Mellanox Technologies
                             =====================

===============================================================================
=             MLX4_EN Driver for VMware(R) Infrastructure 5.x.GA              =
=                          Rev 1.6.1-2 Release Notes                          =
=                              August, 2011                                   =
===============================================================================

Contents:
=========
1. Overview
   1.1 Main Features Overview
2. Revision Compatibility
3. Known Issues


1. Overview
===========
This document provides instructions for installing the MLX4_EN 
drivers for Mellanox Technologies ConnectX and ConnectX2 based network adapter 
cards in a VMware ESXi Server environment. 

The ConnectX adapter is identified on the PCI bus as:
25408, 25418, 25448, 26418, 26428, 26438, 26448, 26468, 
26478, 26488, 25400, 27500, 27510, 27511, 27520, 27521,
27530, 27531, 27540, 27541, 27550, 27551, 27560, 27561.


1.1 Main Features Overview
--------------------------
For MLX4_EN:
- Single/Dual port
- MSI-X / Int-X
- NetQueue support
- Multiple Tx/Rx rings
- HW Tx/Rx checksum offload
- Large Send Offload (TCP Segmentation Offload)
- VLAN Tx/Rx acceleration (HW VLAN stripping/insertion)
- Ethtool support
- NAPI support
- Multiple physical functions support
- Rx/Tx traffic Rate Limiting per function
- Flex10 support
- WOL (only on supported hardware)
- NCSI

2. Revision Compatibility
=========================
- This driver is compatible with: 
  - ESXi5.* GA release builds
  - The firmware ConnectX/ConnectX-2, version 2.9.1000 and above 
  - ConnectX-3 Ready 
    Note: To receive ConnectX-3 firmware, please contact your Mellanox 
          representative.    
  - Note: Multifunction mode requires firmware version 2.9.1000 
	      with special configuration. For further information, 
	      please contact your Mellanox representative.

3. Known Issues:
================
- Multifunction mode supports only 128 vlans. 
  The <vlan id> range is 0-4094.
- In Non Multifunction Mode, port 2 is identified as a pseudo device. 
  Therefore, devices are not seen by vSphere when added as uplink.
  Workaround:
  To add a pseudo device as an uplink to an existing vSwitch, 
  perform the following:
  1. Log into the VMware ESXi machine as root.
  2. Check for the available vmnic interfaces, run: 
     esxcli network nic list
  3. Add the device as an uplink to an existing vswitch, run: 
     esxcli network vswitch standard uplink add -u [vmnic_name] -v [vSwitch_name]
  Note: Once you add a device via the CLI, it is visible in the vSphere client 
        console, thus removing it can be performed via the UI.
- The command "vmkchdev" is not supported in Multifuncion Mode and Flex10.
  Thus, all the devices must be attached to the vmkernel.
- In Multifunction mode, when setting a "tx_bw" for the function, please make sure 
  the sum of all "tx_bw" does not exceed the 10G. 
  (The default value for a "tx_bw" is 2500 if not set.)