Configure the network interface cards in your data storage server to enable maximum performance for streaming data at high throughput.

Note Some firmware revisions may result in different settings being available to configure and possibly different default values than what is shown in the tables contained within this section. If you have any questions about configuring the NICs for your data storage server, contact NI.

Complete the following steps.

  1. Access the system setup by holding <F2> while the computer is booting or by using the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC).
  2. In System Setup » Device Settings, select the first 100 GbE NIC in your data storage server, NIC in Slot X Port Y:Mellanox Network Adapter.
    Figure 16. Selecting the NIC Card

    System Setup Device Settings showing NIC in Slot 3 Port 1 highlighted.

  3. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page, configure the following settings:
    Device Name Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx Dual Port 100 GbE QSFP56 Adapter (read only)
    Chip Type ConnectX-6 Dx (read only)
    NIC + RDMA Mode Enabled
  4. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page » NIC Configuration, configure the following settings:
    Banner Message Timeout 4
    Legacy Boot Protocol None
    Virtual LAN Mode Disabled
    Virtual LAN ID 1
    Permit Total Port Shutdown Disabled
    PCI Virtual Functions Advertised 8
    Link Speed Auto Negotiated (read only)
    Boot Retry Count No Retry
    Boot Strap Type Int 19h (read only)
  5. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page » iSCSI Configuration » iSCSI General Parameters, configure the following settings:
    Boot to Target Disabled
    TCP/IP Parameters via DHCP Disabled
    iSCSI Parameters via DHCP Disabled
    CHAP Authentication Disabled
    CHAP Mutual Authentication Disabled
    IP Version IPv4 (read only)
  6. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page » iSCSI Configuration » iSCSI Initiator Parameters, configure the following settings:
    IP Address 0.0.0.0
    Subnet Mask 0.0.0.0
    Default Gateway 0.0.0.0
    Primary DNS 0.0.0.0
    ISCSI Name (Leave blank)
    CHAP ID (Leave blank)
    CHAP Secret (Leave blank)
  7. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page » iSCSI Configuration » iSCSI First Target Parameters, configure the following settings:
    Connect Disabled
    IP Address 0.0.0.0
    TCP Port 3260
    Boot LUN 0
    iSCSI Name (Leave blank)
    CHAP ID (Leave blank)
    CHAP Secret (Leave blank)
  8. On the NIC's Main Configuration Page » Device Level Configuration, configure the following settings:
    Virtualization Mode SR-IOV
  9. Repeat steps 2 through 8 for all 100 GbE NICs in your system.
  10. Click the Finish button.