NVIDIA ConnectX-8 SuperNIC User Manual

DOCA-Host for Linux Driver Installation

This section describes how to install and test the DOCA-Host for Linux package on a single server with a ConnectX-8 SuperNIC installed.

Requirements

Description

Platforms

A server platform with a ConnectX-8 SuperNIC installed.

Required Disk Space for Installation

1GB

Operating System

Linux operating system.

For the list of supported operating system distributions and kernels, please refer to the DOCA-Host Release Notes.

Installer Privileges

The installation requires administrator (root) privileges on the target machine.

Verify that the system has a network adapter installed by running lspcicommand. The below table provides output examples per ConnectX-8 card configuration.

ConnectX-8 Card Configuration

Output Examples

Single-port Socket Direct Card/MultiHost (2x PCIe x16)

OPN: 900-9X81Q-00CN-ST0

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11:00.0 Infiniband controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8] 59:00.0 Infiniband controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8]

Dual-port Socket Direct Card/MultiHost (2x PCIe x16)

OPN: 900-9X81Q-00CN-ST0

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82:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8] 82:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8] 84:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8] 84:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8]

In the output example above, the first two rows indicate that one card is installed in a PCI slot with PCI Bus address 05 (hexadecimal), PCI Device number 00, and PCI Function numbers 0 and 1. The other card is installed in a PCI slot with PCI Bus address 82 (hexadecimal), PCI Device number 00, and PCI Function numbers 0 and 1.

Since the two PCIe cards are installed in two PCIe slots, each card gets a unique PCI Bus and Device number. Each of the PCIe x16 busses sees two network ports; in effect, the two physical ports of the ConnectX-7 Socket Direct adapter are viewed as four net devices by the system.

Single-port with x16 PCIe Down Stream Port Extension Option

OPN: 900-9X81E-00EX-DT0

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 84:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8]

Dual-port PCIe x16 Card

OPN: 900-9X81Q-00CN-ST0

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82:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8] 82:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8]

Single-port PCIe x16 Card

OPN: 900-9X81E-00EX-ST0

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84:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies CX8 Family [ConnectX-8]

For instructions on downloading DOCA-Host, refer to NVIDIA DOCA Downloads.

For Linux driver installation, please refer to NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux.

© Copyright 2025, NVIDIA. Last updated on Mar 20, 2025.