DPL Runtime Service

This page explains how to deploy, configure, and operate the DOCA Pipeline Language (DPL) Runtime Service on NVIDIA® BlueField® DPUs. The service enables runtime management of data plane pipelines compiled using DPL.

The DPL Runtime Service programs and manages the DPU datapath at runtime. It supports dynamic rule insertion, packet monitoring, and forwarding logic using both standard and proprietary APIs.

The service consists of the following core components:

High-level system illustration:

Supported Platforms

DPL is supported on the following BlueField SKUs:

The following NVIDIA DPUs are supported with DOCA on the host:

• BlueField-3 devices

Hardware Prerequisites

For the the system requirements, see DPU's hardware user guide .

Software Prerequisites

Firmware is included in the BFB bundle available on the NVIDIA DevZone. Use bfb-install to install the bundle. For example:

            

            
bfb-install --bfb bf-bundle-3.1.0-102_25.04_ubuntu-22.04_prod.bfb --rshim rshim0
        

Helpful resources:

• DOCA Installation Guide for Linux

• Set Up DPU Management Access and Update BlueField-Bundle

Firmware Settings

The following firmware configuration is required and applied by the dpl_dpu_setup.sh script documented at DPL Container Deployment:

            

            
FLEX_PARSER_PROFILE_ENABLE=4
PROG_PARSE_GRAPH=true
SRIOV_EN=1  # Required only if using VFs
        

To enable multi-port eSwitch mode, also set:

            

            
LAG_RESOURCE_ALLOCATION=1
        

The following table lists the possible ingress and egress ports for a given packet that is processed by a BlueField pipeline (DPU mode):

Prerequisites

• BlueField must be in DPU Mode.

• SR-IOV or SFs must be enabled and created on the host.

• DOCA must be installed on the host and BlueField.

• Ensure doca-rt-service configuration files are available. Refer to DPL Service Configuration for details.

Installation

Refer to the DPL Container Deployment for detailed steps on deploying the DPL Runtime Service container.

The dpl-dev container provides essential developer tools for compiling, loading, and debugging DPL programs, including:

• DPL Compiler

• Nspect CLI

• Admin CLI

• DPL Debugger

• Runtime Controller SDK

Once the dpl-rt-service is running and the dpl-dev container is installed, you can:

1. Compile your DPL programs. Refer to Compiling DPL Applications.

2. Load the compiled program into the runtime. Refer to Loading DPL Applications.

3. (Optional) Use DOCA Pipeline Language Developer Tools for debugging and verification.

Advanced users may implement their own controller to communicate with the DPL Runtime via P4Runtime 1.3.0 over gRPC (TCP port 9559).

Resources:

• Protobuf definitions available at p4lang/p4runtime GitHub

• Local Path (container): /opt/mellanox/third_party/dpl_rt_service/p4runtime/

• Toolchain: Use standard gRPC + protobuf toolchains (e.g., IN C++)