Mellanox Technologies MCX456M-ECAT User manual

Mellanox Technologieswww.mellanox.com
ConnectX®-4 VPI Dual Port QSFP28
Socket-Direct Adapter Card User
Manual for Dual-Socket Servers
P/N: MCX456M-ECAT
Rev 1.0

Mellanox Technologies
350 Oakmead Parkway Suite 100
Sunnyvale , CA 94085
U.S.A.
www.mellanox.com
Tel: [phone]
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NOTE:
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Doc#: MLNX-15-51195 2Mellanox Technologies

Rev 1.0 3Mellanox Technologies
Table of Contents
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
List of Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Revision History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About this Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Intended Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Related Documentations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Document Conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Firmware Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.1 Product Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2 Features and Benefits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.3 Operating Systems/Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.4 Connectivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.5 Manageability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 2 Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.1 InfiniBand Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2 EthernetQSFP28 Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 PCI Express Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.4 LED Interface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 3 Hardware Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1.1 Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2 Operating Systems/Distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2.1 Software Stacks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.3 Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.4 Pre-installation Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5 Bracket Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5.1 Removing the Existing Bracket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.5.2 Installing the New Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.6 Cards Installation Instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.7 Cables and Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.7.1 Cable Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
3.8 Cards Un-Installation Instructions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Rev 1.04 Mellanox Technologies
3.8.1 Safety Precautions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.8.2 Un-Installing the Cards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.9 Identify the Card in Your System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.9.1 On Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.9.2 On Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 4 Driver Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1 Linux Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.1 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.2 Downloading Mellanox OFED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.1.3 Installing Mellanox OFED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.1.3.1 Installation Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.3.2 Installation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3.3 Installation Logging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3.4 openibd Script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3.5 Driver Load Upon System Boot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.1.3.6 mlnxofedinstall Return Codes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.4 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.5 Installing MLNX_OFED using YUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.5.1 Setting up MLNX_OFED YUM Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.1.5.2 Installing MLNX_OFED using the YUM Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.1.5.3 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED using the YUM Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1.6 Installing MLNX_OFED using apt-get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1.6.1 Setting up MLNX_OFED apt-get Repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.1.6.2 Installing MLNX_OFED using the apt-get Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.1.6.3 Uninstalling Mellanox OFED using the apt-get Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1.7 Updating Firmware After Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1.7.1 Updating the Device Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1.7.2 Updating the Device Manually . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.1.7.3 Updating the Device Firmware Automatically upon System Boot . . . . . 40
4.1.8 UEFI Secure Boot. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.1.8.1 Enrolling Mellanox's x.509 Public Key On your Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.1.8.2 Removing Signature from Kernel Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4.1.9 Performance Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2 Windows Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2.1 Hardware and Software Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2.2 Downloading Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.2.3 Installing Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2.3.1 Attended Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2.3.2 Unattended Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2.4 Installation Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.2.5 Extracting Files Without Running Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4.2.6 Uninstalling Mellanox WinOF-2 Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
4.2.6.1 Attended Uninstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Rev 1.0 5Mellanox Technologies
4.2.6.2 Unattended Uninstallation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2.7 Firmware Upgrade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2.8 Deploying the Driver on a Nano Server. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2.8.1 Offline Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.2.8.2 Online Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
4.2.9 Performance Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Chapter 5 Updating Adapter Card Firmware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.1 Firmware Update Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Chapter 6 Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.1 General . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
6.2 Linux. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
6.3 Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Chapter 7 Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.1 MCX456M-ECAT Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
7.2 Airflow Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.3 Adapter Card LED Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
7.4 Board Mechanical Drawing and Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
7.5 Bracket Mechanical Drawings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Appendix A Interface Connectors Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
A.1 QSFP28 Connector Pinout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
A.2 PCI Express x8 Edge Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Appendix B Finding the GUID/MAC and Serial Number on the Adapter Card 72
Appendix C Safety Warnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Appendix D Avertissements de sécurité d’installation (Warnings in French) 75
Appendix E Sicherheitshinweise (Warnings in German) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Appendix F Advertencias de seguridad para la instalación (Warnings in Spanish) 79

Rev 1.06 Mellanox Technologies
List of Tables
Table 1: Revision History Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Table 2: Documents List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Table 3: Dual Port EDR Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Table 4: Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Table 5: Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Table 6: Hardware and Software Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Table 7: MCX456M-ECAT Specification Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Table 8: Physical and Logical Link Indications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Table 9: Slim-Line SAS Pinout Connector on the Auxiliary PCIe Connection Card . . . . . . . 68
Table 10: Slim-Line SAS Pinout Connector on the Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Rev 1.0 7Mellanox Technologies
List of Figures
Figure 1: PCI Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 2: Installation Results (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 3: Mechanical Drawing of the Dual-port Adapter Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 4: Mechanical Drawing of the Auxiliary PCIe Connection Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 5: Mechanical Drawing of the Slim-Line SAS Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 6: Adapter Card Tall Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 7: Auxiliary PCIe Connection Card Tall Bracket . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 8: Connector and Cage Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 9: PCIe x8 Edge Connector Pinout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 10: MCX456M-ECAT Board Label (Example) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Rev 1.08 Mellanox Technologies
Revision History
This document was printed on December 29, 2016.
Table 1 - Revision History Table
Date Rev Comments/Changes
December 2016 1.1 • Added Section 1.5, “Manageability,” on page 15
• Updated Section 3.1.1, “Hardware,” on page 17
• Updated Section 4.1.3.1, “Installation Procedure,” on page 31
•AddedSection 4.2, “Windows Driver,” on page 42
• Updated Section 5.1, “Firmware Update Example,” on page 57
October 2016 1.0 First Release

Rev 1.0 9Mellanox Technologies
About this Manual
This User Manual describes Mellanox Technologies ConnectX®-4 VPI adapter card supporting
Dual-Socket Servers. The kit includes an adapter card with dual QSFP28 ports with PCI Express
x8 edge connector, an auxiliary PCIe connection card with PCI Express x8 edge connector and a
Slim-Line SAS cable which connects both cards. The User Manual provides details as to the
interfaces of the adapter card, specifications, required software and firmware for operating the
adapter card, and relevant documentation.
Intended Audience
This manual is intended for the installer and user of these cards.
The manual assumes basic familiarity with InfiniBand® and Ethernet network architecture spec-
ifications.
Related Documentations
Table 2 - 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
=> Firmware Tools => mlxup Firmware Utility
Mellanox OFED for Linux
User Manual
Document no. 2877
User Manual describing OFED features, performance, InfiniBand
diagnostic, tools content and configuration. See http://www.mella-
nox.com => Products => Software => => Mellanox OpenFabrics
Enterprise Distribution for Linux (MLNX_OFED)
Mellanox OFED for Linux Release Notes Release Notes for Mellanox OFED for Linux driver kit for Mella-
nox adapter cards: See: http://www.mellanox.com =>Products =>
Software => => Linux SW/Drivers => Release Notes
WinOF-2 for Windows
User Manual
Document no. MLX-15-3280
User Manual describing WinOF-2 features, performance, Ethernet
diagnostic, tools content and configuration. See http://www.mella-
nox.com => Products => Software => => Windows SW/Drivers
Mellanox OFED for Windows Driver
Release Notes
Release notes for Mellanox Technologies' MLNX_EN for Linux
driver kit for Mellanox adapter cards: See http://www.mella-
nox.com => Products => Software => => Windows SW/Drivers
IBTA Specification Release 1.3 InfiniBand Architecture Specification:
http://www.infinibandta.org/content/pages.php?pg=technology_-
public_specification
IEEE Std 802.3 Specification This is the IEEE Ethernet specification
http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802

Rev 1.010 Mellanox 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.
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: [email protected]om
• Tel: [phone]
Customers who purchased Mellanox M-1 Global Support Services, please see your contract for
details regarding Technical Support.
Customers who purchased Mellanox products through a Mellanox approved reseller should first
seek assistance through their reseller.
Firmware Updates
The Mellanox support downloader contains software, firmware and knowledge database infor-
mation for Mellanox products. Access the database 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/.
PCI Express 3.0 Specifications Industry Standard PCI Express 3.0 Base and Card Electromechan-
ical Specifications
https://pcisig.com/specifications
Table 2 - Documents List

Introduction
Rev 1.0 11Mellanox Technologies
1 Introduction
This is the User Guide for Mellanox Technologies VPI adapter cards based on the ConnectX®-4
integrated circuit device. Mellanox offers an alternate ConnectX-4 Socket-Direct™ card for serv-
ers without x16 PCIe slots. The adapter’s 16-lane PCIe bus is split into two 8-lane buses, with
one bus accessible through a PCIe x8 edge connector and the other bus through an x8 parallel
connector to an Auxiliary PCIe Connection Card. The two cards should be installed into two
adjacent PCIe x8 slots and connected using a dedicated harness.
This chapter covers the following topics:
•Section 1.1, “Product Overview,” on page 12
•Section 1.2, “Features and Benefits,” on page 13
•Section 1.3, “Operating Systems/Distributions,” on page 14
•Section 1.4, “Connectivity,” on page 14
•Section 1.5, “Manageability,” on page 15
Adapter Card
Auxiliary PCIe
Harness
Slim Line SAS Cable
Connection Card

Rev 1.012 Mellanox Technologies
1.1 Product Overview
The following section provides the ordering part number, port speed, number of ports, and PCI
Express speed. The adapter card and auxiliary PCIe connection card come with tall brackets.
Table 3 - Dual Port EDR Adapter Card
Ordering Part Number (OPN)
MCX456M-ECAT includes the following components:
• Low Profile Adapter Card - Dual-port
• Auxiliary PCIe Connection Card
• Harness - Slim Line SAS Cable
Data Transmission Rate InfiniBand: SDR/DDR/QDR/EDR (100 Gb/s)
Ethernet: 10/25/40/50/100 Gb/s
Network Connector Types Dual-port QSFP28 located on the low profile adapter card
PCI Express (PCIe) SerDes Speed Dual PCIe 3.0 x8 8GT/s
RoHS R6
Adapter IC Part Number MT27708A0-FDCF-EVM
Device ID 4115 for Physical Function (PF)
4116 for Virtual Function (VF)

Introduction
Rev 1.0 13Mellanox Technologies
1.2 Features and Benefits
Table 4 - Featuresa
100Gb/s Virtual Protocol
Interconnect (VPI)
Adapter
ConnectX-4 offers the highest throughput VPI adapter, supporting EDR 100Gb/s
InfiniBand and 100Gb/s Ethernet and enabling any standard networking, cluster-
ing, or storage to operate seamlessly over any converged network leveraging a
consolidated software stack.
InfiniBand Architecture
Specification v1.3
compliant
ConnectX-4 delivers low latency, high bandwidth, and computing efficiency for
performance-driven server and storage clustering applications. ConnectX-4 is
InfiniBand Architecture Specification v1.3 compliant.
PCI Express (PCIe)
Dual PCI Express x8:
PCIe Gen 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through x8 edge connector up to 8GT/s
PCIe Gen 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through x8 edge connector accessible
through the Slim line-SAS Cable
Up to 100 Gigabit
Ethernet
Mellanox adapters comply with the following IEEE 802.3 standards:
– 100GbE / 50GbE / 40GbE / 25GbE / 10GbE
– IEEE 802.3bj, 802.3bm 100 Gigabit Ethernet
– 25G Ethernet Consortium25, 50 Gigabit Ethernet
– 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 KRstartup
– 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)
InfiniBand EDR
A standard InfiniBand data rate, where each lane of a 4X port runs a bit rate of
25.78125Gb/s with a 64b/66b encoding, resulting in an effective bandwidth of
100Gb/s.
Memory
PCI Express - stores and accesses InfiniBand and/or Ethernet fabric connection
information and packet data.
SPI - includes one 16MB SPI Flash device (W25Q128FVSIGT device by WIN-
BOND-NUVOTON).
EEPROM capacity is 128Kb.
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 effectively addresses this by
providing advanced NVGRE and VXLAN hardware offloading engines that
encapsulate and decapsulate the overlay protocol.

Rev 1.014 Mellanox Technologies
1.3 Operating Systems/Distributions
• RHEL/CentOS
•Windows
• FreeBSD
• OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED)
• OpenFabrics Windows Distribution (WinOF-2)
1.4 Connectivity
• Interoperable with InfiniBand or 10/25/40/50/100 Gb/s Ethernet switches
• Passive copper cable with ESD protection
• Powered connectors for optical and active cable support
RDMA and RDMA over
Converged Ethernet
(RoCE)
ConnectX-4, utilizing IBTA RDMA (Remote Data Memory Access) and RoCE
(RDMA over Converged Ethernet) technology, delivers low-latency and high-
performance over InfiniBand and Ethernet networks. Leveraging data center
bridging (DCB) capabilities as well as ConnectX-4 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 advanced acceleration technology enables higher cluster effi-
ciency and scalability to tens of thousands of nodes.
CPU offload Adapter functionality enabling reduced CPU overhead allowing more available
CPU for computation tasks.
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 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 InfiniBand RDMA for high-performance stor-
age access.
SR-IOV ConnectX-4 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, “Documents List,” on page 9.
Table 4 - Featuresa

Introduction
Rev 1.0 15Mellanox Technologies
1.5 Manageability
Socket-Direct technology maintains support for manageability through a BMC. The Socket-
Direct 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 Mellanox PCIe stand-up adapter. For configuring the
adapter for the specific manageability solution in use by the server, please contact Mellanox sup-
port.

Rev 1.016 Mellanox Technologies
2 Interfaces
Each adapter card includes the following interfaces:
• “InfiniBand Interface”
• “EthernetQSFP28 Interface”
• “PCI Express Interface”
• “LED Interface”
The adapter cards include special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when
plugging copper cables.
2.1 InfiniBand Interface
The network ports of the ConnectX®-4 adapter cards are compliant with the InfiniBand Architec-
ture Specification, Release 1.3. InfiniBand traffic is transmitted through the cards' QSFP28 connec-
tors.
2.2 Ethernet QSFP28 Interface
The network ports of the ConnectX®-4 adapter card 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.
2.3 PCI Express Interface
The ConnectX®-4 adapter card supports PCI Express 3.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through two
PCIe x8 edge connectors; x8 edge connector on the adapter card and x8 edge connector on the
auxiliary PCIe connection card accessible through the Slim Line-SAS cable. The device can be
either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations, or a slave responding to PCI bus opera-
tions. The following lists PCIe interface features:
• PCIe Gen 3.0 compliant, 1.1 and 2.0 compatible
• 2.5, 5.0, or 8.0 GT/s link rate
• Auto-negotiates to x8, x4, x2, or x1
• Support for MSI/MSI-X mechanisms
2.4 LED Interface
There is a one bi-color I/O LED per port located on the adapter card. For LED specifications,
please refer to Section 7.3, “Adapter Card LED Operations,” on page 62.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.0 17Mellanox Technologies
3Hardware Installation
3.1 System Requirements
3.1.1 Hardware
A system with adjacent dual PCIe x8 slots is required for installing the card. For dual socket
servers, this card brings additional benefits of lower latency and lower CPU utilization when one
slot is connected to one socket and the other slot is connected to the other socket. The below list
reflects such servers:
• Dell R930 / Dell R530 / Dell T630 / Dell PowerEdge R730
• Intel Server Board S2600KP
•HPDL360
• Supermicro XDRU-i+
3.2 Operating Systems/Distributions
Please refer to Section 1.3, “Operating Systems/Distributions,” on page 14.
3.2.1 Software Stacks
Mellanox OpenFabric software package MLNX_OFED for Linux and WinOF -2 for Windows.
See Chapter 4,“Driver Installation” on page 28.
3.3 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.
3.4 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.
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.

Rev 1.018 Mellanox Technologies
4. Remove the card from its package. Please note that the card must be placed on an antistatic
surface.
5. Check the card for visible signs of damage. Do not attempt to install the card if damaged.
3.5 Bracket Installation Instructions
The adapter and auxiliary PCIe connection cards are usually shipped with tall brackets installed.
If this form factor is suitable for your requirements, you can skip the remainder of this section
and move to Section 3.6, “Cards Installation Instructions,” on page 19. If you need to replace
them with the short brackets that are included in the shipping box, please follow the instructions
in this section.
To replace the brackets you will need the following parts:
• The new bracket of the proper height
• The 2 screws saved from the removal of the bracket
3.5.1 Removing the Existing Bracket
1. Remove the two screws holding the bracket in place. The bracket comes loose from the card.
2. Save the two screws.
3.5.2 Installing the New Bracket
1. Place the bracket onto the adapter card and auxiliary PCIe connection card until the screw
holes line up.
2. Screw on the bracket using the screws saved from the bracket removal procedure above.
3. Make sure that the LEDs are aligned onto the bracket holes. This only applies to the adapter
card.
4. Use a torque driver to apply up to 2.9 lbf-in torque on the screws.
Please avoid damaging the LEDs with a screwdriver.
Do not force the bracket onto the adapter card as to not damage the EMI fingers on the
cages.

Hardware Installation
Rev 1.0 19Mellanox Technologies
3.6 Cards 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. Connect the slim-line SAS connector (male) on the slim line SAS cable to the female connec-
tor on the auxiliary PCIe connection card.
4. Locate two available PCI Express slots on the server, one for the adapter card and one for the
auxiliary PCIe connection card.
Please note that the following figures are for illustration purposes only.
For optimal thermal performance, it is preferable to place the auxiliary PCIe connec-
tion card component-side facing the adapter card’s print-side.

Rev 1.020 Mellanox Technologies
5. Applying even pressure at both corners of the card, insert the auxiliary PCIe connection card
into the PCI Express slot until firmly seated.
6. Secure the auxiliary PCIe connection card using server's retention mechanisms.
Do not use excessive force when seating the card, as this may damage the system or
the auxiliary PCIe connection card.