ConnectX EN Dual Port Ethernet Network Interface Cards With PCI Express x8 User’s Manual
15
Rev 0.30
Mellanox Technologies
4 Adapter Card Interfaces
4.1 I/O Interfaces
Each adapter card includes the following interfaces:
•
Two 4X copper connectors
•
PCI Express x8 edge connector
•
I/O panel LEDs
•
I
2
C compatible connector (for debug)
4.1.1 Ethernet CX4 Interface
The ConnectX
®
EN 10GBase-CX4 device is compliant with the
IEEE Std 802.3ak 10GBASE-CX4
. It has two com-
pliant 4X ports (1 and 2), each having four Tx/Rx pairs of SerDes. Each of the cards (listed in Table 3 on page 8)
based on this device provides access to these ports by means of two 4X connectors for external copper cables. Con-
nector 1 connects to port 1 of the device, while connector 2 connects to port 2.
Figure 1: Port Numbering
Each of the NIC cards is embedded with a ‘media detect circuit’ that supports active cables and external fiber solu-
tions to be connected to the port connectors. Fiber Solutions require the use of active media converters.
4.1.2 PCI Express Interface
The ConnectX
®
EN 10GBASE-CX4 adapter cards support the PCI Express 2.0 x8 interface, 1.1 compatible. The
NICs can be either a master initiating the PCI Express bus operations or a slave responding to PCI bus operations.
4.1.3 LED Assignment
The board has four LEDs located on the I/O panel - 2 LEDs per port. The green LED, when lit, indicates that the
driver is running and a valid physical connection between nodes exists. The green LED, when blinking, indicates that
the physical connection between nodes is problematic. The yellow LED when lit, indicates a valid data activity link,
this is the logical link. The yellow LED illuminates when the network is discovered over the physical link. A valid
Port 1
Port 2
