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33 The MLX5 poll mode driver library (**librte_pmd_mlx5**) provides support
34 for **Mellanox ConnectX-4**, **Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx** and **Mellanox
35 ConnectX-5** families of 10/25/40/50/100 Gb/s adapters as well as their
36 virtual functions (VF) in SR-IOV context.
38 Information and documentation about these adapters can be found on the
39 `Mellanox website <http://www.mellanox.com>`__. Help is also provided by the
40 `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_MLX5_PMD=y`` and
51 Implementation details
52 ----------------------
54 Besides its dependency on libibverbs (that implies libmlx5 and associated
55 kernel support), librte_pmd_mlx5 relies heavily on system calls for control
56 operations such as querying/updating the MTU and flow control parameters.
58 For security reasons and robustness, this driver only deals with virtual
59 memory addresses. The way resources allocations are handled by the kernel
60 combined with hardware specifications that allow it to handle virtual memory
61 addresses directly ensure that DPDK applications cannot access random
62 physical memory (or memory that does not belong to the current process).
64 This capability allows the PMD to coexist with kernel network interfaces
65 which remain functional, although they stop receiving unicast packets as
66 long as they share the same MAC address.
68 Enabling librte_pmd_mlx5 causes DPDK applications to be linked against
74 - Multiple TX and RX queues.
75 - Support for scattered TX and RX frames.
76 - IPv4, IPv6, TCPv4, TCPv6, UDPv4 and UDPv6 RSS on any number of queues.
77 - Several RSS hash keys, one for each flow type.
78 - Configurable RETA table.
79 - Support for multiple MAC addresses.
83 - RX CRC stripping configuration.
85 - Multicast promiscuous mode.
86 - Hardware checksum offloads.
87 - Flow director (RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT, RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT_MAC_VLAN and
90 - Secondary process TX is supported.
91 - KVM and VMware ESX SR-IOV modes are supported.
92 - RSS hash result is supported.
94 - Hardware checksum TX offload for VXLAN and GRE.
99 - Inner RSS for VXLAN frames is not supported yet.
100 - Port statistics through software counters only.
101 - Hardware checksum RX offloads for VXLAN inner header are not supported yet.
102 - Secondary process RX is not supported.
110 These options can be modified in the ``.config`` file.
112 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_PMD`` (default **n**)
114 Toggle compilation of librte_pmd_mlx5 itself.
116 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_DEBUG`` (default **n**)
118 Toggle debugging code and stricter compilation flags. Enabling this option
119 adds additional run-time checks and debugging messages at the cost of
122 - ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_TX_MP_CACHE`` (default **8**)
124 Maximum number of cached memory pools (MPs) per TX queue. Each MP from
125 which buffers are to be transmitted must be associated to memory regions
126 (MRs). This is a slow operation that must be cached.
128 This value is always 1 for RX queues since they use a single MP.
130 Environment variables
131 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
133 - ``MLX5_PMD_ENABLE_PADDING``
135 Enables HW packet padding in PCI bus transactions.
137 When packet size is cache aligned and CRC stripping is enabled, 4 fewer
138 bytes are written to the PCI bus. Enabling padding makes such packets
141 In cases where PCI bandwidth is the bottleneck, padding can improve
144 This is disabled by default since this can also decrease performance for
145 unaligned packet sizes.
147 Run-time configuration
148 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
150 - librte_pmd_mlx5 brings kernel network interfaces up during initialization
151 because it is affected by their state. Forcing them down prevents packets
154 - **ethtool** operations on related kernel interfaces also affect the PMD.
156 - ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` parameter [int]
158 A nonzero value enables the compression of CQE on RX side. This feature
159 allows to save PCI bandwidth and improve performance at the cost of a
160 slightly higher CPU usage. Enabled by default.
164 - x86_64 with ConnectX4 and ConnectX4 LX
165 - Power8 with ConnectX4 LX
167 - ``txq_inline`` parameter [int]
169 Amount of data to be inlined during TX operations. Improves latency.
170 Can improve PPS performance when PCI back pressure is detected and may be
171 useful for scenarios involving heavy traffic on many queues.
173 It is not enabled by default (set to 0) since the additional software
174 logic necessary to handle this mode can lower performance when back
175 pressure is not expected.
177 - ``txqs_min_inline`` parameter [int]
179 Enable inline send only when the number of TX queues is greater or equal
182 This option should be used in combination with ``txq_inline`` above.
184 - ``txq_mpw_en`` parameter [int]
186 A nonzero value enables multi-packet send. This feature allows the TX
187 burst function to pack up to five packets in two descriptors in order to
188 save PCI bandwidth and improve performance at the cost of a slightly
191 This option cannot be used in conjunction with ``tso`` below. When ``tso``
192 is set, ``txq_mpw_en`` is disabled.
194 It is currently only supported on the ConnectX-4 Lx and ConnectX-5
195 families of adapters. Enabled by default.
197 - ``tso`` parameter [int]
199 A nonzero value enables hardware TSO.
200 When hardware TSO is enabled, packets marked with TCP segmentation
201 offload will be divided into segments by the hardware.
208 This driver relies on external libraries and kernel drivers for resources
209 allocations and initialization. The following dependencies are not part of
210 DPDK and must be installed separately:
214 User space Verbs framework used by librte_pmd_mlx5. This library provides
215 a generic interface between the kernel and low-level user space drivers
218 It allows slow and privileged operations (context initialization, hardware
219 resources allocations) to be managed by the kernel and fast operations to
220 never leave user space.
224 Low-level user space driver library for Mellanox ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5
225 devices, it is automatically loaded by libibverbs.
227 This library basically implements send/receive calls to the hardware
230 - **Kernel modules** (mlnx-ofed-kernel)
232 They provide the kernel-side Verbs API and low level device drivers that
233 manage actual hardware initialization and resources sharing with user
236 Unlike most other PMDs, these modules must remain loaded and bound to
239 - mlx5_core: hardware driver managing Mellanox ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5
240 devices and related Ethernet kernel network devices.
241 - mlx5_ib: InifiniBand device driver.
242 - ib_uverbs: user space driver for Verbs (entry point for libibverbs).
244 - **Firmware update**
246 Mellanox OFED releases include firmware updates for ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5
249 Because each release provides new features, these updates must be applied to
250 match the kernel modules and libraries they come with.
254 Both libraries are BSD and GPL licensed. Linux kernel modules are GPL
257 Currently supported by DPDK:
259 - Mellanox OFED version: **4.0-1.0.1.0**
262 - ConnectX-4: **12.18.1000**
263 - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.18.1000**
264 - ConnectX-5: **16.18.1000**
265 - ConnectX-5 Ex: **16.18.1000**
267 Getting Mellanox OFED
268 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
270 While these libraries and kernel modules are available on OpenFabrics
271 Alliance's `website <https://www.openfabrics.org/>`__ and provided by package
272 managers on most distributions, this PMD requires Ethernet extensions that
273 may not be supported at the moment (this is a work in progress).
276 <http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=26&mtag=linux>`__
277 includes the necessary support and should be used in the meantime. For DPDK,
278 only libibverbs, libmlx5, mlnx-ofed-kernel packages and firmware updates are
279 required from that distribution.
283 Several versions of Mellanox OFED are available. Installing the version
284 this DPDK release was developed and tested against is strongly
285 recommended. Please check the `prerequisites`_.
290 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 10G MCX4111A-XCAT (1x10G)
291 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 10G MCX4121A-XCAT (2x10G)
292 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 25G MCX4111A-ACAT (1x25G)
293 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 25G MCX4121A-ACAT (2x25G)
294 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 40G MCX4131A-BCAT (1x40G)
295 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 40G MCX413A-BCAT (1x40G)
296 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 40G MCX415A-BCAT (1x40G)
297 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX4131A-GCAT (1x50G)
298 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX413A-GCAT (1x50G)
299 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX414A-BCAT (2x50G)
300 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX415A-GCAT (2x50G)
301 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX416A-BCAT (2x50G)
302 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX416A-GCAT (2x50G)
303 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX415A-CCAT (1x100G)
304 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 100G MCX416A-CCAT (2x100G)
305 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 Lx 10G MCX4121A-XCAT (2x10G)
306 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 Lx 25G MCX4121A-ACAT (2x25G)
307 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-5 100G MCX556A-ECAT (2x100G)
308 * Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-5 Ex EN 100G MCX516A-CDAT (2x100G)
313 Compared to librte_pmd_mlx4 that implements a single RSS configuration per
314 port, librte_pmd_mlx5 supports per-protocol RSS configuration.
316 Since ``testpmd`` defaults to IP RSS mode and there is currently no
317 command-line parameter to enable additional protocols (UDP and TCP as well
318 as IP), the following commands must be entered from its CLI to get the same
319 behavior as librte_pmd_mlx4:
321 .. code-block:: console
324 > port config all rss all
330 This section demonstrates how to launch **testpmd** with Mellanox
331 ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5 devices managed by librte_pmd_mlx5.
333 #. Load the kernel modules:
335 .. code-block:: console
337 modprobe -a ib_uverbs mlx5_core mlx5_ib
339 Alternatively if MLNX_OFED is fully installed, the following script can
342 .. code-block:: console
344 /etc/init.d/openibd restart
348 User space I/O kernel modules (uio and igb_uio) are not used and do
349 not have to be loaded.
351 #. Make sure Ethernet interfaces are in working order and linked to kernel
352 verbs. Related sysfs entries should be present:
354 .. code-block:: console
356 ls -d /sys/class/net/*/device/infiniband_verbs/uverbs* | cut -d / -f 5
360 .. code-block:: console
367 #. Optionally, retrieve their PCI bus addresses for whitelisting:
369 .. code-block:: console
372 for intf in eth2 eth3 eth4 eth5;
374 (cd "/sys/class/net/${intf}/device/" && pwd -P);
377 sed -n 's,.*/\(.*\),-w \1,p'
381 .. code-block:: console
388 #. Request huge pages:
390 .. code-block:: console
392 echo 1024 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages/nr_hugepages
394 #. Start testpmd with basic parameters:
396 .. code-block:: console
398 testpmd -l 8-15 -n 4 -w 05:00.0 -w 05:00.1 -w 06:00.0 -w 06:00.1 -- --rxq=2 --txq=2 -i
402 .. code-block:: console
405 EAL: PCI device 0000:05:00.0 on NUMA socket 0
406 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_pmd_mlx5
407 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_0" (VF: false)
408 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
409 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fe
410 EAL: PCI device 0000:05:00.1 on NUMA socket 0
411 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_pmd_mlx5
412 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_1" (VF: false)
413 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
414 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:ff
415 EAL: PCI device 0000:06:00.0 on NUMA socket 0
416 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_pmd_mlx5
417 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_2" (VF: false)
418 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
419 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fa
420 EAL: PCI device 0000:06:00.1 on NUMA socket 0
421 EAL: probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_pmd_mlx5
422 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_3" (VF: false)
423 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
424 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fb
425 Interactive-mode selected
426 Configuring Port 0 (socket 0)
427 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8cba80: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
428 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8cba80: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
429 Port 0: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FE
430 Configuring Port 1 (socket 0)
431 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8ccac8: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
432 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8ccac8: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
433 Port 1: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FF
434 Configuring Port 2 (socket 0)
435 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8cdb10: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
436 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8cdb10: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
437 Port 2: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FA
438 Configuring Port 3 (socket 0)
439 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8ceb58: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
440 PMD: librte_pmd_mlx5: 0x8ceb58: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
441 Port 3: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FB
442 Checking link statuses...
443 Port 0 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex
444 Port 1 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex
445 Port 2 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex
446 Port 3 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex