Mellanox MCX4421A-ACUN ConnectX-4 Lx EN Adapter Card for Open Compute Project (OCP)

Overview
Single-port 10/25/40/50 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Cards supporting Mellanox Multi-Host® Technology, RDMA, Overlay Networks and more

ConnectX-4 Lx EN network controller with a 10/25/40/50Gb/s Ethernet interface provides industry-leading, high bandwidth Ethernet connectivity for Open Compute Project (OCP) server and storage applications in Web 2.0, Enterprise Data Centers and Cloud infrastructures. Key capabilities of ConnectX-4 Lx EN Adapter Card for OCP include:

• Enables the achievement of significant throughput and latency improvements for server and storage applications, resulting in faster access, real-time response and more virtual machines hosted per server.
• Improves network performance by increasing available bandwidth and decreasing the associated transport load on the CPU, especially in virtualized server environments.
• Offers various form factors to meet the needs of every data center including OCP Specifications 2.0 and 3.0.
• Supports Mellanox Multi-Host® technology, which enables a new innovative rack design that achieves maximum CAPEX and OPEX savings without compromising on network performance.

Mellanox Multi-Host® Technology

ConnectX-4 Lx’s innovative Multi-Host technology enables data centers to design and build scale-out heterogeneous compute and storage racks, with direct connectivity between compute elements and the network. Significantly improving cost savings, flexibility, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), Multi-Host technology provides better power and performance, while achieving maximum data processing and data transfer at minimum capital and operational expenses.
Mellanox’s ConnectX-4 Lx’s Multi-Host works by allowing multiple hosts to connect into a single interconnect adapter, by separating the adapter PCIe interface into several independent PCIe interfaces. Each interface connects to a separate host CPU-with no performance degradation. Reducing Data Center CAPEX and OPEX, Multi-Host slashes switch port management and power usage by reducing the number of cables, NICs and switch ports required by four independent servers, from four to one of each. Additional Features & Benefits of ConnectX-4 Lx’s Multi-Host Technology:

• Enables IT managers to remotely control the configuration and power state of each host individually; guaranteeing host security and isolation, the management of one host does not affect host traffic performance nor the management of other hosts.
• Lowering total cost of ownership (TCO), Mellanox Multi-Host uses a single BMC, with independent NC-SI/ MCTP management channels for each of the managed hosts.
• Multi-Host also supports a heterogeneous data center architecture; the various hosts connected to the single adapter can be x86, Power, GPU, Arm or FPGA, thereby removing any limitations in passing data or communicating between compute elements.

I/O Virtualization

ConnectX-4 Lx EN SR-IOV technology provides dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual machines (VMs) within the server. I/O virtualization with ConnectX-4 Lx EN gives data center administrators better server utilization while reducing cost, power, and cable complexity, allowing more Virtual Machines and more tenants on the same hardware. ConnectX-4 Lx EN’s SR-IOV capability and Multi-Host technology are mutually exclusive, and each host in a Multi-Host server can leverage an individual SR-IOV implementation.