1 .. SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
7 The PFE NIC PMD (**librte_pmd_pfe**) provides poll mode driver
8 support for the inbuilt NIC found in the **NXP LS1012** SoC.
10 More information can be found at `NXP Official Website
11 <https://nxp.com/ls1012a>`_.
16 This section provides an overview of the NXP PFE
17 and how it is integrated into the DPDK.
25 - Driver compilation and testing
31 PFE is a hardware programmable packet forwarding engine to provide
32 high performance Ethernet interfaces. The diagram below shows a
33 system level overview of PFE:
35 .. code-block:: console
37 ====================================================+===============
38 US +-----------------------------------------+ | Kernel Space
40 | PFE Ethernet Driver | |
41 +-----------------------------------------+ |
43 PFE RXQ| |TXQ RXQ| |TXQ |
45 | v | v | +----------+
46 +---------+ +----------+ | | pfe.ko |
47 | net_pfe0| | net_pfe1 | | +----------+
48 +---------+ +----------+ |
53 +------------------------+ |
56 +------------------------+ |
63 ==================| HIF |==================+===============
64 +-----------+ +--------------+
66 | PFE +--------------+ |
70 +-------+-----+----------------+-----+----+
75 The HIF, PFE, MAC and PHY are the hardware blocks, the pfe.ko is a kernel
76 module, the PFE HIF driver and the PFE ethernet driver combined represent
77 as DPDK PFE poll mode driver are running in the userspace.
79 The PFE hardware supports one HIF (host interface) RX ring and one TX ring
80 to send and receive packets through packet forwarding engine. Both network
81 interface traffic is multiplexed and send over HIF queue.
83 net_pfe0 and net_pfe1 are logical ethernet interfaces, created by HIF client
84 driver. HIF driver is responsible for send and receive packets between
85 host interface and these logical interfaces. PFE ethernet driver is a
86 hardware independent and register with the HIF client driver to transmit and
87 receive packets from HIF via logical interfaces.
89 pfe.ko is required for PHY initialisation and also responsible for creating
90 the character device "pfe_us_cdev" which will be used for interacting with
91 the kernel layer for link status.
96 - L3/L4 checksum offload
112 Below are some pre-requisites for executing PFE PMD on a PFE
115 1. **ARM 64 Tool Chain**
117 For example, the `*aarch64* Linaro Toolchain <https://releases.linaro.org/components/toolchain/binaries/7.3-2018.05/aarch64-linux-gnu/gcc-linaro-7.3.1-2018.05-i686_aarch64-linux-gnu.tar.xz>`_.
121 It can be obtained from `NXP's Github hosting <https://source.codeaurora.org/external/qoriq/qoriq-components/linux>`_.
123 3. **Rootfile system**
125 Any *aarch64* supporting filesystem can be used. For example,
126 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial) or 18.04 (Bionic) userland which can be obtained
127 from `here <http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-base/releases/18.04/release/ubuntu-base-18.04.1-base-arm64.tar.gz>`_.
129 4. The ethernet device will be registered as virtual device, so pfe has dependency on
130 **rte_bus_vdev** library and it is mandatory to use `--vdev` with value `net_pfe` to
131 run DPDK application.
133 The following dependencies are not part of DPDK and must be installed
138 NXP Layerscape software development kit (LSDK) includes support for family
139 of QorIQ® ARM-Architecture-based system on chip (SoC) processors
140 and corresponding boards.
142 It includes the Linux board support packages (BSPs) for NXP SoCs,
143 a fully operational tool chain, kernel and board specific modules.
145 LSDK and related information can be obtained from: `LSDK <https://www.nxp.com/support/developer-resources/run-time-software/linux-software-and-development-tools/layerscape-software-development-kit:LAYERSCAPE-SDK>`_
147 - **pfe kernel module**
149 pfe kernel module can be obtained from NXP Layerscape software development kit at
150 location `/lib/modules/<kernel version>/kernel/drivers/staging/fsl_ppfe` in rootfs.
151 Module should be loaded using below command:
153 .. code-block:: console
158 Driver compilation and testing
159 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
161 Follow instructions available in the document
162 :ref:`compiling and testing a PMD for a NIC <pmd_build_and_test>`
163 to launch **testpmd**
165 Additionally, PFE driver needs `--vdev` as an input with value `net_pfe`
166 to execute DPDK application. There is an optional parameter `intf` available
167 to specify port ID. PFE driver supports only two interfaces, so valid values
168 for `intf` are 0 and 1.
169 see the command below:
171 .. code-block:: console
173 <dpdk app> <EAL args> --vdev="net_pfe0,intf=0" --vdev="net_pfe1,intf=1" -- ...
179 - Multi buffer pool cannot be supported.