Mellanox ConnectX-4 CX4121C firmware

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Jamy

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I picked up a couple of Dell/Mellanox dual port 25g cards and they are listed as CX4121C, and the dell .bin file for updating firmware says my system is not supported. Anyone know what the equivalent mellanox model number is?

Thanks,
 
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Jamy

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i386 said:
What's the psid of the card?
Click to expand...
Is there a way to find that in linux without having the mellanox tools installed? It's currently in my XCP-NG box which doesn't have all of the dependencies available to install the tools in XCP repositories.
 
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Jamy

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i386 said:
What's the psid of the card?
Click to expand...
I threw the cad into my windows box:

Device #1:
----------

Device Type: ConnectX4LX
Part Number: 020NJD_0MRT0D_Ax
Description: Mellanox 25GBE 2P ConnectX-4 Lx Adapter
PSID: DEL2420110034
PCI Device Name: mt4117_pciconf0
Base MAC: b8599fbe1ade
Versions: Current Available
FW 14.25.1020 N/A
PXE 3.5.0701 N/A
UEFI 14.18.0019 N/A

Status: No matching image found
 
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Jamy

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I was trying to get the Mellanox firmware not dell, as the dell firmware won't work in a non dell system. MCX4121A-ACAT seems to have been the answer it seems to have flashed correctly.
 
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djstrauss

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Jamy said:
I was trying to get the Mellanox firmware not dell, as the dell firmware won't work in a non dell system. MCX4121A-ACAT seems to have been the answer it seems to have flashed correctly.
Click to expand...
Hi there, did you successfully upgraded the firmware?
I saw in the FS site the .bin file from 2024, did you used that one or the huawei one?

What about the Upgrade procedure?
I got 3 of those cards to upgrade my 10gb host to 25gb.

Thanks.
 
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John T Davis

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Nov 19, 2022
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I'm curious as well. I just snagged one of these with the Dell firmware and the PSID mentioned in this post.

It sounds like it worked out for @Jamy, but then again, he never posted here again, so … </s>
 
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John T Davis

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Nov 19, 2022
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MountainBofh said:
I cross flashed several of the dell branded cards to the Mellanox firmware without issues.

Instructions for doing so can be found here.

Click to expand...
Given how much trouble people talk about having with NVIDIA consumer GPU drivers, this whole process was unbelievably easy and smooth. Thanks for your help! :)

Does this result look correct?

Just wanted to add some info on what the input and expected output should look like for this card and firmware in particular.

Before:
Notice that it couldn't match the firmware, PXE, and UEFI to anything it recognized from NVIDIA's database, and also the differing description.

Code: 
$ sudo mlxfwmanager --query
Querying Mellanox devices firmware ...

Device #1:
----------

  Device Type:      ConnectX4LX
  Part Number:      020NJD_0MRT0D_Ax
  Description:      Mellanox 25GBE 2P ConnectX-4 Lx Adapter
  PSID:             DEL2420110034
  PCI Device Name:  /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0
  Base MAC:         98039b993a82
  Versions:         Current        Available  
     FW             14.32.2004     N/A        
     PXE            3.6.0502       N/A        
     UEFI           14.25.0018     N/A        

  Status:           No matching image found
Before flashing: Make sure you're not flashing the machine via SSH via the Mellanox card. I've done something similar once, so actually unplugged the Mellanox from my switch before proceeding.l

Flash Commands:
Code: 
$ sudo flint -d /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0 -i fw-ConnectX4Lx-rel-14_32_1900-MCX4121A-ACA_Ax-UEFI-14.25.17-FlexBoot-3.6.502.bin -allow_psid_change burn
Done.
    Current FW version on flash:  14.32.2004
    New FW version:               14.32.1900

    Note: The new FW version is older than the current FW version on flash.

Do you want to continue ? (y/n) [n] : y


    You are about to replace current PSID on flash - "DEL2420110034" with a different PSID - "MT_2420110034".
    Note: It is highly recommended not to change the PSID.

Do you want to continue ? (y/n) [n] : y
Burning FW image without signatures - OK
Restoring signature                     - OK
-I- To load new FW run mlxfwreset or reboot machine.

...                                               ...
... The actual flashing process takes quite a bit ...
... of time. Reboot or reset the card/fw after.   ...

$ sudo mlxfwreset -d /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0
usage: mlxfwreset --device DEVICE [--level {0,1,3,4}] [--type {0,1,2,3,4}] [--method {0,1}] [--sync {0,1,2}] [--yes] [--skip_driver] [--mst_flags MST_FLAGS] [--version] [--help] {q,query,r,reset,reset_fsm_register}
mlxfwreset: error: the following arguments are required: command
mint@mint:~/nvidia/mft-4.30.1-8-x86_64-deb$ sudo mlxfwreset -d /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0 reset




The reset level for device, /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0 is:


3: Driver restart and PCI reset
Continue with reset?[y/N] y
-I- Sending Reset Command To Fw             -Done
-I- Stopping Driver                         -Done
-I- Resetting PCI                           -Done
-I- Starting Driver                         -Done
-I- Restarting MST                          -Done
-I- FW was loaded successfully.

After:

Code: 
$ sudo mlxfwmanager --query
Querying Mellanox devices firmware ...

Device #1:
----------

  Device Type:      ConnectX4LX
  Part Number:      MCX4121A-ACA_Ax
  Description:      ConnectX-4 Lx EN network interface card; 25GbE dual-port SFP28; PCIe3.0 x8; ROHS R6
  PSID:             MT_2420110034
  PCI Device Name:  /dev/mst/mt4117_pciconf0
  Base MAC:         98039b993a82
  Versions:         Current        Available  
     FW             14.32.1900     14.32.1900
     PXE            3.6.0502       3.6.0502  
     UEFI           14.25.0017     14.25.0017

  Status:           Up to date
EDIT: I just noticed that mine does not say "ACAT" at the end, but rather "ACA_Ax."
That … seems (?) … to be correct based on the thread you linked?
 
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MountainBofh

MountainBofh

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looks good to me. If it connects and passes traffic I'd say your just fine.
 
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John T Davis

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Nov 19, 2022
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Seems to be just fine. Had a minor panic before I remembered to plug the network cable back in, but other than that … :p

Thanks again! I wanted it flashed to real Mellanox firmware before I fed it to TrueNAS Scale.
 
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richardm

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Sep 27, 2013
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Uh, dumb question... Does cross-flashing Dell to O.G. Mellanox unlock any new capabilities? I have 2x DEL2420110034 with Dell's 14.32.2004 f/w and everything seems OK other than some SR-IOV weirdness in ESXi. What am I missing by not cross-flashing?
 
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klui

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It would depend on the version of the vendor-specific firmware. I have some CX3s with HP PSIDs that won't link with Arista, Juniper transceivers until I flashed with Mellanox PSID. They link fine with Mellanox transceivers--I don't have any HP ones.

I have some other CX3-Pros that has Mellanox PSID firmware that's newer than what's available from Mellanox/Nvidia but they also have incompatibilities with transceivers I have. That also went away when I flashed with what's currently available from Mellanox. The firmware description has "promiscuous" in it.
 
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pimposh

pimposh

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richardm said:
Uh, dumb question... Does cross-flashing Dell to O.G. Mellanox unlock any new capabilities? I have 2x DEL2420110034 with Dell's 14.32.2004 f/w and everything seems OK other than some SR-IOV weirdness in ESXi. What am I missing by not cross-flashing?
Click to expand...
In your case crossflashing will disable LNK/ACT LEDs, otherwise it's fine to use latest one from nVidia download page.
 
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John T Davis

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Nov 19, 2022
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pimposh said:
In your case crossflashing will disable LNK/ACT LEDs, otherwise it's fine to use latest one from nVidia download page.
Click to expand...
Now that you mention it, I just checked my status lights after cross-flashing. Before, I wasn't getting any lights on the port I wasn't using, and an amber link(?)/status light combined with a green activity light on the one I was.

Now, I'm getting green status lights on both of them, and a green activity light on the activity one. I'm guessing the lack of amber light means it's happier about something. :p

Aside: I really like how big the LEDs are on the NIC. Very easy to see. They even labeled the ports. Nice.
 
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richardm

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So it sounds like there's no reason (for me) to cross-flash unless I get my hands on SFP28 modules this Dell card doesn't like. Cool...

Right now it's working fine with Mellanox-branded AOCs. I guess I'll leave it alone...
 
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