NVIDIA Mellanox MCX623102AS-ADAT SmartNIC Firmware 22.33.1048

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.
- SR-IOV - Virtual Functions (VF) per Port - The maximum Virtual Functions (VF) per port is 127.
- It is recommended to enable the “above 4G decoding” BIOS setting for features that require large amount of PCIe resources. Such features are: SR-IOV with numerous VFs, PCIe Emulated Switch, and Large BAR Requests.

Changes and New Features:

- 200Gb/s Throughput on Crypto Capable Devices: Enabled 200Gb/s out-of-the-box throughput on crypto capable devices. Note: If any crypto offloads is in use, 200Gb/s throughput can be achieved only after the next firmware reset
- VF Migration: Added support for VF migration. The hypervisor can now suspend its VF, meaning from that point the VF cannot perform action such as send/receive traffic or run any command. In this firmware version only the suspend resume mode is supported (on the same VM).
- MADs: Added a new MAD of class SMP that has the attributes hierarchy_Info as defined in the IB Specification and is used to query the hierarchy information stored on the node and the physical port.
- NV Configurations via the Relevant Reset Flow: Added pci_rescan_needed field to the MFRL access register to indicate whether a PCI rescan is needed based on the NV configurations issued by the software. Note: If the Keep Link Up NV configuration is changed, phyless reset will be blocked.
- Precision Time Protocol (PTP): Added Precision Time Protocol (PTP) support. In this version, the support includes: 16 PTP SQs only, only 2 ports, only RT clock mode. In this version, the following are not supported: PTP packet drop and PTP SQ on VF. Note: All PTP SQs must be closed before operating LFWP (life fw patch).
- Resource Dump Support for HW Steering: Added support for HW Steering objects dump via resource dump interface. This support includes: STC, RTC, STE, modify argument, and modify pattern.
- VF Migration: Added support for VF migration.
- ICM Pages: Added a new register (vhca_icm_ctrl access_reg) to enable querying and limiting the ICM pages in use.
- Steering Definer: Added support for creating a steering definer with a dword selector using create_match_definer_object and the "SELECT" format.
- XRQ QP Errors Enhancements: Enhanced the XRQ QP error information provided to the user in case QP goes into an error state. In such case, QUERY_QP will provide information on the syndrome type and which side caused the error.
- Holdover Mode: Added support for holdover mode to comply to SyncE specifications (EEC compliance) to limit the maximum phase transient response upon link loss.
- SyncE Enhancements: Added support for noise filtering to comply to the SyncE specifications requirements.
- vDPA Performance: Optimized the performance of virtio including: throughput, QoS, and accuracy of min/max bandwidth when virtio works with the QoS settings.
- vDPA virtio-net Full Emulation: This new capability reduces the switchover time of creating a virtq from scratch during live migration, by creating the virtq beforehand on the target server. When swithover happens, the pre-created virtq will be used and modified with necessary parameters.
- ibstat: Updated the ibstat status reported when the phy link is down. Now QUERY_VPORT_STATE.max_tx_speed of UPLINK will not be reported as 0 anymore.
- NetworkPort Schema Replacement: Replaced the deprecated NetworkPort schema with Port schema in NIC RDE implementation.
- Firmware Steering: Enabled the option to modify the ip_ecn field in the packet header in firmware steering.
- ZTRCC: Added support for advanced ZTR_RTTCC algorithm based on the Programmable CC platform to achieve better congestion control without dependency on the switch ECN marking.
- Dynamic Completion Event Moderation for vDPA: DIM is used to tune moderation parameter dynamically using an mlxreg command. To disable this capability, run: mlxreg -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 --reg_id 0xc00d --reg_len 0x8 -s "0x4.1:1=0x0"
- SW Steering Cache: Modified the TX or RX cache invalidation behavior. TX or RX cache invalidation now does not occur automatically but only when the software performs the sync operation using the using sync_steering command.
- Mega Allocations in Bulk Allocator Mechanism: Modified the maximum bulk size per single allocation from "log_table_size - log_num_unisizes", to allocate any range size, to remove limitations that HWS objects such as counters and modify arguments might encounter.
- Dynamic Flex Parser over a VF: Added support for creating a dynamic flex parser on untrusted function, and changed the flex parser cap for untrusted function to the following: maximum flex parser node = 2 and maximum dw sample = 4
- SNAPI Comm-Channel: Added support for SNAPI (comm-channel) connection while running on raw ETH link.
- Changing all the Crypto Features to Wrapped or Cleartext: Crypto features can be in either wrapped or unwrapped mode. Meaning, the key can be wrapped or in plaintext when running the CREATE_DEK PRM command. To comply with the requirements specified in FIPS publication, all the created DEKs must be wrapped. This feature adds new NV_CONFIG per device to control this mode, and enables the user to change all the crypto features to wrapped or cleartext.
- ICM Direct Access by the Software to write/modify the DEK Objects: [Beta] This new capability enables the software to directly access ICM and write/modify the DEK objects. Such change improves the DEK object update rate by re-using DEK object instead of creating a new one. In addition, added the following: New for DEK object: bulk allocation, modify_dek cmd, and new mode - sw_wrapped. New general object INT_KEK

Added HW Steering support for the following:

- set, add and copy inline STC action
- set and copy actions for several fields using modify_pattern object and inline stc modify action
- FDB mode in HW steering using FDB_RX and FDB_TX flow table types
- ASO flow meter action via STC
- flow counter query using ASO WQE
- allocation of large bulks for the objects: STE, ASO flow meter and modify argument
- jumbo match RTC
- count action in STC

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed a rare case that caused the QP not to receive a completion.
- Resolved vDPA traffic unbalance issue in active-backup VF LAG mode. 
- Implemented SLD detection code. Surprise Down Error Reporting Capable value was changed from 1 to 0 in boards where the downstream perst was not controlled thus causing SLD detection not to function properly.
- Fixed an issue that occured after powering off DC in Multi-Host system which resulted in OOB connection to the BMC getting lost (and fatal error appeared) due to a firmware bug in the PCIe flush flow. The issue was fixed by increasing the flush time and not waiting for PCIe credits to return to default values.
- Fixed a rare HW/FW timing race of serdes' power-up sequence.
- Fixed rare lanes skew issue that caused CPU to timeout in Rec.idle.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in temporary packet drops while changing PTP/FCS configuration when the links were up.
- Optimized the virtio data path to reach line speed for Tx bandwidth.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in notification indicator mistakenly being reported as FATAL thus, raising false indication.
- Fixed bad cache invalidations of destroyed QPs.
- Fixed a configuration issue which flipped the MSB of Partition Key field in CNP packets and led to P_KEY mismatch between CNP packets and regular packets.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in wrong port calibration due to incorrect mapping of the port during initialization stage.

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.