Changes and New Feature History

Feature/Change	Description
32.42.1000
Memory Slow Release	Added a new command interface "Memory slow release" to enable/disable holding memory pages for a defined period of time. Once the timer expires, the firmware will return the pages to the driver.
Server's Resource Size	Increased the server's resource size for 10k data QP (connections from NVME initiator) attached to the XRQ upon 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB staging buffer.
Hotplug Power Off for Virtio FS	Added support for Hotplug Power Off for Virtio FS (hotplug_power_off).
Kernel Lockdown	Added support for MVTS register via a miscellaneous driver using the access_register PRM command.
Dynamic Queue Modification	Added support for Virtio devices' dynamic queue modification. A Virtio PF manages the available number of queues (doorbells) that can be allocated to its Virtio VFs.
Managed Hot-Plug	Added support for remove/plugged-in Memory Device units while the system is active. To insert/remove the device while the system is active, use the Attention Button Control or User OS Commands, press Attention Butten if exists or write SW Command if not exists. Note: This capability is not enabled by default, to enable managed hot plug, configure the following setting using mlxconfig and then power-cycle: setting name: OFF_BOARD_SERIALIZER cmd: mlxconfig -d <device> set OFF_BOARD_SERIALIZER=1 Description: when set, the BlueField-3 enables the serializer that is connected to the SMC bridge board and enables the bitstream.
ResourceDump QP_INFO	Added QP_INFO segment to resource dump access_register command.
Maximum Number of EQs	Added a new `hca_cap` call `max_num_eqs_24b` to report the number of EQs for VFs, PFs of ECPFs, and SFs. Note: It is only writable for SFs.
MSIX	Firmware allocates the MSIX/VQ resources according to the function number, thus, every VF function will get the same number of MSIX/VQ. For example: In case of a total of 8K MSIX locked ICMC resource, each VF will get 8K MSIX/ (384 vblk VF + 128 vnet VF) = 16 MSIX by symmetric distribution. As of firmware v32.42.100x, X_EMULATION_NUM_VF_MSIX are added to set the Emulation VF device MSIX number in NVCONFIG, such as VIRTIO_VBLK_EMULATION_NUM_VF_MSIX (=8 MSIx for this user case) and VIRTIO_NET_EMULATION_NUM_VF_MSIX (=32 MSIx for this user case).
MSIX Allocation	The user can now know the exact number of allocated MSIX by the firmware using the new added call `actual_msix_number`.
Dynamic MSIX Allocation	Each VF can allocate all VFs' MSIX of the PF as a free pool of the PF. The new modification, increased the maximum VNET/VBLK VF MSIX number from 64 to 256. To see the new value, query the `cmd_hca_cap.max_dynamic_vf_msix_table_size`. Now each VF will get the number of MSI by the asymmetric distribution according to the new VF MSIX configuration (X_EMULATION_NUM_VF_MSIX). If there are not enough MSIX to be allocated, the actual number of MSIXs will be deduced from the total free number and not from the NVCONFIG value. The `actual_msix_number` value is shown as LSPCI value. To get the `actual_msix_number` in the PCI device, query the "Current" column of the mlxconfig, which is the same as the ‘lspci’ shown.
MMO: Cache-Invalidate WQE	Enabled Cache-Invalidate WQE (OPCODE=”MMO”) with OPC_MOD=”DPU_CACHE_INVALIDATE" by default for DPU GVMI. Additionally, added related capabilities to show if this capability is supported and what is the maximum supported data size to be invalidated (2MB by default.).
Steering SF Traffic to a Specific PF MSI-X	MSI-X on SF can be received now through the PF's MSI-X vector.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
32.41.1000
SuperNIC Mode	SuperNIC mode is now the default mode for the following SKUs: 900-9D3B4-00CC-EA0 900-9D3B4-00SC-EA0 900-9D3B4-00CV-EA0 900-9D3B4-00SV-EA0 900-9D3B4-00EN-EA0 900-9D3B4-00PN-EA0 900-9D3D4-00EN-HA0 900-9D3D4-00NN-HA0
virtio-net Emulation Device	Added support for VIRTIO_NET_F_HASH_REPORT(57) bit for the virtio-net emulation device.
virtio-net Emulation Device	Added support for VIRTIO_NET_F_SPEED_DUPLEX(63) bit for the virtio-net emulation device.
virtio Full Emulation	Added support for virtio full emulation scale up to 2k devices.
ODP Event	Added support for the following prefetch fields on ODP event: pre_demand_fault_pages, post_demand_fault_pages.
TRNG FIPS Compliance	Implemented Deterministic Random Bit Generator (DRBG) algorithm on top of firmware TRNG (the source for raw data input) in accordance with NIST SP800-90A.
PSP	Added support for PSP in Hardware Steering.
NVConfig	Added a new NVConfig option to copy AR bit from the BTH header to the DHCP header.
Generic Emulation	Generic Emulation enables the programmers to define their own custom PCI devices to be exposed to the host using the new hot-plug/unplug function flow. The API enables the programmer to control the device BARs layout, software defined BAR registers and hardware offloading mechanisms (MSI-X, DBs).
Steering	Added the option provide field's offset and length in Steering add_action option.
Steering Match	Added support for steering match on packet l4_type through FTG/FTE.
RSHIM PF	RSHIM PF functionalities are now dynamically locked/unlocked during runtime by Platform BMC via the NC-SI commands.
BAR Pages	Added support for 64KB pages. Note: Configuring BAR_PAGE_ALIGNMENT to ALIGN_64KB(2) while one of the following is configured will cause the device to ignore the BAR_PAGE_ALIGNMENT configuration: PF_NUM_PF_MSIX>256 on any of the Physical Functions VIRTIO_EMULATION_HOTPLUG_TRANS/VIRTIO_NET_EMULATION_PF_PCI_LAYOUT/ VIRTIO_NET_EMULATION_VF_PCI_LAYOUT/ VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_PF_PCI_LAYOUT/ VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_PF_PCI_LAYOUT=VIRTIO_TRANSITIONAL(1)
ATF/UEFI Version Query	Added the ability to query ATF/UEFI version via the MISOC register.
Programmable Congestion Control	Added support for PCC NP for RTT according to the IFA2.0 standards.
Flex Parser Merge Mechanism	Extended Flex Parser merge mechanism to support hardware capabilities.
Flex Parser	Enabled the option to disable the native parser when the parse graph node is configured with the same conditions.
Flex Parser	Added support for father/son headers parsing.
LRO	Added support for tunnel_offload in LRO.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
32.40.1000
Socket Direct Single netdev Mapped to Two PCIe Devices	Enabled Single Netdev mapping to two PCIe devices (Socket Direct). Now multiple devices (PFs) of the same port can be combined under a single netdev instance. Traffic is passed through different devices belonging to different NUMA sockets, thus saving cross-NUMA traffic and allowing apps running on the same netdev from different NUMAs to still feel a sense of proximity to the device and achieve improved performance. The netdev is destroyed once any of the PFs is removed. A proper configuration would utilize the correct close NUMA when working on a certain app/CPU. Currently, this capability is limited to PFs only, and up to two devices (sockets). To enable the feature, one must configure the same Socket Direct group (non zero) for both PFs through mlxconfig SD_GROUP.
ACL	Added support for egress ACL to the uplink by adding a new bit to the Set Flow Table Entry: allow_fdb_uplink_hairpin.
Port Rate Limiting	Added a new access register (PBWS) to set the port maximum bandwidth to a value between 95% to 100%.
mlxconfig	Added a new NVConfig parameter to force Congestion Control algorithm to be SW-DCQCN.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
32.39.2048
FEC Configuration	Changed the default FEC configuration for the "Protocol Aware" and "Active DME Modules" (ETH cables). For the list of cable identifiers, see tables below.
NC-SI Channels	Added support for two passthrough channels on dual-port adapter cards.
Expansion ROM	Added a caching mechanism to improved expansion ROM performance and to avoid any slow boot occurrences when loading the expansion ROM driver.
Live Migration Support for Image Size above 4GB	Added support for image size above 4GB when performing a live migration by splitting the image to chunks.
Crypto Algorithms	Extended the role-based authentication to cover all crypto algorithms. Now the TLS. IPsec. MACsec. GCM, mem2mem, and NISP work when `nv_crypto_conf.crypto_policy = CRYPTO_POLICY_FIPS_LEVEL_2,`meaning all cryptographic engines can also work in wrapped mode and not only in plaintext mode.
DSCP (priority) of ACK Packets	Added the ability to configure the DSCP (priority) of ACK packets using the ROCE_ACCL access register.
Performance Improvements	Added support for large MTU for force loopback QPs to improve performance (using the `aes_xts_tweak_inc_64` parameter). This capability is enabled by mlxconfig LARGE_MTU_TWEAK_64 parameter.
DDR Poison: DDR Uncorrectable Error	When there is DDR poison (uncorrectable ECC error), firmware reports the health syndrome `ICM_FETCH_PCI_DATA_POISONED_ERR (0x14)`, and triggers the FLR on the the function causing this error. Due to this error, the DDR data is mostly corrupted therefore, the firmware blocks other operations on this function.
Live Firmware Patch	Added support for Live Firmware Patch.
Reserved mkey	Added new support for reserved mkey index range. When enabled, a range of mkey indexes is reserved for mkey by name use.
Admin Queue	Added support for admin queue in virtio device object.
Enhanced NIC Mode: GGA Modules	Enabled GGA modules for all working modes (except for RXP) when using Enhanced NIC Mode.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Byte 192 of Page 0 for sff cables	Name	Auto Detect FEC	Current Default FEC	Previous Default FEC	P/N - Example of one module
0x1A	100GBase DWDM2	No	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x21	100G BIDI PAM4	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	SFBR-89BDDZ-CS4
0x25	100GBASE-DR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	MMS1V70-CM
0x26	100GBASE-FR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	QSFP28-FR-C
0x27	100GBASE-LR	No	NO FEC	RS FEC	SPTSBP4LLCDF

Protocol Aware ETH Cables

Byte 192 of Page 0 for sff cables	Name	Auto Detect FEC	Current Default FEC	Previous Default FEC	P/N - Example of one module
0x1	100G AOC / 25GAUI C2M AOC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x2	100GBASE-SR4 / 25GBASE-SR	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMA2P00-AS
0x3	100GBASE-LR4	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	MMA1L10-CR
0x3	25GBASE-LR	Yes	RS FEC	FC FEC	MMA2L20-AR
0x4	100GBASE-ER4	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	SPQCEERCDFLM Source Photonics
0x5	100GBASE-SR10	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x6	100G CWDM4 MSA with FEC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMA1L30-CM
0x7	100G PSM4 Parallel SMF	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	MMS1C10-CM
0x8	100G ACC / 25GAUI C2M ACC	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x9	100G CWDM4 MSA without FEC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	LQ210CR-CPA2
0x17	100G CLR4	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC
0x18	100G AOC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC	MFA1A00-C010
0x19	100G ACC	Yes	NO FEC	RS FEC
0x20	100G SWDM4	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC	FTLC9152RGPL
0x22 / 0x23 / 0x24	4WDM-10 MSA / 4WDM-20 MSA / 4WDM-40 MSA	Yes	RS FEC	RS FEC

Active DME Modules ETH Cables

Feature/Change	Description
32.38.3056
DPA Signing	Added support for customer-signed DPA application authentication.
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
32.38.1002
DOCA Programmable Congestion Control	This new capability enables the user to control the programmability of congestion control based on DOCA including APIs, libraries, reference applications and advanced features such as high availability.
Header Modification	Added support to the metadata `reg_c 8-11` (packet fields) for matching and modifying the header, and Advanced Steering Operation (ASO) actions.
Precision Time Protocol (PTP)	Added support for PTP on 200G port link speed. PTP uses an algorithm and method for synchronizing clocks on various devices across packet-based networks to provide sub-microsecond accuracy. NVIDIA Spectrum supports PTP in both one-step and two-step modes and can serve either as a boundary or a transparent clock.
INT Packets	Added support for forwarding INT packets to the user application for monitoring purposes by matching the BTH acknowledge request bit (bth_a).
Crypto Support (GCM algorithm)	Added crypto support (GCM algorithm) via the Memory-to-Memory offload (MMO) engine.
NC-SI, Strap Values	Implemented NVIDIA NC-SI OEM command `query_strap_options` (command 0x0, parameter 0x34).
mlxconfig	Implemented the following mlxconfig parameters related to the sideband interface enable/disable method: PCIE_IN_BAND_VDM_DISABLE: When TRUE, the management processor will disable PCIe in-band VDM (MCTP over PCIe) interface. PCIE_SMBUS_DISABLE: When TRUE, the management processor will disable SMBUS (embedded on the PCIe connector) interface. RBT_DISABLE: When TRUE, the management processor will disable RBT interface. PLDM_FW_UPDATE_DISABLE: When TRUE, PLDM FW update over PCIe and SMBUS are disabled. HM_RDE_DISABLE: When TRUE, RDE over PCIe and SMBUS are disabled.
AES-XTS	Added the ability to increase the tweak for every block by (1<<64) instead of by 1 in AES-XTS.
DPA PROCESS ERROR	Added support for a new value for coredump_type field in DPA_PROCESS_COREDUMP, [FIRST_ERROR_THREAD_DUMP (1).].
Bug Fixes	See Bug Fixes in this Firmware Version section.

Feature/Change	Description
32.37.3012
General	This is the initial firmware release of NVIDIA BlueField-3 SmartNICs.
Return DPU to 'out of factory' State	Enables the user to return DPU to 'out of factory' state. This capability provides an option to 're-use' the DPUs to allow easy switch of tenants in bare-metal by clearing all the DPU data, and then re-provision it.
1k Emulated virtio-blk Devices	The virtio-blk device presents a block device to the Virtual Machine and offers high performance due to a thin software stack. This version supports 1k emulated virtio-blk devices. A typical configuration for this capability is: 4 virtio-blk PFs and 253 virtio-blk VFs on each PF or 8 virtio-blk PFs and 126 virtio-blk VFs on each PF
Geneve	GENEVE hardware offload enables the traditional offloads to be performed on the encapsulated traffic. The data center operators can decouple the overlay network layer from the physical NIC performance, thus achieving native performance in the new network architecture.
Monitoring Cloud Guest RoCE Statistics on Cloud Provider	This new capability enables the VM to track and limit its Vport's activity. This is done using the new q_counters counter which enables aggregation of other Vport's from PF GVMI.
Linux Bridge Offload	Added a flow rule that enables offloading of multicast traffic by broadcasting it to multi-Flow-Table in FDB.
Selective Repeat	Selective repeat improves network utilization in case of a lossy fabric. This features is enabled by default.
Provisioning Flow	Provisioning flow enables the user to "clean" flash data, and reprogram the flash and and the NIC.
Dynamic VF MSIX Allocation	Added support for dynamic MSIX modification on a VF NVME device emulation. If a PF NVME device emulation is created with `dynamic_vf_msix_control = 1`, then the `dynamic_vf_msix_reset` can set the PF device emulation's VF MSIX number to 0. The num_msix is used in the modified VF device emulation to modify the MSIX number of the VF device emulation.
InfiniBand Congestion Control (IB CC)	Enabled IB CC per Service Level (SL) for RC/UC on the HCA side. Now different SLs can be configured to be CC on/off according to the bitmask decided by the software.
Hardware Steering: Bulk Allocation	Added support for 32 actions in the header modify pattern using bulk allocation.
InfiniBand Congestion Control - RTT Response Service Level	The software can explicitly set the SL of an RTT response packet, instead of it being taken from the RTT request packet's SL. The RTT response packet SL may be set/queried via the `CONGESTION_CONTROL_HCA_NP_PARAMETER` MAD.
PCC Algorithms	Enables a smooth and statically switch between PCC algorithms. In addition, the user can now switch between PCC algorithms while running traffic.
IPSEC Side Acceleration with DPDK	[Beta] Added support for crypto (GCM) via the MMO engine.
AES-XTS	Added the ability to increase the tweak for every AES-XTS block by (1<<64) instead of by 1.