Mellanox ConnectX-2 QSFP to SFP+ ?

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ViciousXUSMC

Active Member
Nov 27, 2016
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I think I screwed up, looking for some guidance.
Upgrading part of my home network to 10gb.

I was hunting down Mellanox ConnectX-2 on ebay.
I got the right card the first time with 2x SFP+ Ports, but it had the wrong bracket size. The listing said "includes low profile bracket" and I for some reason I read that as "also includes" like how most desktop parts are listed when you buy a PCI device.

I canceled that order and did a fast rebound looking for the cheapest cards with the high profile bracket. I ordered these: MHQH19B-XTR MELLANOX CONNECT-2 VPI SINGLE PORT 4X QSFP 40GBE NETWORK ADAPTER | eBay

Never paid attention to the fact that its a QSFP port... I just was reading the 10gb part of the item description.

So they came in today and now I wonder what to do with them. I got SFP+ Fiber modules already and not sure if these are just useless to me now or there is a viable way to salvage them (some kind of cheap adapter).


Also I upgraded all 3 of them to Firmware 2.10.720 so they have some of the newest firmware you can put on them.

I guess it comes down to.
1.) Adapter for these of some sort
2.) Try to sell them and buy the right thing

Advice?
 

ViciousXUSMC

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Nov 27, 2016
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adapter: GENUINE 655902-001 655874-B21 HP MELLANOX QSFP/SFP ADAPTER | eBay

Connectx2's are bordering on ancient though (and will be dropped from the mellanox driver within a year or two), if I were buying again in 2019 I would grab a connectx3 as they are much newer and basically the same price: Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT CX311A ConnectX-3 EN Network Card 10GbE SinglePort SFP+ | eBay
Good call didn't realize the X3 was that cheap.
Even on the forum the current asking price is like $90

Ended up finding this as the best listing, as apparently high profile brackets are like dinosaurs and hard to find.

Mellanox MCX311A-XCAT CX311A ConnectX-3 EN 10G Ethernet 10GbE SFP+ PCI-E NIC | eBay

Good advise though the X3 is worth a bit extra.
 
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ziggygt

Member
Jul 23, 2019
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I have 2 Mellanox MHRH2A-XSR Dual QSPF ports. I purchased a QSPF+ cable and I connected the two systems. I loaded the Mellanox drivers for Win10. The firmware meets the Mellanox requirements. I see the cards installed and working but win 10 shows "cable disconnected" on both machines. I bought these to connect two machines together at high speed and they were very cheap. 2-Cables were $30 so I was hopeful. When this did not work the QSPF+ to SPF+ adapters I ordered arrived so I abandoned that quest for the moment. I plugged in the adapters in the QSPF port then the SPF+ cable to that. I expected that to work. In some threads the mode has to be switched. I supposed if in either mode the link should connect. The driver does not give me a way to select the mode for the card. It shows up as IPoIB. for both ports. I realize there is a lot to setup these cards but I expected the cables to show "connected". I would appreciate any help as to what I might be doing wrong.
 

klui

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Feb 3, 2019
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The $90 cards are CX3-Pros. CX3s are around $30. CX2s and CX3s are already EoL. CX3-Pros will be EoL end of this year.

I've never used CX2s but for CX3s and beyond you would use Mellanox's MFT utilities to change IB/auto to ETH mode.
 

necr

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Dec 27, 2017
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In some threads the mode has to be switched. I supposed if in either mode the link should connect. The driver does not give me a way to select the mode for the card. It shows up as IPoIB. for both ports.
That's easy, in Device Manager go to System Devices, find your ConnectX-2 card, uncheck HW defaults and set it to Ethernet mode. IPoIB will be unloaded and mlx_en will be loaded which will have all the different settings you can change (Device Manager - Network Adapters).
 

chaoscontrol

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Aug 15, 2019
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Just my 2cents, but I nowadays 3d print brackets if I can only find something with either low of high profile bracket. 3d printers are so cheap you have an ROI after just a few brackets. Not to mention its handy to have one anyway.

Even a p410, which gets really hot at the back works fine with a printer bracket in my rack.
 
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ziggygt

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Jul 23, 2019
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That's easy, in Device Manager go to System Devices, find your ConnectX-2 card, uncheck HW defaults and set it to Ethernet mode. IPoIB will be unloaded and mlx_en will be loaded which will have all the different settings you can change (Device Manager - Network Adapters).
I re-read your advice a couple times to appreciate the "system Device" area. I did find the way to switch the card to ethernet mode. I still get the "cable disconnected" message. I have the

-Latest version of Windows 10
-Mellanox ConnectX-2 VPI Dual Port Networking Card MHRH2A-XSR
-Mellanox Ethernet Cable Adapter 40GbE Max Speed QSFP to SFP Model MAM1Q00A-QSA
-Different SPF+ cables

When that did not work, I used a Mellanox IBM 45W9404 QSFP 2 Meter Copper Cable HSS cable with no adapter plugged from one port to the other on the MHRH2 card. Still get cable disconnected message from wondows

I tried all different settings for the post type. I found I had to disable and re-enable in the device menu to get the update of the change. Any suggestions on what else to try?
-
 

necr

Active Member
Dec 27, 2017
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Any suggestions on what else to try?
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I’d focus on 2m QSFP cable first. Is this a known working cable? Set both cards to IB mode, connect two systems using lower, then upper ports. Run ibstat and post the results here (if carrier’s detected, it’ll display Initializing instead of Down/Polling). Set both cards to Ethernet mode, repeat the test saving the ibstat output. Things that come to my mind: dead card, non-original firmware(can be fixed easily), bad WinOF.