Mellanox ConnectX Mezzanine Adapter can have the MAC address on the second port corrupted after restart

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H21291

Symptom

The second port of the affected InfiniBand mezzanine adapters may have an unexpected network interface assigned after a restart.

For example, a port configured to be eth5, shows as eth2 after a restart.

The effect is that the second port no longer has the correct network configuration and does not function.

Affected configurations

The system is configured with one or more of the following IBM option part numbers:

• Mellanox ConnectX-3 Dual-Port FDR Mezzanine Card, option part number 00D4143, any replacement part number
• Mellanox ConnectX-3 Dual-Port QDR/FDR10 Mezzanine Card, option part number 90Y6338, any replacement part number

This tip is not system specific.

This tip is not software specific.

The system has the symptom described above.

Solution

Update the Mellanox OFED package to version 2.3-1.0.1.3 or a later version.

The file is available by selecting the appropriate Product Group, type of System, Product name, Product machine type, and Operating system on IBM Support's Fix Central web page, at the following URL:

http://www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/

Workaround

The workaround is to restart the system. This has been observed to restore the correct MAC address in every case after a single restart.

Additional information

The Media Access Control (MAC) address on the second port of the adapter is being read incorrectly after a restart, in some rare cases. As a result, the existing network configuration no longer works.

Restarting the system results in the MAC address being reread, restoring the correct value, and allowing the existing network configuration to function again.