topic Re: Infiniband Module question in BladeSystem - General

Infiniband Module question

d0kt0r — Mon, 21 Oct 2013 21:22:04 GMT

Hi,

I can't find any info or service manual about this infiniband module : 410408-001

I have a question about what I would need in order to somekind a lab for it.

Obviosly mezzanines ... I've got 3 mezz, and the p/n above. But, my question (if anyone has played with infiniband before), how much cables CX4 should I need? Is this like a pass-through ethernet module? And ... Will I need a switch, or I could connect, directly to a infiniband Storage?

Thanks in advance!!!

Daniel.

Re: Infiniband Module question

Casper42 — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 18:34:00 GMT

The Part Number you provided appears to be a proper Infiniband Switch.
So you could use it to allow the 3 blades to talk to each other, but for talking to anything outside the chassis, you would need cables and an HCA for the other server/device or cable to a rackmount IB switch.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/productbulletin.html#spectype=north_america&type=html&docid=12586

The HP BLc 4X DDR IB Gen2 Switch is a 2nd generation InfiniBand double wide switch for the HP BladeSystem c7000 and c3000 enclosures. The DDR Gen2 IB switch has 16 downlink ports to connect up to 16 server blades in the enclosures, and 16 QSFP uplink ports for inter-switch links or to connect to external servers. All ports are capable of supporting 20Gbps (DDR) bandwidth.

Re: Infiniband Module question

d0kt0r — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 10:24:50 GMT

Hi Casper,

Thanks for the answer!!

So, for the 3 blades I have with a infiniband mezzanine, for talking to a external server, should I need, just the HCA on the external server, and 1 cable CX4 (that Gen2 switch with those QSFP connectors are a bit different that the ones I have on the blade infiniband module). That should be it? No need in this case for a second switch between the c7000 and the external server?.

Thanks a lot Casper!!

Daniel.

Re: Infiniband Module question

Casper42 — Wed, 23 Oct 2013 16:17:49 GMT

Pretty sure you could connect direct, but I don't know Infiniband all that well.

I saw mention of Managed and Unmanaged switch and I know Infiniband has some special roles that help manage communication.

I don't know if you need a Managed switch to fulfill that role or if it can be done some other way though.

I actually got an email the other day for something called the Mellanox Online Academy.
Seems you can sign up and take courses online. But I haven't dug in enough to see if they have some free offerings or if you have to pay for them all.