File Compression

NVIDIA DOCA File Compression Application Guide

This document provides a file compression implementation on top of the NVIDIA® BlueField® DPU.

1. Introduction

The file compression application exhibits how to use the DOCA Compress API to compress and decompress data using hardware acceleration as well as sending and receiving it using DOCA Comm Channel API.

The application's logic includes both a client and a server:

Client side – the application opens a file, compresses it, and sends to the server the checksum of the source file alongside the compressed data
Server side – the application saves the received file in a buffer, decompresses it, and compares the received checksum with the calculated one

2. System Design

The file compression application client runs on the host and the server runs on the DPU.

3. Application Architecture

The file compression application runs on top of the DOCA Comm Channel API to send and receive the file from the host and to the DPU.

Connection is established on both sides by DOCA Comm Channel API.
Client submits compress job with DOCA Compress API and sends the result to the server.
Client sends the number of messages needed to send the compressed content of the file.
Client sends data segments in size of up to 4080 bytes.
Server saves the received data in a buffer and submits a decompress job.
Server sends an ACK message to the client when all parts of the file are received successfully.
Server compares the received checksum to the calculated checksum.
Server writes the decompressed data to an output file.

4. DOCA Libraries

This application leverages the following DOCA libraries:

5. Configuration Flow

Parse application argument.

Initialize arg parser resources and register DOCA general parameters.

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            doca_argp_init();

Register file compression application parameters.

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            register_file_compression_params();

Parse the arguments.

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            doca_argp_start();

Parse app flags.

Set queue-pair attributes.
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```
            
            set_endpoint_properties();
        
```
1. Set maximum message size of 4080 bytes.
2. Set maximum messages allowed on queue pair.

Create Comm Channel endpoint.

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            doca_comm_channel_ep_create();

Create endpoint for client/server.

Create compress context.
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```
            
            doca_compress_create();
        
```
1. Create compress context for submitting compress jobs for client/server.

Run client/server main logic.

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            file_compression_client/server();

Clean up the file compression application.

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            file_compression_cleanup();

Free all application resources.

Arg parser destroy.

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            doca_argp_destroy()

6. Running Application

Refer to the following documents:
- NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux for details on how to install BlueField-related software.
- NVIDIA DOCA Troubleshooting Guide for any issue you may encounter with the installation, compilation, or execution of DOCA applications.
- NVIDIA DOCA Applications Overview for additional compilation instructions and development tips regarding the DOCA applications.
The file compression binary is located under /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/bin/doca_file_compression. To build all the applications together, run:
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```
            
            cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/
meson build 
ninja -C build
        
```

To build only the file compression application:

Edit the following flags in /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/meson_option.txt:
- Set enable_all_applications to false
- Set enable_file_compression to true
Run the commands in step 2.

Note:

doca_file_compression is created under ./build/file_compression/src/.

Application usage:

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            Usage: doca_file_compression [DOCA Flags] [Program Flags]
DOCA Flags:
  -h, --help                 Print a help synopsis
  -v, --version              Print program version information
  -l, --log-level            Set the log level for the program <CRITICAL=20, ERROR=30, WARNING=40, INFO=50, DEBUG=60>
 
Program Flags:
  -d, --dev-pci              Comm Channel DOCA device PCI address
  -r, --rep-pci              Comm Channel DOCA device representor PCI address
  -f, --file                 File to send by the client / File to write by the server

Note:

For additional information on the application, use -h option:

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            /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/bin/doca_file_compression -h

CLI example for running the application on BlueField:

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            /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/bin/doca_file_compression -d 03:00.0 -r 3b:00.0 -f received.txt

CLI example for running the application on the host:

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            /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/bin/doca_file_compression -d 3b:00.0 -f send.txt

Note:

Refer to section "Running DOCA Application on Host" in NVIDIA DOCA Virtual Functions User Guide.

To run doca_file_compression using a JSON file:

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            doca_file_compression --json [json_file]

For example:

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            cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/bin
./file_compression --json ./file_compression_params.json

7. Arg Parser DOCA Flags

For more information, refer to NVIDIA DOCA Arg Parser User Guide.

Flag Type	Short Flag	Long Flag/JSON Key	Description	JSON Content
General Flags	l	log-level	Set the log level for the application: CRITICAL=20 ERROR=30 WARNING=40 INFO=50 DEBUG=60	Copy Copied! `"log-level": 60`
	v	version	Print program version information	N/A
	h	help	Print a help synopsis	N/A
Program Flags	f	file	For client – path to the file to be sent For server – path to write the file into Note: This is mandatory flag.	Copy Copied! `"file": "/tmp/data.txt"`
	d	dev-pci	Comm Channel DOCA device PCIe address Note: This is mandatory flag.	Copy Copied! `"dev-pci": 03:00.1`
	r	rep-pci	Comm Channel DOCA device representor PCIe address Note: This flag is a mandatory only on the DPU.	Copy Copied! `"rep-pci": b1:00.1`

8. References

/opt/mellanox/doca/applications/file_compression/src/file_compression.c

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