Inexpensive SFP+ for Server 2016

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SG872

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Dec 3, 2016
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Hello I'm new to the forums. I have been looking around for a reasonably priced SFP+ adapter for Windows Server 2016. I have several 10Gbit Meraki Direct Attach cables laying around and I have a US-16-XG coming soon. I am currently using Server 2008 R2 Standard and looking to migrate to Server 2016. I have a X520-DA1 but it appears from some reading I did that it only functions at 1Gbit in Windows 10 (and presumably Server 2016 as well)

Does anyone know of an inexpensive adapter that will work? I have looked at the Mellanox ConnectX-2 but I am unsure if those work in Win 10/Server 2016

Also out of curosity what would happen if you plugged a 8x PCI-E 2.0 card into a 1x or 4x PCI-E 2.0 slot (limit of 500MB/s per lane) Would it even function?
 
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StammesOpfer

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Mar 15, 2016
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Mellanox ConnectX-2 works in Win10 for sure. Pretty sure it worked in Server 2016 TP5 but I'm not 100% that it was part of my config at the time.
 
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Minimum

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Nov 4, 2016
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I'm in the exact same situation. I'm tempted to pick up the US-16-XG to pair my main rig with a Xeon D server that already has 10GbE RJ45 on it. It would also serve as the backbone switch for LAN parties. I will definitely be watching this thread very closely.

StammesOpfer said:
Mellanox ConnectX-2 works in Win10 for sure. Pretty sure it worked in Server 2016 TP5 but I'm not 100% that it was part of my config at the time.
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Are there counterfeit versions of the ConnectX-2 in the wild? I'd like to pick up a card like this on the cheap as opposed to a brand new $290 Intel card but I don't want to end up starting a firework show with a counterfeit card. I know that Intel NICs have a huge counterfeit problem on Ebay and the like.
 
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StammesOpfer

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Mar 15, 2016
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Minimum said:
Are there counterfeit versions of the ConnectX-2 in the wild? I'd like to pick up a card like this on the cheap as opposed to a brand new $290 Intel card but I don't want to end up starting a firework show with a counterfeit card. I know that Intel NICs have a huge counterfeit problem on Ebay and the like.
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Not that I am aware of. Maybe someone else will chime in but I haven't heard of counterfeit issues. These are just old generation cards now coming from decommissioned server. Perfect for us to pick up cheap.
 
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Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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Buy some cheap Mellanox CX-2 EN cards , some generic Mellanox model to look for is MNPH29C or MNPA19 ,
may be even HP brand version of Mellanox CX-2 cards.

Flash the card firmware to version 2.9.8350 for RDMA features
These old cards would even do RDMA over ROCE in Windows server 2016.

Beware that US-16-XG does not have ROCE feature , so RDMA over ROCE do not work when using the switch.
In my WS2016 S2D cluster, I had to disable RDMA in order to work with the new US-16-XG switch yesterday.

see
ES-16-XG support for RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet)? - Ubiquiti Networks Community
Currently our switches do not support 802.1Qbb (PFC) or 802.1Qaz (ETS). We do not have immediate plans to add these.
 
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Marsh

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One more point,
Using NTttcp, I was getting 863MB/s between 2 Windows 2016 hosts using Mellanox CX-2 cards and the US-16-XG switch.
 
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TedB

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Dec 2, 2016
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Mellanox ConnectX-2 MHQH19B-XTR and MHQH29B-XTR work fine so far with MS Windows Server 2016.
 
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Patrick

Patrick

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Dec 21, 2010
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I am still using a ConnectX-2 EN but buying today I might go with a X520-da2. Both are starting to age but are nice because they get detected out-of-the-box.

Realistically, I have been picking up many ConnectX-3 Pro EN cards and for SFP+ I may start to just use QSFP+ to SFP+ converters. That is just because I have been moving to 40GbE and price premiums for 40GbE NICs are not too bad.
 
Patrick

Patrick

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Holograms were counterfeited, in quantity, more than a decade ago so they offer relatively little protection. On the other hand, they tend to be a good indicator that these NICs are indeed not counterfeit. Looking at that ebay post it seems like they do have the hologram so I would personally consider buying something like that.

Now, the part you do not want to hear, I am also a huge fan of getting dual port NICs if they are only a few dollars more. Although I had 15 or so single-port 10GbE NICs a year or so ago, in the 40GbE generation I have a single 40GbE mezzanine card that I got for an absolute steal.

This may be a good dual port option since it comes with cables: X520-DA2 INTEL 10GB DUAL PORT ETHERNET ADAPTER HP W/ 2 SFP CABLES 1 Damaged Port | eBay
 
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Marsh

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May 12, 2013
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I agree with Patrick, go for the dual port cards ( unless the single port is dirt cheap ).
Speaking of cheap 40GbE cards, I was fortunate to purchased 20 Mellanox CX-3 VPI 40GBe dual port cards for about $40 to $50 from a private e-recycle company.
Now, My price target just got lower, no more than $50 for Mellanox CX-3 VPI dual ports card.
 
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SG872

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Dec 3, 2016
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I do understand the attraction of dual port NICs they are so much more flexible. I am just starting out right now so I will just use single port. Unfortunately not all of my equipment is 10G capable or upgradeable (one of my systems does not have enough free PCI-Express Lanes for a 10G card), and freeing up those lanes would negatively impact its primary usage
 
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av00va

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Dec 10, 2015
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So wait.. I'm planning on buying 2x X520-DA2s for my esxi hosts. Are they a bad idea? Why would they run 1gb in windows?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
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aero

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Apr 27, 2016
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Those are good cards. Where did you get 1gbps from?

Edit: oops, I see OP mentioned the 1gb thing. I seriously doubt that though
 
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SG872

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av00va said:
So wait.. I'm planning on buying 2x X520-DA2s for my esxi hosts. Are they a bad idea? Why would they run 1gb in windows?

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I would say no. If the X520-DA2's are supported by ESXi you are fine, the VM's running on top of the hardware will not care.
 
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JSchuricht

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Apr 4, 2011
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I have multiple X520-DA1 and X520-DA2 running on Win 10 and 2016 all at 10Gb right out of the box.
 
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