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Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for
IBM System x
IBM System x at-a-glance guide
The Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for IBM System x delivers high-bandwidth and
industry leading low latency 10 GbE connectivity. With industry-leading performance, power-efficiency,
integration and feature set, ConnectX-2 EN with RDMAoE (RDMA over Ethernet) adapters provide an
optimized, low-latency solution for high-transaction databases, financial services, cloud computing, and
virtualized server and storage data center environments. The ConnectX-2 Dual-Port 10 GbE Adapter
improves network performance by increasing available bandwidth to the CPU and providing enhanced
performance especially in virtualized server environments.
The adapter is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for IBM System x
Did you know?
The Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10GbE Adapter for IBM System x is a a high-performance, dual-port
network adapter for 10Gb/s Ethernet (10GbE) networks with performance requirements for low latency. It
provides an ideal solution for all servers needing high- performance, low-latency data transfer in LAN
connectivity for mission-critical applications. This network adapter provides support for 10GbE networking
with optical or copper connectivity.
Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for IBM System x
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In data mining or web crawl applications, RDMAoE provides the needed boost in performance to search
faster by solving the network latency bottleneck associated with I/O cards and the corresponding
transport technology in the cloud. Various other applications that benefit from RDMAoE with ConnectX-2
EN include Web 2.0 (Content Delivery Network), Business intelligence, data base transactions and
various Cloud computing applications.
Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN low power consumption, less than 3.5W per port, provides customers high
bandwidth and low latency at the lowest cost of ownership.
I/O virtualization
ConnectX-2 EN with Virtual Intelligent Queuing (Virtual-IQ) technology provides dedicated adapter
resources and guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual machines within the server. The adapter
gives data center managers better server utilization and LAN and SAN unification while reducing cost,
power, and cable complexity.
Quality of Service
Resource allocation per application or per virtual machine is provided by the advanced QoS supported by
ConnectX-2 EN. Service levels for multiple traffic types can be based on IETF DiffServ or IEEE 802.1p/Q,
allowing system administrators to prioritize traffic by application, virtual machine, or protocol.
Specifications
The adapter has the following specifications:
Low-profile adapter form factor
Ports: Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports with SFP+ connectors
ASIC: Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN
Cabling types: Direct Attached Copper, SR and LR Fiber Optic
Host interface: PCI Express 2.0 x8 (5.0 GT/s)
Features: Stateless Offload, Priority Flow Control, FCoE Ready
Power consumption: 6.4 W (typical)
Ethernet support and standards:
IEEE Std 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet
IEEE Std 802.3ad Link Aggregation and Failover
IEEE Std 802.3x Pause
IEEE 802.1Q, .1p VLAN tags and priority
IEEE P802.1au D2.0 Congestion Notification
IEEE P802.1az D0.2 Enhanced Transmission Selection
IEEE P802.1bb D1.0 Priority-based Flow Control
Multicast
Jumbo frame support (10KB)
128 MAC/VLAN addresses per port
TCP/UDP/IP stateless offload:
TCP/UDP/IP checksum offload
TCP Large Send Offload (< 64KB) or Giant Send Offload (64KB-16MB) for segmentation
Receive Side Scaling (RSS) up to 32 queues
Line rate packet filtering
Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for IBM System x
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Additional CPU offloads:
RDMA over Ethernet support
Traffic steering across multiple cores
Intelligent interrupt coalescence
Compliant to Microsoft RSS and NetDMA
Hardware-based I/O virtualization:
Address translation and protection
Dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation
Multiple queues per virtual machine
Hardware switching between guest OSs
Enhanced QoS for vNICs
VMware NetQueue support
Physical specifications
The adapter has the following physical specifications (without the bracket):
Length: 142 mm
Height: 69 mm
Depth: 18 mm
Maximum weight: 0.25 kg (0.5 lb)
Operating environment
The adapter is supported in the following environment:
Operating temperature: 0 to 55° C
Air flow: 200 LFM at 55° C
Warranty
One year limited warranty. When installed in a System x server, these cards assume your system’s base
warranty and any IBM ServicePac® upgrade.
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Supported servers
The adapter is supported in the IBM System x servers listed in Table 3.
Table 3. Supported System x servers (Part 1)
Adapter
Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE
Adapter
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
N
Y
N
N
N
Y
N
N
Table 3. Supported System x servers (Part 2)
Adapter
Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE
Adapter
Y
Y
Y
N
N
N
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
N
Y
Y
Supported operating systems
The adapter as part of the System x portfolio supports the following operating systems:
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for x86
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for AMD64/EM64T
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for x86
SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for AMD64/EM64T
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server Edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server x64 Edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server Edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server x64 Edition
See IBM ServerProven for the latest information about the specific versions and service packs supported:
http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/. Click System x servers, and then click LAN to
see the support matrix. Click the check mark that is associated with the System x server in question to
see the details of operating system support.
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Related publications
For more information refer to these documents:
Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter Installation and User's Guide
Linux device drivers (select the Download tab, then choose the link for the supported operating
system):
Publications for the IBM Intelligent Cluster portfolio:
Mellanox ConnectX-2 EN Dual-port SFP+ 10GbE PCI-E 2.0 Adapter product page:
IBM System x Configuration and Options Guide
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1SCOD-3ZVQ5W
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Notices
This information was developed for products and services offered in the U.S.A.
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Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the results obtained
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COPYRIGHT LICENSE:
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© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.
Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by
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Mellanox ConnectX-2 Dual Port 10 GbE Adapter for IBM System x
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This document was created or updated on June 28, 2011.
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