Mellanox Connectx-3 PXE boot on Dell Poweredge C6320

Infrastructure & Networking Adapters and Cables Ethernet Adapter Cards
1

I’m having trouble getting my Dell C6320 systems to boot up via PXE from the installed Connectx-3 interface. I’ve gone through all the settings in BIOS, tried disabling PXE on the built-in interfaces, checked the Flexboot settings. So far no luck - I feel like I’m probably missing something obvious, but any help or tips would be appreciated!

2

Hi John,

In addition to update the HCA to the latest FW which will contain as well an updated Flexboot rom image, can you validate that PXE is disabled within the onboard NIC card(s).

Sophie.

3

Hi John,

Can you provide a screenshot from the server when you attempt to PXE boot from the Connectx-3 HCA card?

Would you happened to know the HCA FW and the flexboot version? (That information might be available under the Mellanox Flexboot User Interface upon invoking CTRL-B shortly after completion of the POST).

Is the link type as Ethernet or Infiniband?

Sophie.

4

Sophie-

Thanks for the reply. When I attempt to PXE boot, the Mellanox card never shows up. This happens when I press F12 (one-time PXE boot) and also when I try to set the BIOS boot order settings – it just is not an available option.

When I press Ctrl-B for Flexboot menu it shows:

ConnectX-3Pro

Flexboot version 3.4.723

Family firmware version 2.36.5080

This environment is a bit new for me so I may just be missing something, but tried a lot of troubleshooting without success.

The server is a Dell Poweredge C6320 on BIOS version 2.6. Link type is Ethernet.

5

John,

Can you update the HCA to the latest FW which will contain as well an updated Flexboot rom image.

Sophie.