Recently given 2 of these adaptors and would like to use them to learn about the practicalities of Infiniband and the Mellanox product capabilities.
What would be my best choice of cable for a home lab setup?
No switch, I’m keeping my eyes open for one.
Thanks in advance.
I went ahead and bought the unit from Ebay, 6012, with 2 PSUs.
Now I have my MCX354A cards, some passive copper cables (2m distance is fine for my home lab) and am ready to start learning. Thanks for your recommendations.
I’ll be limited to Infiniband (no Ethernet without the license) but that should be OK to start with as I’m interested in SRP and IPoIB for now and I dont think those need the Ethernet license.
For 56Gb on Infiniband you only need a switch that supports FDR, as in the 6XXX series.
For 56Gb Ethernet you will need a license that enables 56GB, look at this helpful post :
HowTo Configure 56GbE Link on Mellanox Adapters and Switches https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/howto-configure-56gbe-link-on-mellanox-adapters-and-switches
Hi Nick,
now there is another MSX6012F-1BFS on ebay.com for US $ 1999,- or best offer.
Actually as pictured it shows a -2BFS model.
Thought I should let you know. List is US $ 9606,-
BR speedy
Hello,
I bought a Mellanox MSX6012F-2BFS switch on ebay a couple of days ago
for US $ 2000,- It state -1BFS in the text, but the actual picture clearly showed
the unit to have 2 power supplies. Made an offer of US $ 2000,- instead of
the advertised US $ 2199,-
Currently this company is offering a MSX6005-1BFS at US $ 1799,-
just search for MSX6005 on ebay.com. Pictured is a -2BFS model also.
BR speedy
Hi Nick,
if you send me your personal email address, I have some interesting info for you.
My email:
dvs AT vonspalden DOT de
BR
speedy
Thanks for the advice.
I think it may be possible to get to 56Gbps without a switch with a small change to the device firmware files:
56 GbE over a ConnectX-3 VPI adapter
In the end I managed to find some well priced cables from a guy on Ebay:
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_cables/DS_FDR_56Gbs_Passive_Copper_Cables.pdf http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_cables/DS_FDR_56Gbs_Passive_Copper_Cables.pdf
I only need to connect over short distances, so this is OK for me and gets me started with Infiniband.
As this is for a home lab, I will have to search hard for a reasonably priced switch!
http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_ib_switch_systems/SX6012.pdf http://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_ib_switch_systems/SX6012.pdf
Thanks again!
I have the same cards in 2 PCs, work well at 40Gb/s. AfaIk, you will need a FDR capable switch to enable 56Gb/s, SX6036F
will do it.
I bought a couple of Mellanox MC2207310 cables cheap on ebay. I also bought some optical cables only, no transceivers,
50/125µm multimode fiber ( NO 62,5/125µm ! ). From another source on ebay I bought the transceivers for US $ 2.25 ea.
This source has thousands of these transceivers with cut off fibers ( cannibalized ), all I bought work flawlessly,
2 transceivers + 1 optical cable = MC2207310
BR speedy
