I only use Linux, tried both RHEL, Debian. Same firmware, same issue. Tried different switches, Arista 7050qx, Mellanox SX6036, Mellanox SN2100. You mention bios settings, which specifically?
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I'm trying to figure this out myself
I read in a lenovo deployment guide for workstation with the cx4 lc that they need something enabled to make roce + smb work.
Of course I downloaded the pdf and can't find it now among the hundreds other pdfs...
Solarflare are amazing NICs in-terms of performance and low-latency but unfortunately they are unsupported by lots of distros. No default drivers in PFsense/OPnsense/TrueNAS and etc.
Then I would just go for Mellanox Connect-X 4 25GbE nic.
Chelsio 520 is another alternative, but consumes slightly more power.
So something like this should be good choice ?
Or maybe even this
XCAT is 10gbe as far as I know, but it's fine with me.
Or maybe even this
XCAT is 10gbe as far as I know, but it's fine with me.
Mellanox MCX4121A-ACAT Connectx-4 Lx EN Card Ethernet Adapter Card 25GbE online kaufen | eBay.de
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Costs 1 German pretzel more but gives you future proof upgrades
There is none - ACAT has the 25G firmware flashed, XCAT the 10G firmware. You can flash the ACAT firmware to XCAT cards.
Although, very seldomly one can find some XCAT 'white box' variants that have the thin sheet metal SFP ports instead of the SPF28 aluminium variant with cooling fins. I wouldn't want to find out if 25G transceivers work reliably without the additional heat dissipation capabilities, so just avoid those if you stumble upon them. Most offers are for ACAT variants anyways - if they are marketed as "10G" that's simply wrong - ACAT is always 25/10G.
Not sure if SFP cage with/without fins is the key here. Below is QXG-10G2SF-CX4 crossflashed with QXG-25G2SF-CX4 firmware (stock nVidia ACAT version works as well) do work correctly with 25Gbps DAC cables (did not tested any fibre transcievers).
Not sure if 10/25 versions are different in any other part than firmware. No unpopulated PCB parts. Cannot compare 1:1 since i do not own 25G version.
Not sure if 10/25 versions are different in any other part than firmware. No unpopulated PCB parts. Cannot compare 1:1 since i do not own 25G version.
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The OP was specifically requesting cards for Linux and the sfc module is part of the mainstream linux kernel.