DOCA Documentation v2.5.0 LTS
1.0

NVIDIA DOCA NAT Application Guide

This document provides a NAT implementation on top of NVIDIA® BlueField® DPU.

The Network Address Translation (NAT) reference application leverages the DPU's hardware capability to switch packets with local IP addresses to global ones and vise versa.

The NAT application is based on the DOCA Flow API used for the programming of the DPU's hardware.

NAT can operate in three modes:

  • Static mode – application gets pairs of local IP address and global IP address from the user using a JSON file

  • Dynamic mode – user provides pool of global IP addresses that can be used. The application should pick one address from the pool for new local area network (LAN) IP address and use it. Once the session closes, the addresses are returned to the pool.

  • PAT mode (DNS offload) – the user provides one global address to use. In addition, the user provides mapping between the local port address to the global port. For each packet, the local address is replaced with the global one and ports are replaced according to mapping table.

The NAT application is design to run on the DPU. The DPU intercepts ingress traffic from both wire and host, switches the relevant IP address and port according to data configured by the user, and forwards it to the egress port.

system-design-diagram-version-1-modificationdate-1702941515793-api-v2.png

NAT runs on the DPU to classify packets.

The app should be configured using a JSON file which includes the operation mode.

Static Mode

For static mode, the JSON file should include pairs of local and global IP addresses. No change for ports in this mode.

static-mode-diagram-version-1-modificationdate-1702941516520-api-v2.png


Dynamic Mode

The user must provide a pool of global IP addresses to use. The application allocates a global address to every miss in the pipe (new local address).

If no more global addresses are available in the pool, the user gets an error message and the packet is sent as is.

The application performs a callback to remove the matching of global and local IPs and returns the address to the pool.

dynamic-mode-diagram-version-1-modificationdate-1702941516863-api-v2.png


PAT (NAT Offload) Mode

The user provides a global address to replace all local addresses in the user LAN.

The user provides a matching of local IP and port to global port.

The application changes the local IP of every match to the global IP provided by the user and updates the port number according to user configuration.

nat-offload-diagram-version-1-modificationdate-1702941517303-api-v2.png


This application leverages the following DOCA library:

Refer to its respective programming guide for more information.

Installation

Refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux for details on how to install BlueField-related software .

Prerequisites

The NAT application is based on DOCA Flow. Therefore, the user is required to allocate huge pages.

Copy
Copied!
            

echo '2048' | sudo tee -a /sys/kernel/mm/hugepages/hugepages-2048kB/nr_hugepages

Warning

On some operating systems (RockyLinux, OpenEuler, CentOS 8.2) the default huge page size on the DPU (and Arm hosts) is larger than 2MB, and is often 512MB instead. In such cases, the guiding principal is to allocate 4GB of RAM, and instead of allocating 2048 pages, one should allocate the matching amount (8 pages):

Copy
Copied!
            

sudo echo 8 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages


Application Execution

The NAT application is provided in both source and binary forms, The binary is located under /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin/doca_nat.

  1. Application usage instructions:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    Usage: doca_nat [DPDK Flags] -- [DOCA Flags] [Program Flags]   DOCA Flags: -h, --help Print a help synopsis -v, --version Print program version information -l, --log-level Set the (numeric) log level for the program <10=DISABLE, 20=CRITICAL, 30=ERROR, 40=WARNING, 50=INFO, 60=DEBUG, 70=TRACE> --sdk-log-level Set the SDK (numeric) log level for the program <10=DISABLE, 20=CRITICAL, 30=ERROR, 40=WARNING, 50=INFO, 60=DEBUG, 70=TRACE> -j, --json <path> Parse all command flags from an input json file   Program Flags: -m, --mode <mode> set NAT mode -r, --nat-rules <path> Path to the JSON file with NAT rules -lan, --lan-intf <lan intf> name of LAN interface -wan, --wan-intf <wan intf> name of wan interface

    Note

    This usage printout can be printed to the command line using the -h (or --help) options:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin/doca_nat -- -h

    Note

    For additional information, refer to section "Command Line Flags".

  2. CLI example for running the application on the BlueField:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin/doca_nat -a auxiliary:mlx5_core.sf.4,dv_flow_en=2 -a auxiliary:mlx5_core.sf.5,dv_flow_en=2 -- -m static -r /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin/nat_static_rules.json -lan sf3 -wan sf4

    Warning

    SFs must be enabled according to NVIDIA BlueField DPU Scalable Function User Guide.

    Warning

    The flag -a auxiliary:mlx5_core.sf.4,dv_flow_en=2 -a auxiliary:mlx5_core.sf.5,dv_flow_en=2 is mandatory for proper usage of the application. Modifying this flag results in unexpected behavior as only 2 ports are supported. The SF number is arbitrary and configurable.

    Warning

    The SF numbers must match the identifiers of the configured SFs.

  3. The application also supports a JSON-based deployment mode, in which all command-line arguments are provided through a JSON file:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    doca_nat --json [json_file]

    For example:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin ./doca_nat --json ./nat_params.json

    Warning

    Before execution, ensure that the used JSON file contains the correct configuration parameters, and especially the PCIe addresses necessary for the deployment.

Command Line Flags

Flag Type

Short Flag

Long Flag/JSON Key

Description

JSON Content

DPDK Flags

a

devices

Add a PCIe device into the list of devices to probe

Copy
Copied!
            

"devices": [    {"device": "sf", "id": "4","hws": true},     {"device": "sf", "id": "5","hws": true},  ]

General flags

h

help

Prints a help synopsis

N/A

v

version

Prints program version information

N/A

l

log-level

Set the log level for the application:

  • DISABLE=10

  • CRITICAL=20

  • ERROR=30

  • WARNING=40

  • INFO=50

  • DEBUG=60

  • TRACE=70 ( requires compilation with TRACE log level support )

Copy
Copied!
            

"log-level": 60

N/A

sdk-log-level

Sets the log level for the program:

  • DISABLE=10

  • CRITICAL=20

  • ERROR=30

  • WARNING=40

  • INFO=50

  • DEBUG=60

  • TRACE=70

Copy
Copied!
            

"sdk-log-level": 40

j

json

Parse all command flags from an input json file

N/A

Program Flags

m

mode

Set NAT mode

Copy
Copied!
            

"mode": "static"

r

nat-rules

Path to the JSON file with NAT rules

Copy
Copied!
            

"nat-rules": "nat_static_rules.json"

lan

Lan-intf

Name of LAN interface

Copy
Copied!
            

"lan-intf": "sf3"

wan

Wan-intf

Name of WAN interface

Copy
Copied!
            

"wan-intf": "sf4"

Note

Refer to DOCA Arg Parser for more information regarding the supported flags and execution modes.


Troubleshooting

Refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Troubleshooting Guide for any issue encountered with the installation or execution of the DOCA applications .

In addition to providing the application in binary form, the installation also includes all of the application sources and compilation instructions so as to allow modifying the sources and recompiling the application. For more information about the applications, as well as development and compilation tips, refer to the DOCA Applications page.

The sources of the application can be found under the /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/src directory.

Recompiling All Applications

The applications are all defined under a single meson project, so the default compilation recompiles all the DOCA applications.

To build all the applications together, run:

Copy
Copied!
            

cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/ meson /tmp/build ninja -C /tmp/build

Note

doca_nat is created under /tmp/build/nat/src/.


Recompiling NAT Application Only

To directly build only the NAT application:

Copy
Copied!
            

cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/ meson /tmp/build -Denable_all_applications=false -Denable_nat=true ninja -C /tmp/build

Note

doca_nat is created under /tmp/build/nat/src/.

Alternatively, users can set the desired flags in the meson_options.txt file instead of providing them in the compilation command line:

  1. Edit the following flags in /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/meson_options.txt:

    • Set enable_all_applications to false

    • Set enable_nat to true

  2. Run the following compilation commands :

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    cd /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/ meson /tmp/build ninja -C /tmp/build

    Note

    doca_nat is created under /tmp/build/nat/src/

Troubleshooting

Refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Troubleshooting Guide for any issue encountered with the compilation of the application .

  1. Parse application argument.

    1. Initialize arg parser resources and register DOCA general parameters.

      Copy
      Copied!
                  

      doca_argp_init();

    2. Register NAT application.

      Copy
      Copied!
                  

      register_nat_params()

    3. Parse the arguments.

      Copy
      Copied!
                  

      doca_argp_start();

      1. Parse DPDK flags and invoke handler for calling the rte_eal_init() function.

      2. Parse app parameters.

  2. DPDK initialization.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    dpdk_init();

    Calls rte_eal_init() to initialize EAL resources with the provided EAL flags.

  3. DPDK port initialization and start.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    dpdk_queues_and_ports_init();

    1. Initialize DPDK ports, including mempool allocation.

    2. Initialize hairpin queues if needed.

    3. Bind hairpin queues of each port to its peer port.

  4. NAT initialization.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    nat_init();

    1. DOCA Flow and DOCA Flow port initialization.

  5. Init user configuration rules into app structure.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    parsing_nat_rules();

  6. Init pipes and entry according to rules.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    nat_pipes_init();

  7. Wait for signal to end application.

  8. NAT destroy.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    nat_destroy();

  9. DPDK ports and queues destruction.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    dpdk_queues_and_ports_fini();

  10. DPDK finish.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    dpdk_fini();

    1. Calls rte_eal_destroy() to destroy initialized EAL resources.

  11. Arg parser destroy.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    doca_argp_destroy();

  • /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/src

  • /opt/mellanox/doca/applications/nat/bin/nat_params.json

© Copyright 2023, NVIDIA. Last updated on Feb 9, 2024.