4. Dolphin MX Interconnect Configurations and topologies

Dolphin currently provides one adapter card in the MX product family, the MXH830 and the MXS824 24 port PCIe switch. These products can be used to build the following PCIe network topologies:

4.1. Switchless topologies using the MXH830 NTB host adapter card

Two Cluster Nodes can be connected directly using four PCI Express SFF-8644 cables. This results in an effective link width of x16 ("times 16" for 128 GT/s bandwidth) is available.

Three Cluster Nodes can be connected using two PCI Express SFF-8644 cables. This results in an effective link with of x8 links between each host.

Five Cluster Nodes can be connected using x4 links between each host.

4.2. PCIe switch based topologies using the MXH830 NTB host adapter card and the MXS824 switch

Two to 24 Cluster Nodes can be connected to the MXS824 PCIe switch. The number of Cluster Nodes will depend on the required bandwidth - if the nodes are connected with a single x4 link, a x8 link or a x16 link. Please consult the MXS824 users guide for details.

Several MXS824 switches can be used to create larger switched topologies. Please consult the MXS824 users guide for details.