Dual Prot Mellanox Connect x3 SFP+ for 60$

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PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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For plain vanilla 10Gbe on Linux platforms no effective difference at all.

CX-2 is a bit older and lacks some advanced features (like support for RDMA over Converged Ethernet). For most SOHO users this is immaterial. Outside of Linux environment support for CX-2 drivers is starting to fall off - but AFAIK it will continue to be supported in Linux and Win-2012/16 for the foreseeable future.

I have a mix of both in my network and I doubt I could prove which was which even with detailed tests and benchmarks (assuming none of them attempted to instantiate a feature like ROCE or displayed the part numbers).

For most users most of the time CX-2 is fine. YMMV.

*** Actually, some of the later rev CX-2 cards even support RoCE
 
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frogtech

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Jan 4, 2016
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i kinda wish those had showed up before the connectx-3 as i'd prefer to have gotten those for cheaper.

it looks to me like these support RDMA/ROCE, if you look up firmware for these HP branded cards one of the firmware revisions fixes an issue with RoCE:

"Possible false multicast miss in RoCE"
 
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HWGeek

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Sorry, but in Windows CX2 won't support RDMA due to lack of QoS (ETS) in the latest offical Mellanox firmware 2.9.1200. The VPI versions have gotten updated versions but for some reason the pure Ethernet were left to dry although I'm 100% certain it's the same chip locked down.
 

frogtech

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the HP branded connectx-2 cards go up to firmware 2.9.1530 and the notes for it say it supports rdma...still a no go?
 

HWGeek

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Sure they're a go for purchase. RDMA is an amazing feature but even without they're still 10gbit cards for pennies. RDMA in 2.9.1530 unfortunately won't work either as 2.9.8350 is required at least. This of course applies to Windows and Network Direct. Linux is a diffrent beast.
 

frogtech

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Sure they're a go for purchase. RDMA is an amazing feature but even without they're still 10gbit cards for pennies. RDMA in 2.9.1530 unfortunately won't work either as 2.9.8350 is required at least. This of course applies to Windows and Network Direct. Linux is a diffrent beast.
I really cannot stand HP's websites. Trying to find product pages or download pages is an absolute nightmare. The VPI IB cards are able to have RDMA firmware flashed onto them because the latest driver package contains the necessary firmware. I've done it myself. But it's nigh impossible to find confirmed 100% sure-fire drivers for the EN ConnectX-2 cards. I know they're still 10gbit cards but I really want RDMA functionality as I plan to do a 6 node ScaleIO cluster and I'm really pissed off at infiniband right now having garbage throughput even with something simple like iperf testing(QDR).

At any rate, I was able to pick up 3 of these but I still need 3 more.
 
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izx

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Jan 17, 2016
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I really cannot stand HP's websites. Trying to find product pages or download pages is an absolute nightmare. ...
Why would you bother for these? Mellanox is much easier to navigate and give you tools/info to flash their HP-branded cards (or even cross-flash some to Mellanox). They also have PDF cross-references for HP equivalents so you know exactly what to look out for.
 

frogtech

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Why would you bother for these? Mellanox is much easier to navigate and give you tools/info to flash their HP-branded cards (or even cross-flash some to Mellanox). They also have PDF cross-references for HP equivalents so you know exactly what to look out for.
This may come as a surprise but due to how Mellanox packaged some of their most recent driver installers for Windows they stopped including a usable firmware file. The firmware file I got to enable RDMA on my ConnectX-2 VPI cards actually came from a Dell driver package. I mean I get your point that's just not how things worked out for me lol.
 
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izx

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This may come as a surprise but due to how Mellanox packaged some of their most recent driver installers for Windows they stopped including a usable firmware file.
It does! :) I see they have become worse about supporting their own EOL'd cards while branded versions get (a little) more support.
 

frogtech

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Would anyone in this thread be willing to sell 3 of theirs at cost if they don't end up using them?
 

lucidrenegade

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eroji

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I recall seeing a page somewhere that listed the revs and RDMA support. Can't seem to find it right now.
 

frogtech

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Contacted Mellanox about full height brackets for these. $5 each, but they wanted $12.95 shipping for 2. :(

Anyway, here's the link to the part on their store - Mellanox Certified Refurbished MTM003231 PCI Ex Hawk4 Standard Tall Bracket 2 SFP + 10GE Ports; 4 LEDS

edit: Found them for $1.92 and half the shipping cost @ IT Planet
Search Results for 'MTM003231' - IT Planet - Discount Hardware for Business
How many did you buy? I tried to order 10 from IT Planet and got an email stating they were back ordered for 3 to 5 weeks...