NVIDIA Mellanox MCX516A-BDAT SmartNIC Firmware 16.27.1016

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. 

Important Notes:
- Security Hardening Enhancements: This release contains important reliability improvements and security hardening enhancements. Mellanox recommends upgrading your devices firmware to this release to improve the devices’ firmware security and reliability.
- SR-IOV - Virtual Functions (VF) per Port - The maximum Virtual Functions (VF) per port is 127.

Changes and New Features:

- Allows BMC to query and control NIC over RedFish API. Currently, the NIC supports reading data and setting basic Ethernet and InfiniBand parameters.
- Removed power consumption limitation. This new capability removes the necessity to disable the port due to insufficient power. When this feature is enabled, an event will be sent on every transition between the following power states: Power limit is not advertised, Sufficient power detected, Insufficient power detected
- Enables matching of source_vhca_port in the FDB flow for ECMP hardware offload on a single FDB.
- Firmware can be patched with critical bugs fixes live with minimal serviceability impact. The patching can be down only within the same major branch.
- Added support for dumping hardware steering entries (raw data) using the resource dump API.
- Enables the device to generate events that will notify the user about any resource dumps updates. The resource dump owner (PF/ECPF) will be notified on the VF command failures by events that will contain the needed information to call the resource_dump command. The device will dump the resource in the standard resource dump sequence.
- Added support for RSS based on inner headers of GTP-U tunneled packets.
- The eth_link_down_counter now counts logical link downs as well.
- [Beta] Added support for relaxed ordering read when using the create_mkey flag.

About Network Adapter Drivers:

When connected, the operating system usually installs a generic driver 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 drivers 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.

  It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available.

Try to set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed an incorrect or mismatched driver. Problems can arise when your hardware device is too old or not supported any longer.