NVIDIA Mellanox MCX623102AC-GDAT SmartNIC Firmware 22.27.2008

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. 

Important Notes:
- Security Hardening Enhancements: This release contains important reliability improvements and security hardening enhancements. Mellanox recommends upgrading your devices firmware to this release to improve the devices’ firmware security and reliability.

Changes and New Features:

- Added support for PAM4 at Beta level.
- Added support for Auto Detect NRZ vs PAM4 and speed detect when connected using Mellanox NIC to Mellanox Switch and Mellanox NIC to 3rd Party Switches.
- [Beta] Programmable Congestion Control solution combines hardware improvements including dedicated iRISCs for Congestion Control, as well as programmable and efficient firmware support to allow users to develop and deploy their own Congestion Control algorithms.
- RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) is at GA level.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed low PXE performance while using the VSC to trigger the send_ring_doorbells.
- Fixed an issue that cause fragmented IP packets to drop.
- On lossy traffic, there might be drops in port counters (e.g. rx_discards_low in ethtool) instead of drops in VoQ shared buffer (seen in PPCNT register).
- A system fault (glitch) occurs between PTP master and slave cards syncs.
- Fixed an issue that caused packets to drop when using POP VLAN and decapsulation actions in the same flow table entry.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the load of the correct PCIe Tx parameters when the speed was changed after the PCIe link was disabled.
- Fixed an issue that caused the "roce_adp_retrans" counter to present the values of the "local_ack_timeout_err" counter.
- If Relaxed Ordering is disabled by running the "setpci" command, it will not be functional even after re-enabling it by running the "setpci" command again.
- Updated the RoCE Tx CNP's BECN value to be 1.
- The default configuration is NRZ speeds in Auto-Neg mode
- PAM4 speeds should be set manually (using the MFT tool – mlxlink)
- PAM4 speeds should be configured as single speeds: 50G_1x or 100G_2x
- 200G_4x optical cables (including 200G_4x splitter cable) will raise link only after manual configuration of PAM4 speeds (50G_1x or 100G_2x)
- The default configuration is 200G_x4 in Force mode
- NRZ speeds should be set manually. Configuration can include multiple NRZ speeds (using the MFT tool – mlxlink)
- PAM4 speeds should be configured as single speeds: 50G_1x or 100G_2x or 200G_4x

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.