SOLVED Mellanox SX6036 + LR4 Transceivers does not work

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NablaSquaredG

Layer 1 Magician
Aug 17, 2020
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Hey,

So I was trying to pair one of my SX6036 with LR4 transceivers - Never done this before o_O

I know that LR4 transceivers only work in Ports 1, 3, 33, 35, so I used those ports
Code: 
Mellanox switch systems offer high power transceiver (e.g. LR4) support in the following ports:
•SX6036 – ports 1, 3, 33, 35
•SX6012/SX6710/SX6720 – all ports
•SB7700 – all ports
•TX6000/TX6100 – all uplink ports
If a high power transceiver (e.g. LR4) is inserted to a port that does not support it, the link does
not go up, and the following warning message is displayed: “Warning: High power transceiver is
not supported” when the command “show interfaces ib” is run.
But the transceivers do not link up. It does not matter whether the Port is in IB or Eth mode (Switch is in VPI mode)

Firmware is 3.6.8012

Any ideas?
 
Last edited:
Stephan

Stephan

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2017
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What's with all the LR4 / LR4 Lite stuff on here recently anyway? Everyone built a tree house 1 km away during pandemic downtime that really could use 40 Gbps ethernet to the house?
 
Stephan

Stephan

Well-Known Member
Apr 21, 2017
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Would definitly like more community ISP videos on youtube, using Aristas or Mellanoxes from ebay. ;-)
 
L

llowrey

Active Member
Feb 26, 2018
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NablaSquaredG said:
Solution:

Use the magic 0x66 0x61 0x65 manufacturer command to remove the cable-stamping-lock
Click to expand...
Although this thread is for the SX6036, I would like to mention that the SX6018 does not support high-power transceivers (eg LR4) on any port but can be modified to do so. The magic cable stamping command only works on ports that have high power enabled. Theoretically, the same mod could be used to enable LR4 transceivers on more than the 4 ports enabled by default on the SX6036. The asic firmware contains settings for each port and just needs module_power_level_supported to be set to 5 to enable high power transceivers.

I couldn't find the firmware code necessary to generate a bin with a modified config ini so I resorted to patching the bin directly. PM if you'd like a copy of the modded bin for the SX6036 or SX6018.
 
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saratoga

New Member
Nov 5, 2021
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For anyone who is puzzled by this, the command only works on newer firmware versions. 3.4.x have a lock command but no unlock, at least for me. Once I updated to 3.6.3 it appeared.

Edit: Ran through the sequence on a second sx6036. Steps are:

Update to at least 3.5.1006.

Then in the console:

enable
configure terminal
fae
cable-stamping-unlock 40g_lr4
exit
write memory

After that my Intel LR4 modules are recognized in ports 1, 3, 33 and 35.
 
Last edited:
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unphased

Active Member
Jun 9, 2022
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Thanks for the steps. I have some CWDM4 transceivers I'm testing on my SX6036 and they were showing the "high power transceiver is not supported" when opening the port in the webui. When I plug to port 33 it no longer shows this error! but does not come online.

I have applied the steps and waiting for switch to reboot now.

My hope is that the "40g_lr4" is more of a notion of high power, aka LR4 transceivers are high power, rather than just about LR4 (of which I have no such equipment... yet) and so, the later 100G CWDM4 technology is also high power but hopefully still backward compatible.
 
Prophes0r

Prophes0r

New Member
Sep 23, 2023
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Stephan said:
What's with all the LR4 / LR4 Lite stuff on here recently anyway? Everyone built a tree house 1 km away during pandemic downtime that really could use 40 Gbps ethernet to the house?
Click to expand...
Dirt cheap transceivers that should work without attenuators?
Why use MPO/MTP fiber when you can get LC/UPC fiber and $3.50 100G LR4 Lite transceivers?

@llowrey Are you saying you modded the SX6036 switch ACIC firmware to accept "high power" transceivers on all ports when used in conjunction with the `cable-stamping-unlock 40g_lr4` fae commands?

If so, I am very interested, since I'm finishing up my new networking closet and I want 6 machines using the above-mentioned transceivers.
 
U

unphased

Active Member
Jun 9, 2022
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I don't need this yet, but I can see it happening for sure, given how well my $8 kaiam LR4L transceivers work from my brief testing, being able to run these on every port would be amazing! Please provide more info.
 
L

llowrey

Active Member
Feb 26, 2018
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Prophes0r said:
@llowrey Are you saying you modded the SX6036 switch ACIC firmware to accept "high power" transceivers on all ports when used in conjunction with the `cable-stamping-unlock 40g_lr4` fae commands?
Click to expand...
Yes. The modded firmware removes the power restriction on all ports. That, combined with the above command enables LR4 optics on all ports. I don't want to publish the firmware publicly since there is some risk so feel free to DM me and I'll send you the info. More than a dozen people have used this firmware without incident and I've been running it for years so the risk is low, but it's not zero.
 
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Bad Apple

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Nov 18, 2023
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llowrey said:
Yes. The modded firmware removes the power restriction on all ports. That, combined with the above command enables LR4 optics on all ports. I don't want to publish the firmware publicly since there is some risk so feel free to DM me and I'll send you the info. More than a dozen people have used this firmware without incident and I've been running it for years so the risk is low, but it's not zero.
Click to expand...
Hi, I think I need this firmware to update my sx6036 switch, can you provide me with one? Thank you so much
 
C

ClumsyAssassin

New Member
Apr 8, 2024
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llowrey said:
Yes. The modded firmware removes the power restriction on all ports. That, combined with the above command enables LR4 optics on all ports. I don't want to publish the firmware publicly since there is some risk so feel free to DM me and I'll send you the info. More than a dozen people have used this firmware without incident and I've been running it for years so the risk is low, but it's not zero.
Click to expand...
Hi, this is my first post here. After reading up a lot on Mellanox switches via the forums (thanks a lot to all involved), I've ended up with a SX6036 switch. I've performed the lr4 unlock, so would like to try out the firmware.
 
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