Changes and New Feature History

Warning

This section includes history of changes and new feature of 3 major releases back. For older releases history, please refer to the relevant firmware versions.

Feature/Change	Description
28.39.2048
FEC Configuration	Changed the default FEC configuration for the "Protocol Aware" and "Active DME Modules" (ETH cables). For the list of cable identifiers, see tables below.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Byte 192 of Page 0 for sff cables	Name	Auto Detect FEC	Current Default FEC	Previous Default FEC	P/N - Example of one module
0x1A	100GBase DWDM2	No	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x21	100G BIDI PAM4	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	SFBR-89BDDZ-CS4
0x25	100GBASE-DR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	MMS1V70-CM
0x26	100GBASE-FR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	QSFP28-FR-C
0x27	100GBASE-LR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	SPTSBP4LLCDF

Protocol Aware ETH Cables

Byte 192 of Page 0 for sff cables	Name	Auto Detect FEC	Current Default FEC	Previous Default FEC	P/N - Example of one module
0x1	100G AOC / 25GAUI C2M AOC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x2	100GBASE-SR4 / 25GBASE-SR	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMA2P00-AS
0x3	100GBASE-LR4	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	MMA1L10-CR
0x3	25GBASE-LR	Yes	RS FEC	FC FEC	MMA2L20-AR
0x4	100GBASE-ER4	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	SPQCEERCDFLM Source Photonics
0x5	100GBASE-SR10	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x6	100G CWDM4 MSA with FEC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMA1L30-CM
0x7	100G PSM4 Parallel SMF	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMS1C10-CM
0x8	100G ACC / 25GAUI C2M ACC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x9	100G CWDM4 MSA without FEC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	LQ210CR-CPA2
0x17	100G CLR4	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x18	100G AOC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	MFA1A00-C010
0x19	100G ACC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x20	100G SWDM4	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	FTLC9152RGPL
0x22 / 0x23 / 0x24	4WDM-10 MSA / 4WDM-20 MSA / 4WDM-40 MSA	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC

Active DME Modules ETH Cables

Important

To configure FEC or Speed that is different than the default, you must configure both sides.

The following are examples of when FEC detection capability is available:

when a 25G SFP module is connected to card, it will support FEC detection in 25G
when a 100G QSFP module is connected to a card, it will support FEC detection in 100G, but not in 50G or 25G

Warning

Firmware version 28.38.1900 (together with MLNX_OFED v23.07-0.5.1.2) should be used by InfiniBand customers.

Feature/Change	Description
28.38.1900
QKEY Mitigation in the Kernel	QKEY creation with the MSB set is available now for non-privileged users as well. To allow non-privileged users to create QKEY with MSB set, the below new module parameter was added to ib_uverbs module: Module Parameter: `enforce_qkey_check` Description: Force QKEY MSB check for non-privileged user on UD QP creation Default: 0 (disabled) Note: In this release, this module parameter is disabled by default to ensure backward compatibility and give customers the opportunity to update their applications accordingly. In the upcoming release, it will be enabled by default, and later on deprecated.

Feature/Change

Description

28.38.1900

QKEY Mitigation in the Kernel

QKEY creation with the MSB set is available now for non-privileged users as well.

To allow non-privileged users to create QKEY with MSB set, the below new module parameter was added to ib_uverbs module:

Module Parameter: enforce_qkey_check
Description: Force QKEY MSB check for non-privileged user on UD QP creation
Default: 0 (disabled)

Note: In this release, this module parameter is disabled by default to ensure backward compatibility and give customers the opportunity to update their applications accordingly. In the upcoming release, it will be enabled by default, and later on deprecated.

Feature/Change	Description
28.38.1002
Header Modification	Added support to the metadata `reg_c 8-11` (packet fields) for matching and modifying the header, and Advanced Steering Operation (ASO) actions.
INT Packets	Added support for forwarding INT packets to the user application for monitoring purposes by matching the BTH acknowledge request bit (bth_a).
Get Electrical Sensor, NC-SI	Implemented NVIDIA NC-SI OEM Commands: Get Electrical Sensor Count (command 0x13, parameter 0x6) Gel Electrical Sensor (command 0x13, parameter 0x7) Get Electrical Sensors (command 0x13, parameter 0x8)
IPsec CPS Bulk Allocation	Improved the IPsec CPS by using bulk allocation. For cases in which `log_obj_range == 0`, single IPSEC object will be allocated and initialized as before keeping backward compatibility. For better performance, it is recommended to work with IPsec bulk allocation and to initialize IPsec ASO context not via the firmware but via the hardware using ASO WQE.
DPA PROCESS ERROR	Added support for a new value for coredump_type field in DPA_PROCESS_COREDUMP, [FIRST_ERROR_THREAD_DUMP (1).].
Device Attestation	Attestation is a mechanism in which a host/platform automatically verifies the authenticity and integrity of the hardware and software state of a device. The mechanism is based on a HW RoT and utilizes SPDM messages that handle the attestation, measurement collection, and trust between device and platform BMC or platform RoT (usually host BMC). This provides the added value of increased security and assurance that the host/platform of device is not being tampered with and has the proper software running on it. A CoRIM is comprised of one or more CoMIDs , with each CoMID providing the reference claims about hardware and firmware for a device. The CoRIM and CoMIDs are encoded in CBOR format. Signed CoRIMs use COSE signatures. For further information, see "NVIDIA Device Attestation and CoRIM-based Reference Measurement Sharing".
QKEY Mitigation in the Kernel	Non-privileged users are now blocked by default from setting controlled/privileged QKEYs (QKEY with MSB set).
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
28.37.1014
Mergeable Buffer	Added mergeable buffer support (VIRTIO_NET_F_MRG_RXBUF in virtio spec) for VDPA kernel mode to improve performance in case of large MTU such as 9K. The feature is disabled by default and must be manually enabled while creating or modifying the virtio device. Note: For best performance, it is NOT recommended to enable the feature if the VDPA MTU is set to the default value (1500).
Monitoring Cloud Guest RoCE Statistics on Cloud Provider	This new capability enables the VM to track and limit its Vport's activity. This is done using the new q_counters counter which enables aggregation of other Vport's from PF GVMI.
Linux Bridge Offload	Added a flow rule that enables offloading of multicast traffic by broadcasting it to multi-Flow-Table in FDB.
Selective Repeat	Selective repeat improves network utilization in case of a lossy fabric. This features is enabled by default.
Dynamic VF MSIX Allocation	Added support for dynamic MSIX modification on a VF NVME device emulation. If a PF NVME device emulation is created with `dynamic_vf_msix_control = 1`, then the `dynamic_vf_msix_reset` can set the PF device emulation's VF MSIX number to 0. The num_msix is used in the modified VF device emulation to modify the MSIX number of the VF device emulation.
InfiniBand Congestion Control (IB CC)	Enabled IB CC per Service Level (SL) for RC/UC on the HCA side. Now different SLs can be configured to be CC on/off according to the bitmask decided by the software.
ATS/ATC	Optimizes the ATC configuration dynamically based on the returned pages of the ATS translation requests that have been made.
PCC Algorithms	Enables a smooth and statically switch between PCC algorithms. In addition, the user can now switch between PCC algorithms while running traffic.
Hardware Steering: Bulk Allocation	Added support for 32 actions in the header modify pattern using bulk allocation.
InfiniBand Congestion Control - RTT Response Service Level	The software can explicitly set the SL of an RTT response packet, instead of it being taken from the RTT request packet's SL. The RTT response packet SL may be set/queried via the `CONGESTION_CONTROL_HCA_NP_PARAMETER` MAD.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.