1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2 Copyright(c) 2015-2017 Netronome Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
5 NFP poll mode driver library
6 ============================
8 Netronome's sixth generation of flow processors pack 216 programmable
9 cores and over 100 hardware accelerators that uniquely combine packet,
10 flow, security and content processing in a single device that scales
13 This document explains how to use DPDK with the Netronome Poll Mode
14 Driver (PMD) supporting Netronome's Network Flow Processor 6xxx
15 (NFP-6xxx) and Netronome's Flow Processor 4xxx (NFP-4xxx).
17 NFP is a SRIOV capable device and the PMD driver supports the physical
18 function (PF) and the virtual functions (VFs).
23 Before using the Netronome's DPDK PMD some NFP configuration,
24 which is not related to DPDK, is required. The system requires
25 installation of **Netronome's BSP (Board Support Package)** along
26 with a specific NFP firmware application. Netronome's NSP ABI
27 version should be 0.20 or higher.
29 If you have a NFP device you should already have the code and
30 documentation for this configuration. Contact
31 **support@netronome.com** to obtain the latest available firmware.
33 The NFP Linux netdev kernel driver for VFs has been a part of the
34 vanilla kernel since kernel version 4.5, and support for the PF
35 since kernel version 4.11. Support for older kernels can be obtained
37 **https://github.com/Netronome/nfp-drv-kmods** along with the build
40 NFP PMD needs to be used along with UIO ``igb_uio`` or VFIO (``vfio-pci``)
46 Netronome's PMD code is provided in the **drivers/net/nfp** directory.
47 Although NFP PMD has NetronomeĀ“s BSP dependencies, it is possible to
48 compile it along with other DPDK PMDs even if no BSP was installed previously.
49 Of course, a DPDK app will require such a BSP installed for using the
50 NFP PMD, along with a specific NFP firmware application.
52 Default PMD configuration is at the **common_linux configuration** file:
54 - **CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_NFP_PMD=y**
56 Once the DPDK is built all the DPDK apps and examples include support for
60 Driver compilation and testing
61 ------------------------------
63 Refer to the document :ref:`compiling and testing a PMD for a NIC <pmd_build_and_test>`
69 NFP PMD supports using the NFP PF as another DPDK port, but it does not
70 have any functionality for controlling VFs. In fact, it is not possible to use
71 the PMD with the VFs if the PF is being used by DPDK, that is, with the NFP PF
72 bound to ``igb_uio`` or ``vfio-pci`` kernel drivers. Future DPDK versions will
73 have a PMD able to work with the PF and VFs at the same time and with the PF
74 implementing VF management along with other PF-only functionalities/offloads.
76 The PMD PF has extra work to do which will delay the DPDK app initialization
77 like uploading the firmware and configure the Link state properly when starting or
78 stopping a PF port. Since DPDK 18.05 the firmware upload happens when
79 a PF is initialized, which was not always true with older DPDK versions.
81 Depending on the Netronome product installed in the system, firmware files
82 should be available under ``/lib/firmware/netronome``. DPDK PMD supporting the
83 PF looks for a firmware file in this order:
85 1) First try to find a firmware image specific for this device using the
88 serial-00-15-4d-12-20-65-10-ff.nffw
90 2) Then try the PCI name:
94 3) Finally try the card type and media:
96 nic_AMDA0099-0001_2x25.nffw
98 Netronome's software packages install firmware files under ``/lib/firmware/netronome``
99 to support all the Netronome's SmartNICs and different firmware applications.
100 This is usually done using file names based on SmartNIC type and media and with a
101 directory per firmware application. Options 1 and 2 for firmware filenames allow
102 more than one SmartNIC, same type of SmartNIC or different ones, and to upload a
103 different firmware to each SmartNIC.
106 Currently the NFP PMD supports using the PF with Agilio Basic Firmware. See
107 https://help.netronome.com/support/solutions for more information on the
108 various firmwares supported by the Netronome Agilio CX smartNIC.
113 The NFP PMD can work with up to 8 ports on the same PF device. The number of
114 available ports is firmware and hardware dependent, and the driver looks for a
115 firmware symbol during initialization to know how many can be used.
117 DPDK apps work with ports, and a port is usually a PF or a VF PCI device.
118 However, with the NFP PF multiport there is just one PF PCI device. Supporting
119 this particular configuration requires the PMD to create ports in a special way,
120 although once they are created, DPDK apps should be able to use them as normal
123 NFP ports belonging to same PF can be seen inside PMD initialization with a
124 suffix added to the PCI ID: wwww:xx:yy.z_port_n. For example, a PF with PCI ID
125 0000:03:00.0 and four ports is seen by the PMD code as:
127 .. code-block:: console
136 There are some limitations with multiport support: RX interrupts and
137 device hot-plugging are not supported.
139 PF multiprocess support
140 -----------------------
142 Due to how the driver needs to access the NFP through a CPP interface, which implies
143 to use specific registers inside the chip, the number of secondary processes with PF
144 ports is limited to only one.
146 This limitation will be solved in future versions but having basic multiprocess support
147 is important for allowing development and debugging through the PF using a secondary
148 process which will create a CPP bridge for user space tools accessing the NFP.
154 #. **Enable SR-IOV on the NFP device:** The current NFP PMD supports the PF and
155 the VFs on a NFP device. However, it is not possible to work with both at the
156 same time because the VFs require the PF being bound to the NFP PF Linux
157 netdev driver. Make sure you are working with a kernel with NFP PF support or
158 get the drivers from the above Github repository and follow the instructions
159 for building and installing it.
161 VFs need to be enabled before they can be used with the PMD.
162 Before enabling the VFs it is useful to obtain information about the
163 current NFP PCI device detected by the system:
165 .. code-block:: console
169 Now, for example, configure two virtual functions on a NFP-6xxx device
170 whose PCI system identity is "0000:03:00.0":
172 .. code-block:: console
174 echo 2 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:03:00.0/sriov_numvfs
176 The result of this command may be shown using lspci again:
178 .. code-block:: console
182 Two new PCI devices should appear in the output of the above command. The
183 -k option shows the device driver, if any, that devices are bound to.
184 Depending on the modules loaded at this point the new PCI devices may be
185 bound to nfp_netvf driver.