ESXi 6.5: NVIDIA ConnectX-4 onwards NICs NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere Release Notes v4.16.71.1
NVIDIA ConnectX-4 onwards NICs NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere Release Notes v4.16.71.1

General Information

These are the release notes of NVIDIA® ConnectX®-4 onwards adapter cards for NATIVE ESXi Driver for VMware vSphere 6.5. This driver supports the following uplinks to servers.

Version

OS

Uplink Speed

4.16.71.1

ESXi 6.5

10/25/40/50/100GbE

ESXi 6.5:

Mellanox-nmlx5_4.16.71.1-1OEM.650.0.0.4598673.zip - Hypervisor bundle for ESXi 6.5 contains the following kernel modules:

  • nmlx5_core

  • nmlx5_rdma

MLNX-NATIVE-ESX Rev 4.16.71.1 supports the following Mellanox Ethernet HCA and their corresponding firmware version:

HCAs

Minimal Recommended Firmware Rev.

ConnectX-4

12.28.2006

ConnectX-4 Lx

14.29.1016

ConnectX-5 / ConnectX-5 Ex

16.29.1016

ConnectX-6

20.29.1016

ConnectX-6 Dx

22.29.1016

ConnectX-6 Lx

26.29.1016

For the latest firmware versions, visit: https://www.mellanox.com/support/firmware/firmware-downloads

Tested Hypervisors

HCAs

Guest Operating System

SR-IOV

ConnectX-4

ConnectX-4 Lx

ConnectX-5/ConnectX-5 Ex

ConnectX-6

ConnectX-6 Dx

ConnectX-6 Lx

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,b (Ethernet Only)

ConnectX-4

ConnectX-4 Lx

ConnectX-5/ConnectX-5 Ex

ConnectX-6

ConnectX-6 Dx

ConnectX-6 Lx

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

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

b. Paravirtualized RDMA is supported in ESXi 6.5U1 build and above.
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