NVIDIA Mellanox MCX542B-ACAN ConnectX-5 EN 25GbE Network Interface Card: This is a dual-port 25 Gigabit Ethernet adapter in OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1 form factor with two SFP28 cages. The card is engineered for SDN-accelerated server fabrics, NFV, and storage workloads where hardware OVS offload and embedded packet processing matter. This is an OCP mezzanine card, not a standard PCIe slot adapter, and requires an OCP-compliant host chassis. This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
The MCX542B-ACAN integrates the ConnectX-5 ASIC, which adds an embedded switch (eSwitch), connection tracking, and ASAP² Direct flow steering on top of the ConnectX-4 feature set. The card supports RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) v1/v2, kernel-bypass via DPDK, and Open vSwitch hardware offload to free CPU cores from packet forwarding. Host interface is PCIe Gen3 x8, providing approximately 64 Gb/s of bidirectional bandwidth. SR-IOV with virtual switching enables tenant isolation in multi-tenant clouds.
Deployment & Use Cases
OCP-compliant hyperscale server platforms requiring dual-port 25GbE with offload acceleration. SDN leaf-spine fabrics with OVS hardware offload (ASAP² Direct) for line-rate flow processing. NFV environments running VNFs with DPDK or kernel-bypass libraries. Hyperconverged infrastructure (VMware vSAN, Nutanix, Storage Spaces Direct) needing redundant uplinks. NVMe-oF and iSER storage initiators using RoCE v2.
Technical Specifications
- OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
- Part Number: MCX542B-ACAN
- Product Family: ConnectX-5 EN
- Form Factor: OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1
- Host Interface: PCIe 3.0 x8
- Data Rate: 25GbE per port
- Ports: 2 (Dual-Port)
- Connectors: SFP28
- Protocol: 25/10GbE Ethernet
- RDMA: RoCE v1 and v2
- Offloads: ASAP² Direct OVS, eSwitch, Connection Tracking, SR-IOV, DPDK
- Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Designed for OCP Mezzanine 2.0 Type 1 server slots — not a standard PCIe slot adapter and cannot be installed in conventional servers without an OCP-compatible chassis. Compatible with standards-based 25GbE switches that have SFP28 ports. SFP28 cages also accept SFP+ 10GbE optics and DACs for fallback compatibility, but do not accept QSFP28 100GbE modules. This is the EN (Ethernet-only) variant; it does not operate in InfiniBand mode. PCIe 3.0 x8 cannot saturate both 25GbE ports plus PCIe overhead simultaneously at line rate in worst-case bidirectional traffic — bandwidth-sensitive deployments should validate against workload profile. Driver support: Mellanox OFED, Linux mlx5_core, Windows WinOF-2.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (https://www.tes-itsolutions.com) tests every NIC for link establishment on both ports, RDMA functionality, and OVS offload provisioning before shipment. Standard 1–3 day handling time. Expert consultation on OCP-compatible host platforms, global shipping, and comprehensive warranty.