Mellanox Technologies MCX4131A-BCAT User manual

Mellanox Technologies
www.mellanox.com
ConnectX®-4 Lx Single 40/50 Gb/s Ethernet QSFP28
Port Adapter Card User Manual
P/N: MCX4131A-BCAT, MCX4131A-GCAT
Rev 1.9

Mellanox Technologies
350 Oakmead Parkway Suite 100
Sunnyvale, CA 94085
U.S.A.
www.mellanox.com
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
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NOTE:
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DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED BY MELLANOX TECHNOLOGIES AS-ISﺴ WITH ALL FAULTS OF ANY
KIND AND SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF AIDING THE CUSTOMER IN TESTING APPLICATIONS THAT
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ENVIRONMENT HAS NOT MET THE STANDARDS SET BY MELLANOX TECHNOLOGIES TO FULLY
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DAMAGE.
Doc #: MLNX-15-5644 2Mellanox Technologies

Rev 1.9 3Mellanox Technologies
Table of Contents
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1 Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.2 Operating Systems/Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.3 Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.4 Features and Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Chapter 2 Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Ethernet QSFP28 Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 PCI Express Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.3 LEDs Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 3 Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.1 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.2 Operating Systems/Distributions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.3 Software Stacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.2 Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.3 Pre-installation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.4 Bracket Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4.1 Removing the Existing Bracket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4.2 Installing the New Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5 Adapter Card Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.6 Cables and Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6.1 Cable Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.6.2 Adapter Card Un-installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.6.3 Card Un-installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.7 Identify the Card in Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.7.1 On Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.7.2 On Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Chapter 4 Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1 Linux Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1.1 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Rev 1.9 4Mellanox Technologies
4.1.2 Downloading Mellanox OFED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.1.3 Installing Mellanox OFED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
4.1.3.1 Installation Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.1.3.2 Installation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3.3 Installation Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3.4 openibd Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3.5 Driver Load Upon System Boot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.3.6 mlnxofedinstall Return Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.4 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.5 Installing MLNX_OFED using YUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.5.1 Setting up MLNX_OFED YUM Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.5.2 Installing MLNX_OFED using the YUM Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.5.3 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED using the YUM Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1.6 Installing MLNX_OFED using apt-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1.6.1 Setting up MLNX_OFED apt-get Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.1.6.2 Installing MLNX_OFED using the apt-get Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.6.3 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED using the apt-get Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.7 Updating Firmware After Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.7.1 Updating the Device Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.7.2 Updating the Device Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.7.3 Updating the Device Firmware Automatically upon System Boot . . . . . 35
4.1.8 UEFI Secure Boot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1.8.1 Enrolling Mellanox's x.509 Public Key On your Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1.8.2 Removing Signature from Kernel Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.1.9 Performance Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.2 Windows Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.1 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.2 Downloading Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.2.3 Installing Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2.3.1 Attended Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.2.3.2 Unattended Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.4 Installation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.2.5 Extracting Files Without Running Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.2.6 Uninstalling Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.6.1 Attended Uninstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.7 Firmware Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.2.8 Performance Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4.3 VMware Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.1 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.2 Installing VMware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.3.3 Removing Previous Mellanox Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.3.4 Loading/Unloading Driver Kernel Modules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Rev 1.9 5Mellanox Technologies
4.3.5 Firmware Programming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Chapter 5 Updating Adapter Card Firmware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
5.1 Firmware Update (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Chapter 6 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
6.2 Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
6.3 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 7 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.1 MCX4131A-BCAT Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
7.2 MCX4131A-GCAT Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
7.3 Airflow Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
7.4 Adapter LEDs Operations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.5 Board Mechanical Drawing and Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
7.6 Bracket Mechanical Drawing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Appendix A Interface Connectors Pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
A.1 QSFP28 Connector Pinouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
A.2 PCI Express x8 Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Appendix B Finding the MAC and Serial Number on the Adapter Card . . . . 64
Appendix C Safety Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Appendix D Avertissements de sécurité d’installation (Warnings in French) 67
Appendix E Sicherheitshinweise (Warnings in German) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Appendix F Advertencias de seguridad para la instalación (Warnings in Spanish) 71

Rev 1.9 6Mellanox Technologies
List of Tables
Table 1: Revision History Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 2: Related Documents List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 3: Single-port 40/50 Gb/s Ethernet Adapter Card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Table 4: Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Table 5: Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Table 6: mlnxofedinstall Return Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Table 7: Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Table 8: Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Table 9: MCX4131A-BCAT Specifications Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Table 10: MCX4131A-GCAT Specifications Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Table 11: Physical and Logical Link Indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Table 12: Connector Pin Number and Name to Signal Name Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Rev 1.9 7Mellanox Technologies
List of Figures
Figure 1: PCI Device (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 2: Installation Results (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 3: Mechanical Drawing of the MCX4131A-BCAT/MCX4131A-GCAT Adapter Card . . . . . . . 59
Figure 4: Single-port Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure 5: Connector and Cage Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 6: PCIe x8 Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 7: MCX4131A-BCAT Board Label (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 8: MCX4131A-GCAT Board Label (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Rev 1.9 8Mellanox Technologies
Revision History
This document was printed on January 30, 2018.
Table 1 - Revision History Tables
Date Rev Comments/Changes
January 2017 1.9 • Added a note to System Requirements on page 16.
June 2017 1.8 • Updated Cable Installation on page 19
• Updated Adapter LEDs Operations on page 59
June 2017 1.7 • Updated the following tables:
•MCX4131A-BCAT Specifications on page 56
•MCX4131A-GCAT Specifications on page 57
September 2016 1.6 • Updated Adapter Card Installation Instructions on page 18
• Added Adapter Card Un-installation InstructionsSafety Precautions on
page 20
• Updated the following tables:
•MCX4131A-BCAT Specifications on page 56
•MCX4131A-GCAT Specifications on page 57
August 2016 1.5 • Updated Cable Installation on page 19
• Updated Adapter LEDs Operations on page 59
April 2016 1.4 Updated Adapter LEDs Operations on page 59
March 2016 1.3 • Removed I2C-compatible Interface on page 21
• Updated Features and Benefits on page 13
February 2016 1.2 Updated Installing the New Bracket on page 17
February 2016 1.1 • Updated Linux Driver on page 23
• Updated Windows Driver on page 38
• Updated VMware Driver on page 49
• Added note to Finding the MAC and Serial Number on the Adapter Card
on page 64
December 2015 1.0 First Release

Rev 1.9 9Mellanox Technologies
About this Manual
This User Manual describes Mellanox Technologies ConnectX®-4 Lx 40/50 Gb/s Ethernet Sin-
gle QSFP28 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 network and architecture specifications.
Related Documentation
Table 2 - Related Documents List
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 => Products => Software => Firm-
ware Tools
Mellanox Firmware Utility (mlxup) User
Manual and Release Notes
Mellanox firmware update and query utility used to update the
firmware.
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Firm-
ware Tools => mlxup Firmware Utility
Mellanox OFED for Linux
User Manual
Document no. 2877
User Manual describing OFED features, performance, tools con-
tent and configuration.
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers => Mellanox OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution for
Linux (MLNX_OFED)
WinOF-2 for Windows
User Manual
Document no: MLNX-15-3280
User Manual describing WinOF-2 features, performance, tools
content and configuration.
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers
WinOF-2 for Windows
Release Notes
Release notes for Mellanox Technologies WinOF-2 for Ethernet
drivers for Mellanox adapter cards:
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers
Mellanox MLX4_EN Driver for VMware
README
Document no. 3527
User Manual describing MLX4_EN driver for VMware features,
performance, diagnostic, tools content and configuration.
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers => VMware Drivers
Mellanox EN for Linux Driver Release
Notes
Release notes for Mellanox Technologies' MLNX_EN for Linux
driver kit for Mellanox adapter cards:
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers => Mellanox EN for Linux

Rev 1.9 10Mellanox Technologies
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
Mellanox VMware for Ethernet User Man-
ual
Document no. MLNX-15-4896
User Manual describing the various components of the Mellanox
ConnectX®-4 NATIVE ESXi stack:
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers => VMware Driver => User Manual v4.15.2.0
Mellanox VMware for Ethernet Release
Notes
Release notes for Mellanox ConnectX®-4 NATIVE ESXi stack:
See http://www.mellanox.com => Products => Software => Ether-
net Drivers => VMware Driver => Release Notes
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 Electromechan-
ical Specifications
https://pcisig.com/specifications
Table 2 - Related Documents List

Introduction
Rev 1.9 11Mellanox Technologies
1 Introduction
This is the User Guide for Mellanox Technologies Ethernet adapter cards based on the Con-
nectX®-4 Lx integrated circuit device. These adapters connectivity provide the highest perform-
ing and most flexible interconnect solution for PCI Express Gen3 servers used in Enterprise Data
Centers, High-Performance Computing, and Embedded environments.
This chapter covers the following topics:
• Section 1.1, “Product Overview,” on page 11
• Section 1.2, “Operating Systems/Distributions,” on page 11
• Section 1.3, “Connectivity,” on page 12
• Section 1.4, “Features and Benefits,” on page 13
1.1 Product Overview
The following section provides the ordering part number, port speed, number of ports, and PCI
Express speed.Each adapter comes with two bracket heights - short and tall.
Table 3 - Single-port 40/50 Gb/s Ethernet Adapter Card
1.2 Operating Systems/Distributions
• RHEL/CentOS
• FreeBSD
•VMware
• OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED)
• OpenFabrics Windows Distribution (WinOF-2)
Ordering Part Number (OPN) MCX4131A-BCAT - single-port
MCX4131A-GCAT - single-port
Data Transmission Rate MCX4131A-BCAT - 1/10/25/40 Gb/s Ethernet
MCX4131A-GCAT - 1/10/25/40/50 Gb/s Ethernet
Network Connector Types Single-port QSFP28
PCI Express (PCIe) SerDes Speed PCIe 3.0 x8 8GT/s
RoHS R6
Adapter IC Part Number MCX4131A-BCAT - MT27711A0-FDCF-BE
MCX4131A-GCAT - MT27711A0-FDCF-GE
Device ID (decimal) 4117 for Physical Function (PF)
4118 for Virtual Function (VF)

Introduction
Rev 1.9 12Mellanox Technologies
1.3 Connectivity
• Interoperable with 1/10/25/40/50 Gb/s Ethernet switches
• Passive copper cable with ESD protection
• Powered connectors for optical and active cable support

Introduction
Rev 1.9 13Mellanox Technologies
1.4 Features and Benefits
Table 4 - Featuresa
PCI Express (PCIe) Uses PCIe Gen 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through an x8 edge connector up to
8GT/s
Up to Gigabit Ethernet
Mellanox adapters comply with the following IEEE 802.3 standards:
–50GbE / 40GbE / 25GbE / 10GbE / 1GbE
– 25G Ethernet Consortium 25, 50 Ethernet Consortium 50
– IEEE 802.3ba 40 Gigabit Ethernet
– IEEE 802.3by 25 Gigabit Ethernet
– IEEE 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
– IEEE 802.3az Energy Efficient 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
PCI Express - stores and accesses Ethernet fabric connection information and
packet data.
SPI - includes one 16MB SPI Flash device (W25Q128FVSIG device by WIN-
BOND-NUVOTON).
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. ConnectX-4 Lx effectively addresses this
by providing advanced NVGRE and VXLAN hardware offloading engines that
encapsulate and de-capsulate the overlay protocol header as well as offloads TCP
stateless activities on the encapsulated packet.
RDMA and RDMA over
Converged Ethernet
(RoCE)
ConnectX-4 Lx, utilizing IBTA RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) tech-
nology, delivers low-latency and high-performance over Ethernet networks.
Leveraging data center bridging (DCB) capabilities as well as ConnectX-4 Lx
advanced congestion control hardware mechanisms, RoCE provides efficient
low-latency RDMA services over Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks.
Mellanox PeerDirect™
PeerDirect™ communication provides high efficiency RDMA access by eliminat-
ing unnecessary internal data copies between components on the PCIe bus (for
example, from GPU to CPU), and therefore significantly reduces application run
time. ConnectX-4 Lx advanced acceleration technology enables higher cluster
efficiency and scalability to tens of thousands of nodes.
CPU Offload Adapter functionality enabling reduced CPU overhead allowing more available
CPU for computation tasks.

Introduction
Rev 1.9 14Mellanox Technologies
Quality of Service (QoS) Support for port-based Quality of Service enabling various application require-
ments for latency and SLA.
Hardware-based I/O
Virtualization
ConnectX-4 Lx provides dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation
and protection for virtual machines within the server.
Storage Acceleration
A consolidated compute and storage network achieves significant cost-perfor-
mance advantages over multi-fabric networks. Standard block and
file access protocols can leverage RDMA for high-performance storage access.
SR-IOV ConnectX-4 Lx SR-IOV technology provides dedicated adapter resources and
guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual machines (VM) within the server.
a. This section describes hardware features and capabilities. Please refer to the driver release notes for feature availability. See
Table 2, “Related Documents List,” on page 9.
Table 4 - Featuresa

Interfaces
Rev 1.9 15Mellanox Technologies
2 Interfaces
Each adapter card includes the following interfaces:
•“Ethernet QSFP28 Interface”
• “PCI Express Interface”
•“LEDs Interface”
The adapter cards include special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when
plugging copper cables.
2.1 Ethernet QSFP28 Interface
The network ports of the ConnectX®-4 Lx adapter cards are compliant with the IEEE 802.3
Ethernet standards listed in Table 4, “Features,” on page 13. Ethernet traffic is transmitted
through the cards' QSFP28 connectors.
2.2 PCI Express Interface
The ConnectX®-4 Lx adapter cards support PCI Express 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through an
x8connector. The device can be either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations or a
slave responding to PCI bus operations. The following lists PCIe interface features:
• PCIe Gen 3.0 compliant, 1.1 and 2.0 compatible
• 2.5, 5.0, or 8.0GT/s link rate x8
• Auto-negotiates to x8, x4, x2, or x1
• Support for MSI/MSI-X mechanisms
2.3 LEDs Interface
There is one bi-color I/O LED per port. For LEDs specifications, please refer to Section 7.4,
“Adapter LEDs Operations,” on page 59.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.9 16Mellanox Technologies
3 Hardware Installation
3.1 System Requirements
3.1.1 Hardware
A system with a PCI Express x8 connector slot is required for installing the card.
3.1.2 Operating Systems/Distributions
Please refer to Section 1.2, “Operating Systems/Distributions,” on page 11.
3.1.3 Software Stacks
Mellanox OpenFabric software package - MLNX_OFED for Linux, WinOF-2 for Windows and
VMware. See Chapter 4,“Driver Installation” on page 23.
3.2 Safety Precautions
1. Remove any metallic objects from your hands and wrists.
2. Make sure to use only insulated tools.
3. Verify that the system is powered off and is unplugged.
4. It is strongly recommended to use an ESD strap or other antistatic devices.
3.3 Pre-installation Checklist
1. Verify that your system meets the hardware and software requirements stated above.
2. Shut down your system if active.
3. After shutting down the system, turn off power and unplug the cord.
4. Remove the card from its package.
5. Please note that the card must be placed on an antistatic surface.
6. Check the card for visible signs of damage. Do not attempt to install the card if damaged.
Unless otherwise specified, Mellanox products are designed to work in an environ-
mentally controlled data center with low levels of gaseous and dust (particulate) con-
tamination.
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.
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.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.9 17Mellanox Technologies
3.4 Bracket Installation Instructions
The card is usually shipped with a tall bracket installed. If this form factor is suitable for your
requirements, you can skip the remainder of this section and move to Section 3.5, “Adapter
Card Installation Instructions,” on page 18. If you need to replace it with the short bracket
that is included in the shipping box, please follow the instructions in this section.
To replace the bracket you will need the following parts:
• The new bracket of the proper height
• The 2 screws saved from the removal of the bracket
3.4.1 Removing the Existing Bracket
1. Remove the two screws holding the bracket in place. The bracket comes loose from the card.
3.4.2 Installing the New Bracket
1. Place the bracket onto the card until the screw holes line up.
2. Screw on the bracket using the screws and washers saved from the bracket removal procedure
above.
3. Make sure that the LEDs are aligned onto the bracket holes.
4. Use a torque driver to apply up to 2.9 lbf-in torque on the screws.
Due to risk of damaging the EMI gasket, it is not recommended to replace the bracket
more than three times.
Be careful not to put stress on the LED.
Do not force the bracket onto the card. You may have to gently push the LEDs using a
small screwdriver to align the LEDs with the holes in the bracket.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.9 18Mellanox Technologies
3.5 Adapter Card Installation Instructions
1. Before installing the card, make sure that the system is off and the power cord is not con-
nected to the server. Please follow proper electrical grounding procedures.
2. Open the system case.
3. Locate an available PCI Express slot for the adapter card.
4. Applying even pressure at both corners of the card, insert the adapter card into the PCI
Express slot until firmly seated.
Please note that the following images are for illustration purposes only.
A lesser width adapter can be seated into a greater width slot (x8 in a x16), but a
greater width adapter cannot be seated into a lesser width slot (x16 in a x8). Align the
adapter connector edge with the PCI Express connector slot.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.9 19Mellanox Technologies
5. When the adapter is properly seated, the port connectors are aligned with the slot opening,
and the adapter faceplate is visible against the system chassis.
6. Secure the adapter with the adapter clips or screws.
7. Close the system case.
3.6 Cables and Modules
To obtain the list of supported cables for your adapter, please refer to:
http://www.mellanox.com/products/interconnect/cables-configurator.php
3.6.1 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.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.9 20Mellanox Technologies
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. After inserting a cable into a port, the GreenLED indicator
will light when 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
Section 7.4, “Adapter LEDs Operations,” on page 59.
3. 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 Section 7.4,
“Adapter LEDs Operations,” on page 59.
4. 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.
5. 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.
3.7 Adapter Card Un-installation Instructions
3.7.1 Safety Precautions
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.
3.7.2 Card Un-installation
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).
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.
Please note that the following images are for illustration purposes only.