[openib-general] Newbie Questions Regarding How To Start

[Grant Grundler]

On Mon, Apr 03, 2006 at 01:08:20PM -0700, Uncle Fester wrote:
>   I would like to add infiniband capability to two amd64 systems in my lab.
> These have PCI-X Tyan S2882 motherboards. I'm running linux  on these systems.

>   Can infiniband function properly in a physical point to point  topology?

Yes. I've tested it that way in the past.

> Other than obviously not being able to communicate  across a fabric,
> is there functionality missing from a point-to-point  topology?
> Does it even work?

Yes, but then you loose the integrated Subnet Manager that is running
on the switch. You will have to run OpenSM instead.

>   What's the best HCA card for me?

You need to define your criteria (rank of what is important to you).
E.g. HW/OS support vs perf vs MPI support etc

> I'm considering purchasing two HP NC570C cards
> (http://h30094.www3.hp.com/product.asp?sku=2603660&),
> which are  based on that Mellanox chip.
> Does anybody know if those cards  would be functional in non-hp gear?

I believe they will but can't warrantee that.
Some of the AMD chipsets are broken in subtle ways (e.g. MSI won't work
on "8131" - or something like that).

> In other words, does HP have their own proprietary goodies in the cards
> that would cause them to break in generic systems such as what I have?

I'm not aware of any. HP has tested the cards/drivers/OSs on Proliants
so they are known to work in officially supported configurations. 
ie they have documented a working set of firmware/drivers/OS versions.
HP MPI and other commercial apps will be looking for that.

hth,
grant