Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN and Windows 10?

[HWGeek]

Anyone using Mellanox Connectx-2 EN 10Gb cards with Windows 10 clients? Mellanox doesn't seem to support them with latest drivers and those aren't specifying Windows 10 anyway, so is it possible? Really tempted to go 10Gbit at home, but without support that would be far more expensive for alternative options.

In this thread https://forums.servethehome.com/ind...-connectx-2-firmware-request.6897/#post-61526 it seems like Windows 10 has them in the driver database. Can anyone confirm they're working?

Thanks!

 

[Patrick]

If you saw a post this morning on STH on the Tripp Lite PDU + switch combo, that was written on a workstation which is a Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN and Windows 10.

 

[HWGeek]

Sounds excellent! Thanks for the response.

 

[Krailor]

I've got one running in my Win 10 machine now. I put the card in and it Just Worked, no driver installs to worry about or anything.

 

[Rain]

I can confirm that these ConnectX-2 cards work great on Windows 10, though definitely don't use the default drivers included with Windows. They perform terribly. WinOF v4.95 installs perfectly fine on Windows 10 if you use the 8.1 x64 version. The performance is much, much better -- full 10Gb instead of about 6Gb or less in my testing.

WinOF can be found here: http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=32
Don't install WinOF-2 (It's for ConnectX-3 and above cards), and don't install the latest version of WinOF (5.10) as it is only for Win7. Click "Archived Versions" and install the 4.95 Win8.1 version.

(I just posted this in the ConnectX-2 great deals thread as well)

 

[HWGeek]

I can confirm that these ConnectX-2 cards work great on Windows 10, though definitely don't use the default drivers included with Windows. They perform terribly. WinOF v4.95 installs perfectly fine on Windows 10 if you use the 8.1 x64 version. The performance is much, much better -- full 10Gb instead of about 6Gb or less in my testing.

WinOF can be found here: http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=32
Don't install WinOF-2 (It's for ConnectX-3 and above cards), and don't install the latest version of WinOF (5.10) as it is only for Win7. Click "Archived Versions" and install the 4.95 Win8.1 version.

(I just posted this in the ConnectX-2 great deals thread as well)

Strange, as according to this http://www.mellanox.com/page/winof_matrix?mtag=windows_sw_drivers the ConnectX-2 EN isn't supported by the 4.95 drivers? Though it sounds great that they work!

 

[HWGeek]

Even better news: Though the 5.10 state they only support win 7 clients, when you read the release notes you find many references to 8.1 clients such as this : "Added support for driver Teaming in Windows Client 8.1 ", so they should work as well. And it's also included in the section
1.5Supported Operating System Versions

Table 2 - Supported Operating Systems Virtualization Mode Supported Host OS Supported Guest OS Native (no-virtualiza-tion) Windows Server 2008 R2 (64 bit only) N/A Windows Server 2012 (64 bit only) N/A Windows Server 2012 R2 (64 bit only) N/A Windows Server 7 Clienta (64 bit only) N/A Windows Server 8.1 Client (64 bit only)a a. These servers are not signed by Microsoft yet - to be signed in a short period of time. N/A

 

[Rain]

Strange, as according to this http://www.mellanox.com/page/winof_matrix?mtag=windows_sw_drivers the ConnectX-2 EN isn't supported by the 4.95 drivers? Though it sounds great that they work!

Mellonx stopped supporting them, yes, but the drivers still function. They just won't help you if you call and say you're using 4.95 with ConnectX-2 card.

Even better news: Though the 5.10 state they only support win 7 clients, when you read the release notes you find many references to 8.1 clients such as this : "Added support for driver Teaming in Windows Client 8.1 ", so they should work as well.

This is indeed strange. The Win7 5.1 drivers wouldn't install on my Win8.1 test machine, claiming they needed Win7 or Server 2008 to function (don't remember the exact message right now). I didn't try them in Win10 because 4.95 seems to work great. It's almost like they forgot to release the 8.1 installer.

 

[HWGeek]

FYI: Seems they have updated the driver for 5.10 to include a Windows 8.1 installer as it's avaialble in the options. The ConnectX-2 is in the .inf so it's supported (inofficially).

 

[MartinM]

I just wanted to thank you all, looking to go this way myself.

 

[E-Dagger]

I can confirm that these ConnectX-2 cards work great on Windows 10, though definitely don't use the default drivers included with Windows. They perform terribly. WinOF v4.95 installs perfectly fine on Windows 10 if you use the 8.1 x64 version. The performance is much, much better -- full 10Gb instead of about 6Gb or less in my testing.

WinOF can be found here: http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=32
Don't install WinOF-2 (It's for ConnectX-3 and above cards), and don't install the latest version of WinOF (5.10) as it is only for Win7. Click "Archived Versions" and install the 4.95 Win8.1 version.

(I just posted this in the ConnectX-2 great deals thread as well)

I realize this is an old thread, but I picked up a ConnectX-2 based on positive results exhibited here. Unfortunately I am not getting any more than 5.6Gbps on my Win10 machine using iperf. I've tried it on the 4.95 driver as suggested as well as on the Win10 version of 5.10. Neither seem to fix the lack of speed. I did notice that the installers were "failing" to install. Something regarding an error which amounts to an issue with the firmware on the card. For those who do have theirs working at full speed what firmware version do you have on your cards? It seems I may have to manually flash to something else since what I have is not working.

Edit: After further digging it does appear that my firmware is the latest. So I'm not sure why I'm seeing the speeds that I am.

 

[Rain]

I realize this is an old thread, but I picked up a ConnectX-2 based on positive results exhibited here. Unfortunately I am not getting any more than 5.6Gbps on my Win10 machine using iperf. I've tried it on the 4.95 driver as suggested as well as on the Win10 version of 5.10. Neither seem to fix the lack of speed. I did notice that the installers were "failing" to install. Something regarding an error which amounts to an issue with the firmware on the card. For those who do have theirs working at full speed what firmware version do you have on your cards? It seems I may have to manually flash to something else since what I have is not working.

Edit: After further digging it does appear that my firmware is the latest. So I'm not sure why I'm seeing the speeds that I am.

Open up Device Manager and Right Click > Properties on the ConnectX-2 network adapter. On the performance tab, if I'm remembering correctly, there is a dropdown that is set to something like "balanced" by default. You should be able to set this to "Single Port Performance" or similar (try the other options too!). Also, on the advanced tab, set the send/receive windows as high as they'll go.

 

[carlitoCabeza]

I realize this is an old thread, but I picked up a ConnectX-2 based on positive results exhibited here. Unfortunately I am not getting any more than 5.6Gbps on my Win10 machine using iperf. I've tried it on the 4.95 driver as suggested as well as on the Win10 version of 5.10. Neither seem to fix the lack of speed. I did notice that the installers were "failing" to install. Something regarding an error which amounts to an issue with the firmware on the card. For those who do have theirs working at full speed what firmware version do you have on your cards? It seems I may have to manually flash to something else since what I have is not working.

Edit: After further digging it does appear that my firmware is the latest. So I'm not sure why I'm seeing the speeds that I am.

Having the same slow speed problem , no more than 350MBps testing with iperf. As you, I bought the cards based on this post recomendation. I have done all suggestions pointed here, but no matter what, speed, stays slow, did you manage to get better speeds?

Can you please send me a screen grab of yours settings for the adapter in the advance tab?

Thanks a zillion!

cC



Sent from my SM-P607T using Tapatalk

 

[Karbon]

Having the same slow speed problem , no more than 350MBps testing with iperf. As you, I bought the cards based on this post recomendation. I have done all suggestions pointed here, but no matter what, speed, stays slow, did you manage to get better speeds?

Can you please send me a screen grab of yours settings for the adapter in the advance tab?

I have the same issue, only about 5Gbps.
Changing MTU on about 9200 helps a little but I do not find a real solution.

 

[i386]

What power plan are you using in windows?
If it's set to "balanced" try it with "high performance".

 

[carlitoCabeza]

I have the same issue, only about 5Gbps.
Changing MTU on about 9200 helps a little but I do not find a real solution.

Thanks for the reply! Where did you change the mtu value?, I can't find it (I know, I know such a noob!)

Sent from my SM-P607T using Tapatalk

 

[carlitoCabeza]

What power plan are you using in windows?
If it's set to "balanced" try it with "high performance".

Did that still no dice

Sent from my SM-P607T using Tapatalk

 

[RADCOM]

Love you guys! I keep forgetting where I put the damn drivers I google and re-find this post. Proos

 

[GabeE]

I have windows 10 , and I have ALL my other devices connected to a FreeNAS server with vdevs running Iscsi. I have a Qunta LB6M 10G switch. I have 2 esxi host with the Same ConnectX-2 Cards running in them. They are all Running at 9000 MTU and everything is running fine... Well as far as I know. I am getting 600mb/s when I migrate vm's. My windows 10 machine on the other hand..... If I set the MTU to 9000 , along with the port , when I try to connect my vdev the workstations locks up . If I leave it at the 1514 MTU and take the MTU setting off the switch port I have a stable connection, but I only get at max 300mb/s.. If I try and set the MTU on anything other than 1514 using either types of connections SMB or ISCSI my machine locks up. I have tried all different drivers , and double checked the Firmware. Tried Multiple Connectx-2 cards I just Can't get my windows Machine to Communicate any faster.

I get these errors in the event log I don't know if it is related to the issue or not

Mellanox ConnectX-2 Ethernet Adapter device reports that the "QOS (ETS) capability is missing". The current firmware does not support the QOS (ETS) capability. Please burn the latest firmware and restart your machine. (The issue is reported in Function SetHardwareAssistAttributes).

The File Transfer (SMB) performance may be affected as Network Direct functionality is not supported in ConnectX-2 firmware version.

If there is anything you all my know ,please let me know.

 

[fmatthew5876]

Since it was suggested to use an older driver version, I can confirm that the newest version of WinOF 5.35_FUR does enable the ConnectX-2 to work on Windows 10. It even has a native Windows 10 version.

However I am seeing speed issues also. The best iperf performance I got was around 7.5gbps using cygwin. Using native iperf3 windows build was even worse at 5gbps. The system is dual booted with Ubuntu Linux, and on the linux side I get a full 9.5gbps.

Mellanox also offers firmware images here:
http://www.mellanox.com/page/firmware_table_ConnectX2EN

I upgraded mine, didn't make a difference.

Its either a driver issue, configuration, or maybe something about the Windows 10 network stack itself. Maybe iperf on windows doesn't work so well? Really not sure at this point.