Mellanox ConnectX-3 Network Card WinOF Driver 5.35 for Server 2012 R2 Download

Posted at April 19, 2024 by PCI-DB Team

Mellanox ConnectX-3 Network Card WinOF Driver 5.35 for Server 2012 R2 Description

The Mellanox WinOF Rev 5.35 for Windows package contains the following components:

- Core and ULPs: IB HCA low-level drivers (mlx4)
- Core and ULPs: IB Access Layer (IBAL) - kernel only
- Core and ULPs: Ethernet driver (ETH)
- Core and ULPs: IP over InfiniBand (IPoIB)
- Core and ULPs: Network Direct (ND)
- Core and ULPs: Network Direct Kernel (NDK) Provider Interface
- Mellanox Ethernet LBFO driver for Windows Server 2008 R2Mellanox IPoIB failover driver
- Utilities: OpenSM: InfiniBand Subnet Manager is provided as a sample code. The sample code is intended to allow users to test or bring-up the InfiniBand fabric without a management console / switch (to get started).
- Utilities: Low level performance tools
- InfiniBand Diagnostics tools
- CIM, PowerShell, and WMI support1
- Software Development Kit (SDK)
- Documentation

In the package of Mellanox WinOF Rev 5.35.51000 for Windows, the following components are supported over Nano server:

- Core and ULPs:
- IB HCA low-level drivers (mlx4)
- IB Access Layer (IBAL)
- Ethernet driver (ETH)
- IP over InfiniBand (IPoIB)

This package version is 5.35.52000. The package contains the following versions of components:

- Bus, eth, IPoIB and mux drivers version is 5.35.12978
- The CIM provider version is 5.35.12978

Changes and New Features:

- Ethernet: Updated driver settings for Virtual Function to receive optimal performance
- Ethernet: Added RSS (Rx Steering Mode) monitoring counters support
- Ethernet: Added counter for link up/down to count the number of times that the link operative state changes to down. See “Proprietary Mellanox Adapter Diagnostics Counters” in the User Manual.
- Tools: vstat tool - Added interface description for each port in the vstat tool.
- Tools: Mlxtool - Added support in the following actions:
- Tools: Driver restart
- Tools: Pulling resource tracker information for VFs
- Fixed an issue that occurred rarely when working with LSO - a fragmented packet (with more than 41 fragments) could lead to duplicated headers.
- Fixed an issue that caused low bandwidth when using Software vRSS.
- Fixed an issue that led to non-optimal Out of box performance for virtual function.
- Fixed an issue which caused a firmware upgrade failure (error code 9) during installation, when RoCE was disabled.
- Fixed an issue where Miniport reset could lead to a driver hang when occurred during driver disabling, or to a system crash when occurred during driver shutdown.
- Fixed an issue where the link speed of the IPoIB adapter was the actual speed and not the official speed (i.e. 54.3GB/s instead of 56 GB/s).
- Fixed an issue where firmware burning failed on servers with Connectx-3 and Connectx-4 devices.
- Fixed an issue were Mellanox counters in Perfmon did not work over HP devices.
- Fixed an issue where link load of ports connected to virtual machines took more than 10 seconds. the issue occurred on a hyper-v VMQ setup with several virtual machines, and after running massive traffic on the virtual machines.
- Fixed an issue where in a HyperV machine with VMs running, the network interface required a restart after returning from a Low Power State (sleep/ hibernate).
- Fixed an issue that caused the installation process to hang while checking if the RDSH service is installed.
- Fixed a driver crash that occurred when the VPORT-ID on the TX packet was invalid.
- Updated Link Speed reporting when working with IPoIB and booting using WinPE. This issue caused the link to initialize with a 1Gb/s speed instead of the actual speed.
- Fixed a rare error that caused a freeze in the error flow during the driver’s startup.
- Fixed an SR-IOV team failure caused by an unsuccessful adapter parameters update.
- Fixed an issue which caused a crash in the driver properties dialog, in case more than 8 teaming ports were defined.

Beta Features:

- ibdump: ibdump is currently at beta level.
- IPoIB: IPv6 support of IPoIB in an SR-IOV guest OS over KVM is at beta level.
- IPoIB:IPoIB teaming support is at beta level and is supported only on native machines (and not in HyperV or SR-IOV).
- IPoIB:VMQ over IPoIB in Windows Server 2016 is at beta level due to Known Issue #946432, see “Known Issues” on page 11.
- Virtualization: RDMA over VM when in SR IOV mode is currently at beta level.
- Virtualization: SR-IOV InfiniBand over KVM is currently in Beta level.

The following are the unsupported functionalities/features in WinOF:

- ND over WinVerbs provider
- SRP
- IPv6 over IPoIB Team ports
- VMQ over IPoIB team ports
- Configure IPoIB team through PowerShell
- ConnectX-2 adapter cards
- IBAL performance tools (ib ibv)
- WinVerbs
- IBVerbs

About Ethernet Drivers:

Windows platforms generally apply a generic driver that allows motherboards to recognize the Ethernet component.

However, in order to make use of all network card (adapter) features, you must install a proper LAN driver that enables the hardware. This task enables systems to connect to a network, as well as collect all component characteristics such as manufacturer and chipset.

If you intend to update the driver version, know that this process can add support for new OSes, fix different compatibility problems, resolve related errors encountered during the product's lifetime, as well as include various other changes.

When it comes to the actual installation procedure, we should note that most producers try to make it as easy as possible, so following the steps should be a breeze: just get the downloadable package, run the setup, and follow the on-screen instructions.

There is a chance that other OSes could also be suitable, but it is not advisable that you install this release on platforms other than the specified ones. Remember to perform a system reboot once done, to allow all changes to take effect properly.

Therefore, if you wish to apply this version, click on the download button and enable your network card. To stay up to speed with the latest updates, check back with our website as often as possible.

  It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available.

Try to set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed an incorrect or mismatched driver. Problems can arise when your hardware device is too old or not supported any longer.

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