NICs and reverse breakout cabling

[intuitive]

So I am drafting a research project regarding datacenter networking.
Does anyone know if there exist some commodity NICs that support "reversed" breakout cables?
I would like to have something like

SERVER0
[200G]
|--> [50G] SERVER 1
|--> [50G] SERVER 2
|--> [50G] SERVER 3
|--> [50G] SERVER 4

I have Mellanox ConnectX5 and 6, in different versions, but it looks like it is not supported on any of them, but I didn't tested yet.

I read that the new Intel X810 should support this setup but I didn't find any resource.
Also the Netronome Agilio card seem to support it, but I would like something "dumber"

Thanks for any tips!

 

[Freebsd1976]

ql45412 or ql45611

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/40gb-nic-split-to-4-10g-port-dream-come-to-true.28597

 

[intuitive]

ql45412 or ql45611

https://forums.servethehome.com/index.php?threads/40gb-nic-split-to-4-10g-port-dream-come-to-true.28597

Thanks for the link! I didn't looked deep enough...
Though, I was looking for something at higher speed (ideally 4x50 or 4x100), but it seems early for them.

 

[alex.forencich]

4x100 requires more PCIe BW than is currently available (gen 5 x16). But the bigger issue is that usually you don't need a lot of ports on the NIC end, usually only switch ports support bifurcation so they can be used with multiple NICs. There are a few oddball NICs that do support breakout cables, though. But these are already very niche and I don't think they are getting more common.

 

[intuitive]

Yes I'm aware of the PCIe limitation.
It was mainly an idea about "how can we structure services without routers", I am not fully interested of using the whole 200gbps.
But it looks like it is a very niche sector, and it seems hard to find the correct hardware....

 

[alex.forencich]

Sounds like you want an on-NIC switch, basically. I know Intel made their Red Rock Canyon parts a few years ago that can do something along those lines - several PCIe host interfaces, plus several 100G Ethernet interfaces. I think those were discontinued; and I'm not sure if there is anything more recent with similar capabilities. At least outside of FPGA-based solutions.