Installation Guide

NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide

This document details the necessary steps to set up NVIDIA DOCA in your environment.

There are two ways to install the NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPU software:

• Using the SDK Manager which provides a GUI/CLI for full BlueField-2 installation
• Manual installation with a step-by-step procedure

1.1. Supported Platforms

1.2. Hardware Prerequisites

This quick start guide assumes that an NVIDIA® BlueField® DPU has been installed in a server according to the instructions detailed in your DPU's hardware user guide.

1.3. DOCA Packages

1.4. Supported Operating System

The operating system supported on the BlueField DPU is Ubuntu 20.04. The following operating systems are supported on the host machine:

• Ubuntu 18.04/20.04
• CentOS/RHEL 7.6/8.0/8.2
• Debian 10.8

1.5. Supported Kernel Versions

NVIDIA SDK Manager supports DOCA installation, including software packages on the host and the BlueField-2 target.

• To use the SDK Manager GUI, please refer to NVIDIA SDK Manager GUI installation guide for DOCA for detailed instructions.
• To use the SDK Manager CLI, please refer to NVIDIA SDK Manager CLI installation guide for DOCA for detailed instructions.

This guide provides the minimal first-step instructions for setting up DOCA on a standard system.

3.1. Installation Files

3.2. Software Prerequisites

1. If you wish to continue without the DOCA local repo package for host, install the minimal tools needed on the host to allow managing and flashing new firmware on the BlueField.

   For Ubuntu/Debian

   1. Download the DOCA Tools package from Installation Files section for the host.
   2. Unpack the deb repo. Run:
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      sudo dpkg -i doca-host-repo-ubuntu<version>_amd64.deb
              

   3. Perform apt update. Run:
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      sudo apt-get update
              

   4. Run apt install for DOCA SDK, DOCA runtime, DOCA tools.
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      sudo apt install doca-tools
              

   For CentOS/RHEL

   1. Download the DOCA Tools package from Installation Files section for the x86 host.
   2. Unpack the RPM repo. Run:
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      sudo rpm -Uvh doca-host-repo-rhel<version>.x86_64.rpm
              

   3. Run yum install for DOCA runtime, tools, and SDK.
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      sudo yum install doca-runtime
      sudo yum install doca-tools
      sudo yum install doca-sdk
              

   Note:

   Skip the following step to proceed without the DOCA local repo package for host.

2. Alternatively, to continue with the DOCA local repo package for host installation:

   Installing DOCA Local Repo Package on Ubuntu Host

   1. Download the DOCA SDK, DOCA Runtime, and DOCA Tools package from Installation Files section for the host.
   2. Unpack the deb repo. Run:
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      sudo dpkg -i doca-host-repo-ubuntu<version>_amd64.deb
              

   3. Perform apt update. Run:
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      sudo apt-get update
              

   4. Run apt install for DOCA runtime, tools, and SDK.
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      sudo apt install doca-runtime
      sudo apt install doca-tools
      sudo apt install doca-sdk
              

   Installing DOCA Local Repo Package on CentOS Host

   1. Download the DOCA SDK, DOCA Runtime, and DOCA Tools package from Installation Files section for the x86 host.
   2. Install the following software dependencies. Run:
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      sudo yum install -y epel-release
      sudo yum install -y uriparser-devel
      sudo yum install -y 'dnf-command(config-manager)' 
      sudo dnf -y install dnf-plugins-core
      sudo yum install -y epel-release
      sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled PowerTools
      sudo yum install meson
              

   3. Unpack the RPM repo. Run:
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      sudo rpm -Uvh doca-host-repo-rhel<version>.x86_64.rpm
              

   4. Run yum install for DOCA runtime, tools, and SDK.
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      sudo yum install doca-runtime
      sudo yum install doca-tools
      sudo yum install doca-sdk
              

   Installing DOCA Local Repo Package on RHEL Host

   1. Open a RedHat account.
      1. Log into RedHat website via the developers tab.
      2. Create a developer user.
   2. Run:
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      subscription-manager register --username=<username> --password=PASSWORD
              

      To extract pool ID:
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      subscription-manager list --available --all
      ...
      Subscription Name:   Red Hat Developer Subscription for Individuals
      Provides:            Red Hat Developer Tools (for RHEL Server for ARM)
                           ...
                           Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder for x86_64
      ...
      Pool ID:             <pool-id>
      ...
              

      
      

      And use the pool ID for the Subscription Name and Provides that include Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder for x86_64.

   3. Run:
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      subscription-manager attach --pool=<pool-id>
      subscription-manager repos --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms
              

   4. Install the DOCA local repo package for host. Run:
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      rpm -Uvh doca-host-repo-rhel<version>.x86_64.rpm
      yum makecache
      sudo yum install doca-runtime
      sudo yum install doca-tools
      sudo yum install doca-sdk
              

   5. Sign out from your RHEL account. Run:
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      subscription-manager remove --all
      subscription-manager unregister
              

      The upgrade takes effect only after mlxfwreset which is performed in later steps.

3. Initialize MST. Run:
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   sudo mst start
           

4. Reset the nvconfig params to their default values:
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   sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 -y reset
   
   Reset configuration for device /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0? (y/n) [n] : y
   Applying... Done!
   -I- Please reboot machine to load new configurations.
           

5. Skip this step if your BlueField DPU is Ethernet only. Please refer to Supported Platforms to learn your DPU type. If you have a VPI DPU, the default link type of the ports will be configured to IB. To verify your link type, run:
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   sudo mst start
   sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 -e q | grep -i link_type
   Configurations:                              Default         Current         Next Boot
   *        LINK_TYPE_P1                        IB(1)           ETH(2)          IB(1)
   *        LINK_TYPE_P2                        IB(1)           ETH(2)          IB(1)
           

   Note:

   If your DPU is Ethernet capable only, then the sudo mlxconfig -d <device> command will not provide an output.

   If the current link type is set to IB, run the following command to change it to Ethernet:
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   sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s LINK_TYPE_P1=2 LINK_TYPE_P2=2
           

   
   
6. Assign a dynamic IP to tmfifo_net0 interface (RShim host interface).
   Note:

   Skip this step if you are installing the DOCA image on multiple DPUs.

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   ifconfig tmfifo_net0 192.168.100.1 netmask 255.255.255.252 up
           

7. Verify that RShim is active.
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   sudo systemctl status rshim
           

   This command is expected to display active (running). If RShim service does not launch automatically, run:
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   sudo systemctl enable rshim
   sudo systemctl start rshim
           

3.3. Image Installation

Users have two options for installing DOCA on the DPU:

• Upgrading the full DOCA image on the DPU (recommended) - this option overwrites the entire boot partition.
• Upgrading DOCA local repo package on the DPU – this option upgrades DOCA components without overwriting the boot partition. Use this option to preserve configurations or files on the DPU itself.

3.3.1. Installing Full DOCA Image on DPU

Ubuntu users are required to provide a unique password that will be applied at the end of the BlueField OS image installation. This password needs to be defined in a bf.cfg configuration file. To set the password for the "ubuntu" user:

1. Create password hash. Run:
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   # openssl passwd -1
   Password:
   Verifying - Password:
   $1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1
           

2. Add the password hash in quotes to the bf.cfg file:
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   # sudo vim bf.cfg
   ubuntu_PASSWORD='$1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1'
           

   When running the installation command, use the --config flag to provide the file containing the password:
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   sudo bfb-install --rshim <rshimN> --bfb <image_path.bfb> --config bf.cfg
           

   
   
   Note:

   If --config is not used, then upon first login to the BlueField device, users will be asked to update their password.

   The following is an example of Ubuntu installation assuming the "pv" Linux tool has been installed (to view the installation progress).
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   sudo bfb-install --rshim rshim0 --bfb DOCA_<version>-aarch64.bfb --config bf.cfg
   Pushing bfb
   1.08GiB 0:00:57 [19.5MiB/s] [      <=>    ]
   Collecting BlueField booting status. Press Ctrl+C to stop…
   INFO[BL2]: start
   INFO[BL2]: DDR POST passed
   INFO[BL2]: UEFI loaded
   INFO[BL31]: start
   INFO[BL31]: runtime
   INFO[UEFI]: eMMC init
   INFO[UEFI]: eMMC probed
   INFO[UEFI]: PCIe enum start
   INFO[UEFI]: PCIe enum end
   INFO[MISC]: Ubuntu installation started
   INFO[MISC]: Installation finished
   INFO[MISC]: Rebooting...
           

   
   
   Note:

   This installation sets up the OVS bridge.

3.3.2. Installing Full DOCA Image on Multiple DPUs

On a host with multiple DPUs, the BFB image can be installed on all of them using the multi-bfb-install script.

            

            
./bfb-multi-install --bfb <bfb-file>  --password <password>
        

This script detects the number of RShim devices and configures them statically.

• For Ubuntu – the script creates a configuration file /etc/netplan/20-tmfifo.yaml
• For CentOS/RH 7.6 – the script creates a configuration file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-br_tmfifo
• For CentOS/RH 8.0 and 8.2 – the script installs the bridge-utils package to use the brctl command, creates the tm-br bridge and connects all RShim interfaces to it

After the installation is complete, the configuration of the bridge and each RShim interface can be observed using ifconfig. The expected result is to see the IP on the tm-br bridge configured to 192.168.100.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0.

            

            
ssh ubuntu@192.168.100.2
        

3.3.3. Installing DOCA Local Repo Package on DPU

1. Download the DOCA SDK, DOCA Runtime, and DOCA Tools package from section Installation Files.
2. Copy deb repo package into BlueField. Run:
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   sudo scp -r doca-repo-aarch64-ubuntu2004-local_<version>_arm64.deb ubuntu@192.168.100.2:/tmp/
           

3. Unpack the deb repo. Run:
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   sudo dpkg -i doca-repo-aarch64-ubuntu2004-local_<version>_arm64.deb
           

4. Run apt update.
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   sudo apt-get update
           

5. Run apt install for DOCA runtime, tools, and SDK:
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   sudo apt install doca-runtime
   sudo apt install doca-tools
   sudo apt install doca-sdk
           

3.4. Firmware Upgrade

To upgrade firmware:

1. SSH to your BlueField device via 192.168.100.2 (preconfigured). The default credentials for Ubuntu are as follows:
   • Username: ubuntu
   • Password: unique password

   For example:

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   host$ ssh ubuntu@192.168.100.2 Password: <configured-password>
           

   
   

2. Upgrade firmware in BlueField DPU. Run:
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   dpu$ sudo /opt/mellanox/mlnx-fw-updater/mlnx_fw_updater.pl
           

   Example output:
   
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   Device #1:
   ----------
   
     Device Type:      BlueField-2
     [...]
     Versions:         Current        Available
        FW             <Old_FW>       <New_FW>
           

3. For the firmware upgrade to take effect:
   1. Run the following command on the BlueField DPU and host:
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      sudo mst start
              

   2. Run the command below on the BlueField DPU and immediately afterwards on the host. Do not wait for the command to complete on the BlueField DPU before issuing the command on the host.
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      sudo mlxfwreset -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 -l 3 -y reset
              

      Note:

      If your BlueField device is a controller or if you are performing remote install, you must power cycle the BlueField.

      Note:

      If your BlueField device is an NVIDIA Converged Accelerator card, you must power cycle the card and the host.

3.5. Post-installation Procedure

1. Restart the driver. Run:
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   host$ sudo /etc/init.d/openibd restart
   Unloading HCA driver:                                      [  OK  ]
   Loading HCA driver and Access Layer:                       [  OK  ]
           

2. Configure the physical function (PF) interfaces.
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   host$ sudo ifconfig <interface-1> <network-1/mask> up
   host$ sudo ifconfig <interface-2> <network-2/mask> up
           

   For example:
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   host$ sudo ifconfig p2p1 192.168.200.32/24 up
   host$ sudo ifconfig p2p2 192.168.201.32/24 up
           

   Pings between the source and destination should now be operational.

For full instructions about setting up a development environment, refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Developer Guide.

NVIDIA® CUDA® is a parallel computing platform and programming model developed by NVIDIA for general computing GPUs.

This section details the necessary steps to set up CUDA on your environment. This section assumes that a BFB image has already been installed on your environment. To install CUDA on your converged accelerator:

1. Download and install the latest NVIDIA Data Center GPU driver.
2. Download and install CUDA.

5.1. Configuring Operation Mode

There are two modes that the NVIDIA Converged Accelerator may operate in:

• Standard mode (default) – the BlueField DPU and the GPU operate separately
• BlueField-X mode – the GPU is exposed to the DPU and is no longer visible on the host

To verify which mode the system is operating in, run:

            

            
$ sudo mst start
$ sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 q PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]
        

Standard mode output:

            

            
Device #1:
[…]
Configurations:                              Next Boot
         PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]        DEVICE_DEFAULT(0)
        

BlueField-X mode output:

            

            
Device #1:
[…]
Configurations:                              Next Boot
         PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]        EMBEDDED_CPU(15)
        

To configure BlueField-X mode, run:

            

            
$ mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]=0xF
        

To configure standard mode, run:

            

            
$ mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]=0x0
        

5.2. Downloading and Installing CUDA Toolkit and Driver

This section details the necessary steps to set up CUDA on your environment. It assumes that a BFB image has already been installed on your environment.

1. Verify that the installation completed successfully.
   1. Install Download CUDA samples repo. Run:
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      git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA/cuda-samples.git
              

   2. Build and run vectorAdd CUDA sample. Run:
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      cd cuda-samples/Samples/0_Introduction/vectorAdd
      make
      ./vectorAdd
              

   Note:

   If the vectorAdd sample works as expected, it should output "Test Passed".

   Note:

   If it seems that the GPU is slow or stuck, stop execution and run:

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   sudo setpci -v -d ::0302 800.L=201 # CPL_VC0 = 32
           

5.3. GPUDirect RDMA

To enable GPUDirect RDMA with a network card on NVIDIA Converged Accelerator, you need an additional kernel module. Run:

            

            
sudo modprobe nvidia-peermem
        

5.4. DPDK GPUDEV

To enable CPU map GPU memory feature in DPDK's gpudev library, you need the gdrcopy library and driver to be installed on your system.

1. Install the gdrcopy library. Run:
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   git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA/gdrcopy.git
           

2. Build the library and install the driver. Run:
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   cd gdrcopy
   make
   # Launch gdrdrv kernel module on the system
   ./insmod.sh
           

3. Setup the path to gdrcopy. Run:
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   export GDRCOPY_PATH_L=/path/to/libgdrapi
           

   Note:

   In general, the path to libgdrapi is /path/to/gdrcopy/src/.

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