16 using both P15 and P16 XMC connectors).
Specifications
•ANSI/VITA 42.3-2006 (R2014) Single Width Mezzanine Card
•ANSI/VITA 42.0-2016
•PCI Express Base Specification, Rev. 3.0.
•PCI Express CEM Specification, Rev. 3.0.
•PCI Express External Cabling specification 3.0 (Work in progress, rev 0.9)
•PCI Express Gen3 8.0 GT/s per lane signaling –128 GT/s total signaling.
•XMC 1.0 Connectors
oXMC P15 PCI Express Gen3 x8, x4, x2 or x1 host connection.
oXMC P16 PCI Express Gen3 x8, support x16 Host merged with P15. Can be configured for REAR-
IO.
•Compliant with PCI Express Gen1 through Gen3 computers and IO systems, auto detection.
•The PXH822 supports transparent connections to IO systems (Host and Target operation).
•Quad SFF-8644 cable connector
oDurability max total 250 mating cycles
•Cable port configurations, up to
oOne x16
oTwo x8
oFour x4
•Broadcom / Avago / PLX PEX8733 PCI Express Gen3 chipset.
•132 nanosecond cut-through latency port to port.
•Support for MiniSAS-HD copper cables up to 9 meters (between PXH822 cards, room temperature).
•Support for PCI Express 3.0 copper cables with CMI.
•Support for PCIe Gen3 active optical fibers up to 100 meters.
•Host clock isolation. Automatic support for host running CFC or SSC mode.
•VAUX powered board management controllers for flexible configuration and cable management.
•EEPROM recovery option.
•No PCI Express power domain isolation.
•Supports both 5- and 12-Volt XMC VPWR power supply.
•Power consumption:
o12- or 5-Volt supply: Max 14 Watt, typical 10 Watts without AOC attached.
o+3.3 Volt AUX: Max 1 Watt
•Port power supply (per cable port): 3.3 Volt +/- 5%, 0.6 A
•Operating Temperature: 0°C - 55°C (32°F - 131°F), Air Flow: 150 LFM
•Operating Temperature with AOC: 0°C - 45°C (32°F - 113°F), Air Flow: 150 LFM
•Relative Humidity: 5% - 95% (non- condensing)
•Regulatory
oCE
oRoHS
oFCC Class A.
oWEEE

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Packaging
The PXH822 includes the following components.
•PXH822 Adapter Board.
•Face plate for SFF-8644 connector.
•6 screws for fixing the XMC and face plate.
•Anti-static bag.
Pre-Installation Questions
Certain steps should be taken prior to installing the PXH822. You should determine the following configuration requirements.
•Which XMC slot and system will the card be installed in?
•What is the speed and link width of the XMC carrier that the card will be installed in?
•Will the card be used as Transparent host or Transparent target operation ?
•What is the operating environment for the Host computer?
•What type and length of cables will be used?
•How to ensure proper operational conditions, temperature and air-flow.
PCIe Slot Determination
The PXH822 supports PCIe Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3 speeds and x1, x2, x4, x8 using XMC connector P15 and x16 link-widths using XMC
connector P15+P16. The slot width and speed will affect the performance of the card. The card will auto configure to the slot
speed and width.
PXH822 Host / Target Configuration
The PXH822 can act as either a host adapter or target adapter. The PXH822 has a DIP switch bank to control these functions. The
DIP switch labeled SW1 can be found close to the upper edge of the board. The main configuration options are host or target
operations . The default DIP switch setting is transparent host x16 operations. Additional settings are target operations, two x8
links, four x4 links or long cable tuning.
Operating Environment
To maximize lifetime for the product and maintain the warranty, please honor the specified operating temperature and make sure
the specified air flow is present:
Operating Temperature: 0°C - 55°C (32°F - 131°F), Air Flow: 150 LFM
Operating Temperature with AOC: 0°C - 45°C (32°F - 113°F), Air Flow: 150 LFM

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Cable Ports and Connections
The PXH822 is designed to support both long and short cables and comes with two types of PCIe link tuning
parameters. The default configuration supports cables between 0.5 and 3 meters or PCIe Gen3 fiber cables
(AOC). To use cables longer than 3 meters, please use DIP-Switch DIP4 to enable the long cable tuning. If you
are connecting the PXH822 to a compliant target device not designed by Dolphin, other settings or limitations
may apply.
The PXH822 cable connector is compliant to the SFF-8644 industry specification and supports standard x4/x8
Mini-SAS HD copper cables or x4/x8 PCI Express 3.0 cables compliant to the PCIe External Cabling Specification
3.0. Four x4 or two x8 cables are needed for full PCIe x16 connectivity.
Cable ports
The PXH822 has a quad SFF-8644 connector. Each port implements 4 PCIe lanes. The ports are
numbered as shown in Figure 1 Front panel below. The black thick line indicates the position of the
PCB.
PCI Express 3.0 cables
When used with cables compliant to the new PCIe External Cable standard 3.0, the PXH822 card will transmit
a CMI Reset message downstream. The card can be connected to a PXH822 in Target mode or any PCIe device
compliant to the new cable standard.
MiniSAS-HD cables
When used with standard MiniSAS-HD cables that does not support the new CMI functionality, the onboard
CPU will synthetize a PCIe #CPERST and forward it to the downstream PXH822 card. CWAKE and CPOWERON is
not supported using standard MiniSAS-HD cables.
Active Optical Cables (AOC)
The PXH822 card is compliant with active fiber optic cables available from Dolphin (Part no: MSFCxxx). No special configuration is
required. Up to 100-meter fiber cable is supported. CWAKE and CPOWERON is not supported using standard AOC cables.
CMI Functionality
The 8.10 firmware release supports the following CMI operations:
•Publishes card and CMI status information in readable memory map
•Supports sending CMI reset and power status messages
•Supports receiving CMI reset and status messages
•Supports receiving indicators (LED/messages).
REAR-IO
The PXH822 card is designed to support REAR-IO. Please contact Dolphin for more information.
Figure 1 Front
panel face plate

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Installation
Step 1 - Unpack board
The PXH822 card is shipped in an anti-static bag to prevent static electricity damage. The card should only be removed from the
bag after ensuring that anti-static precautions are taken. Static electricity from your clothes or work environment can
damage your PCI Express adapter card or your PC. Always wear a grounded anti-static wrist strap while opening the
PC and when the PXH822 is removed from the anti-static bag.
Unpack the PXH822 from the anti-static bag using proper anti-static procedures.
Step 2 - Configure the Board for Proper Operation
The PXH832 has one bank of 8 DIP switches. The default factory setting for the PXH822 is Transparent mode, short cable, single (up
to x16) link connection. The PXH822 has DIP switches for setting special modes or operations. Please carefully read the
documentation before modifying any DIP switch settings. Please pay close attention to ON and OFF positions written on the DIP
switch.
DIP Switch Bank –Configuration
Figure 2: DIP Switch shows the DIP switch for the PXH822. It is used to configure the
adapter card. Please leave all undocumented DIP switches in the default position. Table
1: DIP Switch settings shows all the various DIP switch settings for the PXH822. The
table below lists all options and DIP switch settings for the card
DIP no.
Description
ON
OFF
Default
1
Configuration selector, details next
page Step 2 - Configure the Board
for Proper Operation
ON
2
Enable Target or Host operation.
Adapter is configured for
transparent Target
operations
Adapter is configured for
transparent Host
operations
OFF
3
Configuration selector, details next
page
OFF
4
Enable long-cable configuration.
Please use same setting on both
Host and Target
Support cables of 4m
length and longer or
fiber optic cable
Supports cables of 0.4-3m
length
OFF
5
For future use
OFF
6
CMI Disable
Will DISABLE CMI
CMI is supported if a PCIe
3.0 cable is installed
OFF
7
Holds the management processors
in reset
Board management is
held in reset
Normal operation
OFF
8
Enables the card to boot if the
EEPROM has been corrupted
Safe EEPROM
Normal operation
OFF
Table 1: DIP Switch settings
Note: Some DIP switch configuration options may be changed in the future versions. Please always consult the latest
user guide for details. This document covers firmware version 8.10.
Figure 2: DIP Switch

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DIP-Switch settings for Host operation
The following DIP-Switch settings should be considered when configuring the PXH822 for Transparent Host operation
Configuration PXH832 Host
DIP ON
DIP switch view
Transparent Host
One x16 port
(Transp set /Shipping
Default)
DIP1
Transparent Host
One x16 port
Long cable tuning
DIP1
DIP4
Transparent Host
Two x8 ports
DIP1
DIP3
Transparent Host
Two x8 ports
Long cable tuning
DIP1
DIP3
DIP4
Transparent Host
Four x4 ports
Transparent Host
Four x4 ports
Long cable tuning
DIP4
Transparent Host
One x16 port
DMA
DIP3
Transparent Host
One x16 port
DMA + Long cable tuning
DIP3
DIP4
Table 2: PXH822 SW1 Host configuration settings
The transparent PXH822 DMA configuration setting will enable the onboard DMA engine. A special DMA driver is required to utilize
this DMA function.

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DIP-Switch settings for Target operation
The following DIP-Switch settings should be considered when configuring the PXH822 for Transparent Target operation:
Configuration PXH832 Target
DIP ON
DIP switch view
Transparent Target
x16 port (port 1+2+3+4)
x8 port (port 1+2)
x4 port (port 1)
DIP1
DIP2
Transparent Target
Long cable tuning
x16 port (port 1+2+3+4)
x8 port (port 1+2)
x4 port (port 1 or 4)
DIP1
DIP2
DIP4
Table 3: PXH832 SW1 Target configuration settings
Step 3 - Install the Adapter Card
Before installing the adapter card, make sure you are properly grounded to avoid static discharges that may destroy your computer
or the adapter card. Ensure you are properly grounded before opening your computer or the anti-static bag
containing the PXH822. Please follow your computer’s or expansion chassis manual on how to install a PCI Express
card.
The PXH822 Adapter card can be installed into any XMC 1.0 compliant carrier card. The PXH822 supports PCI Express
Gen1, Gen2 and Gen3 signaling. NOTE: A Gen3 slot is recommended as it typically doubles the performance compared to
a Gen2 slot. Using the XMC P15 connector, the host link will be up to x8. The PXH822 card supports x16 host connections
using both P15 and P16.
The PXH822 supports hosts using either spread spectrum or constant frequency clocking. The card implements clock isolation.
To install the card:
1. Ensure the PXH822 face plate is removed from the SFF8644 connector block.
2. Carefully slide the connector side of the PXH822 card through the carrier card front panel cut out.
3. Carefully align the XMC connectors to the connectors on the carrier card and push the PXH822 and the carrier card
together.
4. Mount the 4 screws to fix the PXH822 card to the carrier card.
5. Mount the PXH822 front panel face plate around the SFF-8644 connector block –align the LEDs and the holes in the face
plate. Fix the two screws.
Step 4 - Installing and Removing the Cable
Installing and removing cables should be done with both host and expansion system powered off. Please contact your Dolphin
representative if you intend to continuously connect and disconnect the PCI Express cables.
Connecting the Cable
Please carefully install the cable connector into the connector housing on the PXH822 adapter card. To install the cable, match the
cable house with the connector on the PXH822 adapter card. Use even pressure to insert the connector until it is secure. Adhere to
ESD guidelines when installing the cables to ensure you don’t damage the board. Computer cables should always use strain relief to
protect the connected equipment from excessive force on the cable. This is especially important for cables between racks. Note
that for wider than x4 connections, the same cable-ports (ie port 1 through 4) should be used on both host and target for each
individual cable, to ensure that the cards properly link up as x8 or x16.
The PXH822 supports both copper and active optical cables (AOC). Specifications can be found in Table 4. The max distance may
change when connecting to other PCIe products.
Cable
Speed
Distance
Copper MiniSAS-HD
Gen3
9 meter
Copper PCIe 3.0 cable
Gen3
TBD
Dolphin MSFC Fiber optic cable (AOC)
Gen3
100 meter