NVIDIA Mellanox MCX631435AE-GDAB SmartNIC Firmware 26.31.1014

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:

- Implemented a new NC-SI command get_debug_info to get mstdump via the NC-SI protocol to debug a device if the PCI link fails for any given reason.
- Added support for Enabling/Disabling NIC and RDMA (port/partition) via the UEFI HII system settings.
-  Updated the NC-SI speed reporting output to support 200GbE speed. Now when running the NC-SI command, the output presents 200GbE speed as well.
-  Increased the maximum number of MSIX per VF to 127. Note that increasing the number of MSIX per VF (NUM_VF_MSIX) affects the configured number of VFs (NUM_OF_VFS). The firmware may reduce the configured number of MSIX per VF and/or the number of VFs with respect to maximum number of MSIX vectors supported by the device (MAX_TOTAL_MSIX).
- Asymmetrical MSIX Configuration
- Added a new bit ("data_in_order") to query the QP and allow a process/library to detect when the AR is enabled.
- Added a new flex parser to support GENEVE hardware offload and ICMP.
- When the non-page-supplier-FLR funcion is initiated, the firmware triggers a page event to the page supplier to indicate that all pages should be returned for the FLR function.
- Enabled measuring PCIe eye dynamic grading over PCIe Gen3 speed.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed the rate select mechanism in QSFP modules.
- Fixed an issue that caused the firmware to return a wrong value in "port_buffer_size" field of PBMC access register.
- Fixed classification issues for "Passive" cables to be more robust. 
- Fixed an issue that caused a fatal error, and eventually resulted in the HCA hanging when a packet was larger than a strided receive WQE that was being scattered. 
- Fixed the resource number size (a 64 bit number) to avoid a scenario where it overwrote it with a 32 bit number and erased the high bits when de-allocating the resource number.
- Initialized the rate table in the static configuration so it will be configured at the link-not-up scenarios.

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.