Hello,
I am looking to buy a Mellanox SX6012 but have some questions after reading the forum and other documentation on the net.
There are 2 models for SX6012 the "T" version which is FDR10 and "F" version which is FDR.
Q1: Is there any hardware difference between them? Or is just software/license?
Now about OEM ones:
EMC models:
100-886-236-00
100-886-236-04
Q2: What's the difference between them? One is FDR10 and one is FDR?
HP Models:
They don't have the SX6012 it seems, only the 36 ports or 216 ports models.
Q3: Is there any HP SX6012? If yes what is the HP part number?
IBM and Lenovo Models:
The same like HP they don't seem to have any SX6012 but they have the SX6036 models.
Q4: Is there any IBM\Lenovo SX6012? If yes what is the IBM/Lenovo part number?
Dell EMC Models:
It seems on Mellanox site there is no mention about this SX6012 from EMC.
All Dell EMC switches in the list seems to be the externally managed ones and there is no internally managed ones.
Q5: Is this correct?
U-Boot and firmware questions:
I would to know the status of the U-Boot for standard and OEM models.
It seems only the EMC model has the U-Boot without password. In rest all have the U-Boot locked.
Q6: Can someone comment on this? Are there any other models from OEM or not with U-Boot unlocked (without password)?
Firmware for Mellanox switches can be in 2 categories from what I read:
A) externally managed firmware, usually very small image around 1.5MB or less with image file name for example "fw-sx-9_4_2000-Ax.bin"
B) internally managed firmware, more exactly the Mellanox OS. These images are 200~500MB and have the file naming for example "image-PPC_M460EX-3.5.1006.img"
Q7: Are the "image-PPC_M460EX-3.y.abcd.img" files interchangeable between all internally managed switches like 12/18/36 ports?
Q8: Are the "image-PPC_M460EX-3.y.abcd.img" files customized for OEMs or the Mellanox and OEM files are identical?
Q9: Can U-Boot be unlocked if it locked? Can it be flashed with an unlocked U-Boot image?
And last part for now regarding access to Linux shell for internally managed switches.
Q10: How can you drop from normal switch CLI to Linux shell? I saw people posting different commands run from Linux shell.
I saw during booting output that switch is reporting 2 storage parts a FLASH: 16 MB and a NAND: 1024 MiB.
I suppose the 16MB is for the U-Boot and the 1024MB is for the "image-PPC_M460EX-3.y.abcd.img" which should be the Mellanox OS.
Q11: Can someone confirm this?
Regards!