Hi all! I'm attempting to use these apparently coveted (and cheap) HP/Mellanox cards for a switchless, high-speed homelab configuration. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into when I ordered everything... however, I'm just now realizing after purchasing the equipment that it may not work as I originally intended.
This will be my first time dealing with any 10g and up networking so I'm a bit of a newbie to some of the configurations involved.
My thought was to put the HP 656089-001 (10gb/40gb) card in my storage server and connect between 1 and 4 other nodes directly to the storage server via a QSFP+ breakout cable that provides x4 SFP+ connections. I would then have the HP NC523SFP cards installed on the "client" systems to receive the direct connect line from the storage server. OS on all nodes will be Windows Server 2019.
Exact hardware purchased for this project : (as of 8/4, have not received any hardware as it's all in transit currently)
x1 HP 656089-001
x2 HP NC523SFP
x1 FiberStore QSFP-4SFP10G-DAC QSFP+ to 4SFP+ 0.5m (2ft)
Before purchasing, I didn't realize this may be a kind of special configuration and may only work between a QSFP+ port on a supported network switch and then connecting to client servers from there via the breakout SFP+ DACs.
Does anyone know if this kind of setup will work or what I may be able to try to make it work? Is this something that may be better done if I try to flash the 656089-001 card to OEM Mellanox firmware?
Thanks to anyone willing to offer help and/or advice!
This will be my first time dealing with any 10g and up networking so I'm a bit of a newbie to some of the configurations involved.
My thought was to put the HP 656089-001 (10gb/40gb) card in my storage server and connect between 1 and 4 other nodes directly to the storage server via a QSFP+ breakout cable that provides x4 SFP+ connections. I would then have the HP NC523SFP cards installed on the "client" systems to receive the direct connect line from the storage server. OS on all nodes will be Windows Server 2019.
Exact hardware purchased for this project : (as of 8/4, have not received any hardware as it's all in transit currently)
x1 HP 656089-001
x2 HP NC523SFP
x1 FiberStore QSFP-4SFP10G-DAC QSFP+ to 4SFP+ 0.5m (2ft)
Before purchasing, I didn't realize this may be a kind of special configuration and may only work between a QSFP+ port on a supported network switch and then connecting to client servers from there via the breakout SFP+ DACs.
Does anyone know if this kind of setup will work or what I may be able to try to make it work? Is this something that may be better done if I try to flash the 656089-001 card to OEM Mellanox firmware?
Thanks to anyone willing to offer help and/or advice!