Beware of EMC switches sold as Mellanox SX6XXX on eBay

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Freebsd1976

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Feb 23, 2018
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the switch log , you can find it somewhere on the webui and export to your pc and analysis , here are quite a few lines about fan speed and fan speed adjust and other fan related things
 
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Freebsd1976

Active Member
Feb 23, 2018
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Any one try configure inband management ?
I tried but not success ,my mgmt0 ip address set to 192.168.1.5 ,default gateway set to 192.168.1.1 (my routers ip address) ,then I set vlan 1 ip to 192.168.1.3 , but found when I remove rj45 cable to mgmt0 ,I will not reach 192.168.1.3 so in-band management not success, read some doc from commuity.mellanox.com but not able to slove this.

show ip route
Flags: F - Failed to install in H/W
VRF Name: default
-----------------------------
Destination Mask Gateway Interface Source AD/M
default 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1 mgmt0 static 1/0
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 0.0.0.0 mgmt0 direct 0/0
192.168.1.0 255.255.255.0 0.0.0.0 vlan1 direct 0/0


btw , my pc connect to sx6012's port , when mgmt0 not connect , I can connect to internet and other pc of my homelab(on same router ,connect to sx6012 or other switch ) , but can't loggin to switch(in band managment )

##
## L3 configuration
##
ip routing vrf default
interface vlan 1
interface vlan 1 ip address 192.168.1.3 255.255.255.0
##
## Network interface configuration
##
no interface mgmt0 dhcp
interface mgmt0 ip address 192.168.1.5 /24
##
## Network interface IPv6 configuration
##
no interface mgmt0 ipv6 address autoconfig default
no interface mgmt0 ipv6 enable
##
## Other IP configuration
##
ip route 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 192.168.1.1
ip name-server 192.168.1.1
 
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Eong

Member
Dec 24, 2019
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According to https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/lr4-support-on-mellanox-switches the 6012 supports LR4 optics on all ports in ethernet mode. If you need LR4 with IB, you have to edit the profile INIs to support high power mode.
I bought two compatible ones from FS but it can only be recognized as SR4 and it doesn’t work probably. I talked to FS and changed the code once, still doesn’t work. Maybe I need the toolbox from them to try different code by myself. Want to know if anyone get it work like Mellanox claimed.

I can confirm the 40G to 10G adapters with 10G module work fine on any port. 40G DAC cable also works.
 

klui

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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I finally took some time to look over the guide and am planning on converting my 6012. I very much appreciate everyone's input on its creation. I have some questions about a couple areas.

At the end of Step 1, I'm told to "run mlxlinux" at U-boot after copying OS Kernel and FDT. If I already have the minimal Linux image, couldn't I just remain in U-boot and transfer the minimal Linux image? What is the purpose of transferring to mlxlinux after copying the OS Kernel and FDT and cause a potential panic if there's no Linux file system?

Step 6, flashing the FW. We have the option of connecting through IB or from the shell. Since I have no other IB devices/switches, the most practical step for me is to use the shell.
6.2.B states "Boot into scratch linux (mtdblock6)...." But after the minimum Linux image is transferred at the end of Step 2 and we run mlxlinux after setting the FS to rw mode until we reach the end of Step 5 (creating config DB nodes), aren't we still booted in mtdblock6 and there's no need to reboot to mtdblock6? I could remove symlinks to /mnt/root2/etc/passwd and /mnt/root2/etc/shadow and create a local copy and then dive back into U-boot to restart into mtdblock7. Am I missing something here?​

Next involves the dot files for /mnt/root2/etc/.firstboot and /mnt/var/opt/tms/.firstmfg. These are created before the first boot into mtdblock7 to flash the FW from the shell. Would it cause any issues during this first boot into mtdblock7 but before Step 7 First Boot? After the FW flash we boot again into mtdblock7.

Anyone know if there is a detrimental impact of permanently changing admin's shell to /bin/bash instead of cli? I would figure it would behave like root@JunOSwhere you need to issue cli to configure the device.


Thanks!
 

Eong

Member
Dec 24, 2019
35
8
8
I finally took some time to look over the guide and am planning on converting my 6012. I very much appreciate everyone's input on its creation. I have some questions about a couple areas.

At the end of Step 1, I'm told to "run mlxlinux" at U-boot after copying OS Kernel and FDT. If I already have the minimal Linux image, couldn't I just remain in U-boot and transfer the minimal Linux image? What is the purpose of transferring to mlxlinux after copying the OS Kernel and FDT and cause a potential panic if there's no Linux file system?

Step 6, flashing the FW. We have the option of connecting through IB or from the shell. Since I have no other IB devices/switches, the most practical step for me is to use the shell.
6.2.B states "Boot into scratch linux (mtdblock6)...." But after the minimum Linux image is transferred at the end of Step 2 and we run mlxlinux after setting the FS to rw mode until we reach the end of Step 5 (creating config DB nodes), aren't we still booted in mtdblock6 and there's no need to reboot to mtdblock6? I could remove symlinks to /mnt/root2/etc/passwd and /mnt/root2/etc/shadow and create a local copy and then dive back into U-boot to restart into mtdblock7. Am I missing something here?​

Next involves the dot files for /mnt/root2/etc/.firstboot and /mnt/var/opt/tms/.firstmfg. These are created before the first boot into mtdblock7 to flash the FW from the shell. Would it cause any issues during this first boot into mtdblock7 but before Step 7 First Boot? After the FW flash we boot again into mtdblock7.

Anyone know if there is a detrimental impact of permanently changing admin's shell to /bin/bash instead of cli? I would figure it would behave like root@JunOSwhere you need to issue cli to configure the device.


Thanks!
1. You need to boot into system without touching the passwd file for the first time, or you will not be able to get into it using the default password.
2. After that, you can reboot into the scratch linux again, change the passwd file, give admin bash.
3. You can run the /opt/tms/xxx in bash to configure the switch when you need.
4. Unless you need to change password, you can break the link and keep your passwd file for ever.

Keep that scratch linux as a kind of rescue os. :)
 
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Eong

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Dec 24, 2019
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klui

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2019
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1. You need to boot into system without touching the passwd file for the first time, or you will not be able to get into it using the default password.
2. After that, you can reboot into the scratch linux again, change the passwd file, give admin bash.
Thanks for your reply! I really appreciate it.

I see. Is this true for scratch Linux as well or could I bypass running mlxlinux after installing OS Kernel and FDT? Do the dot files have anything to do with this behavior or should they be created just before step 7? I'm aware FW flash within Linux shell wasn't in the original guide and I was wondering if the dot files would mess anything else up before the firmware is available.
3. You can run the /opt/tms/xxx in bash to configure the switch when you need.
4. Unless you need to change password, you can break the link and keep your passwd file for ever.

Keep that scratch linux as a kind of rescue os. :)
Thanks for that tidbit as well.
 

Eong

Member
Dec 24, 2019
35
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Thanks for your reply! I really appreciate it.

I see. Is this true for scratch Linux as well or could I bypass running mlxlinux after installing OS Kernel and FDT? Do the dot files have anything to do with this behavior or should they be created just before step 7? I'm aware FW flash within Linux shell wasn't in the original guide and I was wondering if the dot files would mess anything else up before the firmware is available.


Thanks for that tidbit as well.
I am not sure which "dot files" are.
It's more easier to flash the firmware at the end, after giving admin bash, using the bash to do it. The firmware is from the mlxlinux image file. The mlxlinux image is not just for 6012.
 

Eong

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Dec 24, 2019
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New version of mlnx-os can be found by google. Is it possible to upgrade this to a recent version? Since 3.6.2002, transceiver diagnostics are supported. I know three binary files need to be modified again, anything else?
 

Eong

Member
Dec 24, 2019
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@Eong you can try if you can do bin files mod , IMHO most difficult part is mod three bin file, other part will much easy.
I just checked those files, not that difficult. At least ibd and chad are pretty easy. Anything else I need to do besides these modification?
 

klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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I am not sure which "dot files" are.
It's more easier to flash the firmware at the end, after giving admin bash, using the bash to do it. The firmware is from the mlxlinux image file. The mlxlinux image is not just for 6012.
The dot files I was referring to are created towards the end of Step 4

touch /mnt/root2/etc/.firstboot
touch /mnt/var/opt/tms/.firstmfg
New version of mlnx-os can be found by google. Is it possible to upgrade this to a recent version? Since 3.6.2002, transceiver diagnostics are supported. I know three binary files need to be modified again, anything else?

I just checked those files, not that difficult. At least ibd and chad are pretty easy. Anything else I need to do besides these modification?
There are 4 files that needed to be tweaked and they are

chad
hwd
ibd
image_layout.sh

Only the last one is not part of the distro. @Freebsd1976 says https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?posts/230933/

@Tydus was looking at that but seems to involved "more hacking" https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?posts/224416/.

I thought I read somewhere here that the partition layout on newer versions has changed so that must be accounted for as well in image_layout.sh.
 

Eong

Member
Dec 24, 2019
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The dot files I was referring to are created towards the end of Step 4

touch /mnt/root2/etc/.firstboot
touch /mnt/var/opt/tms/.firstmfg

There are 4 files that needed to be tweaked and they are

chad
hwd
ibd
image_layout.sh

Only the last one is not part of the distro. @Freebsd1976 says https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?posts/230933/

@Tydus was looking at that but seems to involved "more hacking" https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?posts/224416/.

I thought I read somewhere here that the partition layout on newer versions has changed so that must be accounted for as well in image_layout.sh.
Thanks. For the "dot files", it seems to be fine to have them before you update your firmware.
Nothing was added into fstab. As long as the space is enough for the uncompressed image, I think using the old image_layout.sh should be fine.
 
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Freebsd1976

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Feb 23, 2018
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IMHO . must redo conversion with new version(don’t need flash firmware), directly upgrade will not success .