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31 MLX4 poll mode driver library
32 =============================
34 The MLX4 poll mode driver library (**librte_pmd_mlx4**) implements support
35 for **Mellanox ConnectX-3** and **Mellanox ConnectX-3 Pro** 10/40 Gbps adapters
36 as well as their virtual functions (VF) in SR-IOV context.
38 Information and documentation about this family of adapters can be found on
39 the `Mellanox website <http://www.mellanox.com>`_. Help is also provided by
40 the `Mellanox community <http://community.mellanox.com/welcome>`_.
42 There is also a `section dedicated to this poll mode driver
43 <http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=209&mtag=pmd_for_dpdk>`_.
47 Due to external dependencies, this driver is disabled by default. It must
48 be enabled manually by setting ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD=y`` and
51 Implementation details
52 ----------------------
54 Most Mellanox ConnectX-3 devices provide two ports but expose a single PCI
55 bus address, thus unlike most drivers, librte_pmd_mlx4 registers itself as a
56 PCI driver that allocates one Ethernet device per detected port.
58 For this reason, one cannot white/blacklist a single port without also
59 white/blacklisting the others on the same device.
61 Besides its dependency on libibverbs (that implies libmlx4 and associated
62 kernel support), librte_pmd_mlx4 relies heavily on system calls for control
63 operations such as querying/updating the MTU and flow control parameters.
65 For security reasons and robustness, this driver only deals with virtual
66 memory addresses. The way resources allocations are handled by the kernel
67 combined with hardware specifications that allow it to handle virtual memory
68 addresses directly ensure that DPDK applications cannot access random
69 physical memory (or memory that does not belong to the current process).
71 This capability allows the PMD to coexist with kernel network interfaces
72 which remain functional, although they stop receiving unicast packets as
73 long as they share the same MAC address.
75 Compiling librte_pmd_mlx4 causes DPDK to be linked against libibverbs.
80 - Multi arch support: x86_64 and POWER8.
81 - RSS, also known as RCA, is supported. In this mode the number of
82 configured RX queues must be a power of two.
83 - Link state information is provided.
84 - Multiple MAC addresses (unicast, multicast) can be configured.
85 - Scattered packets are supported for TX and RX.
86 - Inner L3/L4 (IP, TCP and UDP) TX/RX checksum offloading and validation.
87 - Outer L3 (IP) TX/RX checksum offloading and validation for VXLAN frames.
93 - RSS hash key cannot be modified.
94 - RSS RETA cannot be configured
95 - RSS always includes L3 (IPv4/IPv6) and L4 (UDP/TCP). They cannot be
104 These options can be modified in the ``.config`` file.
106 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD`` (default **n**)
108 Toggle compilation of librte_pmd_mlx4 itself.
110 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_DEBUG`` (default **n**)
112 Toggle debugging code and stricter compilation flags. Enabling this option
113 adds additional run-time checks and debugging messages at the cost of
116 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_DEBUG_BROKEN_VERBS`` (default **n**)
118 Mellanox OFED versions earlier than 4.2 may return false errors from
119 Verbs object destruction APIs after the device is plugged out.
120 Enabling this option replaces assertion checks that cause the program
121 to abort with harmless debugging messages as a workaround.
122 Relevant only when CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_DEBUG is enabled.
124 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_MAX_INLINE`` (default **0**)
126 Amount of data to be inlined during TX operations. Improves latency but
129 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_TX_MP_CACHE`` (default **8**)
131 Maximum number of cached memory pools (MPs) per TX queue. Each MP from
132 which buffers are to be transmitted must be associated to memory regions
133 (MRs). This is a slow operation that must be cached.
135 This value is always 1 for RX queues since they use a single MP.
137 Environment variables
138 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
140 - ``MLX4_INLINE_RECV_SIZE``
142 A nonzero value enables inline receive for packets up to that size. May
143 significantly improve performance in some cases but lower it in
144 others. Requires careful testing.
146 Run-time configuration
147 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
149 - The only constraint when RSS mode is requested is to make sure the number
150 of RX queues is a power of two. This is a hardware requirement.
152 - librte_pmd_mlx4 brings kernel network interfaces up during initialization
153 because it is affected by their state. Forcing them down prevents packets
156 - **ethtool** operations on related kernel interfaces also affect the PMD.
158 - ``port`` parameter [int]
160 This parameter provides a physical port to probe and can be specified multiple
161 times for additional ports. All ports are probed by default if left
164 Kernel module parameters
165 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
167 The **mlx4_core** kernel module has several parameters that affect the
168 behavior and/or the performance of librte_pmd_mlx4. Some of them are described
171 - **num_vfs** (integer or triplet, optionally prefixed by device address
174 Create the given number of VFs on the specified devices.
176 - **log_num_mgm_entry_size** (integer)
178 Device-managed flow steering (DMFS) is required by DPDK applications. It is
179 enabled by using a negative value, the last four bits of which have a
182 - **-1**: force device-managed flow steering (DMFS).
183 - **-7**: configure optimized steering mode to improve performance with the
184 following limitation: VLAN filtering is not supported with this mode.
185 This is the recommended mode in case VLAN filter is not needed.
190 This driver relies on external libraries and kernel drivers for resources
191 allocations and initialization. The following dependencies are not part of
192 DPDK and must be installed separately:
196 User space verbs framework used by librte_pmd_mlx4. This library provides
197 a generic interface between the kernel and low-level user space drivers
200 It allows slow and privileged operations (context initialization, hardware
201 resources allocations) to be managed by the kernel and fast operations to
202 never leave user space.
206 Low-level user space driver library for Mellanox ConnectX-3 devices,
207 it is automatically loaded by libibverbs.
209 This library basically implements send/receive calls to the hardware
212 - **Kernel modules** (mlnx-ofed-kernel)
214 They provide the kernel-side verbs API and low level device drivers that
215 manage actual hardware initialization and resources sharing with user
218 Unlike most other PMDs, these modules must remain loaded and bound to
221 - mlx4_core: hardware driver managing Mellanox ConnectX-3 devices.
222 - mlx4_en: Ethernet device driver that provides kernel network interfaces.
223 - mlx4_ib: InifiniBand device driver.
224 - ib_uverbs: user space driver for verbs (entry point for libibverbs).
226 - **Firmware update**
228 Mellanox OFED releases include firmware updates for ConnectX-3 adapters.
230 Because each release provides new features, these updates must be applied to
231 match the kernel modules and libraries they come with.
235 Both libraries are BSD and GPL licensed. Linux kernel modules are GPL
238 Currently supported by DPDK:
240 - Mellanox OFED **4.1**.
241 - Firmware version **2.36.5000** and above.
243 Getting Mellanox OFED
244 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
246 While these libraries and kernel modules are available on OpenFabrics
247 Alliance's `website <https://www.openfabrics.org/>`_ and provided by package
248 managers on most distributions, this PMD requires Ethernet extensions that
249 may not be supported at the moment (this is a work in progress).
252 <http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=26&mtag=linux_sw_drivers>`_
253 includes the necessary support and should be used in the meantime. For DPDK,
254 only libibverbs, libmlx4, mlnx-ofed-kernel packages and firmware updates are
255 required from that distribution.
259 Several versions of Mellanox OFED are available. Installing the version
260 this DPDK release was developed and tested against is strongly
261 recommended. Please check the `prerequisites`_.
266 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-3 Pro 40G MCX354A-FCC_Ax (2*40G)
271 1. Download latest Mellanox OFED. For more info check the `prerequisites`_.
273 2. Install the required libraries and kernel modules either by installing
274 only the required set, or by installing the entire Mellanox OFED:
278 .. code-block:: console
282 For SR-IOV hypervisors use:
284 .. code-block:: console
286 ./mlnxofedinstall --enable-sriov -hypervisor
288 For SR-IOV virtual machine use:
290 .. code-block:: console
292 ./mlnxofedinstall --guest
294 3. Verify the firmware is the correct one:
296 .. code-block:: console
300 4. Set all ports links to Ethernet, follow instructions on the screen:
302 .. code-block:: console
306 Or in the manual way:
308 .. code-block:: console
310 PCI=<NIC PCI address>
311 echo eth > "/sys/bus/pci/devices/$PCI/mlx4_port0"
312 echo eth > "/sys/bus/pci/devices/$PCI/mlx4_port1"
314 5. In case of bare metal or hypervisor, configure optimized steering mode
315 by adding the following line to ``/etc/modprobe.d/mlx4_core.conf``:
317 .. code-block:: console
319 options mlx4_core log_num_mgm_entry_size=-7
323 If VLAN filtering is used, set log_num_mgm_entry_size=-1.
324 Performance degradation can occur on this case.
326 6. Restart the driver:
328 .. code-block:: console
330 /etc/init.d/openibd restart
334 .. code-block:: console
336 service openibd restart
338 7. Compile DPDK and you are ready to go. See instructions on
339 :ref:`Development Kit Build System <Development_Kit_Build_System>`
344 1. Verify the optimized steering mode is configured:
346 .. code-block:: console
348 cat /sys/module/mlx4_core/parameters/log_num_mgm_entry_size
350 2. Use environment variable MLX4_INLINE_RECV_SIZE=64 to get maximum
351 performance for 64B messages.
353 3. Use the CPU near local NUMA node to which the PCIe adapter is connected,
354 for better performance. For VMs, verify that the right CPU
355 and NUMA node are pinned according to the above. Run:
357 .. code-block:: console
361 to identify the NUMA node to which the PCIe adapter is connected.
363 4. If more than one adapter is used, and root complex capabilities allow
364 to put both adapters on the same NUMA node without PCI bandwidth degradation,
365 it is recommended to locate both adapters on the same NUMA node.
366 This in order to forward packets from one to the other without
367 NUMA performance penalty.
369 5. Disable pause frames:
371 .. code-block:: console
373 ethtool -A <netdev> rx off tx off
375 6. Verify IO non-posted prefetch is disabled by default. This can be checked
376 via the BIOS configuration. Please contact you server provider for more
377 information about the settings.
381 On some machines, depends on the machine integrator, it is beneficial
382 to set the PCI max read request parameter to 1K. This can be
383 done in the following way:
385 To query the read request size use:
387 .. code-block:: console
389 setpci -s <NIC PCI address> 68.w
391 If the output is different than 3XXX, set it by:
393 .. code-block:: console
395 setpci -s <NIC PCI address> 68.w=3XXX
397 The XXX can be different on different systems. Make sure to configure
398 according to the setpci output.
403 This section demonstrates how to launch **testpmd** with Mellanox ConnectX-3
404 devices managed by librte_pmd_mlx4.
406 #. Load the kernel modules:
408 .. code-block:: console
410 modprobe -a ib_uverbs mlx4_en mlx4_core mlx4_ib
412 Alternatively if MLNX_OFED is fully installed, the following script can
415 .. code-block:: console
417 /etc/init.d/openibd restart
421 User space I/O kernel modules (uio and igb_uio) are not used and do
422 not have to be loaded.
424 #. Make sure Ethernet interfaces are in working order and linked to kernel
425 verbs. Related sysfs entries should be present:
427 .. code-block:: console
429 ls -d /sys/class/net/*/device/infiniband_verbs/uverbs* | cut -d / -f 5
433 .. code-block:: console
440 #. Optionally, retrieve their PCI bus addresses for whitelisting:
442 .. code-block:: console
445 for intf in eth2 eth3 eth4 eth5;
447 (cd "/sys/class/net/${intf}/device/" && pwd -P);
450 sed -n 's,.*/\(.*\),-w \1,p'
454 .. code-block:: console
463 There are only two distinct PCI bus addresses because the Mellanox
464 ConnectX-3 adapters installed on this system are dual port.
466 #. Request huge pages:
468 .. code-block:: console
470 echo 1024 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages/nr_hugepages
472 #. Start testpmd with basic parameters:
474 .. code-block:: console
476 testpmd -l 8-15 -n 4 -w 0000:83:00.0 -w 0000:84:00.0 -- --rxq=2 --txq=2 -i
480 .. code-block:: console
483 EAL: PCI device 0000:83:00.0 on NUMA socket 1
484 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1007 librte_pmd_mlx4
485 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: PCI information matches, using device "mlx4_0" (VF: false)
486 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 2 port(s) detected
487 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: port 1 MAC address is 00:02:c9:b5:b7:50
488 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: port 2 MAC address is 00:02:c9:b5:b7:51
489 EAL: PCI device 0000:84:00.0 on NUMA socket 1
490 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1007 librte_pmd_mlx4
491 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: PCI information matches, using device "mlx4_1" (VF: false)
492 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 2 port(s) detected
493 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: port 1 MAC address is 00:02:c9:b5:ba:b0
494 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: port 2 MAC address is 00:02:c9:b5:ba:b1
495 Interactive-mode selected
496 Configuring Port 0 (socket 0)
497 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867d60: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
498 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867d60: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
499 Port 0: 00:02:C9:B5:B7:50
500 Configuring Port 1 (socket 0)
501 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867da0: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
502 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867da0: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
503 Port 1: 00:02:C9:B5:B7:51
504 Configuring Port 2 (socket 0)
505 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867de0: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
506 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867de0: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
507 Port 2: 00:02:C9:B5:BA:B0
508 Configuring Port 3 (socket 0)
509 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867e20: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
510 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx4: 0x867e20: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
511 Port 3: 00:02:C9:B5:BA:B1
512 Checking link statuses...
513 Port 0 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex
514 Port 1 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex
515 Port 2 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex
516 Port 3 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex