Beware of EMC switches sold as Mellanox SX6XXX on eBay

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622oc12

New Member
Jun 24, 2021
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andvalb said:
Already done.
Have a problem with FRU on the CPU board.
Can you read this FRU and provide it?
Or just compare CPU board FRU in the archive above with your own and write what is wrong with it.
Click to expand...
I seem to be having the opposite problem, in that I can read the cpu fru but not the backplate fru per output below.

Anyone have any suggestions? I was hoping to avoid the need to connect a raspberry pi to the i2c to re-write the fru data, but that may be my next step unless there is any suggestions otherwise. Thanks!

# /opt/tms/bin/mellaggra _read_fru 8 0x51 1000 fru_backplate.bin
Read fru 8 - 0x51, sz - 4096 to file fru_backplate.bin
EEPROM 8 - 0x51 was not read.

# /opt/tms/bin/mellaggra _read_fru 0 0x50 1000 fru_cpu.bin
Read fru 0 - 0x50, sz - 4096 to file fru_cpu.bin

# mlxi2c scan
0x51
0x70
 
M

Mithril

Active Member
Sep 13, 2019
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Hey, so I regret not picking up one of these "convertable" switches much much earlier. If one were to look for it now on ebay, it looks like the supply is fully dried up (for the ones that can be converted and work with ethernet), unless there a new/better search term to search for.
 
M

Mithril

Active Member
Sep 13, 2019
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148
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Rand__ said:
Why not get either of these and just unlock Ethernet and the other goodies?

www.ebay.com

MELLANOX SX6012 12 Port FDR Infiniband Switch System | eBay

MELLANOX SX6012 12 Port FDR Infiniband Switch System.
www.ebay.com
Even comes with rack kit...
Click to expand...
Ah, so I thought I ran across a couple of people who had issues getting ethernet to work on some of the models (esp ones that didn' go through the conversion), could be remembering wrong.

Second perhaps stupid question. If one needed to connect a 1GB ethernet or sfp module via a QSFP-SFP+ adapter, besides being an absolute waste for a 40GB port, would that work? Alternatively, do any 40GB MM optics support dropping down to 1GB on one or more of the 4 channels?
 
I

i386

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2016
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Mithril said:
Ah, so I thought I ran across a couple of people who had issues getting ethernet to work on some of the models (esp ones that didn' go through the conversion), could be remembering wrong.
Click to expand...
The 6005 are unmanaged infiniband only switches that look like the 6012. Some people bought them and thought they could convert them.
 
L

lambdafunction

New Member
Jun 22, 2021
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Mithril said:
Ah, so I thought I ran across a couple of people who had issues getting ethernet to work on some of the models (esp ones that didn' go through the conversion), could be remembering wrong.

Second perhaps stupid question. If one needed to connect a 1GB ethernet or sfp module via a QSFP-SFP+ adapter, besides being an absolute waste for a 40GB port, would that work? Alternatively, do any 40GB MM optics support dropping down to 1GB on one or more of the 4 channels?
Click to expand...
I grabbed these from eBay to get to 1Gb Ethernet for a few ports:
- HP 655874-B21 HP 655902-001 @ $12/ea
- any GLC-T compatible SFP @ $10/ea
 
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6

622oc12

New Member
Jun 24, 2021
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622oc12 said:
I seem to be having the opposite problem, in that I can read the cpu fru but not the backplate fru per output below.

Anyone have any suggestions? I was hoping to avoid the need to connect a raspberry pi to the i2c to re-write the fru data, but that may be my next step unless there is any suggestions otherwise. Thanks!

# /opt/tms/bin/mellaggra _read_fru 8 0x51 1000 fru_backplate.bin
Read fru 8 - 0x51, sz - 4096 to file fru_backplate.bin
EEPROM 8 - 0x51 was not read.

# /opt/tms/bin/mellaggra _read_fru 0 0x50 1000 fru_cpu.bin
Read fru 0 - 0x50, sz - 4096 to file fru_cpu.bin

# mlxi2c scan
0x51
0x70
Click to expand...
Update:

In my case, EMC-OEM sx6012 units, I was able to get the fru_backplate.bin backup command to succeed by changing the bus from '8' to '1' .

Perhaps of help if anyone else is having challenges with this step.

I'm now at v3.4.0012 (upgraded using HPE images starting with "manufacture.sh" booted via network)...

By chance is anyone willing to provide any tips on how one goes about enabling either of below?

> 'eth' license
> '_shell' license

If so, please PM or let me know so I can PM.

TIA
 
L

lambdafunction

New Member
Jun 22, 2021
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14
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622oc12 said:
Update:

In my case, EMC-OEM sx6012 units, I was able to get the fru_backplate.bin backup command to succeed by changing the bus from '8' to '1' .

Perhaps of help if anyone else is having challenges with this step.

I'm now at v3.4.0012 (upgraded using HPE images starting with "manufacture.sh" booted via network)...

By chance is anyone willing to provide any tips on how one goes about enabling either of below?

> 'eth' license
> '_shell' license

If so, please PM or let me know so I can PM.

TIA
Click to expand...
Would you believe me if I said the password was in the genlicense binary & obfuscated with ROT-13 (for alpha characters) & ROT-5 (for numeric characters)? That would be crazy, right? Not saying that it is... Just run strings and look for Mellanox autosupport, maybe they can be helpful ;)
 
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lambdafunction

New Member
Jun 22, 2021
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lambdafunction said:
Would you believe me if I said the password was in the genlicense binary & obfuscated with ROT-13 (for alpha characters) & ROT-5 (for numeric characters)? That would be crazy, right? Not saying that it is... Just run strings and look for Mellanox autosupport, maybe they can be helpful ;)
Click to expand...
Oh, and you'll want an EFM_SX gen 2 license with options 53, 51, and 58 set to true. You can add 54/#ports if you want gateway ports. And a RESTRICTED_CMDS_GEN2 gen 2 license w/o any options to get _shell.
 
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A

andvalb

Member
Feb 15, 2021
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Ulyanovsk, Russian Federation
To check what bus number and address is needed to be used to read the fru you can use "mlxi2c show devs -v" command which is produces this output on a converted sx6012 switch (this command requires a backplate fru available or need to be run with --dryrun -no_fru_detect -s "system type" show devs -v):

Name Bus Num Handle Slv Addr Width PRES Type Desc
/MAIN_SW 1 0xff00 I2C 0x70 0 Yes PCA9548 "I2C Switch 8 legs"
/SX 2 0xff01 I2C 0x48 4 Yes SX "SX VPI Switch"
/CPLD_TOR 5 0xff02 I2C 0x60 1 Yes CPLD_TOR "Lattice CPLD TOR, I2C access, addr_width 1"
/QSFP_TEMP1 7 0xff03 I2C 0x4a 1 Yes LM75 "Thermal Monitor"
/QSFP_TEMP2 7 0xff04 I2C 0x49 1 Yes LM75 "Thermal Monitor"
/QSFP_TEMP3 7 0xff05 I2C 0x4c 1 Yes LM75 "Thermal Monitor"
/BOARD_MONITOR 7 0xff06 I2C 0x2e 1 Yes ADM1024 "Thermal Monitor"
/CURR_MONITOR 7 0xff07 I2C 0x3f 1 Yes ADM1191 "Digital Power Monitor"
/FRU_EEPROM 8 0xff08 I2C 0x51 2 Yes 24LC32 "Serial EEPROM 4k bytes"
/CPU_BOARD_MONITOR 0 0xff09 I2C 0x2e 1 Yes ADM1024 "Thermal Monitor"
/MGMT/FAN1 0 0xff0a I2C 0x00 1 Yes SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
/MGMT/FAN2 0 0xff0b I2C 0x00 1 Yes SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
/MGMT/FAN3 0 0xff0c I2C 0x00 1 Yes SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
/MGMT/FAN4 0 0xff0d I2C 0x00 1 Yes SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
/MGMT/PS1 0 0xff0e I2C 0x00 1 Yes PS_FIX "Power Supply Fixed"
/MGMT/PS2 0 0xff0f I2C 0x00 1 Yes PS_FIX "Power Supply Fixed"
/FW_DEV 0 0xff10 FW 0x00 NA Yes PSEUDO_FW "Firmware access"
/CPU/FRU_EEPROM 0 0x0100 I2C 0x50 2 No 24LC32 "Serial EEPROM 4k bytes"

And there you can see the last problem with this conversion of the switch - CPU FRU module does not detect as available.

This is because CPU FRU EEPROM have the wrong FRU data format
Can someone provide a script or read CPU FRU EEPROM content on the original switch?
 
Last edited:
R

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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Hm my converted switch has a yes in that last line...

Code: 
 mlxi2c show devs -v
Jan 03 10:45:34 INFO    LOG: Initializing SX log with STDOUT as output file.
 Name                Bus Num   Handle Slv Addr    Width   PRES  Type                Desc
 /MAIN_SW                  1   0xff00 I2C   0x70  0       Yes   PCA9548             "I2C Switch 8 legs"
 /SX                       2   0xff01 I2C   0x48  4       Yes   SX                  "SX VPI Switch"
 /CPLD_TOR                 5   0xff02 I2C   0x60  1       Yes   CPLD_TOR            "Lattice CPLD TOR, I2C access, addr_width 1"
 /QSFP_TEMP1               7   0xff03 I2C   0x4a  1       Yes   LM75                "Thermal Monitor"
 /QSFP_TEMP2               7   0xff04 I2C   0x49  1       Yes   LM75                "Thermal Monitor"
 /QSFP_TEMP3               7   0xff05 I2C   0x4c  1       Yes   LM75                "Thermal Monitor"
 /BOARD_MONITOR            7   0xff06 I2C   0x2e  1       Yes   ADM1024             "Thermal Monitor"
 /CURR_MONITOR             7   0xff07 I2C   0x3f  1       Yes   ADM1191             "Digital Power Monitor"
 /FRU_EEPROM               8   0xff08 I2C   0x51  2       Yes   24LC32              "Serial EEPROM 4k bytes"
 /CPU_BOARD_MONITOR        0   0xff09 I2C   0x2e  1       Yes   ADM1024             "Thermal Monitor"
 /MGMT/FAN1                0   0xff0a I2C   0x00  1       Yes   SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX    "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
 /MGMT/FAN2                0   0xff0b I2C   0x00  1       Yes   SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX    "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
 /MGMT/FAN3                0   0xff0c I2C   0x00  1       Yes   SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX    "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
 /MGMT/FAN4                0   0xff0d I2C   0x00  1       Yes   SX_FAN_2DRWR_FIX    "SX FAN 2x2 Fixed"
 /MGMT/PS1                 0   0xff0e I2C   0x00  1       Yes   PS_FIX              "Power Supply Fixed"
 /MGMT/PS2                 0   0xff0f I2C   0x00  1       Yes   PS_FIX              "Power Supply Fixed"
 /FW_DEV                   0   0xff10 FW    0x00  NA      Yes   PSEUDO_FW           "Firmware access"
 /CPU/FRU_EEPROM           0   0x0000 I2C   0x50  2       Yes   24LC32              "Serial EEPROM 4k bytes"
 
A

andvalb

Member
Feb 15, 2021
27
25
13
Ulyanovsk, Russian Federation
Rand__ said:
I have - following a very early version of the conversion process;)
Click to expand...
Now conversion can be done through backplate FRU update using fru_read/write/SGH provided backplate FRU modification script and firmware change using flint (from the guide) and then doing standard firmware update procedure from manufacturing 3.2 (which is run from the bootloader using "run mfg" command using the TFTP server) tо 3.3 (tо update bootloader and then to 3.4 and 3.6).

The problem with this process is that if you do not update backplate FRU or firmware first then on a standard update to the 3.3 from manufacturing 3.2 version the bootloader will be password protected so you cant use TFTP to run the mfg process. The bootloader can be unlocked only after an update to the 3.6 version of the OS using CLI commands. But if you update to the 3.6 version of the OS without the right firmware on the switch you got a hangup of the OS initialization on the module initializing process and as result can't unlock the bootloader.
After this CPU FRU requires modification too.
But I do not have the original 6012F-2BFS switch to read and compare the content of the CPU FRU EEPROM.
 
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R

Rand__

Well-Known Member
Mar 6, 2014
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not sure how many non EMC converted '12s are floating around... but gut luck in finding one:)
 
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