User Manual

Working With VPIRev 2.1-1.0.6
Mellanox Technologies
126
6.2 Auto Sensing
Auto Sensing enables the NIC to automatically sense the link type (InfiniBand or Ethernet) based
on the link partner and load the appropriate driver stack (InfiniBand or Ethernet).
For example, if the first port is connected to an InfiniBand switch and the second to Ethernet
switch, the NIC will automatically load the first switch as InfiniBand and the second as Ethernet.
6.2.1 Enabling Auto Sensing
Upon driver start up:
1. Sense the adapter card’s port type:
If a valid cable or module is connected (QSFP, SFP+, or SFP with EEPROM in the cable/module):
• Set the port type to the sensed link type (IB/Ethernet)
Otherwise:
• Set the port type as default (Ethernet)
During driver run time:
• Sense a link every 3 seconds if no link is sensed/detected
• If sensed, set the port type as sensed