NVIDIA Mellanox MCX631432AC-ADAB SmartNIC Firmware 26.32.1010

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:

- OpenSNAPI Communication Channel: The communication channel is used to enable communication between processes on different vHCAs regardless of their network connectivity state.
- QP Resources: Added a new NvConfig parameter LOG_MAX_QUEUE to set the maximum number of work queue resources (QP, RQ, SQ...) that can be created per function. The default value is 2^17.
- Congestion Control Key: Added a Congestion Control Key to all Congestion Control MADs to authenticate that they are originated from a trusted source.
- SMP Firewall: Added an SMP firewall to block the option of sending SMPs (MADS sent on QP0 from the Subnet Manager) from unauthorized hosts to prevent fake SMPs from being recognized as the SM.
- Vendor Specific MADs Class 0x9: Vendor Specific MADs Class 0x9 is no longer supported by the firmware. If case the firmware detects such MAD, the firmware will return a "NOT SUPPORTED" error to the user.
- Match Definer Object: Added support for a new steering match definer format (format 33).
- TLS/XTS/Signature Padding: Blocked the VF's ability to use both padding and signature in order to prevent the NIC from hanging.
- Asserts' Severity Level: Added 3 new assert filters (Health buffer, NVlog, FW trace). The assert will be exposed now if its severity level is equal to or above the new filter. The filters are configurable by the ini file. The "Health buffer" filter is also configurable by new access register.
- QSHR Access Register: Added support for QSHR access register to enable Set and Query rate limit per-host per-port.
- Asymmetrical VFs per PF: Added support for asymmetrical VFs per PF. To enable it: PF_NUM_OF_VF_VALID must be true, and PF_NUM_OF_VF to a none zero value.
- mlxlink Support to read/write Access Registers by LID: Added 2 new MAD access registers to enable mlxlink to read/write access registers by LID (to the whole subnet).
- Steering LAG Mode (Hash LAG): [Beta] The new LAG mode (PORT_SELECT_FT LAG (hash LAG)) distributes the packets to ports according to the hash on the packet headers, instead of distributing the packets according to the QP (queue affinity – legacy LAG) to avoid cases where the slow/fast path packets are transmitted from different ports.

Bug Fixes:

- Fixed an issue that resulted in firmware getting stuck and causing unexpected behavior when connecting an optical transceiver that support RXLOS, and the remote side port was down.
- Fixed an issue that caused the link status to be reported incorrectly and consequently caused the link to go down due to the wrong definition of the RX_LOS polarity in the INI. 
- Fixed an issue that prevented the system from creating more than 128K QPs.
- Removed the "PPS out" dependency on the "PPS in" status.
- Using Phyless reset with level 4 (warm reboot with NIC phyless reset) may result in hardware errors and link dropping.
- Synced reset is not supported when NVNe Emulation is enabled. Running mlxfwreset in synced mode (sync=1) when NVME EMU is enabled will result in the tool reporting the synced reset as supported, but the reset itself will fail.
- Changing the default host chaining buffer size or WQE size (HOST_CHAINING_DESCRIPTORS, HOST_CHAINING_TOTAL_BUFFER_SIZE) using NVconfig might result in driver initialization failure. 
- Limited the external loopback speed to the used module's capabilities.
- Fixed an issue that resulted in wrong RNR timeout when trying to set it during the rts2rts_qp transition.
- Added support for DSFP AOC (CMIS) v4 when error code is not reported by the module.

Changed the policy of VDPA queue number capability.

- When the devices count <= 8, the VDPA queue number in cap is 256
- When the device count >=32, the VDPA queue number in cap is 64
- When the devices count is in 9~31, the VDPA queue number in cap is 128. Here the devices counts all port functions configured in mlxconfig, including pf, vf and sf.

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.