When expanding a Pure Storage FlashArray//XL130 R5 with an external DirectFlash Shelf (DFS), the backend connection between the shelf controllers and the main chassis relies on massive 100GbE bandwidth via the NVMe-oF (RoCE) protocol. Validating the Bill of Materials (BOM) before an onsite installation is a critical preparatory step to ensure the correct internal hardware was shipped to support this connection.
According to the official Pure Storage hardware matrix, the supported PCIe expansion card required for //XL series shelf connectivity is the FA-XL-100G Ethernet/RoCE 2-Port CX6 . This card utilizes the modern Mellanox/Nvidia ConnectX-6 (CX6) chipset, which is explicitly engineered to provide the necessary 100GbE RDMA capabilities to maintain ultra-low latency, NVMe-level speeds across the external storage fabric.
Option B (the CONNECTX-5 card) is an older, End-of-Sale component generally associated with legacy deployments or specific frontend iSCSI requirements, not the modern //XL backend loop. Option C (a 200G CX7 card) is not the standard validated BOM component for a single DFS loop on an //XL130 R5.
Confirming the presence of the 100G CX6 card ensures the engineer has the exact hardware required to successfully cable the 100GbE backend ports.