NVIDIA BlueField-3 SNAP for NVMe and Virtio-blk v4.4.0
NVIDIA BlueField-3 SNAP for NVMe and Virtio-blk v4.4.0

Appendix – DPU Firmware Configuration

Before configuring SNAP, the user must ensure that all firmware configuration requirements are met. By default, SNAP is disabled and must be enabled by running both common SNAP configurations and additional protocol-specific configurations depending on the expected usage of the application (e.g., hot-plug, SR-IOV, UEFI boot, etc).

After configuration is finished, the host must be power cycled for the changes to take effect.

Note

To verify that all configuration requirements are satisfied, users may query the current/next configuration by running the following:

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mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 -e query

Parameter

Description

Possible Values

INTERNAL_CPU_MODEL

Enable BlueField to work in internal CPU model

Note

Must be set to 1 for storage emulations.

0/1

SRIOV_EN

Enable SR-IOV

0/1

PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_ENABLE

Enable PCI switch for emulated PFs

0/1

PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT

The maximum number of hotplug emulated PFs which equals  PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT–2. For example, if PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT=16, then the maximum number of hotplug emulated PFs would be 14.

Note

One switch port is reserved for all static PFs.

[0,3-16]

Note

SRIOV_EN is valid only for static PFs.

BlueField's RDMA/RoCE communication is blocked for BlueField's default OS interfaces (nameds ECPFs, typically mlx5_0 and mlx5_1). If RoCE traffic is required, additional network functions (scalable functions) must be added which support RDMA/RoCE traffic.

Note

The following is not required when working over TCP or even RDMA/IB.

To enable RoCE interfaces, run the following from within the DPU:

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[dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 s PER_PF_NUM_SF=1 [dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 s PF_SF_BAR_SIZE=8 PF_TOTAL_SF=2 [dpu] mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0.1 s PF_SF_BAR_SIZE=8 PF_TOTAL_SF=2

Parameter

Description

Possible Values

NVME_EMULATION_ENABLE

Enable NVMe device emulation

0/1

NVME_EMULATION_NUM_PF

Number of static emulated NVMe PFs

[0-4]

NVME_EMULATION_NUM_MSIX

Number of MSIX assigned to emulated NVMe PF/VF

Note

The firmware treats this value as a best effort value. The effective number of MSI-X given to the function should be queried as part of the nvme_controller_list RPC command.

[0-63]

NVME_EMULATION_NUM_VF

Number of VFs per emulated NVMe PF

Note

If not 0, overrides NUM_OF_VFS; valid only when SRIOV_EN=1.

[0-512]

EXP_ROM_NVME_UEFI_x86_ENABLE

Enable NVMe UEFI exprom driver

Note

Used for UEFI boot process.

0/1

Warning

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 BSP documentation for more details.

  • Add the following line to /etc/nvda_snap/snap_rpc_init.conf:

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    virtio_blk_controller_create –pf_id 0

    For more information, please refer to section "Virtio-blk Emulation Management".

Parameter

Description

Possible Values

VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_ENABLE

Enable virtio-blk device emulation

0/1

VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_PF

Number of static emulated virtio-blk PFs

Note

See WARNING above.

[0-4]

VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_MSIX

Number of MSIX assigned to emulated virtio-blk PF/VF

Note

The firmware treats this value as a best effort value. The effective number of MSI-X given to the function should be queried as part of the virtio_blk_controller_list RPC command.

[0-63]

VIRTIO_BLK_EMULATION_NUM_VF

Number of VFs per emulated virtio-blk PF

Note

If not 0, overrides NUM_OF_VFS; valid only when SRIOV_EN=1

[0-1000]

EXP_ROM_VIRTIO_BLK_UEFI_x86_ENABLE

Enable virtio-blk UEFI exprom driver

Note

Used for UEFI boot process.

0/1

© Copyright 2024, NVIDIA. Last updated on May 29, 2024.