Interfaces

The below figures show the component side of the NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card. Each numbered interface that is referenced in the figures is described in the following table with a link to detailed information.

Warning

The ConnectX-6 Lx adapter card includes special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when plugging copper cables

Warning

The below figures are for illustration purposes only and might not reflect the current revision of the adapter card.

NVIDIA ConenctX-6 Lx for OCP 3.0 Adapter Card Interfaces

image2020-10-8_13-14-35-version-1-modificationdate-1712653573537-api-v2.png

Callout

Item

Description

1

“ConnectX-6 Lx IC”

NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx IC on the board.

2

“PCI Express Interface"

PCIe Gen 4.0 through an x8 edge connector.

3

“Ethernet SFP28/QSFP28 Interface”

Ethernet traffic is transmitted through the adapter's SFP28/QSFP28 connectors. The networking connectors allow for the use of modules, optical and passive cable interconnect solutions.

4

“Networking Ports LEDs Interface”

There are two I/O LEDs, LED0 and LED1, per port to indicate speed and link status.

“FRU EEPROM”

FRU EEPROM capacity 4Kb

“SMBus Interface”

Allows BMC connectivity using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols.

“Voltage Regulators”

Voltage supply pins that feed onboard regulators.

“CPLD Interface”

Controls the networking port LEDs and implements the OCP 3.0 host scan chain.

The ConnectX®-6 Lx EN family of adapter IC devices delivers two ports of 10/25Gb/s or a single-port of 50Gb/s Ethernet connectivity paired with best-in-class hardware capabilities that accelerate and secure cloud and data-center workloads.

Encryption

Warning

Applies to Crypto-enabled OPNs.

ConnectX-6 Lx brings security to every end-point, including:

  • Purpose-built inline acceleration engines that offload IPsec and TLS data-in-motion and XTS-AES data-at-rest cryptographic operations.

  • Stateful firewall solution acceleration, powered by Open vSwitch connection tracking and NVIDIA’s ASAP2 technology.

  • Embedded hardware root-of-trust and support for RSA-based secure firmware update and secure boot, providing guaranteed integrity of the network adapter.

The network ports of the ConnectX®-6 Lx adapter card are compliant with the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet standards listed in Features and Benefits. Ethernet traffic is transmitted through the SFP28/QSFP28 connectors on the adapter card.

Warning

The adapter card includes special circuits to protect from ESD shocks to the card/server when plugging copper cables.

The table below describes the supported PCIe interface in ConnectX®-6 Lx adapter cards.

Supported PCIe Interface

Features

PCIe Gen 4.0 (1.1 and 2.0 compatible) through x8 edge connectors

Link Rates: 2.5. 5.0, 8.0 or 16GT/s.

Auto Negotiation to: x16, x8, x4, x2 or x1.

Support for MSI/MSI-X mechanisms.

There are two I/O LEDs, LED0 and LED1, per port to indicate speed and link status. LED0 is a bicolor (yellow and green) LED and LED1 is a single color (green) LED.

image2020-10-8_13-28-28-version-1-modificationdate-1712653573127-api-v2.png

Link Indications

LED and State

Description

1Hz blinking Yellow

Beacon command for locating the adapter card

4Hz blinking Yellow

Indicates an error with the link. The error can be one of the following:

Error Type

Description

LED Behavior

I2C

I2C access to the networking ports fails

Blinks until the error is fixed

Over-current

Over-current condition of the networking ports

Blinks until the error is fixed

LED0 -

Link Speed

  • A constant Green indicates a link with the maximum networking speed.

  • A constant Yellow indicates a link with less than the maximum networking speed

  • If LED0 is off, then the link has not been established.

LED1 -

Activity

  • A blinking Green indicates a valid link with data transfer.

  • If LED1 is off, then there is no activity

FRU EEPROM allows the baseboard to identify different types of Mezzanine cards. FRU EEPROM is accessible through SMCLK and SMDATA. FRU EEPROM address is defined according to SLOT_ID0 and SLOT_ID1 and its capacity is 4Kb.

ConnectX®-6 Lx technology maintains support for manageability through a BMC. ConnectX®-6 Lx OCP 3.0 adapter can be connected to a BMC using MCTP over SMBus or MCTP over PCIe protocols as if it is a standard NVIDIA OCP 3.0 adapter. For configuring the adapter for the specific manageability solution in use by the server, please contact NVIDIA Support.

The voltage regulator power is derived from the OCP 3.0 edge connector 12V and 3.3V supply pins. These voltage supply pins feed onboard regulators that provide the necessary power to the various components on the card.

The adapter card incorporates a CPLD device that controls the networking port LEDs, as well as an implementation of the OCP 3.0 host scan chain. It draws its power supply from 3.3V_EDGE.

© Copyright 2024, NVIDIA. Last updated on Apr 9, 2024.