Dirt Cheap 40Gb infiniband networking?

[felmyst]

MELLANOX CONNECT X-2 QDR 40G IB NETWORKING ADAPTER MHRH2A-XSR

That's really cheap, if not counterfeit.

 

[CreoleLakerFan]

I got three of those @ $25 ea ($75 total) about a year ago. Those are older cards ... that's not an unusual price for them.

 

[RobertFontaine]

My question is where do you find a cheap quiet switch to go with it?

ethernet/NFS over infiniband at 40gbps seems a lot more appealing than 10gbps ethernet. There is no shortage of 40gbps cards and short run cables.

 

[NSKA]

I am about to jump on those cards and some qdr's but I am also not sure about what kind of switch to get.

 

[xnoodle]

I think some people here got a 4036e a while back, to do ipoib. Otherwise if this is just for IB then that opens up the playing field.

 

[NSKA]

I was kinda eyeing this one for the price. Anything I should not about it before buying? IBM Voltaire InfiniBand 4036 36-Port QDR Managed Switch 49Y0444 VLT-30015

 

[KioskAdmin]

How many nodes do you have? I've been gauging if I should do 40gb ib over ethernet for a smaller install with 4 nodes.

If you had 4-6 nodes then it's like $600 for 4 cards and $1000 for a switch so $1600 but you usually get 48x 10gb ports as well.

The ib switch for $200 + $25 * 4 for the cards is maybe $300.

You'd also need cables so that would add another $100-150 for each.

I've been struggling with eating the $1000 and getting 10gb ethernet ports as well. Not having to learn ib is good and what I'm more worried about is that I can turn around and plug the ethernet switch into a future network easily.

I'd like to hear how this project turns out.

 

[NSKA]

I have 4 of the cards listed above and 4 QDR cables so its only a switch. I dont understand the difference between the 200$ and 1000$ switch though. I already have a Fujitsu XG2600 for 10gbps so I'm not concerned about having extra 10gb ports.