Hi All,
regarding the Mellanox ConnectX 2 10GbE Ethernet Network Server Adapter MNPA19-XTR:
Originally I was looking for the Brocade CNA 1020B cards to add them to our workstations (Windows 7 x64, Windows 8/8.1 x64), but as those sold less than 40 US$ a few month ago now they are most time over 85 US$. And those 1020s had the problem they required specific PCIe slots with full 8 lanes, otherwise these don't work at all, so it would require us to replace some computers.
Now I searched the web for alternatives and found those cheap ConnectX cards (well, cheap is relative, these have only 1 port - but for a workstation it should be enough).
Does anyone know if these will have the same restriction like the 1020s in term of how many PCIe lanes these need to work?
Which SFP+ models work with the ConnectX cards?
I currently have a bunch of those for the Brocade 1020s around, are these compatible?
Which card would you recommend/prefer and for which reasons?
It would be fine for me if a card will run with 1 or 4 lanes at less speed, at least it works. So we can migrate to better computers slowly.
How about the transfer speeds possible in 10 GBit Ethernet, e.g. by copying "large" files (typically between 1 MB to 20 GByte) between machines?
Our server has already a dual 10 GBit connection to a switch. I am aiming at adding a pure 10 GBit switch as well. Any recommendations on a cheap one (8..24 ports models would be fine, the more ports the better - depending on price).
Looking forward to your recommendations and comments.
Thanks in advance
Axel
