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Pre-Installation Requirements

Minimum Hardware Requirements

1. Insert ConnectX-5 NIC into Server A
2. Insert BlueField SmartNIC into Server B
3. Connect the SmartNIC UART cable from SmartNIC to its hosting Server B USB port #1
4. Connect Mini USB cable from SmartNIC to its hosting Server B USB port #2
5. Insert QSA28 Adapter into Server B 100GB port
6. Connect one of the SmartNIC ports to the ConnectX-5 using 25GB cable
7. Connect both servers to a management LAN

Recommended Hardware Requirements

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N/A

Schema scripts

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N/A

Jump Host Requirements

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N/A

Network Requirements

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N/A

Bare Metal Node Requirements

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N/A

• Execution Requirements (Bare Metal Only)NA

• • Hardware RequirementsNA

  • Software Prerequisites

    • MLNX_OFED

    • Note

      • Use automatic FM update during MLNX_OFED installation ONLY if the current BlueField FW version is 18.24.1000 (GA) or above. In case its older, manually burn the FW after MLNX_OFED installation.
      • In case you plan to run DPDK on the host itself, install MLNX_OFED with "--dpdk --upstream-libs" flags
      • The "bluefield" flag is not required in some of the MLNX_OFED versions and OS releases

  • Database PrerequisitesNA

  • Other Installation RequirementsNA

  •    Installation High-Level Overview      

    • SmartNIC Server Preparations

      • Install useful packages:

        yum install -y screen minicom net-tools tcpdump usbutils net-utils sshpass iptables-services fio epel-release iperf wget git unzip perl pciutils lsof tcl libxml2-python tk unbound gtk2 atk cairo gcc-gfortran tcsh nvme-cli

          

      • Install MLNX_OFED with the mentioned flags below.

        tar -xzvf MLNX_OFED_LINUX-4.4-2.5.11.0-rhel7.5-x86_64.tgz cd MLNX_OFED_LINUX-4.4-2.5.11.0-rhel7.5-x86_64 ./mlnxofedinstall --with-nvmf --bluefield --without-fw-update

        
        

            Note

      • Use automatic FM update during MLNX_OFED installation ONLY if the current BlueField FW version is 18.24.1000 (GA) or above. In case its older, manually burn the FW after MLNX_OFED installation.
      • In case you plan to run DPDK on the host itself, install MLNX_OFED with "--dpdk --upstream-libs" flags
      • The "bluefield" flag is not required in some of the MLNX_OFED versions and OS releases

      • 
        

         Enable SR-IOV on FW (Optional):

        mlxconfig -y -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s SRIOV_EN=1 mlxconfig -y -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s NUM_OF_VFS=8

        
        

      • Uncomment the following line in /etc/modprobe.d/rshim.conf to set the default RShim access method to the SmartNIC:

        options rshim backend_driver=rshim_usb

        
        

        Note

        1. When this line is commented, the first available driver will be used.
        2. When the mini USB cable is not used, the driver should be rshim_pcie

        
        

      • Create a file named ifcfg-tmfifo_net0 under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory, with the following content:

        NAME="tmfifo_net0" HWADDR="00:1a:ca:ff:ff:02" ONBOOT=yes NETBOOT=yes IPV6INIT=yes BOOTPROTO=static TYPE=Ethernet IPADDR=192.168.100.1 NETMASK=255.255.255.0

          

      • ifcfg-tmfifo_net0 is the network interface used for IP communication between the x86 host and the SmartNIC with rshim_net driver.

      • Enable ip forwarding and set a NAT rule to allow the SmartNIC OS to communicate with the outer world via the host management interface:

        sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1 systemctl enable iptables systemctl start iptables iptables -F iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o <host_mgmt_interfac> -j MASQUERADE service iptables save

        
        

      • Disable Firewall and Network Manager services

        systemctl disable firewalld.service systemctl disable NetworkManager

        
        

      • Reboot the server. Once server is up again, run some configuration sanity tests:
        

        To verify BlueField FW version:

        mlxfwmanager --query

        
        

         To verify RShim modules are loaded:

        lsmod | grep -i rshim

        
        

        To identify the backend active RShim driver:

        cat /dev/rshim0/misc

        
        

        To verify the NAT rule for SmartNIC communication with the outer world:

        iptables -L -n -t nat

        
        

Download the BlueField Quick Start bfb image:  https://mellanox.box.com/s/q44f501xq1e29yb1bjpsb9vzgqs89a76

Place the bfb image on the host and load it on the BlueField SmartNIC using the following command:

cat /home/CentOS7.5ALT-aarch64-QuickStart.bfb > /dev/rshim0/boot

  

                                             Use one of the console access methods described in the "SmartNIC Management Methods" section below to follow the image installation process.

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Console over USB-Serial / Serial Port properties: Rate 115200, HW Flow Control OFF.

minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0

Console over USB (rshim_usb) / Serial Port properties: Rate 115200, HW Flow Control OFF

                            

minicom -D /dev/rshim0/console

SSH (rshim_net)

ssh root@192.168.100.2

  

                     Note
                           SmartNIC OS is configured to obtain internet access via its hosting server.

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Issue the following command on the server:

echo "SW_RESET 1" > /dev/rshim0/misc

Follow the boot process using console access:

minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0

  

Note

This is not a power cycle of the SmartNIC.

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Issue the following command on the server:

cat <image>.bfb > /dev/rshim0/boot

Follow the installation and boot process using the console access:

minicom -D /dev/ttyUSB0

  

•  SmartNIC Modes

BlueField SmartNIC can operate in two modes:

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In order to identify the SmartNIC current mode, issue the following commands on the x86 hosting server:

x86_host#mst start x86_host#mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 q | grep -i model

Switching to EMBEDDED Mode from SEPERATED_HOST Mode

On the x86 host:

Enable EMBEDDED mode:

x86_host #mst start x86_host #mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL=1

 Reboot.

Verify:

x86_host#mst start x86_host#mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 q | grep -i model

On the Arm:

Issue the following commands to enable ECPF parameters (applied per port):

Note
The ECPF parameters will be available for setting only after completing the previous steps.

  

Snic#mst start Snic#mst status -v Snic#mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s ECPF_ESWITCH_MANAGER=1 ECPF_PAGE_SUPPLIER=1 Snic#mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0.1 s ECPF_ESWITCH_MANAGER=1 ECPF_PAGE_SUPPLIER=1

  

Reboot the x86 host.

Verify configuration:

Once the procedure is completed, issue the following command on both the x86 host and the Arm:

/opt/mellanox/iproute2/sbin/rdma link

 
On x86 host: the output should list two net devices.

1/1: mlx5_0/1: state ACTIVE physical_state LINK_UP netdev ens1f0 2/1: mlx5_1/1: state DOWN physical_state DISABLED netdev ens1f1

 
On Arm: the output should list four representors:

1/1: mlx5_0/1: state ACTIVE physical_state LINK_UP netdev rep0-ffff 2/1: mlx5_1/1: state ACTIVE physical_state LINK_UP netdev rep0-0 3/1: mlx5_2/1: state DOWN physical_state DISABLED netdev rep1-ffff 4/1: mlx5_3/1: state DOWN physical_state DISABLED netdev rep1-0

  

Issue the following commands on the Arm to see the correlation between PCI device and its representors:

mst start mst status -v     PCI devices: ------------ DEVICE_TYPE MST PCI RDMA NET NUMA BlueField(rev:0) NA 03:00.1 mlx5_3,mlx5_2 net-eth2,net-rep1-ffff -1 BlueField(rev:0) NA 03:00.0 mlx5_1,mlx5_0 net-rep0-ffff,net-eth1 -1

Note
The rep0-0 / rep1-0 are the representors facing the x86 host and the rep0-ffff / rep1-ffff are the representors facing the network.

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Enable SEPERATED_HOST mode:

x86_host #mst start x86_host #mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL=0

Reboot.

Verify:

x86_host#mst start x86_host#mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 q | grep -i model

Testing Traffic in EMBEDDED Mode using DPDK

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DPDK application is used to forward the traffic and bypass Arm OS kernel. Follow the configuration steps below to test it.

On the Arm

Stop OVS:

systemctl stop openvswitch

Verify hugetlbfs is mounted:

mount | grep -i hugetlbfs

if not, mount it:

mount -t hugetlbfs nodev /dev/hugepages

Set Hugepages:

echo 4 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-524288kB/nr_hugepages

Verify hugepages were allocated (look for HugePages_Total and Free):

cat /proc/meminfo | grep -i huge

Identify the SmartNIC PCI device ID:

lspci | grep -i mellanox

Start testPMD application  while probing the representors  (pci device is 03:00.0):

cd /usr/bin/ ./testpmd -w 03:00.0,representor=[0,65535] – -i testpmd> start

Set IPs on both x86 host and ConnectX-5 host and test connectivity with ping (it will be forwarded by the Arm DPDK)

On the ConnectX-5 external host start iperf server:

iperf -s

On the x86 host, start iperf client:

iperf -c 172.16.0.2 -P12

While the test is running, you can check traffic statistics on Arm testPMD:

testpmd> show port stats all

• • • • Install Bare Metal Jump HostNA

      • Creating a Node Inventory FileNA

      • Creating the Settings FilesNA

      • RunningNA

  • Bare Metal Deployment GuideNA

  • Virtual Deployment Guide

    • Standard Deployment OverviewNA

    • Snapshot Deployment OverviewNA

    • Special Requirements for Virtual DeploymentsNA

    • Install Jump HostNA

    • Verifying the Setup - VMsNA

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