HPE 825111-B21 100Gb 2-Port 840QSFP28 InfiniBand EDR / Ethernet Adapter — the 825111-B21 is a dual-port 100 Gb/s VPI adapter built on Mellanox ConnectX-5 silicon. MPN: 825111-B21. This product IS a standup PCIe adapter with two QSFP28 ports, each operating independently as InfiniBand EDR (100 Gb/s) OR 100 Gigabit Ethernet; it is NOT a FlexibleLOM card, NOT a 4x25G breakout NIC, NOT an HBA for SAS/FC storage. OEM: HPE. Condition: refurbished.
Engineering Context
The 840QSFP28 2-port adapter uses the Mellanox ConnectX-5 VPI ASIC with two independent QSFP28 ports, each carrying 4x25 Gb/s NRZ lanes for 100 Gb/s line rate. Per-port mode selection (IB EDR or 100GbE) is firmware-controlled (mlxconfig LINK_TYPE_P1/P2) and ports can run in different modes simultaneously. Host interface is PCIe Gen3 x16 (≈128 Gb/s aggregate); note this means the two 100 Gb ports are oversubscribed at the bus when both are saturated bidirectionally — typical real-world workloads rarely fill both ports at once. Supported acceleration: RoCE v1/v2, IB Verbs, NVMe over Fabrics, GPUDirect RDMA, ASAP² OVS offload, T10-DIF, SR-IOV with up to 256 virtual functions per port.
Deployment & Use Cases
Designed for HPE ProLiant DL360 Gen9/Gen10, DL380 Gen9/Gen10, Apollo 6500/2000, and Synergy compute modules where dual-port redundancy or split-fabric (one IB, one Ethernet) is required. Use cases: redundant 100GbE storage spines for VMware vSAN, dual-homed NVMe-oF targets over RoCE v2, EDR-fabric HPC nodes with second port for management Ethernet, AI/ML training clusters with GPUDirect RDMA, and converged storage backbones running Ceph or ZFS.
Technical Specifications
Brand: HPE
MPN: 825111-B21
HPE Variant Name: InfiniBand EDR/Ethernet 100Gb 2-port 840QSFP28 Adapter
Chipset: Mellanox ConnectX-5 VPI
Ports: 2x QSFP28
Data Rate: 100 Gb/s per port (4x25G NRZ)
Protocols: InfiniBand EDR or 100GbE per port (VPI, firmware-selectable)
Host Interface: PCIe Gen3 x16
Form Factor: Standup PCIe (low-profile)
RDMA: RoCE v1/v2, IB Verbs, NVMe-oF
Acceleration: GPUDirect RDMA, ASAP² OVS offload, T10-DIF
Virtualization: SR-IOV (up to 256 VFs per port)
Condition: Refurbished
Compatibility & Constraints
Slots into a low-profile or full-height PCIe Gen3 x16 slot in a supported HPE ProLiant server. NOT a FlexibleLOM card and NOT compatible with FLR slots. NOT a 4x25G breakout adapter on either port — each QSFP28 port operates as a single 100 Gb link. PCIe Gen3 x16 (~128 Gb/s) is shared across both ports, so simultaneous bidirectional saturation of both 100G ports is bus-limited; size workload accordingly. Per-port mode (IB EDR vs 100GbE) is firmware-selected via mlxconfig. Pair with QSFP28 DAC, AOC, or SR4/LR4 transceivers; HPE switch firmware may apply cable whitelisting.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS tests all dual-port 100Gb VPI adapters for link-up on each port at full line rate in both IB EDR and 100GbE modes prior to dispatch. Lab-verified stock, 1–3 business day handling, global shipping. Technical consultation available for HPE ProLiant 100Gb dual-fabric design. Visit tes-itsolutions.com.