How many hosts can the MCX4431M-GCAN serve simultaneously?

Up to 4 independent compute hosts can share the single QSFP28 port via NVIDIA Mellanox Multi-Host technology. Each host sees its own PCIe function on the same physical NIC.

Will the MCX4431M-GCAN work in a standard PCIe slot with an adapter?

No. This is an OCP 2.0 Type 1 mezzanine card with no PCIe slot connector. There is no included or supported PCIe-slot bracket adapter; it must be installed in an OCP mezzanine socket.

Is this card suitable for InfiniBand workloads?

No. The G-CAN suffix indicates an Ethernet-only (EN) configuration. T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS recommends a ConnectX-4 VPI variant for InfiniBand requirements — see https://www.tes-itsolutions.com/ for InfiniBand-capable inventory.

NVIDIA Mellanox MCX4431M-GCAN ConnectX-4 Lx EN, 50GbE Single-Port QSFP28 OCP Multi-Host Mezzanine Adapter: This is an OCP 2.0 Type 1 mezzanine NIC built on the ConnectX-4 Lx ASIC with one QSFP28 port at up to 50 Gigabit Ethernet, over a PCIe Gen3 x8 host interface, with Multi-Host support. The "M" in the SKU denotes the Multi-Host variant capable of presenting the single physical port to multiple independent compute hosts in a shared OCP chassis. This is a refurbished unit.

Engineering Context

ConnectX-4 Lx is the cost-optimized Lx silicon — slightly trimmed from full ConnectX-4 but retaining RoCE v1/v2, VXLAN/NVGRE hardware offloads, and SR-IOV. Multi-Host capability allows up to 4 independent server hosts to share one physical 50GbE port through a virtualized PCIe fabric, which is critical for OCP "yosemite-style" multi-node sleds. PCIe Gen3 x8 delivers approximately 63 Gb/s of bus bandwidth, sufficient for line-rate 50GbE. The QSFP28 cage auto-negotiates down to 40GbE, 25GbE, and 10GbE.

Deployment & Use Cases

OCP Yosemite multi-node compute sleds where 4 microservers share one uplink. Hyperconverged infrastructure with shared NIC across multiple ESXi hosts. 50GbE storage interconnects for NVMe-oF and SMB Direct. Containerized environments using Kubernetes with SR-IOV CNI for high-throughput pod networking.

Technical Specifications

OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number: MCX4431M-GCAN
ASIC: ConnectX-4 Lx EN
Form Factor: OCP 2.0 Type 1 Multi-Host Mezzanine
Ports: 1 x QSFP28
Max Speed: 50GbE (also 40/25/10GbE)
Host Interface: PCIe Gen3 x8
Multi-Host: Up to 4 independent hosts
RDMA: RoCE v1 / v2
Overlay Offloads: VXLAN, NVGRE
Virtualization: SR-IOV
Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS

Compatibility & Hard Constraints

Requires an OCP 2.0 Type 1 Multi-Host-capable mezzanine slot — standard single-host OCP slots will operate the card but only as a single-host NIC. No PCIe-slot bracket is included; this card will not install in a conventional PCIe slot. Driver support: MLNX_OFED for Linux, WinOF-2 for Windows Server 2016+, ESXi 6.5+ inbox driver. EN-suffixed SKU — Ethernet-only, cannot be flashed to InfiniBand or VPI mode.

Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS

T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS link-tests every refurbished ConnectX-4 Lx card at 50GbE, performs firmware-integrity validation, and verifies PCIe Gen3 x8 negotiation before shipment. We ship globally with 1–3 business day handling and provide pre-sale OCP integration consultation. Visit T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS for the complete Mellanox catalog.

NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX4431M-GCAN ConnectX-4 Lx 50GbE QSFP28 OCP Multi-Host NIC

Name: NVIDIA Mellanox® MCX4431M-GCAN ConnectX-4 Lx 50GbE QSFP28 OCP Multi-Host NIC
SKU: MCX4431M-GCAN_Refurbished

SKU: MCX4431M-GCAN_Refurbished

€160.00

Quantity