General Capabilities

Port Management

For retrieving the port types, perform one of the following:

• Run mlx5cmd -stat from the "Command Prompt", and check the link_layer from the output.

• See the Port Type in the Information tab in the Device Manager window (see Displaying Adapter Related Information)

To configure the port types to Ethernet/InfiniBand mode on a device, use the mlxconfig.exe utility, which is a part of the MFT package for Windows, and is available at https://network.nvidia.com/products/adapter-software/firmware-tools/.

1. Install the WinMFT package.
2. Retrieve the device name:

   1. In command prompt, run "mst status -v":

      mst status -v
      MST devices:
      ------------
      mt4099_pci_cr0 bus:dev.fn=04:00.0
      mt4099_pciconf0 bus:dev.fn=04:00.0
      mt4103_pci_cr0 bus:dev.fn=21:00.0
      mt4103_pciconf0 bus:dev.fn=21:00.0
      
      mt4115_pciconf0 bus:dev.fn=24:00.0

   2. Identify the desired device by its "bus:dev.fn" PCIe address.
      
      

3. Configure the port type to either InfiniBand or Ethernet:
   
   

   1. Ethernet, execute the following command with the appropriate device name:

      mlxconfig -d mt4115_pciconf0 set LINK_TYPE_P1=2

   2. InfiniBand, execute the following command with the appropriate device name:

      mlxconfig -d mt4115_pciconf0 set LINK_TYPE_P1=1

      To set the type of the second port, set the parameter LINK_TYPE_P2.

4. Reboot the system.
   
   

   Changing the port type will change some of the registry keys to the default values of the new port type.

For further information, please refer to the MFT User Manual.

Assigning Port IP After Installation

By default, your machine is configured to obtain an automatic IP address via a DHCP server. In some cases, the DHCP server may require the MAC address of the network adapter installed in your machine.

To obtain the MAC address:

1. Open a CMD console-> Click Start-> Task Manager-> File-> Run new task-> and enter CMD.

2. Display the MAC address as “Physical Address”.

   ipconfig /all

To assign a static IP address to a network port after installation:

1. Open the Network Connections window. Locate Local Area Connections with NVIDIA® devices.
   
   
   
   
2. Right-click a NVIDIA® Local Area Connection and left-click Properties.
   
   
   
   
3. Select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) from the scroll list and click Properties.
4. Select the “Use the following IP address:” radio button and enter the desired IP information.
   
   
   
   
5. Click OK.
6. Close the Local Area Connection dialog.

7. Verify the IP configuration by running ‘ipconfig’ from a CMD console.

   ipconfig
   ...
   Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:
   
   Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
   IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 11.4.12.63
   Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
   Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
   ...

Modifying Driver’s Configuration

To modify the driver’s configuration after installation, perform the following steps:

1. Open Device Manager and expand Network Adapters in the device display pane.
2. Right-click the NVIDIA® ConnectX adapter entry and left-click Properties.

3. Click the Advanced tab and modify the desired properties.

   The IPoIB network interface is automatically restarted once you finish modifying IPoIB parameters. Consequently, it might affect any running traffic.

   Important Notes:
   - For help on a specific parameter/option, check the help button at the bottom of the dialog.
   - If you select one of the entries Offload Options, Performance Options, or Flow Control Options, you’ll need to click the Properties button to modify parameters via a pop-up dialog.

Receive Side Scaling (RSS)

RSS settings can be set per individual adapters as well as globally using the Registry Keys below.

For instructions on how to find interface index in registry <nn>, please refer to section Finding the Index Value of the Network Interface.

Displaying Adapter Related Information

To display a summary of network adapter software, firmware and hardware related information, perform the following steps:

1. Display the Device Manager.
   
   
   

2. Select the Information tab from the Properties sheet.
   
   
   

   Click Save to File and provide the output file name to save this information for debug purposes,

DSCP Sanity Testing

To verify that all QoS and DSCP settings are correct, you can capture the incoming and outgoing traffic by using the mlx5cmd sniffer tool. The tool allows you to see the DSCP value in the captured packets, as displayed in the figure below.

Live Firmware Patch Update

Live Firmware Patch allows ConnectX adapter cards family firmware update (upgrade or downgrade) while the driver, the network ports, and the PCI link remain functional. It is supported only between two firmware versions that support Live Firmware Patch.

To check this capability is available in both firmware versions, burn a new firmware (e.g. using mlxburn) and use “mlxfwreset -d <device> q” command to check if Live Firmware Patch is supported. If Live Firmware Patch feature is supported between two firmware versions, it will be the default reset option.

For example:

mlxfwreset -d <device> r 

This command will perform Live Firmware Patch if it is possible.

Upon a successful Live Firmware Patch update, the following Event Log message will be generated: 

<Adapter name>: Firmware version was updated from version %3 to version %4 as a result of the firmware live patch update.
Log Name: System
Source: mlx5
Event ID: 400
Level: Warning