General Information

These are the release notes of NVIDIA® ConnectX®-4 onwards adapter cards for NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere 7.0 U3. This driver supports the following uplinks to servers.

Version

OS

Uplink Speed

4.22.73.1004

ESXi 7.0 U3

10/25/40/50/100/200GbE

ESXi 7.0 U3:
Mellanox-nmlx5_4.22.73.1004-1OEM.703.0.0.18644231.zip - Hypervisor bundle for ESXi 7.0 U3 contains the following kernel modules:

  • nmlx5_core

  • nmlx5_rdma

MLNX-NATIVE-ESX Rev 4.22.73.1004 supports the following Ethernet HCA and their corresponding firmware version:

HCAs

Minimal Recommended Firmware Rev.

NVIDIA BlueField-2

24.34.1002

ConnectX-7

28.34.1002

ConnectX-6 Dx

22.34.1002

ConnectX-6 Lx

26.34.1002

ConnectX-6

20.34.1002

ConnectX-5 / ConnectX-5 Ex

16.34.1002

ConnectX-4 Lx

14.32.1010

ConnectX-4

12.28.2006

For the latest firmware versions, visit: https://network.nvidia.com/support/firmware/firmware-downloads/

Software/Firmware

Version

NVIDIA BlueField-2 Software BFB

3.9.2

MLNX_OFED

5.7-1.0.2.0

  • Download: DOCA_1.4.0_BSP_3.9.2_Ubuntu_20.04-4.signed.bfb file.

    Warning

    VMware users should use only the certified NVIDIA BlueField-2 bfb image linked above.

  • To install the BlueField image, follow the instructions provided here.

    Warning

    In VMware environments, to install and initialize the NVIDIA BlueField-2 with a new bfb image, follow the instructions above using the RSHIM interface of the Linux VM configured with passthrough to be used for upgrading the bfb image.

Warning

Guest OS users may choose to work with Inbox Drivers or take latest MLNX_OFED available for download from NVIDIA website.

Tested Hypervisors

HCAs

Guest Operating System

SR-IOV

NVIDIA BlueField-2

ConnectX-7

ConnectX-6 Dx

ConnectX-6 Lx

ConnectX-6

ConnectX-5/ConnectX-5 Ex

ConnectX-4 Lx

ConnectX-4

Windows Server 2016 DC

RedHat 8.0

RedHat 7.5

RedHat 7.3

RedHat 6.10

RedHat 6.3

SLES 12 SP4

SLES 12 SP3

Paravirtualizeda (Ethernet Only)

ConnectX-7

ConnectX-6 Dx

ConnectX-6 Lx

ConnectX-6

ConnectX-5/ConnectX-5 Ex

ConnectX-4 Lx

ConnectX-4

Windows Server 2016 DC

RedHat 8.0

RedHat 7.5

RedHat 7.3

RedHat 6.10

RedHat 6.3

SLES 12 SP4

SLES 12 SP3

Paravirtualizeda (Ethernet Only)

NVIDIA BlueField-2

CentOS 7.6

a. Paravirtualized RDMA is supported only in Linux Operating Systems and in this release it was tested for RedHat 7.5 only.

© Copyright 2023, NVIDIA. Last updated on May 23, 2023.