NVIDIA Networking Server-Side Preboot Drivers (Flexboot/UEFI) User Manual v21

NVIDIA ConnectX-5 Adapter Cards Firmware Release Notes v16.35.3502 LTS

Overview

NVIDIA® PreBoot drivers are a multiprotocol remote boot technology that support remote Boot over InfiniBand (BoIB) and over Ethernet.

Using Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) technologies available in NVIDIA® ConnectX® adapters, PreBoot drivers give IT Managers’ the choice to boot from a remote storage target (iSCSI target) or a LAN target (Ethernet Remote Boot Server) using a single ROM image on ConnectX products.

FlexBoot is based on the open source project iPXE available at http://www.ipxe.org.

PreBoot drivers first initialize the adapter device, senses the port protocol – Ethernet or InfiniBand, and brings up the port. Then it connects to a DHCP server to obtain its assigned IP address and network parameters, and also to obtain the source location of the kernel/OS to boot from. The DHCP server instructs the PreBoot drivers to access the kernel/OS through a TFTP server, an iSCSI target, or some other service.

Supported Adapter Cards and Firmware

Adapter Card

Bundled Firmware Version

BlueField®-3

32.39.2048

BlueField®-2

24.39.2048

ConnectX-7

28.39.2048

ConnectX-6 Lx

26.39.2048

ConnectX-6 Dx

22.39.2048

ConnectX-6

20.39.2048

The following are the supported legacy HCAs and firmware versions:

HCAs

Firmware Version

FlexBoot Version

UEFI Version

NVIDIA ConnectX-5 / NVIDIA ConnectX-5 Ex

16.35.2000

3.6.901

14.29.14

NVIDIA BlueField

18.33.1048

3.6.502

14.26.17

ConnectX-4 Lx

14.32.1010

14.25.17

ConnectX-4

12.28.2006

3.6.102

14.22.14

ConnectX-3/ConnectX-3 Pro

2.42.5000

3.4.752

N/A

For the complete list of supported cards, please refer to NVIDIA® ConnectX®-4 Lx and above firmware web pages at http://www.mellanox.com/page/firmware_download.

Supported Tools (MFT)

Tools

Version

MFT

4.26.1

Software Downloads

  • FlexBoot: Please visit FlexBoot page

  • UEFI: Please visit the UEFI webpage.

Document Revision History

A list of the changes made to this document are provided in User Manual Revision History.

© Copyright 2023, NVIDIA. Last updated on Mar 20, 2024.