40Gb Ethernet network card

Notice: Page may contain affiliate links for which we may earn a small commission through services like Amazon Affiliates or Skimlinks.
K

kevin wilson

New Member
Apr 4, 2015
27
1
1
35
Hi all,

Can anybody recommend about a *new* (in the sense of not used, not in the sense of modern) 40Gb Ethernet QSF+ network interface card, which can be bought by ebay.com or Amazon (or elsewhere, with international shipping)

Regards,
Kevin
 
K

kevin wilson

New Member
Apr 4, 2015
27
1
1
35
Thanks, Justin.

In the link you posted it says:
New other (see details)
And later we have:
"New other (see details): A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing the original packaging, or in the original packaging but not sealed. The item may be a factory second or a new, unused item with defects. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections"


It says "the item may be a factory second or a new, unused item with defects", and this scares me a bit.

Just wonder: I googled and saw these Chelsio T520-So-Cr 2-Port 10/40Gbe nics,
which cost $192.00+ $8.79 shipping

https://www.amazon.com/CHELSIO-Chel...466364445&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=chelsio+40gbe for **new** ones ; so they are even cheaper than what appears in the
link that Justin sent.

Does anybody knows these Chelsio 40Gb Nics and can share his observations ? are they supported by Linux ?

Regards,
Kevin
 
J

JustinClift

Member
Oct 5, 2014
35
14
8
Ahhhh, is the reason for wanting only "New" cards, because you're afraid the card will be defective?

As a helpful data point, it's very rare with Mellanox cards. As in, I've not yet seen a defective one, though I've personally only handled ~30.

People occasionally send me "defective" ones, but they've all been fixable by flashing with new firmware (then sending back unfortunately. doh!).

If I was doing the buying, I'd look for a used one as they're much cheaper. Mellanox cards work well with Linux too. :D

A cheaper dual port:
If you're ok with single port, they're less expensive:
The Chelsio cards may work fine too. I've not used them personally though, so not sure. Others will have to respond instead. :)
 
K

kevin wilson

New Member
Apr 4, 2015
27
1
1
35
Hi,
Thanks JustinClift!

A quick question regarding the first link:
Mellanox ConnectX-3 EN MCX314A-BCCT (FB) 40/56GbE Dual-Port QSFP PCIe3.0 8GT/s
The title says there:
Mellanox ConnectX-3 EN MCX314A-BCCT (FB) 40/56GbE Dual-Port QSFP PCIe3.0 8GT/s

I understand that this NIC support Etherent 40GBE and also 56 GBE. Am I correct ?
Apart from this, what does (FB) mean here ? is it that is supports also Fiber ? (I assume it is not INFINBAND)

Regards,
Kevin



JustinClift said:
Ahhhh, is the reason for wanting only "New" cards, because you're afraid the card will be defective?

As a helpful data point, it's very rare with Mellanox cards. As in, I've not yet seen a defective one, though I've personally only handled ~30.

People occasionally send me "defective" ones, but they've all been fixable by flashing with new firmware (then sending back unfortunately. doh!).

If I was doing the buying, I'd look for a used one as they're much cheaper. Mellanox cards work well with Linux too. :D

A cheaper dual port:
If you're ok with single port, they're less expensive:
The Chelsio cards may work fine too. I've not used them personally though, so not sure. Others will have to respond instead. :)
Click to expand...
 
J

JustinClift

Member
Oct 5, 2014
35
14
8
Hi Kevin,

The Mellanox website has a bunch of info about that card, which should help:
And yeah, it supports both 40 and 56 GbE. It's an "ethernet mode only" card, so doesn't support Infiniband.
For the "(FB)", I'm not sure. Maybe ask the vendor?
The ports on the card are QSFP+, and it's possible to get both Fibre and Copper QSFP+ cables. The right one to choose depends on what you need, vs the available price.

For example, I grabbed some of these recently - even though longer than I need - because they were cheaper than the available copper ones (at the time).
 
Last edited:
K

kevin wilson

New Member
Apr 4, 2015
27
1
1
35
JustinClift,
Thanks for you very quick response!
> I grabbed some of these recently
Regarding the link you posted : are you sure ? It say there "Qsfp Infiniband Fibre Optic Cable" ?
And a really newbie question about Fibre Optic: suppose that I use Fibre Optic cable. Does the Linux Driver support it out of the box, without any need for a special kernel module/configuration ?

Regards,
Kevin
 
J

JustinClift

Member
Oct 5, 2014
35
14
8
Ahhh, with that link I was just trying to point out an example of a cable I recently got that's fibre. I could just as easily have bought a copper one, as long as it has the right connectors on it, is rated for the correct speed (40/56) and is long enough. :)

For Linux, the Mellanox driver doesn't need any special treatment for fibre vs copper cables. As long as you use the correct cable for the card, the driver doesn't care. It will "just work" with it.

Um, as a thought... you sound a bit confused about this stuff. It's not a problem, but as a thought it might be good for you to go through the free courses here before you spend money on things:

Free Training | Mellanox Academy

They require you to register, but it's free and worth doing. I think it'll help you. :)
 
G

Gnodu

Active Member
Oct 10, 2015
115
37
28
49
Justin- thank you for the mellanox academy link. Didn't know about it, and timing is good!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom