--- /dev/null
+.. BSD LICENSE
+ Copyright(c) 2015 Netronome Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
+ All rights reserved.
+
+ Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
+ modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
+ are met:
+
+ * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
+ notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
+ * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
+ notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
+ the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
+ distribution.
+ * Neither the name of Intel Corporation nor the names of its
+ contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
+ from this software without specific prior written permission.
+
+ THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
+ "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+ LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
+ A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
+ OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
+ SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
+ LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
+ DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
+ THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
+ (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
+ OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
+
+NFP poll mode driver library
+============================
+
+Netronome's sixth generation of flow processors pack 216 programmable
+cores and over 100 hardware accelerators that uniquely combine packet,
+flow, security and content processing in a single device that scales
+up to 400 Gbps.
+
+This document explains how to use DPDK with the Netronome Poll Mode
+Driver (PMD) supporting Netronome's Network Flow Processor 6xxx
+(NFP-6xxx).
+
+Currently the driver supports virtual functions (VFs) only.
+
+Dependencies
+------------
+
+Before using the Netronome's DPDK PMD some NFP-6xxx configuration,
+which is not related to DPDK, is required. The system requires
+installation of **Netronome's BSP (Board Support Package)** which includes
+Linux drivers, programs and libraries.
+
+If you have a NFP-6xxx device you should already have the code and
+documentation for doing this configuration. Contact
+**support@netronome.com** to obtain the latest available firmware.
+
+The NFP Linux kernel drivers (including the required PF driver for the
+NFP) are available on Github at
+**https://github.com/Netronome/nfp-drv-kmods** along with build
+instructions.
+
+DPDK runs in userspace and PMDs uses the Linux kernel UIO interface to
+allow access to physical devices from userspace. The NFP PMD requires
+a separate UIO driver, **nfp_uio**, to perform correct
+initialization. This driver is part of Netronome´s BSP and it is
+equivalent to Intel's igb_uio driver.
+
+Building the software
+---------------------
+
+Netronome's PMD code is provided in the **drivers/net/nfp** directory.
+Because Netronome´s BSP dependencies the driver is disabled by default
+in DPDK build using **common_linuxapp configuration** file. Enabling the
+driver or if you use another configuration file and want to have NFP
+support, this variable is needed:
+
+- **CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_NFP_PMD=y**
+
+Once DPDK is built all the DPDK apps and examples include support for
+the NFP PMD.
+
+
+System configuration
+--------------------
+
+Using the NFP PMD is not different to using other PMDs. Usual steps are:
+
+#. **Configure hugepages:** All major Linux distributions have the hugepages
+ functionality enabled by default. By default this allows the system uses for
+ working with transparent hugepages. But in this case some hugepages need to
+ be created/reserved for use with the DPDK through the hugetlbfs file system.
+ First the virtual file system need to be mounted:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ mount -t hugetlbfs none /mnt/hugetlbfs
+
+ The command uses the common mount point for this file system and it needs to
+ be created if necessary.
+
+ Configuring hugepages is performed via sysfs:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
+
+ This sysfs file is used to specify the number of hugepages to reserve.
+ For example:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ echo 1024 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
+
+ This will reserve 2GB of memory using 1024 2MB hugepages. The file may be
+ read to see if the operation was performed correctly:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ cat /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
+
+ The number of unused hugepages may also be inspected.
+
+ Before executing the DPDK app it should match the value of nr_hugepages.
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ cat /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/free_hugepages
+
+ The hugepages reservation should be performed at system initialisation and
+ it is usual to use a kernel parameter for configuration. If the reservation
+ is attempted on a busy system it will likely fail. Reserving memory for
+ hugepages may be done adding the following to the grub kernel command line:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ default_hugepagesz=1M hugepagesz=2M hugepages=1024
+
+ This will reserve 2GBytes of memory using 2Mbytes huge pages.
+
+ Finally, for a NUMA system the allocation needs to be made on the correct
+ NUMA node. In a DPDK app there is a master core which will (usually) perform
+ memory allocation. It is important that some of the hugepages are reserved
+ on the NUMA memory node where the network device is attached. This is because
+ of a restriction in DPDK by which TX and RX descriptors rings must be created
+ on the master code.
+
+ Per-node allocation of hugepages may be inspected and controlled using sysfs.
+ For example:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ cat /sys/devices/system/node/node0/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
+
+ For a NUMA system there will be a specific hugepage directory per node
+ allowing control of hugepage reservation. A common problem may occur when
+ hugepages reservation is performed after the system has been working for
+ some time. Configuration using the global sysfs hugepage interface will
+ succeed but the per-node allocations may be unsatisfactory.
+
+ The number of hugepages that need to be reserved depends on how the app uses
+ TX and RX descriptors, and packets mbufs.
+
+#. **Enable SR-IOV on the NFP-6xxx device:** The current NFP PMD works with
+ Virtual Functions (VFs) on a NFP device. Make sure that one of the Physical
+ Function (PF) drivers from the above Github repository is installed and
+ loaded.
+
+ Virtual Functions need to be enabled before they can be used with the PMD.
+ Before enabling the VFs it is useful to obtain information about the
+ current NFP PCI device detected by the system:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ lspci -d19ee:
+
+ Now, for example, configure two virtual functions on a NFP-6xxx device
+ whose PCI system identity is "0000:03:00.0":
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ echo 2 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:03:00.0/sriov_numvfs
+
+ The result of this command may be shown using lspci again:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ lspci -d19ee: -k
+
+ Two new PCI devices should appear in the output of the above command. The
+ -k option shows the device driver, if any, that devices are bound to.
+ Depending on the modules loaded at this point the new PCI devices may be
+ bound to nfp_netvf driver.
+
+#. **To install the uio kernel module (manually):** All major Linux
+ distributions have support for this kernel module so it is straightforward
+ to install it:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ modprobe uio
+
+ The module should now be listed by the lsmod command.
+
+#. **To install the nfp_uio kernel module (manually):** This module supports
+ NFP-6xxx devices through the UIO interface.
+
+ This module is part of Netronome´s BSP and it should be available when the
+ BSP is installed.
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ modprobe nfp_uio.ko
+
+ The module should now be listed by the lsmod command.
+
+ Depending on which NFP modules are loaded, nfp_uio may be automatically
+ bound to the NFP PCI devices by the system. Otherwise the binding needs
+ to be done explicitly. This is the case when nfp_netvf, the Linux kernel
+ driver for NFP VFs, was loaded when VFs were created. As described later
+ in this document this configuration may also be performed using scripts
+ provided by the Netronome´s BSP.
+
+ First the device needs to be unbound, for example from the nfp_netvf
+ driver:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ echo 0000:03:08.0 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:03:08.0/driver/unbind
+
+ lspci -d19ee: -k
+
+ The output of lspci should now show that 0000:03:08.0 is not bound to
+ any driver.
+
+ The next step is to add the NFP PCI ID to the NFP UIO driver:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ echo 19ee 6003 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/nfp_uio/new_id
+
+ And then to bind the device to the nfp_uio driver:
+
+ .. code-block:: console
+
+ echo 0000:03:08.0 > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/nfp_uio/bind
+
+ lspci -d19ee: -k
+
+ lspci should show that device bound to nfp_uio driver.
+
+#. **Using tools from Netronome´s BSP to install and bind modules:** DPDK provides
+ scripts which are useful for installing the UIO modules and for binding the
+ right device to those modules avoiding doing so manually. However, these scripts
+ have not support for Netronome´s UIO driver. Along with drivers, the BSP installs
+ those DPDK scripts slightly modified with support for Netronome´s UIO driver.
+
+ Those specific scripts can be found in Netronome´s BSP installation directory.
+ Refer to BSP documentation for more information.
+
+ * **setup.sh**
+ * **dpdk_nic_bind.py**
+
+ Configuration may be performed by running setup.sh which invokes
+ dpdk_nic_bind.py as needed. Executing setup.sh will display a menu of
+ configuration options.
git.droids-corp.org / dpdk.git / commitdiff