NVIDIA Mellanox MSB7880-ES2R Switch-IB 2 EDR InfiniBand Router – 36x QSFP28 100Gb/s, 1U, C2P Airflow

Connect and isolate InfiniBand subnets without losing EDR performance.

The NVIDIA Mellanox MSB7880-ES2R is a Switch-IB 2 based EDR InfiniBand router with 36 QSFP28 ports at 100Gb/s, two AC power supplies and C2P (connector-to-power) airflow in a 1U chassis. It is used to link separate InfiniBand subnets in HPC, storage and multi-tenant data centers.

Why Large or Shared InfiniBand Fabrics Need a Router

A single InfiniBand subnet is managed by one subnet manager. As fabrics grow or are shared by several departments or tenants, one subnet becomes a single point of failure: a fault or reconfiguration in one area can disrupt every connected node.

The MSB7880-ES2R routes traffic between separate InfiniBand subnets. Each subnet keeps its own subnet manager and addressing, so faults stay local, while nodes in different subnets can still exchange data at EDR speed.

This allows storage clusters to be shared between compute clusters, separates production from test environments, and lets fabrics scale beyond the addressing limits of a single subnet.

EDR Performance with Routing

Built on Switch-IB 2 silicon, the router offers 36 QSFP28 ports at 100Gb/s and 7.2 Tb/s of switching capacity, so routing between subnets does not become a bandwidth bottleneck.

Choose the Right Airflow

The MSB7880-ES2R uses C2P (connector-to-power) airflow. Its sibling, the MSB7880-ES2F, offers the opposite direction, so pick the model that matches your rack hot-aisle and cold-aisle layout.

How to Set Up the NVIDIA Mellanox MSB7880-ES2R

1. Rack-mount the 1U router, matching its airflow direction to your hot and cold aisles, and connect both power supplies.
2. Connect the management port and console, assign an IP address, and upgrade to the supported MLNX-OS release.
3. Connect ports to each InfiniBand subnet with EDR QSFP28 cables or optics, and assign router ports to their subnets.
4. Configure routing between subnets and the subnet managers on each side, then verify connectivity and performance.