Before configuring mlnx_snap, the user must ensure all FW configuration requirements are met. By default, mlnx_snap is disabled, and needs to be enabled by running both common mlnx-snap configuration, and additional protocol-specific configuration depending on the expected usage of the application (e.g. Hotplug, SR-IOV, UEFI boot, etc).
After all configuration is finished, power-cycling the host is required for these changes to take effect.
To verify that all configuration requirements are satisfied, users may query the current/next configuration by running the following:
mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 -e query
(Optional) Reset all previous configuration.
[dpu] mst start [dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 reset
NoteThis will return your product to its default configurations. Do this only if you were not able to get SNAP to work.
Set general basic parameters.
On BlueField-2:
[dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL=1
On BlueField:
[dpu] sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 s INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL=1 PF_BAR2_ENABLE=1 PF_BAR2_SIZE=1
When using RDMA/RoCE transport, additional parameters must be configured:
[dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PER_PF_NUM_SF=
1[dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PF_SF_BAR_SIZE=8PF_TOTAL_SF=2[dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0.1s PF_SF_BAR_SIZE=8PF_TOTAL_SF=2
| Parameter | Description | Possible Values | Comments |
| SRIOV_EN | Enable SR-IOV | 0/1 | |
| NUM_OF_VFS | Number of VFs per emulated PF | [0-127] | |
| NUM_PF_MSIX | Number of MSIX assigned to emulated PF | [0-63] | |
| NUM_VF_MSIX | Number of MSIX assigned to emulated VF | [0-63] | |
| PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_ENABLE | Enable PCI switch for emulated PFs | 0/1 | |
| PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT | Max number of emulated PFs | [0-32] | Single port is reserved for all static PFs |
SRIOV_EN is valid only for static PFs
| Parameter | Description | Possible Values | Comments |
| NVME_EMULATION_ENABLE | Enable NVMe device emulation | 0/1 | |
| NVME_EMULATION_NUM_PF | Number of static emulated nvme PFs | [0-2] | |
| NVME_EMULATION_NUM_MSIX | Number of MSIX assigned to emulated NVMe PF/VF | [0-63] | |
| NVME_EMULATION_NUM_VF | Number of VFs per emulated NVMe PF | [0-127] | If not 0, overrides NUM_OF_VFS; valid only when SRIOV_EN=1 |
| EXP_ROM_NVME_UEFI_x86_ENABLE | Enable NVMe UEFI exprom driver | 0/1 | Used for UEFI boot process |
Due to virtio-blk protocol limitations, using bad configuration while working with static virtio-blk PFs may cause the host server OS to fail on boot.
Before continuing, make sure you have configured:
A working channel to access Arm even when the host is shut down. Setting such channel is out of the scope of this document. Please refer to “NVIDIA BlueField DPU Family Software Documentation” for more details.
Add the following line to /etc/mlnx_snap/snap_rpc_init.conf:
controller_virtio_blk_create mlx5_0 --pf_id 0 --bdev_type none
For more information, please refer to section “VirtIO-blk Controller Management”.
| Parameter | Description | Possible Values | Comments |
| VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_ENABLE | Enable virtio-blk device emulation | 0/1 | |
| VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_PF | Number of static emulated virtio-blk PFs | [0-2] | See WARNING above |
| VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_MSIX | Number of MSIX assigned to emulated virtio-blk PF/VF | [0-63] | |
| VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_VF | Number of VFs per emulated virtio-blk PF | [0-127] | If not 0, overrides NUM_OF_VFS; valid only when SRIOV_EN=1 |
| EXP_ROM_VIRTIO_BLK_UEFI_x86_ENABLE | Enable virtio-blk UEFI exprom driver | 0/1 | Used for UEFI boot process |