xref: /dpdk/doc/guides/nics/mlx5.rst (revision 68a03efeed657e6e05f281479b33b51102797e15)
1..  SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
2    Copyright 2015 6WIND S.A.
3    Copyright 2015 Mellanox Technologies, Ltd
4
5.. include:: <isonum.txt>
6
7MLX5 poll mode driver
8=====================
9
10The MLX5 poll mode driver library (**librte_net_mlx5**) provides support
11for **Mellanox ConnectX-4**, **Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx** , **Mellanox
12ConnectX-5**, **Mellanox ConnectX-6**, **Mellanox ConnectX-6 Dx**, **Mellanox
13ConnectX-6 Lx**, **Mellanox BlueField** and **Mellanox BlueField-2** families
14of 10/25/40/50/100/200 Gb/s adapters as well as their virtual functions (VF)
15in SR-IOV context.
16
17Information and documentation about these adapters can be found on the
18`Mellanox website <http://www.mellanox.com>`__. Help is also provided by the
19`Mellanox community <http://community.mellanox.com/welcome>`__.
20
21There is also a `section dedicated to this poll mode driver
22<http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=209&mtag=pmd_for_dpdk>`__.
23
24
25Design
26------
27
28Besides its dependency on libibverbs (that implies libmlx5 and associated
29kernel support), librte_net_mlx5 relies heavily on system calls for control
30operations such as querying/updating the MTU and flow control parameters.
31
32For security reasons and robustness, this driver only deals with virtual
33memory addresses. The way resources allocations are handled by the kernel,
34combined with hardware specifications that allow to handle virtual memory
35addresses directly, ensure that DPDK applications cannot access random
36physical memory (or memory that does not belong to the current process).
37
38This capability allows the PMD to coexist with kernel network interfaces
39which remain functional, although they stop receiving unicast packets as
40long as they share the same MAC address.
41This means legacy linux control tools (for example: ethtool, ifconfig and
42more) can operate on the same network interfaces that owned by the DPDK
43application.
44
45The PMD can use libibverbs and libmlx5 to access the device firmware
46or directly the hardware components.
47There are different levels of objects and bypassing abilities
48to get the best performances:
49
50- Verbs is a complete high-level generic API
51- Direct Verbs is a device-specific API
52- DevX allows to access firmware objects
53- Direct Rules manages flow steering at low-level hardware layer
54
55Enabling librte_net_mlx5 causes DPDK applications to be linked against
56libibverbs.
57
58Features
59--------
60
61- Multi arch support: x86_64, POWER8, ARMv8, i686.
62- Multiple TX and RX queues.
63- Support for scattered TX frames.
64- Advanced support for scattered Rx frames with tunable buffer attributes.
65- IPv4, IPv6, TCPv4, TCPv6, UDPv4 and UDPv6 RSS on any number of queues.
66- RSS using different combinations of fields: L3 only, L4 only or both,
67  and source only, destination only or both.
68- Several RSS hash keys, one for each flow type.
69- Default RSS operation with no hash key specification.
70- Configurable RETA table.
71- Link flow control (pause frame).
72- Support for multiple MAC addresses.
73- VLAN filtering.
74- RX VLAN stripping.
75- TX VLAN insertion.
76- RX CRC stripping configuration.
77- TX mbuf fast free offload.
78- Promiscuous mode on PF and VF.
79- Multicast promiscuous mode on PF and VF.
80- Hardware checksum offloads.
81- Flow director (RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT, RTE_FDIR_MODE_PERFECT_MAC_VLAN and
82  RTE_ETH_FDIR_REJECT).
83- Flow API, including :ref:`flow_isolated_mode`.
84- Multiple process.
85- KVM and VMware ESX SR-IOV modes are supported.
86- RSS hash result is supported.
87- Hardware TSO for generic IP or UDP tunnel, including VXLAN and GRE.
88- Hardware checksum Tx offload for generic IP or UDP tunnel, including VXLAN and GRE.
89- RX interrupts.
90- Statistics query including Basic, Extended and per queue.
91- Rx HW timestamp.
92- Tunnel types: VXLAN, L3 VXLAN, VXLAN-GPE, GRE, MPLSoGRE, MPLSoUDP, IP-in-IP, Geneve, GTP.
93- Tunnel HW offloads: packet type, inner/outer RSS, IP and UDP checksum verification.
94- NIC HW offloads: encapsulation (vxlan, gre, mplsoudp, mplsogre), NAT, routing, TTL
95  increment/decrement, count, drop, mark. For details please see :ref:`mlx5_offloads_support`.
96- Flow insertion rate of more then million flows per second, when using Direct Rules.
97- Support for multiple rte_flow groups.
98- Per packet no-inline hint flag to disable packet data copying into Tx descriptors.
99- Hardware LRO.
100- Hairpin.
101- Multiple-thread flow insertion.
102- Matching on GTP extension header with raw encap/decap action.
103- Matching on Geneve TLV option header with raw encap/decap action.
104- RSS support in sample action.
105- E-Switch mirroring and jump.
106- E-Switch mirroring and modify.
107- 21844 flow priorities for ingress or egress flow groups greater than 0 and for any transfer
108  flow group.
109
110Limitations
111-----------
112
113- Windows support:
114
115  On Windows, the features are limited:
116
117  - Promiscuous mode is not supported
118  - The following rules are supported:
119
120    - IPv4/UDP with CVLAN filtering
121    - Unicast MAC filtering
122
123- For secondary process:
124
125  - Forked secondary process not supported.
126  - External memory unregistered in EAL memseg list cannot be used for DMA
127    unless such memory has been registered by ``mlx5_mr_update_ext_mp()`` in
128    primary process and remapped to the same virtual address in secondary
129    process. If the external memory is registered by primary process but has
130    different virtual address in secondary process, unexpected error may happen.
131
132- When using Verbs flow engine (``dv_flow_en`` = 0), flow pattern without any
133  specific VLAN will match for VLAN packets as well:
134
135  When VLAN spec is not specified in the pattern, the matching rule will be created with VLAN as a wild card.
136  Meaning, the flow rule::
137
138        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / vlan vid is 3 / ipv4 / end ...
139
140  Will only match vlan packets with vid=3. and the flow rule::
141
142        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / ipv4 / end ...
143
144  Will match any ipv4 packet (VLAN included).
145
146- When using Verbs flow engine (``dv_flow_en`` = 0), multi-tagged(QinQ) match is not supported.
147
148- When using DV flow engine (``dv_flow_en`` = 1), flow pattern with any VLAN specification will match only single-tagged packets unless the ETH item ``type`` field is 0x88A8 or the VLAN item ``has_more_vlan`` field is 1.
149  The flow rule::
150
151        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / ipv4 / end ...
152
153  Will match any ipv4 packet.
154  The flow rules::
155
156        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / vlan / end ...
157        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth has_vlan is 1 / end ...
158        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth type is 0x8100 / end ...
159
160  Will match single-tagged packets only, with any VLAN ID value.
161  The flow rules::
162
163        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth type is 0x88A8 / end ...
164        flow create 0 ingress pattern eth / vlan has_more_vlan is 1 / end ...
165
166  Will match multi-tagged packets only, with any VLAN ID value.
167
168- A flow pattern with 2 sequential VLAN items is not supported.
169
170- VLAN pop offload command:
171
172  - Flow rules having a VLAN pop offload command as one of their actions and
173    are lacking a match on VLAN as one of their items are not supported.
174  - The command is not supported on egress traffic.
175
176- VLAN push offload is not supported on ingress traffic.
177
178- VLAN set PCP offload is not supported on existing headers.
179
180- A multi segment packet must have not more segments than reported by dev_infos_get()
181  in tx_desc_lim.nb_seg_max field. This value depends on maximal supported Tx descriptor
182  size and ``txq_inline_min`` settings and may be from 2 (worst case forced by maximal
183  inline settings) to 58.
184
185- Flows with a VXLAN Network Identifier equal (or ends to be equal)
186  to 0 are not supported.
187
188- L3 VXLAN and VXLAN-GPE tunnels cannot be supported together with MPLSoGRE and MPLSoUDP.
189
190- Match on Geneve header supports the following fields only:
191
192     - VNI
193     - OAM
194     - protocol type
195     - options length
196
197- Match on Geneve TLV option is supported on the following fields:
198
199     - Class
200     - Type
201     - Length
202     - Data
203
204  Only one Class/Type/Length Geneve TLV option is supported per shared device.
205  Class/Type/Length fields must be specified as well as masks.
206  Class/Type/Length specified masks must be full.
207  Matching Geneve TLV option without specifying data is not supported.
208  Matching Geneve TLV option with ``data & mask == 0`` is not supported.
209
210- VF: flow rules created on VF devices can only match traffic targeted at the
211  configured MAC addresses (see ``rte_eth_dev_mac_addr_add()``).
212
213- Match on GTP tunnel header item supports the following fields only:
214
215     - v_pt_rsv_flags: E flag, S flag, PN flag
216     - msg_type
217     - teid
218
219- Match on GTP extension header only for GTP PDU session container (next
220  extension header type = 0x85).
221- Match on GTP extension header is not supported in group 0.
222
223- No Tx metadata go to the E-Switch steering domain for the Flow group 0.
224  The flows within group 0 and set metadata action are rejected by hardware.
225
226.. note::
227
228   MAC addresses not already present in the bridge table of the associated
229   kernel network device will be added and cleaned up by the PMD when closing
230   the device. In case of ungraceful program termination, some entries may
231   remain present and should be removed manually by other means.
232
233- Buffer split offload is supported with regular Rx burst routine only,
234  no MPRQ feature or vectorized code can be engaged.
235
236- When Multi-Packet Rx queue is configured (``mprq_en``), a Rx packet can be
237  externally attached to a user-provided mbuf with having EXT_ATTACHED_MBUF in
238  ol_flags. As the mempool for the external buffer is managed by PMD, all the
239  Rx mbufs must be freed before the device is closed. Otherwise, the mempool of
240  the external buffers will be freed by PMD and the application which still
241  holds the external buffers may be corrupted.
242
243- If Multi-Packet Rx queue is configured (``mprq_en``) and Rx CQE compression is
244  enabled (``rxq_cqe_comp_en``) at the same time, RSS hash result is not fully
245  supported. Some Rx packets may not have PKT_RX_RSS_HASH.
246
247- IPv6 Multicast messages are not supported on VM, while promiscuous mode
248  and allmulticast mode are both set to off.
249  To receive IPv6 Multicast messages on VM, explicitly set the relevant
250  MAC address using rte_eth_dev_mac_addr_add() API.
251
252- To support a mixed traffic pattern (some buffers from local host memory, some
253  buffers from other devices) with high bandwidth, a mbuf flag is used.
254
255  An application hints the PMD whether or not it should try to inline the
256  given mbuf data buffer. PMD should do the best effort to act upon this request.
257
258  The hint flag ``RTE_PMD_MLX5_FINE_GRANULARITY_INLINE`` is dynamic,
259  registered by application with rte_mbuf_dynflag_register(). This flag is
260  purely driver-specific and declared in PMD specific header ``rte_pmd_mlx5.h``,
261  which is intended to be used by the application.
262
263  To query the supported specific flags in runtime,
264  the function ``rte_pmd_mlx5_get_dyn_flag_names`` returns the array of
265  currently (over present hardware and configuration) supported specific flags.
266  The "not inline hint" feature operating flow is the following one:
267
268    - application starts
269    - probe the devices, ports are created
270    - query the port capabilities
271    - if port supporting the feature is found
272    - register dynamic flag ``RTE_PMD_MLX5_FINE_GRANULARITY_INLINE``
273    - application starts the ports
274    - on ``dev_start()`` PMD checks whether the feature flag is registered and
275      enables the feature support in datapath
276    - application might set the registered flag bit in ``ol_flags`` field
277      of mbuf being sent and PMD will handle ones appropriately.
278
279- The amount of descriptors in Tx queue may be limited by data inline settings.
280  Inline data require the more descriptor building blocks and overall block
281  amount may exceed the hardware supported limits. The application should
282  reduce the requested Tx size or adjust data inline settings with
283  ``txq_inline_max`` and ``txq_inline_mpw`` devargs keys.
284
285- To provide the packet send scheduling on mbuf timestamps the ``tx_pp``
286  parameter should be specified.
287  When PMD sees the RTE_MBUF_DYNFLAG_TX_TIMESTAMP_NAME set on the packet
288  being sent it tries to synchronize the time of packet appearing on
289  the wire with the specified packet timestamp. It the specified one
290  is in the past it should be ignored, if one is in the distant future
291  it should be capped with some reasonable value (in range of seconds).
292  These specific cases ("too late" and "distant future") can be optionally
293  reported via device xstats to assist applications to detect the
294  time-related problems.
295
296  The timestamp upper "too-distant-future" limit
297  at the moment of invoking the Tx burst routine
298  can be estimated as ``tx_pp`` option (in nanoseconds) multiplied by 2^23.
299  Please note, for the testpmd txonly mode,
300  the limit is deduced from the expression::
301
302        (n_tx_descriptors / burst_size + 1) * inter_burst_gap
303
304  There is no any packet reordering according timestamps is supposed,
305  neither within packet burst, nor between packets, it is an entirely
306  application responsibility to generate packets and its timestamps
307  in desired order. The timestamps can be put only in the first packet
308  in the burst providing the entire burst scheduling.
309
310- E-Switch decapsulation Flow:
311
312  - can be applied to PF port only.
313  - must specify VF port action (packet redirection from PF to VF).
314  - optionally may specify tunnel inner source and destination MAC addresses.
315
316- E-Switch  encapsulation Flow:
317
318  - can be applied to VF ports only.
319  - must specify PF port action (packet redirection from VF to PF).
320
321- Raw encapsulation:
322
323  - The input buffer, used as outer header, is not validated.
324
325- Raw decapsulation:
326
327  - The decapsulation is always done up to the outermost tunnel detected by the HW.
328  - The input buffer, providing the removal size, is not validated.
329  - The buffer size must match the length of the headers to be removed.
330
331- ICMP(code/type/identifier/sequence number) / ICMP6(code/type) matching, IP-in-IP and MPLS flow matching are all
332  mutually exclusive features which cannot be supported together
333  (see :ref:`mlx5_firmware_config`).
334
335- LRO:
336
337  - Requires DevX and DV flow to be enabled.
338  - KEEP_CRC offload cannot be supported with LRO.
339  - The first mbuf length, without head-room,  must be big enough to include the
340    TCP header (122B).
341  - Rx queue with LRO offload enabled, receiving a non-LRO packet, can forward
342    it with size limited to max LRO size, not to max RX packet length.
343  - LRO can be used with outer header of TCP packets of the standard format:
344        eth (with or without vlan) / ipv4 or ipv6 / tcp / payload
345
346    Other TCP packets (e.g. with MPLS label) received on Rx queue with LRO enabled, will be received with bad checksum.
347  - LRO packet aggregation is performed by HW only for packet size larger than
348    ``lro_min_mss_size``. This value is reported on device start, when debug
349    mode is enabled.
350
351- CRC:
352
353  - ``DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_KEEP_CRC`` cannot be supported with decapsulation
354    for some NICs (such as ConnectX-6 Dx, ConnectX-6 Lx, and BlueField-2).
355    The capability bit ``scatter_fcs_w_decap_disable`` shows NIC support.
356
357- TX mbuf fast free:
358
359  - fast free offload assumes the all mbufs being sent are originated from the
360    same memory pool and there is no any extra references to the mbufs (the
361    reference counter for each mbuf is equal 1 on tx_burst call). The latter
362    means there should be no any externally attached buffers in mbufs. It is
363    an application responsibility to provide the correct mbufs if the fast
364    free offload is engaged. The mlx5 PMD implicitly produces the mbufs with
365    externally attached buffers if MPRQ option is enabled, hence, the fast
366    free offload is neither supported nor advertised if there is MPRQ enabled.
367
368- Sample flow:
369
370  - Supports ``RTE_FLOW_ACTION_TYPE_SAMPLE`` action only within NIC Rx and
371    E-Switch steering domain.
372  - For E-Switch Sampling flow with sample ratio > 1, additional actions are not
373    supported in the sample actions list.
374  - For ConnectX-5, the ``RTE_FLOW_ACTION_TYPE_SAMPLE`` is typically used as
375    first action in the E-Switch egress flow if with header modify or
376    encapsulation actions.
377  - For NIC Rx flow, supports ``MARK``, ``COUNT``, ``QUEUE``, ``RSS`` in the
378    sample actions list.
379  - For E-Switch mirroring flow, supports ``RAW ENCAP``, ``Port ID`` in the
380    sample actions list.
381
382- Modify Field flow:
383
384  - Supports the 'set' operation only for ``RTE_FLOW_ACTION_TYPE_MODIFY_FIELD`` action.
385  - Modification of an arbitrary place in a packet via the special ``RTE_FLOW_FIELD_START`` Field ID is not supported.
386  - Modification of the 802.1Q Tag, VXLAN Network or GENEVE Network ID's is not supported.
387  - Encapsulation levels are not supported, can modify outermost header fields only.
388  - Offsets must be 32-bits aligned, cannot skip past the boundary of a field.
389
390- IPv6 header item 'proto' field, indicating the next header protocol, should
391  not be set as extension header.
392  In case the next header is an extension header, it should not be specified in
393  IPv6 header item 'proto' field.
394  The last extension header item 'next header' field can specify the following
395  header protocol type.
396
397- Hairpin:
398
399  - Hairpin between two ports could only manual binding and explicit Tx flow mode. For single port hairpin, all the combinations of auto/manual binding and explicit/implicit Tx flow mode could be supported.
400  - Hairpin in switchdev SR-IOV mode is not supported till now.
401
402Statistics
403----------
404
405MLX5 supports various methods to report statistics:
406
407Port statistics can be queried using ``rte_eth_stats_get()``. The received and sent statistics are through SW only and counts the number of packets received or sent successfully by the PMD. The imissed counter is the amount of packets that could not be delivered to SW because a queue was full. Packets not received due to congestion in the bus or on the NIC can be queried via the rx_discards_phy xstats counter.
408
409Extended statistics can be queried using ``rte_eth_xstats_get()``. The extended statistics expose a wider set of counters counted by the device. The extended port statistics counts the number of packets received or sent successfully by the port. As Mellanox NICs are using the :ref:`Bifurcated Linux Driver <linux_gsg_linux_drivers>` those counters counts also packet received or sent by the Linux kernel. The counters with ``_phy`` suffix counts the total events on the physical port, therefore not valid for VF.
410
411Finally per-flow statistics can by queried using ``rte_flow_query`` when attaching a count action for specific flow. The flow counter counts the number of packets received successfully by the port and match the specific flow.
412
413Configuration
414-------------
415
416Compilation options
417~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
418
419The ibverbs libraries can be linked with this PMD in a number of ways,
420configured by the ``ibverbs_link`` build option:
421
422- ``shared`` (default): the PMD depends on some .so files.
423
424- ``dlopen``: Split the dependencies glue in a separate library
425  loaded when needed by dlopen.
426  It make dependencies on libibverbs and libmlx4 optional,
427  and has no performance impact.
428
429- ``static``: Embed static flavor of the dependencies libibverbs and libmlx4
430  in the PMD shared library or the executable static binary.
431
432Environment variables
433~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
434
435- ``MLX5_GLUE_PATH``
436
437  A list of directories in which to search for the rdma-core "glue" plug-in,
438  separated by colons or semi-colons.
439
440- ``MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF``
441
442  Configures HW Tx doorbell register as IO-mapped.
443
444  By default, the HW Tx doorbell is configured as a write-combining register.
445  The register would be flushed to HW usually when the write-combining buffer
446  becomes full, but it depends on CPU design.
447
448  Except for vectorized Tx burst routines, a write memory barrier is enforced
449  after updating the register so that the update can be immediately visible to
450  HW.
451
452  When vectorized Tx burst is called, the barrier is set only if the burst size
453  is not aligned to MLX5_VPMD_TX_MAX_BURST. However, setting this environmental
454  variable will bring better latency even though the maximum throughput can
455  slightly decline.
456
457Run-time configuration
458~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
459
460- librte_net_mlx5 brings kernel network interfaces up during initialization
461  because it is affected by their state. Forcing them down prevents packets
462  reception.
463
464- **ethtool** operations on related kernel interfaces also affect the PMD.
465
466Run as non-root
467^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
468
469In order to run as a non-root user,
470some capabilities must be granted to the application::
471
472   setcap cap_sys_admin,cap_net_admin,cap_net_raw,cap_ipc_lock+ep <dpdk-app>
473
474Below are the reasons of the need for each capability:
475
476``cap_sys_admin``
477   When using physical addresses (PA mode), with Linux >= 4.0,
478   for access to ``/proc/self/pagemap``.
479
480``cap_net_admin``
481   For device configuration.
482
483``cap_net_raw``
484   For raw ethernet queue allocation through kernel driver.
485
486``cap_ipc_lock``
487   For DMA memory pinning.
488
489Driver options
490^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
491
492- ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` parameter [int]
493
494  A nonzero value enables the compression of CQE on RX side. This feature
495  allows to save PCI bandwidth and improve performance. Enabled by default.
496  Different compression formats are supported in order to achieve the best
497  performance for different traffic patterns. Default format depends on
498  Multi-Packet Rx queue configuration: Hash RSS format is used in case
499  MPRQ is disabled, Checksum format is used in case MPRQ is enabled.
500
501  Specifying 2 as a ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` value selects Flow Tag format for
502  better compression rate in case of RTE Flow Mark traffic.
503  Specifying 3 as a ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` value selects Checksum format.
504  Specifying 4 as a ``rxq_cqe_comp_en`` value selects L3/L4 Header format for
505  better compression rate in case of mixed TCP/UDP and IPv4/IPv6 traffic.
506  CQE compression format selection requires DevX to be enabled. If there is
507  no DevX enabled/supported the value is reset to 1 by default.
508
509  Supported on:
510
511  - x86_64 with ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 Lx, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx,
512    ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField and BlueField-2.
513  - POWER9 and ARMv8 with ConnectX-4 Lx, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx,
514    ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField and BlueField-2.
515
516- ``rxq_pkt_pad_en`` parameter [int]
517
518  A nonzero value enables padding Rx packet to the size of cacheline on PCI
519  transaction. This feature would waste PCI bandwidth but could improve
520  performance by avoiding partial cacheline write which may cause costly
521  read-modify-copy in memory transaction on some architectures. Disabled by
522  default.
523
524  Supported on:
525
526  - x86_64 with ConnectX-4, ConnectX-4 Lx, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx,
527    ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField and BlueField-2.
528  - POWER8 and ARMv8 with ConnectX-4 Lx, ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx,
529    ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField and BlueField-2.
530
531- ``mprq_en`` parameter [int]
532
533  A nonzero value enables configuring Multi-Packet Rx queues. Rx queue is
534  configured as Multi-Packet RQ if the total number of Rx queues is
535  ``rxqs_min_mprq`` or more. Disabled by default.
536
537  Multi-Packet Rx Queue (MPRQ a.k.a Striding RQ) can further save PCIe bandwidth
538  by posting a single large buffer for multiple packets. Instead of posting a
539  buffers per a packet, one large buffer is posted in order to receive multiple
540  packets on the buffer. A MPRQ buffer consists of multiple fixed-size strides
541  and each stride receives one packet. MPRQ can improve throughput for
542  small-packet traffic.
543
544  When MPRQ is enabled, max_rx_pkt_len can be larger than the size of
545  user-provided mbuf even if DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_SCATTER isn't enabled. PMD will
546  configure large stride size enough to accommodate max_rx_pkt_len as long as
547  device allows. Note that this can waste system memory compared to enabling Rx
548  scatter and multi-segment packet.
549
550- ``mprq_log_stride_num`` parameter [int]
551
552  Log 2 of the number of strides for Multi-Packet Rx queue. Configuring more
553  strides can reduce PCIe traffic further. If configured value is not in the
554  range of device capability, the default value will be set with a warning
555  message. The default value is 4 which is 16 strides per a buffer, valid only
556  if ``mprq_en`` is set.
557
558  The size of Rx queue should be bigger than the number of strides.
559
560- ``mprq_log_stride_size`` parameter [int]
561
562  Log 2 of the size of a stride for Multi-Packet Rx queue. Configuring a smaller
563  stride size can save some memory and reduce probability of a depletion of all
564  available strides due to unreleased packets by an application. If configured
565  value is not in the range of device capability, the default value will be set
566  with a warning message. The default value is 11 which is 2048 bytes per a
567  stride, valid only if ``mprq_en`` is set. With ``mprq_log_stride_size`` set
568  it is possible for a packet to span across multiple strides. This mode allows
569  support of jumbo frames (9K) with MPRQ. The memcopy of some packets (or part
570  of a packet if Rx scatter is configured) may be required in case there is no
571  space left for a head room at the end of a stride which incurs some
572  performance penalty.
573
574- ``mprq_max_memcpy_len`` parameter [int]
575
576  The maximum length of packet to memcpy in case of Multi-Packet Rx queue. Rx
577  packet is mem-copied to a user-provided mbuf if the size of Rx packet is less
578  than or equal to this parameter. Otherwise, PMD will attach the Rx packet to
579  the mbuf by external buffer attachment - ``rte_pktmbuf_attach_extbuf()``.
580  A mempool for external buffers will be allocated and managed by PMD. If Rx
581  packet is externally attached, ol_flags field of the mbuf will have
582  EXT_ATTACHED_MBUF and this flag must be preserved. ``RTE_MBUF_HAS_EXTBUF()``
583  checks the flag. The default value is 128, valid only if ``mprq_en`` is set.
584
585- ``rxqs_min_mprq`` parameter [int]
586
587  Configure Rx queues as Multi-Packet RQ if the total number of Rx queues is
588  greater or equal to this value. The default value is 12, valid only if
589  ``mprq_en`` is set.
590
591- ``txq_inline`` parameter [int]
592
593  Amount of data to be inlined during TX operations. This parameter is
594  deprecated and converted to the new parameter ``txq_inline_max`` providing
595  partial compatibility.
596
597- ``txqs_min_inline`` parameter [int]
598
599  Enable inline data send only when the number of TX queues is greater or equal
600  to this value.
601
602  This option should be used in combination with ``txq_inline_max`` and
603  ``txq_inline_mpw`` below and does not affect ``txq_inline_min`` settings above.
604
605  If this option is not specified the default value 16 is used for BlueField
606  and 8 for other platforms
607
608  The data inlining consumes the CPU cycles, so this option is intended to
609  auto enable inline data if we have enough Tx queues, which means we have
610  enough CPU cores and PCI bandwidth is getting more critical and CPU
611  is not supposed to be bottleneck anymore.
612
613  The copying data into WQE improves latency and can improve PPS performance
614  when PCI back pressure is detected and may be useful for scenarios involving
615  heavy traffic on many queues.
616
617  Because additional software logic is necessary to handle this mode, this
618  option should be used with care, as it may lower performance when back
619  pressure is not expected.
620
621  If inline data are enabled it may affect the maximal size of Tx queue in
622  descriptors because the inline data increase the descriptor size and
623  queue size limits supported by hardware may be exceeded.
624
625- ``txq_inline_min`` parameter [int]
626
627  Minimal amount of data to be inlined into WQE during Tx operations. NICs
628  may require this minimal data amount to operate correctly. The exact value
629  may depend on NIC operation mode, requested offloads, etc. It is strongly
630  recommended to omit this parameter and use the default values. Anyway,
631  applications using this parameter should take into consideration that
632  specifying an inconsistent value may prevent the NIC from sending packets.
633
634  If ``txq_inline_min`` key is present the specified value (may be aligned
635  by the driver in order not to exceed the limits and provide better descriptor
636  space utilization) will be used by the driver and it is guaranteed that
637  requested amount of data bytes are inlined into the WQE beside other inline
638  settings. This key also may update ``txq_inline_max`` value (default
639  or specified explicitly in devargs) to reserve the space for inline data.
640
641  If ``txq_inline_min`` key is not present, the value may be queried by the
642  driver from the NIC via DevX if this feature is available. If there is no DevX
643  enabled/supported the value 18 (supposing L2 header including VLAN) is set
644  for ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-4 Lx, and 0 is set by default for ConnectX-5
645  and newer NICs. If packet is shorter the ``txq_inline_min`` value, the entire
646  packet is inlined.
647
648  For ConnectX-4 NIC, driver does not allow specifying value below 18
649  (minimal L2 header, including VLAN), error will be raised.
650
651  For ConnectX-4 Lx NIC, it is allowed to specify values below 18, but
652  it is not recommended and may prevent NIC from sending packets over
653  some configurations.
654
655  Please, note, this minimal data inlining disengages eMPW feature (Enhanced
656  Multi-Packet Write), because last one does not support partial packet inlining.
657  This is not very critical due to minimal data inlining is mostly required
658  by ConnectX-4 and ConnectX-4 Lx, these NICs do not support eMPW feature.
659
660- ``txq_inline_max`` parameter [int]
661
662  Specifies the maximal packet length to be completely inlined into WQE
663  Ethernet Segment for ordinary SEND method. If packet is larger than specified
664  value, the packet data won't be copied by the driver at all, data buffer
665  is addressed with a pointer. If packet length is less or equal all packet
666  data will be copied into WQE. This may improve PCI bandwidth utilization for
667  short packets significantly but requires the extra CPU cycles.
668
669  The data inline feature is controlled by number of Tx queues, if number of Tx
670  queues is larger than ``txqs_min_inline`` key parameter, the inline feature
671  is engaged, if there are not enough Tx queues (which means not enough CPU cores
672  and CPU resources are scarce), data inline is not performed by the driver.
673  Assigning ``txqs_min_inline`` with zero always enables the data inline.
674
675  The default ``txq_inline_max`` value is 290. The specified value may be adjusted
676  by the driver in order not to exceed the limit (930 bytes) and to provide better
677  WQE space filling without gaps, the adjustment is reflected in the debug log.
678  Also, the default value (290) may be decreased in run-time if the large transmit
679  queue size is requested and hardware does not support enough descriptor
680  amount, in this case warning is emitted. If ``txq_inline_max`` key is
681  specified and requested inline settings can not be satisfied then error
682  will be raised.
683
684- ``txq_inline_mpw`` parameter [int]
685
686  Specifies the maximal packet length to be completely inlined into WQE for
687  Enhanced MPW method. If packet is large the specified value, the packet data
688  won't be copied, and data buffer is addressed with pointer. If packet length
689  is less or equal, all packet data will be copied into WQE. This may improve PCI
690  bandwidth utilization for short packets significantly but requires the extra
691  CPU cycles.
692
693  The data inline feature is controlled by number of TX queues, if number of Tx
694  queues is larger than ``txqs_min_inline`` key parameter, the inline feature
695  is engaged, if there are not enough Tx queues (which means not enough CPU cores
696  and CPU resources are scarce), data inline is not performed by the driver.
697  Assigning ``txqs_min_inline`` with zero always enables the data inline.
698
699  The default ``txq_inline_mpw`` value is 268. The specified value may be adjusted
700  by the driver in order not to exceed the limit (930 bytes) and to provide better
701  WQE space filling without gaps, the adjustment is reflected in the debug log.
702  Due to multiple packets may be included to the same WQE with Enhanced Multi
703  Packet Write Method and overall WQE size is limited it is not recommended to
704  specify large values for the ``txq_inline_mpw``. Also, the default value (268)
705  may be decreased in run-time if the large transmit queue size is requested
706  and hardware does not support enough descriptor amount, in this case warning
707  is emitted. If ``txq_inline_mpw`` key is  specified and requested inline
708  settings can not be satisfied then error will be raised.
709
710- ``txqs_max_vec`` parameter [int]
711
712  Enable vectorized Tx only when the number of TX queues is less than or
713  equal to this value. This parameter is deprecated and ignored, kept
714  for compatibility issue to not prevent driver from probing.
715
716- ``txq_mpw_hdr_dseg_en`` parameter [int]
717
718  A nonzero value enables including two pointers in the first block of TX
719  descriptor. The parameter is deprecated and ignored, kept for compatibility
720  issue.
721
722- ``txq_max_inline_len`` parameter [int]
723
724  Maximum size of packet to be inlined. This limits the size of packet to
725  be inlined. If the size of a packet is larger than configured value, the
726  packet isn't inlined even though there's enough space remained in the
727  descriptor. Instead, the packet is included with pointer. This parameter
728  is deprecated and converted directly to ``txq_inline_mpw`` providing full
729  compatibility. Valid only if eMPW feature is engaged.
730
731- ``txq_mpw_en`` parameter [int]
732
733  A nonzero value enables Enhanced Multi-Packet Write (eMPW) for ConnectX-5,
734  ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx, ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField, BlueField-2.
735  eMPW allows the Tx burst function to pack up multiple packets
736  in a single descriptor session in order to save PCI bandwidth
737  and improve performance at the cost of a slightly higher CPU usage.
738  When ``txq_inline_mpw`` is set along with ``txq_mpw_en``,
739  Tx burst function copies entire packet data on to Tx descriptor
740  instead of including pointer of packet.
741
742  The Enhanced Multi-Packet Write feature is enabled by default if NIC supports
743  it, can be disabled by explicit specifying 0 value for ``txq_mpw_en`` option.
744  Also, if minimal data inlining is requested by non-zero ``txq_inline_min``
745  option or reported by the NIC, the eMPW feature is disengaged.
746
747- ``tx_db_nc`` parameter [int]
748
749  The rdma core library can map doorbell register in two ways, depending on the
750  environment variable "MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF":
751
752  - As regular cached memory (usually with write combining attribute), if the
753    variable is either missing or set to zero.
754  - As non-cached memory, if the variable is present and set to not "0" value.
755
756  The type of mapping may slightly affect the Tx performance, the optimal choice
757  is strongly relied on the host architecture and should be deduced practically.
758
759  If ``tx_db_nc`` is set to zero, the doorbell is forced to be mapped to regular
760  memory (with write combining), the PMD will perform the extra write memory barrier
761  after writing to doorbell, it might increase the needed CPU clocks per packet
762  to send, but latency might be improved.
763
764  If ``tx_db_nc`` is set to one, the doorbell is forced to be mapped to non
765  cached memory, the PMD will not perform the extra write memory barrier
766  after writing to doorbell, on some architectures it might improve the
767  performance.
768
769  If ``tx_db_nc`` is set to two, the doorbell is forced to be mapped to regular
770  memory, the PMD will use heuristics to decide whether write memory barrier
771  should be performed. For bursts with size multiple of recommended one (64 pkts)
772  it is supposed the next burst is coming and no need to issue the extra memory
773  barrier (it is supposed to be issued in the next coming burst, at least after
774  descriptor writing). It might increase latency (on some hosts till next
775  packets transmit) and should be used with care.
776
777  If ``tx_db_nc`` is omitted or set to zero, the preset (if any) environment
778  variable "MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF" value is used. If there is no "MLX5_SHUT_UP_BF",
779  the default ``tx_db_nc`` value is zero for ARM64 hosts and one for others.
780
781- ``tx_pp`` parameter [int]
782
783  If a nonzero value is specified the driver creates all necessary internal
784  objects to provide accurate packet send scheduling on mbuf timestamps.
785  The positive value specifies the scheduling granularity in nanoseconds,
786  the packet send will be accurate up to specified digits. The allowed range is
787  from 500 to 1 million of nanoseconds. The negative value specifies the module
788  of granularity and engages the special test mode the check the schedule rate.
789  By default (if the ``tx_pp`` is not specified) send scheduling on timestamps
790  feature is disabled.
791
792- ``tx_skew`` parameter [int]
793
794  The parameter adjusts the send packet scheduling on timestamps and represents
795  the average delay between beginning of the transmitting descriptor processing
796  by the hardware and appearance of actual packet data on the wire. The value
797  should be provided in nanoseconds and is valid only if ``tx_pp`` parameter is
798  specified. The default value is zero.
799
800- ``tx_vec_en`` parameter [int]
801
802  A nonzero value enables Tx vector on ConnectX-5, ConnectX-6, ConnectX-6 Dx,
803  ConnectX-6 Lx, BlueField and BlueField-2 NICs
804  if the number of global Tx queues on the port is less than ``txqs_max_vec``.
805  The parameter is deprecated and ignored.
806
807- ``rx_vec_en`` parameter [int]
808
809  A nonzero value enables Rx vector if the port is not configured in
810  multi-segment otherwise this parameter is ignored.
811
812  Enabled by default.
813
814- ``vf_nl_en`` parameter [int]
815
816  A nonzero value enables Netlink requests from the VF to add/remove MAC
817  addresses or/and enable/disable promiscuous/all multicast on the Netdevice.
818  Otherwise the relevant configuration must be run with Linux iproute2 tools.
819  This is a prerequisite to receive this kind of traffic.
820
821  Enabled by default, valid only on VF devices ignored otherwise.
822
823- ``l3_vxlan_en`` parameter [int]
824
825  A nonzero value allows L3 VXLAN and VXLAN-GPE flow creation. To enable
826  L3 VXLAN or VXLAN-GPE, users has to configure firmware and enable this
827  parameter. This is a prerequisite to receive this kind of traffic.
828
829  Disabled by default.
830
831- ``dv_xmeta_en`` parameter [int]
832
833  A nonzero value enables extensive flow metadata support if device is
834  capable and driver supports it. This can enable extensive support of
835  ``MARK`` and ``META`` item of ``rte_flow``. The newly introduced
836  ``SET_TAG`` and ``SET_META`` actions do not depend on ``dv_xmeta_en``.
837
838  There are some possible configurations, depending on parameter value:
839
840  - 0, this is default value, defines the legacy mode, the ``MARK`` and
841    ``META`` related actions and items operate only within NIC Tx and
842    NIC Rx steering domains, no ``MARK`` and ``META`` information crosses
843    the domain boundaries. The ``MARK`` item is 24 bits wide, the ``META``
844    item is 32 bits wide and match supported on egress only.
845
846  - 1, this engages extensive metadata mode, the ``MARK`` and ``META``
847    related actions and items operate within all supported steering domains,
848    including FDB, ``MARK`` and ``META`` information may cross the domain
849    boundaries. The ``MARK`` item is 24 bits wide, the ``META`` item width
850    depends on kernel and firmware configurations and might be 0, 16 or
851    32 bits. Within NIC Tx domain ``META`` data width is 32 bits for
852    compatibility, the actual width of data transferred to the FDB domain
853    depends on kernel configuration and may be vary. The actual supported
854    width can be retrieved in runtime by series of rte_flow_validate()
855    trials.
856
857  - 2, this engages extensive metadata mode, the ``MARK`` and ``META``
858    related actions and items operate within all supported steering domains,
859    including FDB, ``MARK`` and ``META`` information may cross the domain
860    boundaries. The ``META`` item is 32 bits wide, the ``MARK`` item width
861    depends on kernel and firmware configurations and might be 0, 16 or
862    24 bits. The actual supported width can be retrieved in runtime by
863    series of rte_flow_validate() trials.
864
865  - 3, this engages tunnel offload mode. In E-Switch configuration, that
866    mode implicitly activates ``dv_xmeta_en=1``.
867
868  +------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-------------+
869  | Mode | ``MARK``  | ``META``  | ``META`` Tx | FDB/Through |
870  +======+===========+===========+=============+=============+
871  | 0    | 24 bits   | 32 bits   | 32 bits     | no          |
872  +------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-------------+
873  | 1    | 24 bits   | vary 0-32 | 32 bits     | yes         |
874  +------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-------------+
875  | 2    | vary 0-24 | 32 bits   | 32 bits     | yes         |
876  +------+-----------+-----------+-------------+-------------+
877
878  If there is no E-Switch configuration the ``dv_xmeta_en`` parameter is
879  ignored and the device is configured to operate in legacy mode (0).
880
881  Disabled by default (set to 0).
882
883  The Direct Verbs/Rules (engaged with ``dv_flow_en`` = 1) supports all
884  of the extensive metadata features. The legacy Verbs supports FLAG and
885  MARK metadata actions over NIC Rx steering domain only.
886
887  Setting META value to zero in flow action means there is no item provided
888  and receiving datapath will not report in mbufs the metadata are present.
889  Setting MARK value to zero in flow action means the zero FDIR ID value
890  will be reported on packet receiving.
891
892  For the MARK action the last 16 values in the full range are reserved for
893  internal PMD purposes (to emulate FLAG action). The valid range for the
894  MARK action values is 0-0xFFEF for the 16-bit mode and 0-xFFFFEF
895  for the 24-bit mode, the flows with the MARK action value outside
896  the specified range will be rejected.
897
898- ``dv_flow_en`` parameter [int]
899
900  A nonzero value enables the DV flow steering assuming it is supported
901  by the driver (RDMA Core library version is rdma-core-24.0 or higher).
902
903  Enabled by default if supported.
904
905- ``dv_esw_en`` parameter [int]
906
907  A nonzero value enables E-Switch using Direct Rules.
908
909  Enabled by default if supported.
910
911- ``lacp_by_user`` parameter [int]
912
913  A nonzero value enables the control of LACP traffic by the user application.
914  When a bond exists in the driver, by default it should be managed by the
915  kernel and therefore LACP traffic should be steered to the kernel.
916  If this devarg is set to 1 it will allow the user to manage the bond by
917  itself and not steer LACP traffic to the kernel.
918
919  Disabled by default (set to 0).
920
921- ``mr_ext_memseg_en`` parameter [int]
922
923  A nonzero value enables extending memseg when registering DMA memory. If
924  enabled, the number of entries in MR (Memory Region) lookup table on datapath
925  is minimized and it benefits performance. On the other hand, it worsens memory
926  utilization because registered memory is pinned by kernel driver. Even if a
927  page in the extended chunk is freed, that doesn't become reusable until the
928  entire memory is freed.
929
930  Enabled by default.
931
932- ``representor`` parameter [list]
933
934  This parameter can be used to instantiate DPDK Ethernet devices from
935  existing port (PF, VF or SF) representors configured on the device.
936
937  It is a standard parameter whose format is described in
938  :ref:`ethernet_device_standard_device_arguments`.
939
940  For instance, to probe VF port representors 0 through 2::
941
942    <PCI_BDF>,representor=vf[0-2]
943
944  To probe SF port representors 0 through 2::
945
946    <PCI_BDF>,representor=sf[0-2]
947
948  To probe VF port representors 0 through 2 on both PFs of bonding device::
949
950    <Primary_PCI_BDF>,representor=pf[0,1]vf[0-2]
951
952- ``max_dump_files_num`` parameter [int]
953
954  The maximum number of files per PMD entity that may be created for debug information.
955  The files will be created in /var/log directory or in current directory.
956
957  set to 128 by default.
958
959- ``lro_timeout_usec`` parameter [int]
960
961  The maximum allowed duration of an LRO session, in micro-seconds.
962  PMD will set the nearest value supported by HW, which is not bigger than
963  the input ``lro_timeout_usec`` value.
964  If this parameter is not specified, by default PMD will set
965  the smallest value supported by HW.
966
967- ``hp_buf_log_sz`` parameter [int]
968
969  The total data buffer size of a hairpin queue (logarithmic form), in bytes.
970  PMD will set the data buffer size to 2 ** ``hp_buf_log_sz``, both for RX & TX.
971  The capacity of the value is specified by the firmware and the initialization
972  will get a failure if it is out of scope.
973  The range of the value is from 11 to 19 right now, and the supported frame
974  size of a single packet for hairpin is from 512B to 128KB. It might change if
975  different firmware release is being used. By using a small value, it could
976  reduce memory consumption but not work with a large frame. If the value is
977  too large, the memory consumption will be high and some potential performance
978  degradation will be introduced.
979  By default, the PMD will set this value to 16, which means that 9KB jumbo
980  frames will be supported.
981
982- ``reclaim_mem_mode`` parameter [int]
983
984  Cache some resources in flow destroy will help flow recreation more efficient.
985  While some systems may require the all the resources can be reclaimed after
986  flow destroyed.
987  The parameter ``reclaim_mem_mode`` provides the option for user to configure
988  if the resource cache is needed or not.
989
990  There are three options to choose:
991
992  - 0. It means the flow resources will be cached as usual. The resources will
993    be cached, helpful with flow insertion rate.
994
995  - 1. It will only enable the DPDK PMD level resources reclaim.
996
997  - 2. Both DPDK PMD level and rdma-core low level will be configured as
998    reclaimed mode.
999
1000  By default, the PMD will set this value to 0.
1001
1002- ``sys_mem_en`` parameter [int]
1003
1004  A non-zero value enables the PMD memory management allocating memory
1005  from system by default, without explicit rte memory flag.
1006
1007  By default, the PMD will set this value to 0.
1008
1009- ``decap_en`` parameter [int]
1010
1011  Some devices do not support FCS (frame checksum) scattering for
1012  tunnel-decapsulated packets.
1013  If set to 0, this option forces the FCS feature and rejects tunnel
1014  decapsulation in the flow engine for such devices.
1015
1016  By default, the PMD will set this value to 1.
1017
1018.. _mlx5_firmware_config:
1019
1020Firmware configuration
1021~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1022
1023Firmware features can be configured as key/value pairs.
1024
1025The command to set a value is::
1026
1027  mlxconfig -d <device> set <key>=<value>
1028
1029The command to query a value is::
1030
1031  mlxconfig -d <device> query | grep <key>
1032
1033The device name for the command ``mlxconfig`` can be either the PCI address,
1034or the mst device name found with::
1035
1036  mst status
1037
1038Below are some firmware configurations listed.
1039
1040- link type::
1041
1042    LINK_TYPE_P1
1043    LINK_TYPE_P2
1044    value: 1=Infiniband 2=Ethernet 3=VPI(auto-sense)
1045
1046- enable SR-IOV::
1047
1048    SRIOV_EN=1
1049
1050- maximum number of SR-IOV virtual functions::
1051
1052    NUM_OF_VFS=<max>
1053
1054- enable DevX (required by Direct Rules and other features)::
1055
1056    UCTX_EN=1
1057
1058- aggressive CQE zipping::
1059
1060    CQE_COMPRESSION=1
1061
1062- L3 VXLAN and VXLAN-GPE destination UDP port::
1063
1064    IP_OVER_VXLAN_EN=1
1065    IP_OVER_VXLAN_PORT=<udp dport>
1066
1067- enable VXLAN-GPE tunnel flow matching::
1068
1069    FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=0
1070    or
1071    FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=2
1072
1073- enable IP-in-IP tunnel flow matching::
1074
1075    FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=0
1076
1077- enable MPLS flow matching::
1078
1079    FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=1
1080
1081- enable ICMP(code/type/identifier/sequence number) / ICMP6(code/type) fields matching::
1082
1083    FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=2
1084
1085- enable Geneve flow matching::
1086
1087   FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=0
1088   or
1089   FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=1
1090
1091- enable Geneve TLV option flow matching::
1092
1093   FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=0
1094
1095- enable GTP flow matching::
1096
1097   FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=3
1098
1099- enable eCPRI flow matching::
1100
1101   FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=4
1102   PROG_PARSE_GRAPH=1
1103
1104Linux Prerequisites
1105-------------------
1106
1107This driver relies on external libraries and kernel drivers for resources
1108allocations and initialization. The following dependencies are not part of
1109DPDK and must be installed separately:
1110
1111- **libibverbs**
1112
1113  User space Verbs framework used by librte_net_mlx5. This library provides
1114  a generic interface between the kernel and low-level user space drivers
1115  such as libmlx5.
1116
1117  It allows slow and privileged operations (context initialization, hardware
1118  resources allocations) to be managed by the kernel and fast operations to
1119  never leave user space.
1120
1121- **libmlx5**
1122
1123  Low-level user space driver library for Mellanox
1124  ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5/ConnectX-6/BlueField devices, it is automatically loaded
1125  by libibverbs.
1126
1127  This library basically implements send/receive calls to the hardware
1128  queues.
1129
1130- **Kernel modules**
1131
1132  They provide the kernel-side Verbs API and low level device drivers that
1133  manage actual hardware initialization and resources sharing with user
1134  space processes.
1135
1136  Unlike most other PMDs, these modules must remain loaded and bound to
1137  their devices:
1138
1139  - mlx5_core: hardware driver managing Mellanox
1140    ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5/ConnectX-6/BlueField devices and related Ethernet kernel
1141    network devices.
1142  - mlx5_ib: InifiniBand device driver.
1143  - ib_uverbs: user space driver for Verbs (entry point for libibverbs).
1144
1145- **Firmware update**
1146
1147  Mellanox OFED/EN releases include firmware updates for
1148  ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5/ConnectX-6/BlueField adapters.
1149
1150  Because each release provides new features, these updates must be applied to
1151  match the kernel modules and libraries they come with.
1152
1153.. note::
1154
1155   Both libraries are BSD and GPL licensed. Linux kernel modules are GPL
1156   licensed.
1157
1158Installation
1159~~~~~~~~~~~~
1160
1161Either RDMA Core library with a recent enough Linux kernel release
1162(recommended) or Mellanox OFED/EN, which provides compatibility with older
1163releases.
1164
1165RDMA Core with Linux Kernel
1166^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1167
1168- Minimal kernel version : v4.14 or the most recent 4.14-rc (see `Linux installation documentation`_)
1169- Minimal rdma-core version: v15+ commit 0c5f5765213a ("Merge pull request #227 from yishaih/tm")
1170  (see `RDMA Core installation documentation`_)
1171- When building for i686 use:
1172
1173  - rdma-core version 18.0 or above built with 32bit support.
1174  - Kernel version 4.14.41 or above.
1175
1176- Starting with rdma-core v21, static libraries can be built::
1177
1178    cd build
1179    CFLAGS=-fPIC cmake -DIN_PLACE=1 -DENABLE_STATIC=1 -GNinja ..
1180    ninja
1181
1182.. _`Linux installation documentation`: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git/plain/Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst
1183.. _`RDMA Core installation documentation`: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/linux-rdma/rdma-core/master/README.md
1184
1185
1186Mellanox OFED/EN
1187^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1188
1189- Mellanox OFED version: **4.5** and above /
1190  Mellanox EN version: **4.5** and above
1191- firmware version:
1192
1193  - ConnectX-4: **12.21.1000** and above.
1194  - ConnectX-4 Lx: **14.21.1000** and above.
1195  - ConnectX-5: **16.21.1000** and above.
1196  - ConnectX-5 Ex: **16.21.1000** and above.
1197  - ConnectX-6: **20.27.0090** and above.
1198  - ConnectX-6 Dx: **22.27.0090** and above.
1199  - BlueField: **18.25.1010** and above.
1200
1201While these libraries and kernel modules are available on OpenFabrics
1202Alliance's `website <https://www.openfabrics.org/>`__ and provided by package
1203managers on most distributions, this PMD requires Ethernet extensions that
1204may not be supported at the moment (this is a work in progress).
1205
1206`Mellanox OFED
1207<http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=26&mtag=linux>`__ and
1208`Mellanox EN
1209<http://www.mellanox.com/page/products_dyn?product_family=27&mtag=linux>`__
1210include the necessary support and should be used in the meantime. For DPDK,
1211only libibverbs, libmlx5, mlnx-ofed-kernel packages and firmware updates are
1212required from that distribution.
1213
1214.. note::
1215
1216   Several versions of Mellanox OFED/EN are available. Installing the version
1217   this DPDK release was developed and tested against is strongly
1218   recommended. Please check the `linux prerequisites`_.
1219
1220Windows Prerequisites
1221---------------------
1222
1223This driver relies on external libraries and kernel drivers for resources
1224allocations and initialization. The dependencies in the following sub-sections
1225are not part of DPDK, and must be installed separately.
1226
1227Compilation Prerequisites
1228~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1229
1230DevX SDK installation
1231^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1232
1233The DevX SDK must be installed on the machine building the Windows PMD.
1234Additional information can be found at
1235`How to Integrate Windows DevX in Your Development Environment
1236<https://docs.mellanox.com/display/winof2v250/RShim+Drivers+and+Usage#RShimDriversandUsage-DevXInterface>`__.
1237
1238Runtime Prerequisites
1239~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1240
1241WinOF2 version 2.60 or higher must be installed on the machine.
1242
1243WinOF2 installation
1244^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1245
1246The driver can be downloaded from the following site:
1247`WINOF2
1248<https://www.mellanox.com/products/adapter-software/ethernet/windows/winof-2>`__
1249
1250DevX Enablement
1251^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
1252
1253DevX for Windows must be enabled in the Windows registry.
1254The keys ``DevxEnabled`` and ``DevxFsRules`` must be set.
1255Additional information can be found in the WinOF2 user manual.
1256
1257Supported NICs
1258--------------
1259
1260The following Mellanox device families are supported by the same mlx5 driver:
1261
1262  - ConnectX-4
1263  - ConnectX-4 Lx
1264  - ConnectX-5
1265  - ConnectX-5 Ex
1266  - ConnectX-6
1267  - ConnectX-6 Dx
1268  - ConnectX-6 Lx
1269  - BlueField
1270  - BlueField-2
1271
1272Below are detailed device names:
1273
1274* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 10G MCX4111A-XCAT (1x10G)
1275* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 10G MCX412A-XCAT (2x10G)
1276* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 25G MCX4111A-ACAT (1x25G)
1277* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 25G MCX412A-ACAT (2x25G)
1278* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 40G MCX413A-BCAT (1x40G)
1279* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 40G MCX4131A-BCAT (1x40G)
1280* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 40G MCX415A-BCAT (1x40G)
1281* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX413A-GCAT (1x50G)
1282* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX4131A-GCAT (1x50G)
1283* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX414A-BCAT (2x50G)
1284* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX415A-GCAT (1x50G)
1285* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX416A-BCAT (2x50G)
1286* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX416A-GCAT (2x50G)
1287* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 50G MCX415A-CCAT (1x100G)
1288* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 100G MCX416A-CCAT (2x100G)
1289* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 Lx 10G MCX4111A-XCAT (1x10G)
1290* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 Lx 10G MCX4121A-XCAT (2x10G)
1291* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 Lx 25G MCX4111A-ACAT (1x25G)
1292* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 Lx 25G MCX4121A-ACAT (2x25G)
1293* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-4 Lx 40G MCX4131A-BCAT (1x40G)
1294* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-5 100G MCX556A-ECAT (2x100G)
1295* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-5 Ex EN 100G MCX516A-CDAT (2x100G)
1296* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-6 200G MCX654106A-HCAT (2x200G)
1297* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-6 Dx EN 100G MCX623106AN-CDAT (2x100G)
1298* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-6 Dx EN 200G MCX623105AN-VDAT (1x200G)
1299* Mellanox\ |reg| ConnectX\ |reg|-6 Lx EN 25G MCX631102AN-ADAT (2x25G)
1300
1301Quick Start Guide on OFED/EN
1302----------------------------
1303
13041. Download latest Mellanox OFED/EN. For more info check the `linux prerequisites`_.
1305
1306
13072. Install the required libraries and kernel modules either by installing
1308   only the required set, or by installing the entire Mellanox OFED/EN::
1309
1310        ./mlnxofedinstall --upstream-libs --dpdk
1311
13123. Verify the firmware is the correct one::
1313
1314        ibv_devinfo
1315
13164. Verify all ports links are set to Ethernet::
1317
1318        mlxconfig -d <mst device> query | grep LINK_TYPE
1319        LINK_TYPE_P1                        ETH(2)
1320        LINK_TYPE_P2                        ETH(2)
1321
1322   Link types may have to be configured to Ethernet::
1323
1324        mlxconfig -d <mst device> set LINK_TYPE_P1/2=1/2/3
1325
1326        * LINK_TYPE_P1=<1|2|3> , 1=Infiniband 2=Ethernet 3=VPI(auto-sense)
1327
1328   For hypervisors, verify SR-IOV is enabled on the NIC::
1329
1330        mlxconfig -d <mst device> query | grep SRIOV_EN
1331        SRIOV_EN                            True(1)
1332
1333   If needed, configure SR-IOV::
1334
1335        mlxconfig -d <mst device> set SRIOV_EN=1 NUM_OF_VFS=16
1336        mlxfwreset -d <mst device> reset
1337
13385. Restart the driver::
1339
1340        /etc/init.d/openibd restart
1341
1342   or::
1343
1344        service openibd restart
1345
1346   If link type was changed, firmware must be reset as well::
1347
1348        mlxfwreset -d <mst device> reset
1349
1350   For hypervisors, after reset write the sysfs number of virtual functions
1351   needed for the PF.
1352
1353   To dynamically instantiate a given number of virtual functions (VFs)::
1354
1355        echo [num_vfs] > /sys/class/infiniband/mlx5_0/device/sriov_numvfs
1356
13576. Install DPDK and you are ready to go.
1358   See :doc:`compilation instructions <../linux_gsg/build_dpdk>`.
1359
1360Enable switchdev mode
1361---------------------
1362
1363Switchdev mode is a mode in E-Switch, that binds between representor and VF or SF.
1364Representor is a port in DPDK that is connected to a VF or SF in such a way
1365that assuming there are no offload flows, each packet that is sent from the VF or SF
1366will be received by the corresponding representor. While each packet that is or SF
1367sent to a representor will be received by the VF or SF.
1368This is very useful in case of SRIOV mode, where the first packet that is sent
1369by the VF or SF will be received by the DPDK application which will decide if this
1370flow should be offloaded to the E-Switch. After offloading the flow packet
1371that the VF or SF that are matching the flow will not be received any more by
1372the DPDK application.
1373
13741. Enable SRIOV mode::
1375
1376        mlxconfig -d <mst device> set SRIOV_EN=true
1377
13782. Configure the max number of VFs::
1379
1380        mlxconfig -d <mst device> set NUM_OF_VFS=<num of vfs>
1381
13823. Reset the FW::
1383
1384        mlxfwreset -d <mst device> reset
1385
13863. Configure the actual number of VFs::
1387
1388        echo <num of vfs > /sys/class/net/<net device>/device/sriov_numvfs
1389
13904. Unbind the device (can be rebind after the switchdev mode)::
1391
1392        echo -n "<device pci address" > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/mlx5_core/unbind
1393
13945. Enbale switchdev mode::
1395
1396        echo switchdev > /sys/class/net/<net device>/compat/devlink/mode
1397
1398SubFunction representor support
1399-------------------------------
1400SubFunction is a portion of the PCI device, a SF netdev has its own
1401dedicated queues(txq, rxq). A SF netdev supports E-Switch representation
1402offload similar to existing PF and VF representors. A SF shares PCI
1403level resources with other SFs and/or with its parent PCI function.
1404
14051. Configure SF feature::
1406
1407        mlxconfig -d <mst device> set PF_BAR2_SIZE=<0/1/2/3> PF_BAR2_ENABLE=1
1408
1409        Value of PF_BAR2_SIZE:
1410
1411            0: 8 SFs
1412            1: 16 SFs
1413            2: 32 SFs
1414            3: 64 SFs
1415
14162. Reset the FW::
1417
1418        mlxfwreset -d <mst device> reset
1419
14203. Enable switchdev mode::
1421
1422        echo switchdev > /sys/class/net/<net device>/compat/devlink/mode
1423
14244. Create SF::
1425
1426        mlnx-sf -d <PCI_BDF> -a create
1427
14285. Probe SF representor::
1429
1430        testpmd> port attach <PCI_BDF>,representor=sf0,dv_flow_en=1
1431
1432Performance tuning
1433------------------
1434
14351. Configure aggressive CQE Zipping for maximum performance::
1436
1437        mlxconfig -d <mst device> s CQE_COMPRESSION=1
1438
1439  To set it back to the default CQE Zipping mode use::
1440
1441        mlxconfig -d <mst device> s CQE_COMPRESSION=0
1442
14432. In case of virtualization:
1444
1445   - Make sure that hypervisor kernel is 3.16 or newer.
1446   - Configure boot with ``iommu=pt``.
1447   - Use 1G huge pages.
1448   - Make sure to allocate a VM on huge pages.
1449   - Make sure to set CPU pinning.
1450
14513. Use the CPU near local NUMA node to which the PCIe adapter is connected,
1452   for better performance. For VMs, verify that the right CPU
1453   and NUMA node are pinned according to the above. Run::
1454
1455        lstopo-no-graphics
1456
1457   to identify the NUMA node to which the PCIe adapter is connected.
1458
14594. If more than one adapter is used, and root complex capabilities allow
1460   to put both adapters on the same NUMA node without PCI bandwidth degradation,
1461   it is recommended to locate both adapters on the same NUMA node.
1462   This in order to forward packets from one to the other without
1463   NUMA performance penalty.
1464
14655. Disable pause frames::
1466
1467        ethtool -A <netdev> rx off tx off
1468
14696. Verify IO non-posted prefetch is disabled by default. This can be checked
1470   via the BIOS configuration. Please contact you server provider for more
1471   information about the settings.
1472
1473.. note::
1474
1475        On some machines, depends on the machine integrator, it is beneficial
1476        to set the PCI max read request parameter to 1K. This can be
1477        done in the following way:
1478
1479        To query the read request size use::
1480
1481                setpci -s <NIC PCI address> 68.w
1482
1483        If the output is different than 3XXX, set it by::
1484
1485                setpci -s <NIC PCI address> 68.w=3XXX
1486
1487        The XXX can be different on different systems. Make sure to configure
1488        according to the setpci output.
1489
14907. To minimize overhead of searching Memory Regions:
1491
1492   - '--socket-mem' is recommended to pin memory by predictable amount.
1493   - Configure per-lcore cache when creating Mempools for packet buffer.
1494   - Refrain from dynamically allocating/freeing memory in run-time.
1495
1496Rx burst functions
1497------------------
1498
1499There are multiple Rx burst functions with different advantages and limitations.
1500
1501.. table:: Rx burst functions
1502
1503   +-------------------+------------------------+---------+-----------------+------+-------+
1504   || Function Name    || Enabler               || Scatter|| Error Recovery || CQE || Large|
1505   |                   |                        |         |                 || comp|| MTU  |
1506   +===================+========================+=========+=================+======+=======+
1507   | rx_burst          | rx_vec_en=0            |   Yes   | Yes             |  Yes |  Yes  |
1508   +-------------------+------------------------+---------+-----------------+------+-------+
1509   | rx_burst_vec      | rx_vec_en=1 (default)  |   No    | if CQE comp off |  Yes |  No   |
1510   +-------------------+------------------------+---------+-----------------+------+-------+
1511   | rx_burst_mprq     || mprq_en=1             |   No    | Yes             |  Yes |  Yes  |
1512   |                   || RxQs >= rxqs_min_mprq |         |                 |      |       |
1513   +-------------------+------------------------+---------+-----------------+------+-------+
1514   | rx_burst_mprq_vec || rx_vec_en=1 (default) |   No    | if CQE comp off |  Yes |  Yes  |
1515   |                   || mprq_en=1             |         |                 |      |       |
1516   |                   || RxQs >= rxqs_min_mprq |         |                 |      |       |
1517   +-------------------+------------------------+---------+-----------------+------+-------+
1518
1519.. _mlx5_offloads_support:
1520
1521Supported hardware offloads
1522---------------------------
1523
1524.. table:: Minimal SW/HW versions for queue offloads
1525
1526   ============== ===== ===== ========= ===== ========== =============
1527   Offload        DPDK  Linux rdma-core OFED   firmware   hardware
1528   ============== ===== ===== ========= ===== ========== =============
1529   common base    17.11  4.14    16     4.2-1 12.21.1000 ConnectX-4
1530   checksums      17.11  4.14    16     4.2-1 12.21.1000 ConnectX-4
1531   Rx timestamp   17.11  4.14    16     4.2-1 12.21.1000 ConnectX-4
1532   TSO            17.11  4.14    16     4.2-1 12.21.1000 ConnectX-4
1533   LRO            19.08  N/A     N/A    4.6-4 16.25.6406 ConnectX-5
1534   Tx scheduling  20.08  N/A     N/A    5.1-2 22.28.2006 ConnectX-6 Dx
1535   Buffer Split   20.11  N/A     N/A    5.1-2 16.28.2006 ConnectX-5
1536   ============== ===== ===== ========= ===== ========== =============
1537
1538.. table:: Minimal SW/HW versions for rte_flow offloads
1539
1540   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1541   | Offload               | with E-Switch   | with NIC        |
1542   +=======================+=================+=================+
1543   | Count                 | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 19.02    |
1544   |                       | | OFED 4.6      | | OFED 4.6      |
1545   |                       | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 23  |
1546   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1547   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1548   | Drop                  | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 18.11    |
1549   |                       | | OFED 4.6      | | OFED 4.5      |
1550   |                       | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 23  |
1551   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-4    |
1552   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1553   | Queue / RSS           | |               | | DPDK 18.11    |
1554   |                       | |     N/A       | | OFED 4.5      |
1555   |                       | |               | | rdma-core 23  |
1556   |                       | |               | | ConnectX-4    |
1557   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1558   | Shared action         | |               | |               |
1559   |                       | | :numref:`sact`| | :numref:`sact`|
1560   |                       | |               | |               |
1561   |                       | |               | |               |
1562   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1563   | | VLAN                | | DPDK 19.11    | | DPDK 19.11    |
1564   | | (of_pop_vlan /      | | OFED 4.7-1    | | OFED 4.7-1    |
1565   | | of_push_vlan /      | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1566   | | of_set_vlan_pcp /   | |               | |               |
1567   | | of_set_vlan_vid)    | |               | |               |
1568   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1569   | Encapsulation         | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 19.02    |
1570   | (VXLAN / NVGRE / RAW) | | OFED 4.7-1    | | OFED 4.6      |
1571   |                       | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 23  |
1572   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1573   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1574   | Encapsulation         | | DPDK 19.11    | | DPDK 19.11    |
1575   | GENEVE                | | OFED 4.7-3    | | OFED 4.7-3    |
1576   |                       | | rdma-core 27  | | rdma-core 27  |
1577   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1578   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1579   | Tunnel Offload        | |  DPDK 20.11   | | DPDK 20.11    |
1580   |                       | |  OFED 5.1-2   | | OFED 5.1-2    |
1581   |                       | |  rdma-core 32 | | N/A           |
1582   |                       | |  ConnectX-5   | | ConnectX-5    |
1583   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1584   | | Header rewrite      | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 19.02    |
1585   | | (set_ipv4_src /     | | OFED 4.7-1    | | OFED 4.7-1    |
1586   | | set_ipv4_dst /      | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 24  |
1587   | | set_ipv6_src /      | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1588   | | set_ipv6_dst /      | |               | |               |
1589   | | set_tp_src /        | |               | |               |
1590   | | set_tp_dst /        | |               | |               |
1591   | | dec_ttl /           | |               | |               |
1592   | | set_ttl /           | |               | |               |
1593   | | set_mac_src /       | |               | |               |
1594   | | set_mac_dst)        | |               | |               |
1595   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1596   | | Header rewrite      | | DPDK 20.02    | | DPDK 20.02    |
1597   | | (set_dscp)          | | OFED 5.0      | | OFED 5.0      |
1598   | |                     | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 24  |
1599   | |                     | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1600   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1601   | Jump                  | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 19.02    |
1602   |                       | | OFED 4.7-1    | | OFED 4.7-1    |
1603   |                       | | rdma-core 24  | | N/A           |
1604   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1605   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1606   | Mark / Flag           | | DPDK 19.05    | | DPDK 18.11    |
1607   |                       | | OFED 4.6      | | OFED 4.5      |
1608   |                       | | rdma-core 24  | | rdma-core 23  |
1609   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-4    |
1610   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1611   | Meta data             | |  DPDK 19.11   | | DPDK 19.11    |
1612   |                       | |  OFED 4.7-3   | | OFED 4.7-3    |
1613   |                       | |  rdma-core 26 | | rdma-core 26  |
1614   |                       | |  ConnectX-5   | | ConnectX-5    |
1615   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1616   | Port ID               | | DPDK 19.05    |     | N/A       |
1617   |                       | | OFED 4.7-1    |     | N/A       |
1618   |                       | | rdma-core 24  |     | N/A       |
1619   |                       | | ConnectX-5    |     | N/A       |
1620   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1621   | Hairpin               | |               | | DPDK 19.11    |
1622   |                       | |     N/A       | | OFED 4.7-3    |
1623   |                       | |               | | rdma-core 26  |
1624   |                       | |               | | ConnectX-5    |
1625   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1626   | 2-port Hairpin        | |               | | DPDK 20.11    |
1627   |                       | |     N/A       | | OFED 5.1-2    |
1628   |                       | |               | | N/A           |
1629   |                       | |               | | ConnectX-5    |
1630   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1631   | Metering              | |  DPDK 19.11   | | DPDK 19.11    |
1632   |                       | |  OFED 4.7-3   | | OFED 4.7-3    |
1633   |                       | |  rdma-core 26 | | rdma-core 26  |
1634   |                       | |  ConnectX-5   | | ConnectX-5    |
1635   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1636   | Sampling              | |  DPDK 20.11   | | DPDK 20.11    |
1637   |                       | |  OFED 5.1-2   | | OFED 5.1-2    |
1638   |                       | |  rdma-core 32 | | N/A           |
1639   |                       | |  ConnectX-5   | | ConnectX-5    |
1640   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1641   | Encapsulation         | |  DPDK 21.02   | | DPDK 21.02    |
1642   | GTP PSC               | |  OFED 5.2     | | OFED 5.2      |
1643   |                       | |  rdma-core 35 | | rdma-core 35  |
1644   |                       | |  ConnectX-6 Dx| | ConnectX-6 Dx |
1645   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1646   | Encapsulation         | | DPDK 21.02    | | DPDK 21.02    |
1647   | GENEVE TLV option     | | OFED 5.2      | | OFED 5.2      |
1648   |                       | | rdma-core 34  | | rdma-core 34  |
1649   |                       | | ConnectX-6 Dx | | ConnectX-6 Dx |
1650   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1651   | Modify Field          | | DPDK 21.02    | | DPDK 21.02    |
1652   |                       | | OFED 5.2      | | OFED 5.2      |
1653   |                       | | rdma-core 35  | | rdma-core 35  |
1654   |                       | | ConnectX-5    | | ConnectX-5    |
1655   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1656
1657.. table:: Minimal SW/HW versions for shared action offload
1658   :name: sact
1659
1660   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1661   | Shared Action         | with E-Switch   | with NIC        |
1662   +=======================+=================+=================+
1663   | RSS                   | |               | | DPDK 20.11    |
1664   |                       | |     N/A       | | OFED 5.2      |
1665   |                       | |               | | rdma-core 33  |
1666   |                       | |               | | ConnectX-5    |
1667   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1668   | Age                   | |  DPDK 20.11   | | DPDK 20.11    |
1669   |                       | |  OFED 5.2     | | OFED 5.2      |
1670   |                       | |  rdma-core 32 | | rdma-core 32  |
1671   |                       | |  ConnectX-6 Dx| | ConnectX-6 Dx |
1672   +-----------------------+-----------------+-----------------+
1673
1674Notes for metadata
1675------------------
1676
1677MARK and META items are interrelated with datapath - they might move from/to
1678the applications in mbuf fields. Hence, zero value for these items has the
1679special meaning - it means "no metadata are provided", not zero values are
1680treated by applications and PMD as valid ones.
1681
1682Moreover in the flow engine domain the value zero is acceptable to match and
1683set, and we should allow to specify zero values as rte_flow parameters for the
1684META and MARK items and actions. In the same time zero mask has no meaning and
1685should be rejected on validation stage.
1686
1687Notes for rte_flow
1688------------------
1689
1690Flows are not cached in the driver.
1691When stopping a device port, all the flows created on this port from the
1692application will be flushed automatically in the background.
1693After stopping the device port, all flows on this port become invalid and
1694not represented in the system.
1695All references to these flows held by the application should be discarded
1696directly but neither destroyed nor flushed.
1697
1698The application should re-create the flows as required after the port restart.
1699
1700Notes for testpmd
1701-----------------
1702
1703Compared to librte_net_mlx4 that implements a single RSS configuration per
1704port, librte_net_mlx5 supports per-protocol RSS configuration.
1705
1706Since ``testpmd`` defaults to IP RSS mode and there is currently no
1707command-line parameter to enable additional protocols (UDP and TCP as well
1708as IP), the following commands must be entered from its CLI to get the same
1709behavior as librte_net_mlx4::
1710
1711   > port stop all
1712   > port config all rss all
1713   > port start all
1714
1715Usage example
1716-------------
1717
1718This section demonstrates how to launch **testpmd** with Mellanox
1719ConnectX-4/ConnectX-5/ConnectX-6/BlueField devices managed by librte_net_mlx5.
1720
1721#. Load the kernel modules::
1722
1723      modprobe -a ib_uverbs mlx5_core mlx5_ib
1724
1725   Alternatively if MLNX_OFED/MLNX_EN is fully installed, the following script
1726   can be run::
1727
1728      /etc/init.d/openibd restart
1729
1730   .. note::
1731
1732      User space I/O kernel modules (uio and igb_uio) are not used and do
1733      not have to be loaded.
1734
1735#. Make sure Ethernet interfaces are in working order and linked to kernel
1736   verbs. Related sysfs entries should be present::
1737
1738      ls -d /sys/class/net/*/device/infiniband_verbs/uverbs* | cut -d / -f 5
1739
1740   Example output::
1741
1742      eth30
1743      eth31
1744      eth32
1745      eth33
1746
1747#. Optionally, retrieve their PCI bus addresses for to be used with the allow list::
1748
1749      {
1750          for intf in eth2 eth3 eth4 eth5;
1751          do
1752              (cd "/sys/class/net/${intf}/device/" && pwd -P);
1753          done;
1754      } |
1755      sed -n 's,.*/\(.*\),-a \1,p'
1756
1757   Example output::
1758
1759      -a 0000:05:00.1
1760      -a 0000:06:00.0
1761      -a 0000:06:00.1
1762      -a 0000:05:00.0
1763
1764#. Request huge pages::
1765
1766      dpdk-hugepages.py --setup 2G
1767
1768#. Start testpmd with basic parameters::
1769
1770      dpdk-testpmd -l 8-15 -n 4 -a 05:00.0 -a 05:00.1 -a 06:00.0 -a 06:00.1 -- --rxq=2 --txq=2 -i
1771
1772   Example output::
1773
1774      [...]
1775      EAL: PCI device 0000:05:00.0 on NUMA socket 0
1776      EAL:   probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_net_mlx5
1777      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_0" (VF: false)
1778      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
1779      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fe
1780      EAL: PCI device 0000:05:00.1 on NUMA socket 0
1781      EAL:   probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_net_mlx5
1782      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_1" (VF: false)
1783      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
1784      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:ff
1785      EAL: PCI device 0000:06:00.0 on NUMA socket 0
1786      EAL:   probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_net_mlx5
1787      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_2" (VF: false)
1788      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
1789      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fa
1790      EAL: PCI device 0000:06:00.1 on NUMA socket 0
1791      EAL:   probe driver: 15b3:1013 librte_net_mlx5
1792      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: PCI information matches, using device "mlx5_3" (VF: false)
1793      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 1 port(s) detected
1794      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: port 1 MAC address is e4:1d:2d:e7:0c:fb
1795      Interactive-mode selected
1796      Configuring Port 0 (socket 0)
1797      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8cba80: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1798      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8cba80: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1799      Port 0: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FE
1800      Configuring Port 1 (socket 0)
1801      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8ccac8: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1802      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8ccac8: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1803      Port 1: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FF
1804      Configuring Port 2 (socket 0)
1805      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8cdb10: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1806      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8cdb10: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1807      Port 2: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FA
1808      Configuring Port 3 (socket 0)
1809      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8ceb58: TX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1810      PMD: librte_net_mlx5: 0x8ceb58: RX queues number update: 0 -> 2
1811      Port 3: E4:1D:2D:E7:0C:FB
1812      Checking link statuses...
1813      Port 0 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex
1814      Port 1 Link Up - speed 40000 Mbps - full-duplex
1815      Port 2 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex
1816      Port 3 Link Up - speed 10000 Mbps - full-duplex
1817      Done
1818      testpmd>
1819
1820How to dump flows
1821-----------------
1822
1823This section demonstrates how to dump flows. Currently, it's possible to dump
1824all flows with assistance of external tools.
1825
1826#. 2 ways to get flow raw file:
1827
1828   - Using testpmd CLI:
1829
1830   .. code-block:: console
1831
1832       testpmd> flow dump <port> <output_file>
1833
1834   - call rte_flow_dev_dump api:
1835
1836   .. code-block:: console
1837
1838       rte_flow_dev_dump(port, file, NULL);
1839
1840#. Dump human-readable flows from raw file:
1841
1842   Get flow parsing tool from: https://github.com/Mellanox/mlx_steering_dump
1843
1844   .. code-block:: console
1845
1846       mlx_steering_dump.py -f <output_file>
1847