User Manual

Rev 4.60
Mellanox Technologies
38
4 Deploying Windows Server 2012 and Above with SMB
Direct
4.1 Overview
The Server Message Block (SMB) protocol is a network file sharing protocol implemented in
Microsoft Windows. The set of message packets that defines a particular version of the protocol
is called a dialect.
The Microsoft SMB protocol is a client-server implementation and consists of a set of data pack-
ets, each containing a request sent by the client or a response sent by the server.
SMB protocol is used on top of the TCP/IP protocol or other network protocols. Using the SMB
protocol allows applications to access files or other resources on a remote server, to read, create,
and update them. In addition, it enables communication with any server program that is set up to
receive an SMB client request.
4.2 Hardware and Software Prerequisites
The following are hardware and software prerequisites:
• Two or more machines running Windows Server 2012 and above
• One or more Mellanox ConnectX®-2, ConnectX®-3, or ConnectX®-3 Pro adapters for
each server
• One or more Mellanox InfiniBand switches
• Two or more QSFP cables required for InfiniBand
4.3 SMB Configuration Verification
4.3.1 Verifying SMB Configuration
Use the following PowerShell cmdlets to verify SMB Multichannel is enabled, confirm the
adapters are recognized by SMB and that their RDMA capability is properly identified.
• On the SMB client, run the following PowerShell cmdlets:
• On the SMB server, run the following PowerShell cmdlets
1
:
Get-SmbClientConfiguration | Select EnableMultichannel
Get-SmbClientNetworkInterface
Get-SmbServerConfiguration | Select EnableMultichannel
Get-SmbServerNetworkInterface
netstat.exe -xan | ? {$_ -match "445"}
1. The NETSTAT command confirms if the File Server is listening on the RDMA interfaces.