- Jan 13, 2022
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Hello,
I had a question regarding QSFP compatibility.
My company has an old Arista switch (7050SX-72Q) - https://www.arista.com/assets/data/pdf/Datasheets/7050SX-128_64_Datasheet.pdf
...which they wish to use for a few more years.
The Arista has 6x 40 Gbps (QSFP+) ports.
I'm currently building out a system for my company, and one of the requirements is for a 40 Gbps+ connectivity.
I wanted to purchase the following Mellanox NIC MCX653106A-HDAT-SP - https://store.nvidia.com/en-us/netw...06a-hdat-spconnectx-6vpiadaptercardhdr200gbe/
...for the system build (and then upgrade the switch at a later time).
When I asked whether this was possible before (on Toms Hardware forum), I was told that QSFP56 (which is what the Mellanox uses) is not backwards compatible with QSFP+.
But after doing some more research, I found out that might not be the case.
So I pose the question to all of you; can I plug the Mellanox into my company's Arista switch (for the time being - connectivity would be capped at 40 Gbps), and then upgrade my switch at a later time, or must I purchase an older NIC with QSFP+ ports (to connect to the Arista switch)?
If it is possible to QSFP56 ports (from the Melalnox) to QSFP+ ports (on the Arista), can I assume I'd need some sort of breakout optical cable to go from QSFP56 to QSFP+?
If so, could someone recommend such a cable?
Thank you,
Nelson
I had a question regarding QSFP compatibility.
My company has an old Arista switch (7050SX-72Q) - https://www.arista.com/assets/data/pdf/Datasheets/7050SX-128_64_Datasheet.pdf
...which they wish to use for a few more years.
The Arista has 6x 40 Gbps (QSFP+) ports.
I'm currently building out a system for my company, and one of the requirements is for a 40 Gbps+ connectivity.
I wanted to purchase the following Mellanox NIC MCX653106A-HDAT-SP - https://store.nvidia.com/en-us/netw...06a-hdat-spconnectx-6vpiadaptercardhdr200gbe/
...for the system build (and then upgrade the switch at a later time).
When I asked whether this was possible before (on Toms Hardware forum), I was told that QSFP56 (which is what the Mellanox uses) is not backwards compatible with QSFP+.
But after doing some more research, I found out that might not be the case.
So I pose the question to all of you; can I plug the Mellanox into my company's Arista switch (for the time being - connectivity would be capped at 40 Gbps), and then upgrade my switch at a later time, or must I purchase an older NIC with QSFP+ ports (to connect to the Arista switch)?
If it is possible to QSFP56 ports (from the Melalnox) to QSFP+ ports (on the Arista), can I assume I'd need some sort of breakout optical cable to go from QSFP56 to QSFP+?
If so, could someone recommend such a cable?
Thank you,
Nelson