xref: /dpdk/doc/guides/linux_gsg/build_sample_apps.rst (revision 250c9eb3ca895127f21a729caf4a928eb2f04d2c)
1..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2    Copyright(c) 2010-2014 Intel Corporation.
3
4Compiling and Running Sample Applications
5=========================================
6
7The chapter describes how to compile and run applications in an DPDK environment.
8It also provides a pointer to where sample applications are stored.
9
10.. note::
11
12    Parts of this process can also be done using the setup script described the
13    :ref:`linux_setup_script` section of this document.
14
15Compiling a Sample Application
16------------------------------
17
18Once an DPDK target environment directory has been created (such as ``x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc``),
19it contains all libraries and header files required to build an application.
20
21When compiling an application in the Linux* environment on the DPDK, the following variables must be exported:
22
23* ``RTE_SDK`` - Points to the DPDK installation directory.
24
25* ``RTE_TARGET`` - Points to the DPDK target environment directory.
26
27The following is an example of creating the ``helloworld`` application, which runs in the DPDK Linux environment.
28This example may be found in the ``${RTE_SDK}/examples`` directory.
29
30The directory contains the ``main.c`` file. This file, when combined with the libraries in the DPDK target environment,
31calls the various functions to initialize the DPDK environment,
32then launches an entry point (dispatch application) for each core to be utilized.
33By default, the binary is generated in the build directory.
34
35.. code-block:: console
36
37    cd examples/helloworld/
38    export RTE_SDK=$HOME/DPDK
39    export RTE_TARGET=x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc
40
41    make
42        CC main.o
43        LD helloworld
44        INSTALL-APP helloworld
45        INSTALL-MAP helloworld.map
46
47    ls build/app
48        helloworld helloworld.map
49
50.. note::
51
52    In the above example, ``helloworld`` was in the directory structure of the DPDK.
53    However, it could have been located outside the directory structure to keep the DPDK structure intact.
54    In the following case, the ``helloworld`` application is copied to a new directory as a new starting point.
55
56    .. code-block:: console
57
58       export RTE_SDK=/home/user/DPDK
59       cp -r $(RTE_SDK)/examples/helloworld my_rte_app
60       cd my_rte_app/
61       export RTE_TARGET=x86_64-native-linuxapp-gcc
62
63       make
64         CC main.o
65         LD helloworld
66         INSTALL-APP helloworld
67         INSTALL-MAP helloworld.map
68
69Running a Sample Application
70----------------------------
71
72.. warning::
73
74    Before running the application make sure:
75
76    - Hugepages setup is done.
77    - Any kernel driver being used is loaded.
78    - In case needed, ports being used by the application should be
79      bound to the corresponding kernel driver.
80
81    refer to :ref:`linux_gsg_linux_drivers` for more details.
82
83The application is linked with the DPDK target environment's Environmental Abstraction Layer (EAL) library,
84which provides some options that are generic to every DPDK application.
85
86The following is the list of options that can be given to the EAL:
87
88.. code-block:: console
89
90    ./rte-app [-c COREMASK | -l CORELIST] [-n NUM] [-b <domain:bus:devid.func>] \
91              [--socket-mem=MB,...] [-d LIB.so|DIR] [-m MB] [-r NUM] [-v] [--file-prefix] \
92	      [--proc-type <primary|secondary|auto>]
93
94The EAL options are as follows:
95
96* ``-c COREMASK`` or ``-l CORELIST``:
97  An hexadecimal bit mask of the cores to run on. Note that core numbering can
98  change between platforms and should be determined beforehand. The corelist is
99  a set of core numbers instead of a bitmap core mask.
100
101* ``-n NUM``:
102  Number of memory channels per processor socket.
103
104* ``-b <domain:bus:devid.func>``:
105  Blacklisting of ports; prevent EAL from using specified PCI device
106  (multiple ``-b`` options are allowed).
107
108* ``--use-device``:
109  use the specified Ethernet device(s) only. Use comma-separate
110  ``[domain:]bus:devid.func`` values. Cannot be used with ``-b`` option.
111
112* ``--socket-mem``:
113  Memory to allocate from hugepages on specific sockets. In dynamic memory mode,
114  this memory will also be pinned (i.e. not released back to the system until
115  application closes).
116
117* ``-d``:
118  Add a driver or driver directory to be loaded.
119  The application should use this option to load the pmd drivers
120  that are built as shared libraries.
121
122* ``-m MB``:
123  Memory to allocate from hugepages, regardless of processor socket. It is
124  recommended that ``--socket-mem`` be used instead of this option.
125
126* ``-r NUM``:
127  Number of memory ranks.
128
129* ``-v``:
130  Display version information on startup.
131
132* ``--huge-dir``:
133  The directory where hugetlbfs is mounted.
134
135* ``mbuf-pool-ops-name``:
136  Pool ops name for mbuf to use.
137
138* ``--file-prefix``:
139  The prefix text used for hugepage filenames.
140
141* ``--proc-type``:
142  The type of process instance.
143
144* ``--vmware-tsc-map``:
145  Use VMware TSC map instead of native RDTSC.
146
147* ``--base-virtaddr``:
148  Specify base virtual address.
149
150* ``--vfio-intr``:
151  Specify interrupt type to be used by VFIO (has no effect if VFIO is not used).
152
153* ``--legacy-mem``:
154  Run DPDK in legacy memory mode (disable memory reserve/unreserve at runtime,
155  but provide more IOVA-contiguous memory).
156
157* ``--single-file-segments``:
158  Store memory segments in fewer files (dynamic memory mode only - does not
159  affect legacy memory mode).
160
161The ``-c`` or ``-l`` and option is mandatory; the others are optional.
162
163Copy the DPDK application binary to your target, then run the application as follows
164(assuming the platform has four memory channels per processor socket,
165and that cores 0-3 are present and are to be used for running the application)::
166
167    ./helloworld -l 0-3 -n 4
168
169.. note::
170
171    The ``--proc-type`` and ``--file-prefix`` EAL options are used for running
172    multiple DPDK processes. See the "Multi-process Sample Application"
173    chapter in the *DPDK Sample Applications User Guide* and the *DPDK
174    Programmers Guide* for more details.
175
176Logical Core Use by Applications
177~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
178
179The coremask (-c 0x0f) or corelist (-l 0-3) parameter is always mandatory for DPDK applications.
180Each bit of the mask corresponds to the equivalent logical core number as reported by Linux. The preferred corelist option is a cleaner method to define cores to be used.
181Since these logical core numbers, and their mapping to specific cores on specific NUMA sockets, can vary from platform to platform,
182it is recommended that the core layout for each platform be considered when choosing the coremask/corelist to use in each case.
183
184On initialization of the EAL layer by an DPDK application, the logical cores to be used and their socket location are displayed.
185This information can also be determined for all cores on the system by examining the ``/proc/cpuinfo`` file, for example, by running cat ``/proc/cpuinfo``.
186The physical id attribute listed for each processor indicates the CPU socket to which it belongs.
187This can be useful when using other processors to understand the mapping of the logical cores to the sockets.
188
189.. note::
190
191    A more graphical view of the logical core layout may be obtained using the ``lstopo`` Linux utility.
192    On Fedora Linux, this may be installed and run using the following command::
193
194        sudo yum install hwloc
195        ./lstopo
196
197.. warning::
198
199    The logical core layout can change between different board layouts and should be checked before selecting an application coremask/corelist.
200
201Hugepage Memory Use by Applications
202~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
203
204When running an application, it is recommended to use the same amount of memory as that allocated for hugepages.
205This is done automatically by the DPDK application at startup,
206if no ``-m`` or ``--socket-mem`` parameter is passed to it when run.
207
208If more memory is requested by explicitly passing a ``-m`` or ``--socket-mem`` value, the application fails.
209However, the application itself can also fail if the user requests less memory than the reserved amount of hugepage-memory, particularly if using the ``-m`` option.
210The reason is as follows.
211Suppose the system has 1024 reserved 2 MB pages in socket 0 and 1024 in socket 1.
212If the user requests 128 MB of memory, the 64 pages may not match the constraints:
213
214*   The hugepage memory by be given to the application by the kernel in socket 1 only.
215    In this case, if the application attempts to create an object, such as a ring or memory pool in socket 0, it fails.
216    To avoid this issue, it is recommended that the ``--socket-mem`` option be used instead of the ``-m`` option.
217
218*   These pages can be located anywhere in physical memory, and, although the DPDK EAL will attempt to allocate memory in contiguous blocks,
219    it is possible that the pages will not be contiguous. In this case, the application is not able to allocate big memory pools.
220
221The socket-mem option can be used to request specific amounts of memory for specific sockets.
222This is accomplished by supplying the ``--socket-mem`` flag followed by amounts of memory requested on each socket,
223for example, supply ``--socket-mem=0,512`` to try and reserve 512 MB for socket 1 only.
224Similarly, on a four socket system, to allocate 1 GB memory on each of sockets 0 and 2 only, the parameter ``--socket-mem=1024,0,1024`` can be used.
225No memory will be reserved on any CPU socket that is not explicitly referenced, for example, socket 3 in this case.
226If the DPDK cannot allocate enough memory on each socket, the EAL initialization fails.
227
228Additional Sample Applications
229------------------------------
230
231Additional sample applications are included in the ${RTE_SDK}/examples directory.
232These sample applications may be built and run in a manner similar to that described in earlier sections in this manual.
233In addition, see the *DPDK Sample Applications User Guide* for a description of the application,
234specific instructions on compilation and execution and some explanation of the code.
235
236Additional Test Applications
237----------------------------
238
239In addition, there are two other applications that are built when the libraries are created.
240The source files for these are in the DPDK/app directory and are called test and testpmd.
241Once the libraries are created, they can be found in the build/app directory.
242
243*   The test application provides a variety of specific tests for the various functions in the DPDK.
244
245*   The testpmd application provides a number of different packet throughput tests and
246    examples of features such as how to use the Flow Director found in the Intel® 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
247