NVIDIA BlueField-2 Data Processing Unit (DPU) Firmware Release Notes v24.34.1002

Release Notes Update History

Revision

Date

Description

24.34.1002

August 02, 2022

Initial release of this Release Notes version,

This version introduces Changes and New Features and Bug Fixes.

Overview

Firmware which is added at the time of manufacturing, is used to run user programs on the device and can be thought of as the software that allows hardware to run. Embedded firmware is used to control the functions of various hardware devices and systems, much like a computer’s operating system (OS) controls the function of software applications. Firmware may be written into read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or flash memory.

NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPU provides innovative acceleration, security, and efficiency in every host. BlueField-2 data center infrastructure combines the power of the NVIDIA ConnectX®-6 Dx with programmable Arm® cores and hardware offloads for software-defined storage, networking, security, and management workloads.

NVIDIA BlueField-2 also delivers superior performance, security, and reduced TCO for cloud computing platforms, enabling organizations to efficiently build and operate virtualized, containerized, and bare-metal infrastructures at massive scale.

NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPU NIC Operation Mode

In this mode, the DPU behaves exactly like an adapter card from the perspective of the external host. The ECPFs on the Arm side are not functional in this mode but the user is still able to access the Arm system and update mlxconfig options.

To enable DPU NIC mode, run the following from the x86 host side:

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$ mst start $ mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/<device> s INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL=1 \ INTERNAL_CPU_PAGE_SUPPLIER=1 \ INTERNAL_CPU_ESWITCH_MANAGER=1 \ INTERNAL_CPU_IB_VPORT0=1 \ INTERNAL_CPU_OFFLOAD_ENGINE=1 $ mlxfwreset -d /dev/mst/<device> r Minimal reset level for device, /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0:   3: Driver restart and PCI reset Continue with reset?[y/N] y -I- Sending Reset Command To Fw -Done -I- Stopping Driver -Done -I- Resetting PCI -Done -I- Starting Driver -Done -I- Restarting MST -Done -I- FW was loaded successfully.

Warning

To restrict RShim PF (optional), make sure to configure INTERNAL_CPU_RSHIM=1 as part of the mlxconfig command.

Firmware Download

Please visit Firmware Downloads.

Document Revision History

A list of the changes made to this document are provided in Document Revision History.

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