Hi, we purchased earlier this year a new unmanaged MSB7890 and ConnectX-3 Pro VPI adapter cards.
We tested the cards first in a few boxes and they worked fine with our older Qlogic switch and cables. Recently the new Mellanox switch was installed using the same cables. We also have a handful of Mellanox cables, and noticed only these ones were showing the physical link led on the switch and effectively bringing up the interface. There was no luck at all with the Qlogic ones.
I’m adding below some output I got with MST, which we also forwarded to our supplier. I thought initially the firmware version of the switch was the cause (15.1430.0160), but they ruled it out. They said “it must be something with the coding of the SFPs on the cables”:
- Mellanox Switch:
Device Type: SwitchIB2
Part Number: MSB7890-Exxx_Ax
Description: Switch-IB 2 based EDR InfiniBand 1U Switch; 36
QSFP28 ports; unmanaged; RoHS6
PSID: MT_2640110032
PCI Device Name: SW_MT53000_SwitchIB_Mellanox_Technologies_lid-0x0002
Base GUID: 1c34da0300082da0
Versions: Current Available
FW 15.1430.0160 N/A
- Mellanox PCI Cards in computer nodes:
Device Type: ConnectX3Pro
Part Number: MCX353A-FCC_Ax
Description: ConnectX-3 Pro VPI adapter card; single-port QSFP; FDR IB (56Gb/s) and 40GigE; PCIe3.0 x8 8GT/s
PSID: MT_1100111019
PCI Device Name: 21:00.0
Port1 GUID: 1c34da03000236e1
Port2 MAC: 1c34da0236e1
Versions: Current Available
FW 2.42.5000 2.42.5000
PXE 3.4.0752 3.4.0752
- Passive copper Cables:
Qlogic P/N CBL1-0600328 (Manufacturer no: Amphenol - 584470004)
Here’s the partial output of the ‘mxlcables’ command, after I added the cables, which shows how the switch detects them:
Cable #37:
Cable name : SW_MT53000_SwitchIB_Mellanox_Technologies_lid-0x0002,mlx4_0,1_cable_5
No FW data to show
-------- Cable EEPROM --------
Identifier : Unrecognized identifier (0ch)
Technology : Copper cable unequalized (a0h)
Compliance : Unspecified, QDR
Attenuation : 2.5GHz: 7dB
5.0GHz: 11dB
7.0GHz: 0dB
12.9GHz: 0dB
25.78GHz: 0dB
OUI : 0x415048
Vendor : Amphenol
Serial number : APF12060042GUN
Part number : 584470004
Revision : D
Temperature : 1 C
Length : 3 m
Cable #38:
Cable name : SW_MT53000_SwitchIB_Mellanox_Technologies_lid-0x0002,mlx4_0,1_cable_4
No FW data to show
-------- Cable EEPROM --------
Identifier : QSFP+ (0dh)
Technology : Copper cable unequalized (a0h)
Compliance : Unspecified, QDR,DDR,SDR
Attenuation : 2.5GHz: 5dB
5.0GHz: 8dB
7.0GHz: 0dB
12.9GHz: 0dB
25.78GHz: 0dB
OUI : 0x0002c9
Vendor : Mellanox
Serial number : MT1438VS03133
Part number : MC2206130-002
Revision : A3
Temperature : N/A
Length : 2 m
I could not find anywhere any info on the compatibility with these cables, but we wonder if there is anything else to do other than getting new cables and cursing our supplier for not giving proper advice. Let me know if I should add any other info.
Thanks