User Manual

Working With VPIRev 2.2-1.0.1
Mellanox Technologies
158
6 Working With VPI
VPI allows ConnectX ports to be independently configured as either IB or Eth.
6.1 Port Type Management
ConnectX ports can be individually configured to work as InfiniBand or Ethernet ports. By
default both ConnectX ports are initialized as InfiniBand ports. If you wish to change the port
type use the
connectx_port_config script after the driver is loaded.
Running “
/sbin/connectx_port_config -s” will show current port configuration for all
ConnectX devices.
Port configuration is saved in the file:
/etc/infiniband/connectx.conf. This saved con-
figuration is restored at driver restart only if restarting via
“/etc/init.d/openibd
restart”.
Possible port types are:
• eth – Ethernet
• ib – Infiniband
• auto – Link sensing mode - Detect port type based on the attached network type. If no
link is detected, the driver retries link sensing every few seconds.
The port link type can be configured for each device in the system at run time using the “
/sbin/
connectx_port_config” script. This utility will prompt for the PCI device to be modified (if
there is only one it will be selected automatically).
In the next stage the user will be prompted for the desired mode for each port. The desired port
configuration will then be set for the selected device.
This utility also has a non-interactive mode:
/sbin/connectx_port_config [[-d|--device <PCI device ID>] -c|--conf <port1,port2>]"
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/mod-
ule):
• Set the port type to the sensed link type (IB/Ethernet)
Otherwise:
• Set the port type as default (Ethernet)