The Mellanox MCX354A-TCBT rev.Ax adapter card is a high-performance Ethernet adapter specifically designed for use in data center environments. The adapter card is configured with high-quality firmware version 2.36.5150 that provides the user with advanced networking features that include:

Features

• Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI)
• Virtual Channel (VC)
• Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS)
• IPSec Offload with RSA-4096 and AES-GCM
• RoCE RDMA supports flow control and congestion control
• IPv6 Offloads
• Unified Fabric Port (UFP) Programming
• Jumbo Frames Support
• IEEE 1588 Support

Specifications

• Product Name: Mellanox MCX354A-TCBT adapter card
• Manufacturer: Mellanox Technologies
• Series: ConnectX-3 Pro
• Firmware Version: 2.36.5150
• Bus type: PCIe 3.0 ×8
• Network Interface Controller (NIC): Dual-Port, Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI)
• Data Transfer Rate: 40 Gbps InfiniBand (mHDR 200Gb/s), 10/20/25/40/50/56 GbE, PCIe 3.0 x8
• Supported Operating Systems: Linux, Windows

Technologies Used

• PCI Express 3.0
• Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI)
• 40Gb InfiniBand
• Ethernet with Data Center Bridging (DCB)
• Ethernet Stateless offloads such as TCP/UDP/IP checksum offload
• RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet)
• Jumbo Frames
• IPv6 Offload
• Unified Fabric Port (UFP) programming interface

Known Issues

While the Mellanox MCX354A-TCBT rev.Ax adapter card is a high-quality product that provides advanced networking features, some users have reported certain issues. Some of the known issues and their related resolutions/tips include:

• Kernel panic may occur when running OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) 5.0 or later with ConnectX-3 Pro cards.
• Sometimes the NIC may fail to link due to receiving a Data Link Layer (DLL) train melody error. A possible workaround is to install updated firmware and test the connect with different switches if available.
• Between the software versions OFED 4.0-2/4.4-1 and OFED 4.4-2/4.6.1, the libmlx4.so library has user API get_device_name() function signature. To work around this issue, you should take special care of MPI applications that use this function

Troubleshooting

If you're experiencing any issues with your Mellanox MCX354A-TCBT rev.Ax adapter card, try some of the following potential solutions:

• Ensure that you have the latest firmware installed. You can check for this on Mellanox's website
• If you're experiencing a connectivity issue, try using a different network cable
• Check to see if your NIC link speed and other network settings are properly configured

Driver

To use this hardware, you must download and install the appropriate drivers. Mellanox provides drivers for Linux and Windows operating systems. For Linux, the Mellanox driver can be installed using the appropriate Kernel driver package. For Windows, the drivers can be downloaded directly from Mellanox's site.