NVIDIA Mellanox® MSX6001FS — SwitchX-2 18-Port FDR InfiniBand Leaf Module

Technical Identity
The NVIDIA Mellanox® MSX6001FS is an 18-port FDR 56Gb/s InfiniBand leaf line card built on the SwitchX-2 ASIC. It is not a standalone switch — it is a hot-swap leaf module that installs into the SX6536 (648-port) or SX6512 (216-port) modular director chassis to form a non-blocking, two-tier fat-tree fabric inside a single chassis. Each MSX6001FS exposes 18 external QSFP+ downlink ports facing the rack while the remaining ASIC ports connect through the chassis midplane to the spine (fabric) cards. Refurbished Grade A — bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS with link-up validation, port-by-port traffic verification on a SwitchX-2 chassis, and cosmetic inspection.

Specifications

OEM: NVIDIA Mellanox
Part Number (MPN): MSX6001FS
Product Class: Modular leaf line card (hot-swap) for SX65xx director chassis
ASIC / Generation: SwitchX-2 — FDR InfiniBand
External Ports: 18 × QSFP+ (FDR 56 Gb/s)
Per-Port Speed: FDR 56 Gb/s (4× 14 Gb/s lanes); auto-negotiates down to FDR10 / QDR / DDR / SDR
Protocol: InfiniBand only — not VPI, not Ethernet
Architecture: Non-blocking, cut-through forwarding; adaptive routing; congestion control
Latency: Sub-200 ns port-to-port within the chassis fabric
Host Chassis (required): SX6536 director (648-port full-population) or SX6512 director (216-port full-population)
Management: Performed by the chassis management module — MLNX-OS via console / SSH / SNMP / Web UI; subnet manager available chassis-wide
Form Factor: Hot-swappable line card — not a 1U pizza-box switch
Condition: Refurbished Grade A — bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS


What This Is NOT

NOT a standalone rack-mount switch. Cannot operate outside an SX6536 / SX6512 chassis — it has no independent PSU, no independent management CPU, and no chassis enclosure of its own.
NOT an Ethernet switch. SwitchX-2 FDR variant is InfiniBand-only — it does not run Onyx Ethernet mode and will not bridge to Ethernet hosts.
NOT a Quantum / Quantum-2 module. SwitchX-2 is the generation BEFORE Switch-IB and several generations before Quantum HDR/NDR. Do not mix MSX6001FS leaves into an HDR or NDR fabric.
NOT QSFP28 / QSFP56 / OSFP compatible. Cages are QSFP+ only — EDR / HDR / NDR transceivers and cables will not seat correctly or negotiate.
NOT bundled with QSFP+ transceivers, FDR DAC / AOC cables, rail kit, or chassis. Order the SX6536 / SX6512 chassis and FDR cabling separately.


Compatibility

Host director chassis: Mellanox SX6536 (MSX6536) or SX6512 (MSX6512). The MSX6001FS will not function in SX65xx-class chassis populated with a different generation’s spine cards — verify spine compatibility before mixing.
Compatible host adapters: ConnectX-3 / ConnectX-3 Pro (FDR native), ConnectX-4 / ConnectX-5 / ConnectX-6 VPI cards configured for InfiniBand and rate-capped to FDR via QSFP+ optics or QSA adapters.
Cabling: Mellanox FDR-class QSFP+ DAC (MC2207130-xxx), FDR QSFP+ AOC (MC2207310-xxx), or FDR QSFP+ optical transceivers (MC2210411-SR4) with MTP/MPO MMF.
Subnet manager: Embedded MLNX-OS SM on the chassis management module, or external UFM — supports fabrics up to thousands of nodes.
Pairs alongside (not on the leaf itself): Mellanox / NVIDIA InfiniBand switches and adapters of the FDR generation. For HDR or NDR fabrics, plan a separate Quantum-series infrastructure.


FAQ
Q: Is the MSX6001FS a complete switch I can rack and power on by itself?
No. It is a hot-swap leaf line card. It must be installed in an SX6536 or SX6512 director chassis, which provides the power, cooling, management CPU, and spine fabric.
Q: What speed do the 18 external ports run at?
FDR 56 Gb/s per port over QSFP+. Each port auto-negotiates to FDR10, QDR, DDR, or SDR if the remote end is slower.
Q: Can I use this leaf in an HDR or NDR fabric?
No. SwitchX-2 is FDR-only. HDR requires Quantum (QSFP56) and NDR requires Quantum-2 (OSFP). Mixing generations within a single subnet is not supported.
Q: Does it support Ethernet (RoCE) mode?
No. The MSX6001FS is the FDR InfiniBand-only variant of the SwitchX-2 leaf. It does not switch Ethernet frames.
Q: What is the condition of this unit?
Refurbished Grade A. Bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS in a SwitchX-2 chassis with link-up validation on all 18 external ports, traffic loopback testing, and full cosmetic inspection.

Why T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS
Every MSX6001FS leaf is bench-tested by T.E.S IT-SOLUTIONS in a live SwitchX-2 director chassis — not just inspected. We validate link establishment on every external QSFP+ port, run traffic loopback, and confirm midplane seating before shipment. Anti-static packaging, EU stock, and direct technical consultation for HPC / AI / storage cluster FDR fabric expansions, spare-leaf provisioning, and SX6536 / SX6512 chassis upgrades.