Mellanox Technologies MCX313A-BCBT? MCX314A-BCBT User manual

www.mellanox.com
ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+
Port Adapter Card User Manual
P/N:
MCX313A-BCBT, MCX314A-BCBT
Rev 1.7

Mellanox Technologies
350 Oakmead Parkway Suite 100
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
U.S.A.
www.mellanox.com
Tel: [phone]
Mellanox Technologies, Ltd.
Beit Mellanox
PO Box 586 Yokneam 20692
Israel
www.mellanox.com
Tel: [phone]
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Mellanox®, Mellanox logo®, BridgeX®, ConnectX®, CORE-Direct®, InfiniBridge®, InfiniHost®, InfiniScale®, PhyX®,
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All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Document Number: 3688
ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User ManualRev 1.7
Mellanox Technologies
2
NOTE:
THIS HARDWARE, SOFTWARE OR TEST SUITE PRODUCT (“PRODUCT(S)”) AND ITS RELATED DOCUMENTATION ARE
PROVIDED BY MELLANOX TECHNOLOGIES “AS-IS” WITH ALL FAULTS OF ANY KIND AND SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE
OF AIDING THE CUSTOMER IN TESTING APPLICATIONS THAT USE THE PRODUCTS IN DESIGNATED SOLUTIONS. THE
CUSTOMER'S MANUFACTURING TEST ENVIRONMENT HAS NOT MET THE STANDARDS SET BY MELLANOX
TECHNOLOGIES TO FULLY QUALIFY THE PRODUCT(S) AND/OR THE SYSTEM USING IT. THEREFORE, MELLANOX
TECHNOLOGIES CANNOT AND DOES NOT GUARANTEE OR WARRANT THAT THE PRODUCTS WILL OPERATE WITH THE
HIGHEST QUALITY. ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL MELLANOX BE LIABLE TO CUSTOMER OR ANY THIRD PARTIES FOR ANY DIRECT,
INDIRECT, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PAYMENT FOR PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY,
OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY FROM THE USE OF THE PRODUCT(S) AND
RELATED DOCUMENTATION EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Firmware and Software Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Chapter 1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.1 Supported Network Protocol Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.1.1 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.2 Adapter Cards Covered in this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 Finding the MAC and Serial Number on the Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.4 SafetyWarnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 2 Adapter Card Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1 I/OInterfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.1 Ethernet Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.2 PCI Express Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.3 LED Assignment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1.4 I2C-compatible Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3 Power Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4 Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.1 System Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.2 SPI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.4.3 EEPROM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Chapter 3 Ethernet Adapter Card Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1 Hardware Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.2 Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3 Identify the Card in Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.1 On Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.2 On Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.4 Cables and Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.4.1 Cable Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Chapter 4 Driver Software and Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1 Driver Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.1 Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.2 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.2 FlexBoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3 RDMA over Converged Ethernet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
4.3.1 Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.4 Updating Adapter Card Firmware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Appendix A Specifications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
A.1 MCX313A-BCBT Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
A.2 MCX314A-BCBT Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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A.3 Board Mechanical Drawing and Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
A.4 Regulatory Statements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Appendix B Interface Connectors Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
B.1 I2C-compatible Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
B.2 PCI Express x8 Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
B.3 QSFP+ Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Appendix C Replacing a Tall Bracket With a Short Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
C.1 Replacing a Bracket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
C.2 Removing the Existing Bracket from the Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
C.3 Installing the New Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Appendix D Avertissements de sécurité d’installation (Warnings in French) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Appendix E Sicherheitshinweise (Warnings in German). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Appendix F Advertencias de seguridad para la instalación (Warnings in Spanish) . . . . . . . . . 45

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
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List of Tables
Table 1: Revision History Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Table 2: Documents List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 3: Single and Dual-port 40 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Cards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 4: Physical and Logical Link Indication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Table 5: Jumper Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Table 6: MCX31[34]-BCBT VPD Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 7: MCX313A-BCBT Specifications Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Table 8: MCX314A-BCBT Specifications Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 9: I2C-compatible Connector Pinout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Table 10: Connector Pin Number and Name to Signal Name Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Card Product Label (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Figure 2: MCX314A-BCBT Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 3: Dual-port Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 4: Single-port Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 5: I2C-compatible Connector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 6: PCI Device. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 7: Device Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 8: Support Download Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 9: Mechanical Drawing of the Single-port MCX313A-BCBT Adapter Card. . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 10: Mechanical Drawing of the Dual-port MCX314A-BCBT Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 11: Compatible Connector Plug and Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 12: PCIe Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 13: Connector and Cage Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 14: Bracket Screws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 15: Gasket Location on Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 16: Gasket Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 17: Placing the Bracket on the Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
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Revision History
This document was printed on November 14, 2012.
Table 1 - Revision History Table
Date Rev Comments/Changes
November 2012 1.7 • Updated Web links in the following locations:
October 2012 1.66 •FixedTable 5, “Jumper Configuration,” on page 17
• Updated figures in Section 4.1.2, “Windows,” on page 24 by pro-
viding ConnectX-3 examples
August 2012 1.5 • Added operational and non-operational temperature and humid-
ity level to the following tables:
May 2012 1.4 • Removed “Blinking indicates a problem with the physical link”
from Table 4, “Physical and Logical Link Indication,” on
page 16
April 2012 1.3 • Updated power numbers in Table 7, “MCX313A-BCBT Specifi-
cations Table,” on page 30 and Table 8, “MCX314A-BCBT
Specifications Table,” on page 31
January 2012 1.2 • Minor edits
• Updated LED functions in Section 2.1.3, “LED Assignment,” on
page 16
• Formatted specification tables in Appendix A, “Specifications,”
on page 30
October 2011 1.1 Added new OPNs based on ConnectX-3 Step A1 devices
July 2011 1.0 Minor edits
July 2011 0.10 First Release
- Section 4.3.1, “Hardware and Software Requirements,” on
page 27
- Table 7, “MCX313A-BCBT Specifications Table,” on page 30
- Table 8, “MCX314A-BCBT Specifications Table,” on page 31
- Table 7, “MCX313A-BCBT Specifications Table,” on page 30
- Table 8, “MCX314A-BCBT Specifications Table,” on page 31

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About this Manual
This User Manual describes Mellanox Technologies ConnectX®-3 40 Gigabit Ethernet Single and
Dual QSFP+ port PCI Express x8 adapter cards. It provides details as to the interfaces of the
board, specifications, required software and firmware for operating the board, and relevant docu-
mentation.
Intended Audience
This manual is intended for the installer and user of these cards.
The manual assumes basic familiarity with Ethernet networks and architecture specifications.
Related Documentation
Table 2 -
Mellanox Firmware Tools (MFT) User Manual
Document no. 2204UG
User Manual describing the set of MFT firmware management tools for a
single node.
See http://www.mellanox.com => Support => Download Firmware Tools
IEEE Std 802.3 Specification This is the IEEE Ethernet specification
http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802
PCI Express 3.0 Specifications Industry Standard PCI Express 3.0 Base and Card Electromechanical
Specifications
Documents List
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.
Technical Support
Customers who purchased Mellanox products directly from Mellanox are invited to contact us
through the following methods.
•URL:http://www.mellanox.com => Support
• E-mail: [e-mail]
• Tel: [phone]
Customers who purchased Mellanox M-1 Global Support Services, please see your contract for
details regarding Technical Support.

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
Mellanox Technologies 9
Customers who purchased Mellanox products through a Mellanox approved reseller should first
seek assistance through their reseller.
Firmware and Software Updates
The Mellanox support downloader contains software, firmware and knowledge database informa-
tion for Mellanox products. Access the data base from the Mellanox Support web page,
http://www.mellanox.com => Support
or use the following link to go directly to the Mellanox Support Download Assistant page,
http://www.mellanox.com/supportdownloader/.

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1 Overview
This document is a User Manual for Mellanox Technologies Ethernet cards based on the Con-
nectX®-3 EN integrated circuit device. The cards described in this manual have the following
main features:
• IEEE Std. 802.3 compliant
• PCI Express 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through an x8 edge connector up to 8GT/s
• Single and Dual-port options available
- ESD protection on the network connector
• Compliant with QSFP+ MSA spec Rev. 1.0
• Compatible with copper cables and optical cables with the use of QSFP connectors. Support for
SFP+ cables is available through QSA (Quad to Serial)
• RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE)
• End-to-end QoS and congestion control
• Hardware-based I/O virtualization
• TCP/UDP/IP stateless off-load
• RoHS-R6 compliant
• Two bracket heights: short and tall
1.1 Supported Network Protocol Standards
1.1.1 10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet
10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet are Ethernet network protocol standards for LANs specifying data
transfer rates of 10 and 40Gb/s, respectively. Mellanox adapters comply with the following IEEE
802.3* standards:
• IEEE Std 802.3-2008 Ethernet
• IEEE Std 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
• IEEE Std 802.3ba 40 Gigabit Ethernet
• IEEE Std 802.3ad Link Aggregation and Failover

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1.2 Adapter Cards Covered in this Manual
Table 3 lists the single and dual-port 40 Gigabit Ethernet adapter cards.
Table 3 - Single and Dual-port 40 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Cards
Ordering Part Number
(OPN)
PCI Express
SERDES Speed
Data Transmis-
sion Rate/
# of ports
RoHS
IC
Part Number Device ID (decimal)
MCX313A-BCBT PCIe 3.0 x8
8GT/s
40GigE single-
port QSFP
R6 MT27518A1-FCCR-BE
MCX314A-BCAT
(Legacy product)
PCIe 3.0 x8
8GT/s
40GigE dual-port
QSFP
R6 MT27518A0-FCCR-BE
MCX314A-BCBT PCIe 3.0 x8
8GT/s
40GigE dual-port
QSFP
R6 MT27518A1-FCCR-BE
1.3 Finding the MAC and Serial Number on the Adapter Card
Each Mellanox adapter card has a label on the print side that shows the card serial number and the
card MAC for the Ethernet protocol.
Figure 1: Card Product Label (Example)
1.4 Safety Warnings
Below is a list of safety warnings in English. For safety warnings in other languages, please refer
to the appendices in this user manual.
• 4099 for Physical
Function
• 4100 for Virtual
Function
• 4099 for Physical
Function
• 4100 for Virtual
Function
• 4099 for Physical
Function
• 4100 for Virtual
Function

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1. Installation Instructions
Read all installation instructions before connecting the equipment to the power source.
2. Over-temperature
This equipment should not be operated in an area with an ambient temperature exceed-
ing the maximum recommended: 55°C (131°F).
To guarantee proper air flow, allow at least 8cm (3 inches) of clearance around the ven-
tilation openings.
3. During Lightning - Electrical Hazard
During periods of lightning activity, do not work on the equipment or connect or dis-
connect cables.
4. Copper Cable Connecting/Disconnecting
Some copper cables are heavy and not flexible, as such they should be carefully
attached to or detached from the connectors. Refer to the cable manufacturer for spe-
cial warnings and instructions.
5. Equipment Installation
This equipment should be installed, replaced, or serviced only by trained and qualified
personnel.
6.
Disposal of this equipment should be in accordance to all national laws and regula-
tions.
Equipment Disposal
7.
This equipment should be installed in compliance with local and national electrical
codes.
Local and National Electrical Codes

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
Mellanox Technologies 13
8. Hazardous Radiation Exposure
Caution – Use of controls or adjustment or performance of procedures other than
those specified herein may result in hazardous radiation exposure.
CLASS 1 LASER PRODUCT and reference to the most recent laser standards:
IEC 60 825-1:1993 + A1:1997 + A2:2001 and EN 60825-1:1994+A1:1996+
A2:2001

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2Adapter Card Interfaces
2.1 I/O Interfaces
Each adapter card includes the following interfaces:
• QSFP+ port(s)
• PCI Express (PCIe) x8 edge connector
• I/O panel LEDs
•I
2C-compatible connector (for debug)
Figure 2: MCX314A-BCBT Card
The adapter cards include special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when
plugging copper cables.
For dual-port cards, Port 1 connects to connector 1 of the device, while Port 2 connects to connec-
tor 2 of the device. See Figure 3 for the mechanical drawing of a dual-port bracket and Figure 4 for
the mechanical drawing of a single-port bracket.

ConnectX®-3 Ethernet Single and Dual QSFP+ Port Adapter Card User Manual Rev 1.7
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Figure 3: Dual-port Bracket
Figure 4: Single-port Bracket

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2.1.1 Ethernet Interface
The network ports of the ConnectX®-3 adapter cards are compliant with the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet
standards listed in Section 1.1.1, “10 and 40 Gigabit Ethernet,” on page 10. Ethernet traffic is
transmitted through the cards' QSFP+ connectors.
2.1.2 PCI Express Interface
The ConnectX®-3 adapter cards support PCI Express 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) throughanx8
edge connector. The device can be either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations or a
slave responding to PCI bus operations.
2.1.3 LED Assignment
There are two I/O LEDs per port in dual-port designs. See Table 4 for different LED functions.
Table 4 - Physical and Logical Link Indication
LED Function
Green - physical link • Constant on indicates a good physical link
• If neither LED is lit, then the physical link has not been established
Yellow -
logical (data activity
link)
• A blinking yellow indicates activity (data transfer)
• Stays off when there is no activity
The short bracket has the same port and LED footprints as the tall bracket.
2.1.4 I2C-compatible Interface
A three-pin header on the adapter cards is provided as the I2C-compatible interface. See Figure 10,
“Mechanical Drawing of the Dual-port MCX314A-BCBT Adapter Card,” on page 33 for the loca-
tion on the board.
Figure 5: I2C-compatible Connector

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Mellanox Technologies 17
2.2 Power
All adapter cards receive 12V and 3.3V power from the PCI Express edge connector. All other
required power voltages are generated by on-board switch mode regulators. See “Specifications”
on page 30.
2.3 Power Level
The adapter cards support power levels according to SFF Committee SFF-8436 Specification for
(Small Form-factor Pluggable) Transceiver.
2.4 Memory
The adapter cards support multiple memory devices through the PCIe, SPI (Flash) and I2C inter-
faces.
2.4.1 System Memory
The adapter cards utilize the PCI Express interface to store and access Ethernet fabric connection
information and packet data on the system memory.
2.4.2 SPI
Each of the adapter cards includes one 16MB SPI Flash device (M25PX16-VMN6P device by ST
Microelectronics) accessible via the SPI interface of the ConnectX®-3 device.
When a jumper is inserted into the drill holes in the adapter it indicates to the device that the on-
board Flash device should not be used for boot instructions. Contact your Mellanox support repre-
sentative should you need to use this jumper. Table 5 provides information on this jumper. The
jumper location on the board is illustrated in Appendix A.3, “Board Mechanical Drawing and
Dimensions,” on page 32.
Table 5 - Jumper Configuration
Description Option Card Default
Configuration
Flash present/
not present
connection open – Flash present
connection shorted – Flash not present
connection open –
Flash present

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2.4.3 EEPROM
Each board incorporates an EEPROM that is accessible through the I2C-compatible interface. The
EEPROM capacity is 4Kb. The EEPROM is used for storing the Vital Product Data (VPD).
The PCI VPD (Vital Product Data) layout for each of the adapter cards complies with the format
defined in the PCI 3.0 Specification, Appendix I.
Table 6 - MCX31[34]-BCBT VPD Layout
Offset
(Decimal) Item Value Format Description
0Large Resource Type ID
String Tag (0x02)
0x82
1Length [7:0] LSB 0x18
2Length [15:8] MSB 0x0
3Data CX314A - Con-
nectX-3 QSFP
STR
27 Large Resource Type VPD-R
Tag (0x10)
0x90
28 Length [7:0] LSB 0x4F
29 Length [15:8] MSB 0x00
30 VPD Keyword PN STR Add in Card Part Number
32 Length 0x15
33 Part Number PN %STR_SPC
54 VPD Keyword EC STR Engineering Change Level of
the card (rev)
56 Length 0x2
57 Revision RV %STR PCB revision
59 VPD Keyword SN STR Serial Number
61 Length 0x18
62 SerialNumber SN %STR_SPC “00..00XXXX..XX”
86 VPD Keyword V0 STR Misc Information
88 Length 0x10
89 Data PCIe Gen3 x8 STR_SPC
105 VPD Keyword RV STR
107 Length 0x1
108 Data 0,107 %CS0
109 Large Resource Type VPD-W
Tag (0x11)
0x91
110 Length [7:0] LSB 0x8F
111 Length [15:8] MSB 0xF
112 VPD Keyword V1 STR EFI Driver version
114 Length 0x6
115 Data N/A STR_SPC
121 VPD Keyword YA STR Asset Tag
123 Length 0x18
124 Data N/A STR_SPC “N/A”

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Mellanox Technologies 19
148 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
150 Length 0x69
151 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
256 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
258 Length 0xfd
259 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
512 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
514 Length 0xfd
515 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
768 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
770 Length 0xfd
771 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
1024 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
1026 Length 0xfd
1027 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
1280 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
1282 Length 0xfd
1283 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
1536 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
1538 Length 0xfd
1539 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
1792 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
1794 Length 0xfd
1795 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
2048 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
2050 Length 0xfd
2051 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
2304 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
2306 Length 0xfd
2307 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
2560 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
2562 Length 0xfd
2563 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
2816 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
2818 Length 0xfd
2819 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
3072 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
3074 Length 0xfd
3075 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
3328 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
3330 Length 0xfd
3331 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
3584 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
3586 Length 0xfd
Offset
(Decimal) Item Value Format Description

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3587 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
3840 VPD Keyword RW STR Remaining read/write area
3842 Length 0xfc
3843 Data STR_ZERO Reserved (0x00)
4095 Small Resource Type END
Tag (0x11)
0x78
Offset
(Decimal) Item Value Format Description