NVIDIA Mellanox MCX631105AE-GDAT SmartNIC Firmware 26.30.1004

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.

Changes and New Features:

- Enabled Precision Time Protocol (PTP) timestamp (UTC mode) in Multi-Host devices.
- Removed triggering unexpected internal CNPs for RoCE Lossy slow_restart_idle feature.
- Added support for a new NV config mode “icm_cache_mode_large_scale_steering” that enables less cache misses and improves performance for cases when working with many steering rules. This capability is enabled using the mlxconfig parameter "ICM_CACHE_MODE".
- This new capability adds an origin bit in the ctrl segment of the WQE sent by the Target to the Initiator during frontend controller exceptions in the NVMeoF interface. The WQE sent with the origin bit "set" will have SWQE_OPCODE_SEND_IMM opcode.
- Enabled connection tracking window validation by supporting CONN_TRACK_OFFLOAD general object and WQE with opcode ASO and opmode CONN_TRACK.
- This new capability enables VF/VF-group rate-limiting while per-host rate-limiter is also applied.
- Expanded the Sub-Function capability to support the scale of up to 512 by supporting more MSIX, removing internal obstacles and reducing the ICM memory footprint.
- This new capability enables asymmetric Sub-Function configuration. It expands the asymmetric Sub-Function configuration to support asymmetric configurations between all PFs, and provides Sub-Function scalability and asymmetric NV configurations.
- Added support for new steering match definer formats.
- Added support for matching the following flags: l3_ok, l4_ok, ipv4_checksum_ok, l4_checksum_ok bits in create_flow_group and set_flow_table_entry commands, as well as in match definer formats (formats 0,1,2 and 3) to be used in matching actions on the packet headers. 

Bug Fixes:

- IPsec offload is not supported in firmware version 26.28.1002.
- mstflint is currently not supported in ConnectX-6 Lx adapter cards.
- Removed the option to create unnecessary internal CNP operation for the Lossy ADP retransmission feature.
- Set the cap to 0 for high index functions to avoid too many parallel VF NODNIC functions.

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.