DPI Programming Guide

NVIDIA DOCA DPI Programming Guide

The NVIDIA DOCA DPI Programming Guide provides developers instructions to deploy the DOCA DPI library.

Deep packet inspection (DPI) is a method of examining the full content of data packets as they traverse a monitored network checkpoint.

DPI provides a more robust mechanism for enforcing network packet filtering as it can be used to identify and block a range of complex threats hiding in network data streams more accurately. This includes:

• Malicious applications
• Malware data exfiltration attempts
• Content policy violations
• Application recognition
• Load balancing

The DOCA DPI library supports inspection of the following protocols:

• HTTP 2.0/1.1/1.0
• TLS/SSL client hello and certificate messages
• DNS
• FTP

TCP/UDP stream-based signatures may detect applications on other protocols.

DPI-based applications can run either on the host machine, or on the NVIDIA® BlueField® DPU target. Since the DPI leverages the Regular Expressions (RegEx) Engine, users must make sure it is enabled. The RegEx engine is enabled by default on the DPU. To use DPI directly on the host, run:

            

            
host> sudo /etc/init.d/openibd stop
dpu> echo 1 > /sys/class/net/p0/smart_nic/pf/regex_en
dpu> cat /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
400
# Make sure to allocate 200 additional hugepages
dpu> sudo echo 600 > /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages
dpu> systemctl start mlx-regex
# Verify the service is properly running
dpu> systemctl status mlx-regex
host> sudo /etc/init.d/openibd start
        

The following diagram shows how the DPI library receives for processing a compiled signatures files and a stream of "in-order" and non-fragmented packets, and returns matches per flow.

3.1. Signature Database

The signature database is compiled into a CDO file by the DPI compiler. The CDO file includes:

• Compiled RegEx engine rules
• Other signature information

The application may load a new database while the DPI is processing packets.

For more information on the DPI compiler, please refer to the NVIDIA DOCA DPI Compiler document.

3.2. DPI Queue

A DPI queue is designed to be used by a worker thread. The DPI queue holds the flow's state. Therefore, all packets from both directions of the flow must be submitted to the same DPI queue in-order. Each packet must be injected along with a flow context and a direction. A flow direction is usually represented by a 5-tuple, but it can also be a 3-tuple for other protocols.

For the library API reference, refer to DPI API documentation in NVIDIA DOCA Libraries API Reference Manual.

The following sections provide additional details about the library API.

4.1. doca_dpi_config

The following is the DPI initialize configuration struct. The library is configured according to the struct fields.

            

            
struct doca_dpi_config_t {
            uint16_t nb_queues;
            uint32_t max_packets_per_queue;
            uint32_t max_sig_match_len;
};
        

nb_queues

The number of DPI queues to be used.

max_packets_per_queue

The number of packets concurrently processed by the DPI engine.

max_sig_match_len

The maximum length that DPI guarantees to provide a match on, including across consecutive packets.

4.2. doca_dpi_load_signatures

Before enqueueing packets for processing, the DPI library must be loaded with signatures by the main thread:

            

            
int doca_dpi_load_signatures(doca_dpi_ctx* ctx, const char* cdo_file);
        

ctx [in]

Pointer to DPI opaque context struct created by doca_dpi_init().

cdo_file [in]

*.cdo file path. The file is created by the DPI compiler according to the Suricata rules that have been provided to it.

Returns

0 on success, and an error code otherwise.

1. Once a new flow is detected by the connection tracking software, the user should call doca_dpi_flow_create().
2. Every incoming packet classified for this flow should be enqueued by calling doca_dpi_enqueue().
   Note:

   For every mbuf injected, the user is not allowed to free the mbuf until the mbuf is dequeued.

   Note:

   If an external attach is used, users must follow the DPDK guidelines for rte_pktmbuf_attach_extbuf() to make sure the mbuf is freed when both the user and the DPI free the mbuf.

3. To poll for the results, the application must call doca_dpi_dequeue(). The result will contain matching information (if matched).
4. When the connection tracking software detects that the flow is terminated or aged-out, the application should notify the DPI library by calling doca_dpi_flow_destroy().

This section describes the gRPC (Google remote procedure calls) support for DOCA DPI API. The DOCA DPI gRPC-based API, allows users on the host to leverage the HW offload capabilities of the BlueField-2 DPU using gRPC calls from the host itself. For more information about gRPC support in DOCA, refer to the NVIDIA DOCA gRPC Infrastructure User Guide.

The following figure illustrates the DOCA DPI gRPC server-client communication.

6.1. Proto-buff

As with every gRPC proto-buff, DOCA DPI gRPC proto-buff defines the service it introduces and the messages used for communication between the client and the server.

Users are provided with the proto-buff file doca_dpi.proto. This file defines message representation of DOCA DPI API structs and enums, and defines the service, its RPCs, the request, and response objects.

Each message defined in doca_dpi.proto with the DocaDpi prefix represents exactly one struct or enum defined by the DOCA DPI API.

The following figure illustrates how DOCA DPI gRPC server represents the DOCA DPI API.

The proto-buff path for DOCA DPI gRPC is /opt/mellanox/doca/infrastructure/doca_grpc/doca_dpi/doca_dpi.proto.

6.2. Usage

Similarly to the regular DPI API, the gRPC DPI is dependent on the same constraints, and its RPCs must be called in the same manner, except for doca_dpi_init which is invoked by the service upon loading instead of via gRPC call.

The host must use a connection tracking mechanism to provide the DOCA DPI gRPC service with ordered and unfragmented packets.

The gRPC API replaces the usage of struct rte_mbuf packets with message DocaDpiGenericPacket which is not protocol-dependent and is detailed in section Enqueue.

For more information about the sections that follow, please refer to the regular DPI API guide (chapters 1-5) or the doca_dpi.h file.

6.3. gRPC API

Refer to NVIDIA DOCA Libraries API Reference Manual for DPI API documentation.

The following subsections provide additional details about the library gRPC API.

6.3.1. doca_dpi_ctx

Unlike direct usage of DOCA DPI API, no struct doca_dpi_ctx is passed to the client. Instead, it is saved in the service and used when needed.

The client API does provide struct doca_dpi_ctx*, but it is only a symbolic identifier of the actual struct, doca_dpi_ctx, on the server. This means that the client cannot configure the DPI engine with struct doca_dpi_config. Instead, when the server is deployed it uses a default configuration.

6.3.2. DocaDpiFlowCtx

DocaDpiFlowCtx contains a unique ID to identify the real flow context instance:

            

            
message DocaDpiFlowCtx {
	uint64 unique_id = 1;
}
        

unique_id

Unique identifier given by the server to identify an existing flow.

6.3.3. DocaDpiInitParams

DocaDpiInitParams is the gRPC equivalent to doca_dpi_config_t. It contains a unique ID to identify the real flow context instance:

            

            
message DocaDpiFlowCtx {
    uint32 uint16_nb_queues = 1;
    uint32 max_packets_per_queue = 2;
    uint32 max_sig_match_len = 3;
}
        

uint16_nb_queues

The number of DPI queues to create.

max_packets_per_queue

The maximum number of packets a single queue can have concurrently processed by the DPI engine.

max_sig_match_len

The maximum length that DPI guarantees to provide a match on, including across consecutive packets.

6.3.4. DocaDpiInitResponse

            

            
message DocaDpiInitResponse {
    DocaDpiErrorInfo erreno = 1;
    uint32 nb_microservices = 2;
}
        

erreno

Possible error info.

nb_microservices

Number of active micro services with independent IP address. The i-th service listens to the given IP and the given port+i.

6.3.5. DocaDpiFlowCreateParams

This structure is used to replace the input arguments of doca_dpi_flow_create.

The parameter uint16_dpi_q can be anything between 0 and the number of lcores the DPU has minus 1.

            

            
message DocaDpiFlowCreateParams {
    DocaDpiParsingInfo parsing_info = 1;
    uint32 uint16_dpi_q = 2; /* The DPI packets queue the flow will be assigned to. */
}
        

parsing_info

Holds the connection information (e.g. source IP, source port, destination IP, destination port, flow direction).

uint16_dpi_q

Defines with which packet processing queue to associate the entire flow and its packets.

6.3.6. DocaDpiGenericPacket

            

            
message DocaDpiGenericPacket {
	bytes segment = 1;  /* The packet data, max length is 65535 (0xffff). */
}
        

segment

Sequence of bytes of the original received packet. Including the packet header in bytes is not mandatory.

The proto-buff type DocaDpiGenericPacket is used to enqueue a packet with up to 65535 bytes of payload or segment (both are applicable) which can include the actual packet headers.

6.3.7. DocaDpiDequeueParams

This structure is used to replace the input arguments of doca_dpi_dequeue. When dequeuing a packet, the mandatory parameter uint16_dpi_q refers to the inner packets-queue from which to dequeue a packet. uint16_dpi_q can be anything between 0 and the number of lcores the DPU has minus 1.

            

            
message DocaDpiDequeueParams {
	uint32 uint16_dpi_q = 1; /* The DPI queue from which to dequeue the flows packets. */
}
        

uint16_dpi_q

The packet processing queue from which to dequeue a previously inserted packet.

6.3.8. DocaDpiErrorInfo

This structure is used to indicate any DOCA DPI return status from the actual method found in doca_dpi.h. Also, if the remote DOCA DPI API prompts a message to the terminal, even if no error occurs, the string field err_msg will contain that message. Errors are returned as follows:

            

            
message DocaDpiErrorInfo {
	int64 error_code = 1;
	optional string err_msg = 2;
}
        

error_code

The return status from the corresponding non-remote API. The gRPC header has documentation of possible values for each API call. An error_code with non-zero value indicates that an error occurred.

err_msg

(Optional) Exists only if a print had occurred on the remote server.

An error code with a negative value indicates that an error occurred. A positive value returned indicates a DPI enum value (enum type depends on the API call).

6.3.9. DocaDpiActionResponse

This structure is used to replace the return value and set arguments by the remote doca_dpi_dequeue and doca_dpi_flow_match_get.

            

            
message DocaDpiActionResponse {
	DocaDpiErrorInfo erreno = 1;
	DocaDpiResult result = 2;  /* gRPC message equvalent to doca_dpi_result struct. */
}
        

erreno

Possible error info.

result

The DPI engine results from processing the packet/flow.

6.3.10. DocaDpiLoadSignaturesParams

            

            
message DocaDpiLoadSignaturesParams {
	oneof cdo {
		string cdo_filename = 1;  /* Path, on the DPU, to a cdo file */
		bytes cdo_data = 2;       /* Content of a cdo file. */
	}
}
        

cdo_filename

An absolute path of the DPU to a .cdo file.

cdo_data

The content of a .cdo file, as a sequence of bytes.

Only one of the fields can be present, similarly to a Union in C.

The CDO file must be produced in the same manner as in regular DPI API.

6.3.11. DocaDpiInit

            

            
rpc DocaDpiInit (DocaDpiInitParams) returns (DocaDpiInitResponse);
        

Creates a new DPI context on the server. It aborts with gRPC status code ALREADY_EXISTS if a context already exists. For instructions about destroying it and creating a new one, see DocaDpiDestroy.

6.3.12. DocaDpiLoadSignatures

            

            
rpc DocaDpiLoadSignatures (DocaDpiLoadSignaturesParams) returns (DocaDpiErrorInfo);
        

This differs from the regular doca_dpi_load_signatures by including the option to send a CDO file, instead of only a path to a CDO file, on BlueField:

• Like the regular doca_dpi_load_signatures argument, the argument DocaDpiLoadSignaturesParams.cdo_filename() is a path to a CDO file on the DPU
• Unlike the regular DocaDpiLoadSignaturesParams.doca_dpi_load_signatures(), an entire CDO file can be sent inside cdo_data instead of using a path

6.3.13. DocaDpiDestroy

The service can properly exit by calling the RPC method DocaDpiDestroy.

            

            
rpc DocaDpiDestroy (DocaDpiDestroyParams) returns (DocaDpiDpiDestroyResponse);
        

When invoked, the server destroys the DPI context and releases all state resources. It does not destroy any of the existing DPI flows and does not free enqueued packets.

6.3.14. Additional gRPC APIs

            

            
rpc DocaDpiDequeue (DocaDpiDequeueParams) returns (DocaDpiActionResponse);
rpc DocaDpiFlowCreate (DocaDpiFlowCreateParams) returns (DocaDpiFlowCreateResponse);
rpc DocaDpiFlowDestroy (DocaDpiFlowDestroyParams) returns (DocaDpiFlowDestroyResponse);
rpc DocaDpiFlowMatchGet (DocaDpiFlowMatchGetParams) returns (DocaDpiActionResponse);
rpc DocaDpiSignatureGet (DocaDpiSignatureGetParams) returns (DocaDpiSignatureGetResponse);
rpc DocaDpiSignaturesGet (DocaDpiSignaturesGetParams) returns (DocaDpiSignaturesGetResponse);
rpc DocaDpiStatGet (DocaDpiStatGetParams) returns (DocaDpiStatInfo);
        

These methods work in the same manner as the regular DPI API, where the input variables to the matching doca_dpi.h method are members of the <Prefix>Params structure, and the output variables (i.e., return value and pointers to be set) are returned in the response.

6.4. Multi-Processing and Multithreading

6.4.1. Enqueue

            

            
rpc DocaDpiEnqueue (DocaDpiEnqueueParams) returns (DocaDpiErrorInfo);
        

Enqueue RPC is thread-safe per queue. This means that:

• Multiple processes/threads can use enqueue when the flows are linked to different queues
• Multiple processes/threads cannot use enqueue when the flows are linked to the same queue

6.4.2. Matching

            

            
rpc DocaDpiDequeue (DocaDpiDequeueParams) returns (DocaDpiActionResponse);
rpc DocaDpiFlowMatchGet (DocaDpiFlowMatchGetParams) returns (DocaDpiActionResponse);
        

The same DPI gRPC server can be used by many processes/threads by using one of the following 2 options:

• Use DocaDpiFlowMatchGet instead of DocaDpiDequeue. Notice that dequeuing is still needed to free up the DPI queue.
• Use a different uint16_dpi_q value for each process/thread. By doing so, users can make sure packets from only one processing entity reach a certain queue and that only its packets are dequeued from that queue.

There can be only one DPI server at a time due to the ownership of the HW RegEx accelerator.

6.5. DOCA DPI gRPC Client API

This section describes the recommended way for C developers to use gRPC support for DOCA DPI API.

For the library API reference, refer to DOCA DPI gRPC API documentation in NVIDIA DOCA Libraries API Reference Manual.

The following sections provide additional details about the library API.

The DOCA installation includes libdoca_dpi_grpc which is a library that provides a C API wrapper to the C++ gRPC while mimicking the regular DOCA DPI API for ease of use and to allow smooth transition to the Arm. This library API is exposed in doca_dpi_grpc_client.h and is essentially the same as doca_dpi.h with the notation differences detailed in the following subsections.

Messages from the server are prompted to the terminal only if errors occur (i.e., only when the gRPC fails or remote DPI invocation returns an error).

6.5.1. doca_dpi_grpc_generic_packet

Packets are not of type rte_mbuf (DPDK). Instead, the following struct is defined:

            

            
struct doca_dpi_grpc_generic_packet {
    uint8_t *segment;  /**< The buffer with data to be scanned by the DPI */
    uint16_t seg_len;  /**< The length of the data inside segment buffer */
};
        

segment

Sequence of bytes that describe a packet or a packet payload (both are applicable).

seg_len

The number of bytes in the segment. A segment can contain an entire packet or just the payload (both are applicable).

The struct struct doca_dpi_result is replaced by struct doca_dpi_grpc_result which uses doca_dpi_grpc_generic_packet instead of rte_mbuf.

6.5.2. doca_dpi_config_t

Same as the regular DPI config structure with an additional field:

            

            
struct doca_dpi_config_t {
    uint16_t nb_queues;
    uint32_t max_packets_per_queue;
    uint32_t max_sig_match_len;
    const char *server_address;
};
        

nb_queues

Number of DPI queues.

max_packets_per_queue

The maximum number of packets a single queue can have concurrently processed by the DPI engine.

max_sig_match_len

The maximum length that DPI guarantees to provide a match on, including across consecutive packets.

server_address

String representing the server IP (e.g., "127.0.0.1" or "192.168.100.3:5050"). If no port is provided, it uses the server's default port.

6.5.3. General Function Signatures

All signature prefixes have changed so doca_dpi_<name> becomes doca_dpi_grpc_<name>. For example, the function doca_dpi_init is replaced with:

            

            
struct doca_dpi_ctx* doca_dpi_grpc_init(const struct doca_dpi_config_t *config, int *error);
        

config [in]

Configuration for the remote server.

error [out]

Output error. Negative value indicates an error.

The function returns a mock pointer to the remote DPI opaque context struct.

6.5.4. doca_dpi_grpc_enqueue

The function doca_dpi_grpc_enqueue has two additional parameters that doca_dpi_enqueue does not have:

            

            
int doca_dpi_grpc_enqueue(struct doca_dpi_flow_ctx *flow_ctx,
                 struct doca_dpi_grpc_generic_packet *pkt, bool initiator,
                 uint32_t payload_offset, void *user_data,
                 size_t user_data_len, uint16_t dpi_q);
        

flow_ctx [in]

The flow context handler.

pkt [in]

The packet as binary buffer to be processed.

initiator [in]

Indicates to which direction the packet belongs.

1 – if the packet arrives from client to server.

0 – if the packet arrives from server to client.

Note:

Typically, the first packet arrives from the initiator (client).

payload_offset [in]

Indicates where the packet's payload begins.

user_data [in]

Private user data to be returned when the DPI job is dequeued

user_data_len [in]

Length of the user_data param.

dpi_q [in]

The DPI queue the flow was created on.

The function returns doca_dpi_enqueue_status_t or other negative error code.

Enqueue does not take ownership of packet memory (unlike regular DOCA DPI). This means that enqueued packets can be freed after call return, but they must be dequeued to be freed on the server.

6.5.5. doca_dpi_grpc_flow_destory and doca_dpi_grpc_flow_match_get

These functions are the same as their non-remote equivalents, doca_dpi_flow_destory and doca_dpi_flow_match_get, except for one additional parameter:

            

            
uint16_t dpi_q
        

dpi_q [in]

The DPI queue on which to create the flows.

6.5.6. Pre-use Setup

The client gRPC API should be used only after the gRPC server is spawned and finished initializing. For info about deployment, refer to NVIDIA DOCA gRPC Infrastructure User Guide.

Except for the minor differences mentioned in this chapter, the client gRPC API should be used in the same manner as the regular API as specified in previous chapters (i.e., using the same initialization flow, API calls and structs, limitations, etc).

The client gRPC API must not be used together with the regular DOCA DPI file (described in chapters 1-5), doca_dpi.h .

6.5.7. Destroying gRPC Client

Destroying the gRPC client does not destroy the gRPC DPI server. For information on how to destroy the server, refer to NVIDIA DOCA gRPC Infrastructure User Guide.

Please refer to the NVIDIA DOCA DPI Sample Guide for more information about the API of this DOCA library.

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