NVIDIA Mellanox MBF1L666A-ESNAT BlueField-1 SmartNIC, 100GbE/EDR, Dual-Port QSFP28, PCIe Gen3.0 x16: This is a BlueField-1 G-Series Data Processing Unit (DPU) configured as a programmable SmartNIC. The card combines a 16-core ARM A72 system-on-chip with a ConnectX-5 network controller on a single PCIe Gen3.0 x16 board. It is a Virtual Protocol Interconnect (VPI) device — each QSFP28 port can be set to 100GbE Ethernet or EDR InfiniBand (100Gb/s). This is NOT a passive NIC; the on-board ARM cores run their own OS (typically Ubuntu via DOCA/BlueOS). The ESNAT SKU has crypto acceleration disabled. This is a refurbished unit.
Engineering Context
The MBF1L666A-ESNAT carries a single 16GB DDR4 DIMM dedicated to the ARM subsystem, allowing the DPU to run a full Linux stack independent of the host. The ConnectX-5 path provides RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCEv2), GPUDirect, and NVMe-oF offload. Bracket is FH¾L single-slot tall. PCIe Gen3.0 x16 delivers ~128Gb/s of host bandwidth — sufficient to saturate a single 100Gb/s port without contention. Crypto acceleration is disabled at the silicon level on this ESNAT variant, which is required for shipping into export-restricted regions.
Deployment & Use Cases
Storage-target offload for NVMe-oF and Ceph nodes. Bare-metal cloud isolation where infrastructure services (firewall, SDN, telemetry) are pushed off the x86 host onto the DPU. Software-defined networking acceleration with OVS hardware offload. Deep packet inspection at line rate. Note: because crypto is disabled, this SKU is NOT suitable for IPsec or TLS termination workloads — choose an ESNCT (crypto-enabled) variant for those.
Technical Specifications
- OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
- Part Number: MBF1L666A-ESNAT
- Architecture: BlueField-1 G-Series DPU (ConnectX-5 + ARM)
- ARM Cores: 16× ARM Cortex-A72
- DRAM: 1× 16GB DDR4 DIMM
- Ports: 2× QSFP28 (Dual-Port)
- Data Rate: 100GbE Ethernet or EDR InfiniBand (VPI)
- Host Interface: PCIe Gen3.0 x16
- Bracket: Tall (FH¾L), single-slot
- Crypto: Disabled (ESNAT variant)
- RDMA: RoCEv2, IB Verbs
- Condition: Refurbished — Tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility & Hard Constraints
Requires a host with PCIe Gen3.0 x16 (or higher) slot and BlueField driver / DOCA software stack. Compatible with NVIDIA Quantum InfiniBand and Spectrum Ethernet switches via QSFP28 cables. Not compatible with PCIe Gen2 hosts at full bandwidth. Crypto-dependent workloads (IPsec, TLS offload, regex-based DPI) will NOT function on this ESNAT variant — use ESNCT for those. ARM subsystem requires its own management network and firmware flash workflow distinct from a plain ConnectX NIC.
Why Choose T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS tests every BlueField DPU for ARM boot, both QSFP28 lanes, host PCIe link width, and DRAM integrity before shipment. Visit tes-itsolutions.com for our full SmartNIC and DPU inventory. Handling time 1–3 business days with global shipping and warranty.