- Configurable RETA table.
- Support for multiple MAC addresses.
- VLAN filtering.
+- RX VLAN stripping.
+- TX VLAN insertion.
+- RX CRC stripping configuration.
- Promiscuous mode.
- Multicast promiscuous mode.
- Hardware checksum offloads.
-- Flow director (RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT and RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT_MAC_VLAN).
+- Flow director (RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT, RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT_MAC_VLAN and
+ RTE_ETH_FDIR_REJECT).
+- Secondary process TX is supported.
+- KVM and VMware ESX SR-IOV modes are supported.
+- RSS hash result is supported.
Limitations
-----------
-- KVM and VMware ESX SR-IOV modes are not supported yet.
- Inner RSS for VXLAN frames is not supported yet.
- Port statistics through software counters only.
- Hardware checksum offloads for VXLAN inner header are not supported yet.
-- Secondary processes are not supported yet.
+- Secondary process RX is not supported.
Configuration
-------------
adds additional run-time checks and debugging messages at the cost of
lower performance.
-- ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_SGE_WR_N`` (default **4**)
-
- Number of scatter/gather elements (SGEs) per work request (WR). Lowering
- this number improves performance but also limits the ability to receive
- scattered packets (packets that do not fit a single mbuf). The default
- value is a safe tradeoff.
-
-- ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_MAX_INLINE`` (default **0**)
-
- Amount of data to be inlined during TX operations. Improves latency.
- Can improve PPS performance when PCI backpressure is detected and may be
- useful for scenarios involving heavy traffic on many queues.
-
- Since the additional software logic necessary to handle this mode can
- lower performance when there is no backpressure, it is not enabled by
- default.
-
- ``CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_TX_MP_CACHE`` (default **8**)
Maximum number of cached memory pools (MPs) per TX queue. Each MP from
Environment variables
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-- ``MLX5_ENABLE_CQE_COMPRESSION``
+- ``MLX5_PMD_ENABLE_PADDING``
+
+ Enables HW packet padding in PCI bus transactions.
+
+ When packet size is cache aligned and CRC stripping is enabled, 4 fewer
+ bytes are written to the PCI bus. Enabling padding makes such packets
+ aligned again.
- A nonzero value lets ConnectX-4 return smaller completion entries to
- improve performance when PCI backpressure is detected. It is most useful
- for scenarios involving heavy traffic on many queues.
+ In cases where PCI bandwidth is the bottleneck, padding can improve
+ performance by 10%.
- Since the additional software logic necessary to handle this mode can
- lower performance when there is no backpressure, it is not enabled by
- default.
+ This is disabled by default since this can also decrease performance for
+ unaligned packet sizes.
Run-time configuration
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- **ethtool** operations on related kernel interfaces also affect the PMD.
+- ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` parameter [int]
+
+ A nonzero value enables the compression of CQE on RX side. This feature
+ allows to save PCI bandwidth and improve performance at the cost of a
+ slightly higher CPU usage. Enabled by default.
+
+ Supported on:
+
+ - x86_64 with ConnectX4 and ConnectX4 LX
+ - Power8 with ConnectX4 LX
+
+- ``txq_inline`` parameter [int]
+
+ Amount of data to be inlined during TX operations. Improves latency.
+ Can improve PPS performance when PCI back pressure is detected and may be
+ useful for scenarios involving heavy traffic on many queues.
+
+ It is not enabled by default (set to 0) since the additional software
+ logic necessary to handle this mode can lower performance when back
+ pressure is not expected.
+
+- ``txqs_min_inline`` parameter [int]
+
+ Enable inline send only when the number of TX queues is greater or equal
+ to this value.
+
+ This option should be used in combination with ``txq_inline`` above.
+
+- ``txq_mpw_en`` parameter [int]
+
+ A nonzero value enables multi-packet send. This feature allows the TX
+ burst function to pack up to five packets in two descriptors in order to
+ save PCI bandwidth and improve performance at the cost of a slightly
+ higher CPU usage.
+
+ It is currently only supported on the ConnectX-4 Lx family of adapters.
+ Enabled by default.
+
Prerequisites
-------------
Currently supported by DPDK:
-- Mellanox OFED **3.1-1.0.3**, **3.1-1.5.7.1** or **3.2-2.0.0.0** depending
- on usage.
-
- The following features are supported with version **3.1-1.5.7.1** and
- above only:
-
- - IPv6, UPDv6, TCPv6 RSS.
- - RX checksum offloads.
- - IBM POWER8.
-
- The following features are supported with version **3.2-2.0.0.0** and
- above only:
-
- - Flow director.
-
-- Minimum firmware version:
-
- With MLNX_OFED **3.1-1.0.3**:
-
- - ConnectX-4: **12.12.1240**
- - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.12.1100**
-
- With MLNX_OFED **3.1-1.5.7.1**:
-
- - ConnectX-4: **12.13.0144**
- - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.13.0144**
+- Mellanox OFED **3.4-1.0.0.0**.
- With MLNX_OFED **3.2-2.0.0.0**:
+- firmware version:
- - ConnectX-4: **12.14.2036**
- - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.14.2036**
+ - ConnectX-4: **12.17.1010**
+ - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.17.1010**
Getting Mellanox OFED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~