NVIDIA MCX753436MS-HEA SmartNIC Firmware 28.42.1000

Firmware which is added at the time of manufacturing, is used to run user programs on the device and can be thought of as the software that allows hardware to run. Embedded firmware is used to control the functions of various hardware devices and systems, much like a computer’s operating system (OS) controls the function of software applications. Firmware may be written into read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or flash memory.

The ConnectX-7 smart host channel adapter (HCA) provides up to four ports of connectivity and 400Gb/s of throughput, hardware-accelerated networking, storage, security, and manageability services at data center scale for cloud, telecommunications, AI, and enterprise workloads. ConnectX-7 empowers agile and high-performance networking solutions with features such as Accelerated Switching and Packet Processing (ASAP2), advanced RoCE, GPUDirect Storage, and in-line hardware acceleration for Transport Layer Security (TLS), IP Security (IPsec), and MAC Security (MACsec) encryption and decryption. ConnectX-7 enables organizations to meet their current and future networking needs in both high-bandwidth and high-density environments.

The ConnectX-7 smart host channel adapter (HCA), featuring the NVIDIA Quantum-2 InfiniBand architecture, provides the highest networking performance available to take on the world’s most challenging workloads. ConnectX-7 provides ultra-low latency, 400Gb/s throughput, and innovative NVIDIA In-Network Computing acceleration engines to provide additional acceleration to deliver the scalability and feature-rich technology needed for supercomputers, artificial intelligence, and hyperscale cloud data centers.

Changes and New Features:

- Added a new command interface "Memory slow release" to enable/disable holding memory pages for a defined period of time. Once the timer expires, the firmware will return the pages to the driver.
- Added support for configuring PXE boot filters' setting from the HII menu to filter only PXE packets (DHCP, TFTP.ARP,ICMP) during boot on UEFI environment.
- Added support for Precision Timing (PTM). This new capability ensures seamless operations, synchronized data access, faster response times, and optimal AI performance, enhancing cloud offerings' reliability and scalability.
- Improved the PTP accuracy for ports with link speed of 25G or above.
- Added support for MVTS register via a miscellaneous driver using the access_register PRM command.
- Added an LT logger that provides visibility of the LT status, process and parameters sent and received during the flow.
- MSI-X on SF can be received now through the PF's MSI-X vector.

Bug Fixes:

- Enabled the usage of different TX presets for Link Training (LT), LT timer, and inhibit timer non-SPEC values.
- Fixed the partition default value in firmware when MFT builds the bin file. Additionally, in "root certificate" partition, modified the discovery flow in case both of the "root certificate" partition are invalid by erasing them before they are used.
- Fixed an issue that caused RDE PortMetrics property Transceivers.SupplyVoltage to be reflected in incorrect units of 100uV instead of V.
- Prevented HCA_CAP from allowing rogue drivers to create more EQs than the number allowed in the HCA_CAP.max_num_eqs.
- PLDM connector PDR is now not reported if a cable is not connected to prevent incomplete data display.
- Added the PPHCR register (responsible of showing histograms) to the GMP mads flow used to query registers via the mlxlink tool.
- Fixed a downgrade issue that resulted in failure when downgrading to v28.37.1014.
- Blocked access to invalid CR-SPACE registers when the adapter cards are secured.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in device assert when using DCBX CEE.
- Fixed an issue that prevented CNP or RTT counters from wrapping around properly.
- Fixed an issue where the CR_SPACE was open to any read operation, even though some reads could lock the gateway. Bad reads from CR_SPACE will now result in a bad_access error being returned.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the SFF module from accessing the EEPROM data when removing the CMIS module and inserting the SFF module instead of it.

About Network Adapter Firmware:

When connected, the operating system usually installs a generic firmware that helps the computer to recognize the newly attached device.

However, proper software must be applied if you want to make use of all features that the network adapter has available. This task also allows computers to properly recognize all device characteristics such as manufacturer, chipset, technology, and others.

Updating the adapter's firmware and utilities version might improve overall performance and stability, increase transfer speeds, fix different compatibility problems and several network-related errors, as well as bring various other changes.

To install this release, simply get the package, extract it if necessary, run the setup, and follow the instructions displayed on-screen. When done, don't forget to perform a system restart and reconnect the network adapter to make sure that all changes take effect properly.

Without further ado, if you intend to apply this version, click the download button and install the package. Moreover, check with our website as often as possible so that you don't miss a single new release.