NVIDIA Mellanox MSB7800-ES2F Switch-IB 2 EDR 100Gb/s InfiniBand Switch - 36 x QSFP28 ports, 1U, managed, P2C airflow. NVIDIA describes the MSB7800-ES2F as a Switch-IB 2 based 36-port QSFP28 EDR 1U managed InfiniBand switch with non-blocking switching capacity of 7Tb/s, 2 power supplies, standard depth, P2C airflow and RoHS-6. It delivers 90ns port-to-port latency and up to 7.02 billion messages per second, and carries a dual-core x86 CPU with an on-board subnet manager for fabrics of up to 2,000 nodes. This is the internally managed SB7800; the externally managed sibling is the SB7890. InfiniBand only. Refurbished, supplied by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS.
Engineering Context
EDR runs four lanes per QSFP28 port at 25Gb/s with efficient 64/66 encoding for 100Gb/s of full bi-directional bandwidth per port. The switch is IBTA 1.2.1 and 1.3 compliant, with 9 virtual lanes (8 data + 1 management), 256-byte to 4Kbyte MTU, adaptive routing and a 4 x 48K-entry linear forwarding database. Switch-IB 2 was the first switch silicon to carry SHArP in-network computing: collective reductions are processed as data traverses the network rather than being exchanged repeatedly between endpoints, and NVIDIA states the network portion of a reduction on a fully populated three-level fat tree completes in under three microseconds. NVIDIA defines the airflow directly: P2C is connector-side outlet, C2P is connector-side inlet, so the -ES2F exhausts at the cabled port face.
Deployment and Use Cases
Top-of-rack leaf connectivity in EDR fat-tree fabrics and standalone switching for small to very large clusters. Storage fabrics for Lustre, IBM Spectrum Scale (GPFS), BeeGFS and Ceph over InfiniBand with RDMA. HPC clusters running MPI and OpenSHMEM workloads - CFD, weather modelling, molecular dynamics, seismic processing and genomics. GPU compute pods of the ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-5 era, and NVMe-oF back ends at 100Gb/s per host. Leaf layer under a CS7500 director core, or as the managed switch supplying the subnet manager for a fabric of externally managed SB7890 units.
Technical Specifications
Brand / MPN: NVIDIA Mellanox, MSB7800-ES2F
Platform: Mellanox SB7800, Switch-IB 2 silicon, 1U standard depth
Ports: 36 x QSFP28, EDR 100Gb/s per port, non-blocking
Per-port rate: 100Gb/s (4 lanes x 25Gb/s, 64/66 encoding)
Aggregate capacity: 7Tb/s
Port-to-port latency: 90ns
Message rate: up to 7.02 billion messages per second
Protocol: InfiniBand EDR only; backward compatible to FDR
In-network computing: SHArP collective offload, adaptive routing, congestion control
Management: internally managed - dual-core x86 CPU, MLNX-OS, CLI / Web UI / SNMP
Subnet manager: on-board SM for fabrics of up to 2,000 nodes; UFM agent
Management ports: 100/1000 Ethernet, RS232 over DB9, USB
Airflow: P2C - connector-side outlet (air exits at the port face)
Power supplies: 2 x 460W AC hot-plug, 1+1 (P2C PSU MTEF-PSF-AC-A); 100-127 / 200-240VAC
Fans: hot-swap, N+1 redundant (P2C fan MTEF-FANF-A)
Power consumption: 136W ATIS weighted, 281W maximum (class 4)
Physical: 1U, 43.6 x 428 x 685.8mm, 11kg; 0 C to 45 C; RoHS-6
Condition: Refurbished - tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Compatibility and Parent Systems
Endpoint adapters: ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-4 VPI (MCX455A / MCX456A) and ConnectX-5 / ConnectX-5 Ex (MCX555A / MCX556A) in EDR InfiniBand mode; ConnectX-6 negotiates down to EDR. Cabling is QSFP28: MCP1600-E passive DACs, MFA1A00-E AOCs, MMA1B00-E100 multimode SR4 and MMA1L30-CM single-mode CWDM4 transceivers. Fabric partners: the CS7500 648-port EDR director as a core layer, and MSB7890 as the externally managed leaf that depends on this switch or NVIDIA UFM for subnet management. Predecessor: SB7700 / SB7790 on first-generation Switch-IB silicon. Successor: NVIDIA Quantum QM8700 / QM8790 at HDR 200Gb/s on QSFP56.
What This Is NOT
NOT an externally managed switch. The MSB7800-ES2F is the managed SB7800 with an x86 CPU, MLNX-OS and an on-board 2,000-node subnet manager. The externally managed equivalent is the MSB7890.
NOT an Ethernet or VPI switch. Switch-IB 2 is InfiniBand only; the Ethernet family of this era is Spectrum SN2000.
NOT HDR or NDR. Per-port maximum is EDR 100Gb/s on QSFP28. HDR needs Quantum QM8700 / QM8790 with QSFP56; NDR needs Quantum-2 with OSFP.
NOT a C2P airflow unit. The F suffix is P2C, connector-side outlet. The reverse model is MSB7800-ES2R; PSU and fan modules are airflow-specific (MTEF-PSF-AC-A / MTEF-FANF-A for P2C, MTEF-PSR-AC-A / MTEF-FANR-A for C2P).
NOT a QSFP56 or OSFP platform. All 36 cages are QSFP28; HDR and NDR modules do not belong here.
NOT supplied with transceivers, cabling, rail kit or software entitlements unless listed on the quotation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Is the MSB7800-ES2F managed or externally managed?
Managed. NVIDIA lists MSB7800-ES2F as a Switch-IB 2 based 36-port QSFP28 EDR 1U managed InfiniBand switch. It carries a dual-core x86 CPU running MLNX-OS with an on-board subnet manager for fabrics of up to 2,000 nodes, plus Ethernet, RS232 and USB management ports. The externally managed variant of the same family is the MSB7890, which has no CPU and no management ports.
Q. How much switching capacity and latency does the MSB7800-ES2F deliver?
7Tb/s of non-blocking aggregate switching capacity across 36 EDR 100Gb/s ports, with 90ns port-to-port latency and up to 7.02 billion messages per second.
Q. Is the MSB7800-ES2F Power-to-Connector or connector-to-power airflow?
P2C. NVIDIA defines it explicitly: P2C is connector-side outlet and C2P is connector-side inlet, so on the -ES2F air leaves the chassis at the cabled port face. The reverse-airflow model is MSB7800-ES2R. Power supplies and fan modules are airflow-specific and must all match the chassis direction.
Q. Does the MSB7800-ES2F support SHArP in-network computing?
Yes. Switch-IB 2 was the first switch silicon with SHArP collective offload, processing reduction operations as data traverses the network. NVIDIA states the network portion of a reduction on a fully populated three-level fat tree completes in under three microseconds.
Q. Which adapters and cables pair with the MSB7800-ES2F?
ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 VPI, ConnectX-5 and ConnectX-5 Ex in EDR InfiniBand mode, with ConnectX-6 negotiating down to EDR. Media is QSFP28: MCP1600-E passive DACs, MFA1A00-E AOCs, MMA1B00-E100 multimode SR4 and MMA1L30-CM single-mode CWDM4 modules.
Why T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS (tes-itsolutions.com) supplies refurbished NVIDIA Mellanox InfiniBand switching to B2B, HPC and research customers across the EU and worldwide. Every switch is bench-verified before shipment: power-on, management response, port link verification where test topology allows, PSU and fan redundancy check and cosmetic inspection. EU stock, 1-3 business day handling and technical consultation on subnet manager placement and airflow planning.