Cable Installation

All cables can be inserted or removed with the unit powered on.

To insert a cable, press the connector into the port receptacle until the connector is firmly seated. The LED indicator, corresponding to each data port, will light when the physical connection is established. When a logical connection is made, the relevant port LED will turn on.

To remove a cable, disengage the locks and slowly pull the connector away from the port receptacle. The LED indicator for that port will turn off when the cable is unseated.

For a list of Supported Cables and Transceivers, please see the interconnect product specifications page.

For full cabling guidelines, please see NVIDIA Cable Management Guidelines and FAQs Application Note.

For more information about port LEDs, refer to Port LEDs.

QSFP Cable Orientation

When using an NVIDIA splitter cable, the following splitting options are available:

• SN4280-X:

  • Each 400GbE port (ports #1-28) provides

    • Up to 28 400GbE ports.

    • Up to 56 200GbE PAM4 with QSFP-DD to 2x QSFP-56 breakout cable.

    • Up to 56 100GbE NRZ with QSFP-DD to 2x QSFP28 breakout cable or SR8 to 2xSR4 optical transceivers.

    • Up to 112 100GbE ports with DR4 to 4x DR1 optics.

    • Up to 112 100GbE PAM4, QSFP-DD to QSFP-56 breakout cable.

• SN4600 (see "SN4600/SN4600C Splitting Options”):

  • Each 200GbE port can be split to 2 ports of 100GbE without any limitation.

  • Each 200GbE odd number port can be split to 4 ports of 50GbE while disabling (unmapping) the 100GbE port above or below it.

  • Each 100GbE port can be split to 2 ports of 50GbE without any limitation. Each 100GbE odd number port can be split to 4 ports of 25GbE, while disabling (unmapping) the 100GbE port above or below it. See "SN4600/SN4600C Splitting Options” below.

• SN4600C (see "SN4600/SN4600C Splitting Options”):

  • Each 100GbE port can be split to 2 ports of 50GbE without any limitation.

  • Each 100GbE odd number port can be split to 4 ports of 25GbE ports, while disabling (unmapping) the 100GbE port above or below it. See "SN4600/SN4600C Splitting Options” below.

• SN4700 (see "SN4700 Splitting Options”):

  • Each 400GbE port (ports #1-32) can be split to 8 ports of 50GbE, while blocking the adjacent ports.

  • Each 400GbE port (ports #1-32) can be split to 2 ports of 200GbE or 4 ports of 100GbE, without any limitations.

Using Splitter (Breakout) Cables with NVIDIA Onyx (MLNX-OS)

When using this feature, you should log into the NVIDIA Onyx (MLNX-OS) CLI and configure the individual ports to be ‘split-2’ or ‘split-4’. See NVIDIA LinkX Cables and Transceivers for more information.

Using Splitter (Breakout) Cables with Cumulus Linux

If you are using 4x10G direct attach copper cables or active optical cables, edit the /etc/cumulus/ports.conf to enable support for these cables, then restart the switchd service using thesudo systemctl restart switchd command. For more details, see Switch Port Attributes.

Examples of Splitter (Breakout or Fanout) Cables

SN4600/SN4600C Splitting Options

SN4700 Splitting Options