Known Issues

3880194

Description: mlxbf-bootctl command failed to install default.bfb.

Workaround: The following are possible options –

• Boot the BFB file doca_2.5.0_bsp_4.5.0_ubuntu_22.04-1.23-10.prod.bfb to update the platform software

• Download, compile, and install latest mlxbf-bootctl command from GitHub

• Edit default.bfb by using the mlx-mkbfb command to incorporate the platform-specific images and filtering out unused images. Example for a BlueField-2 device:

  Copy

  Copied!

              
  
              
  $ mlx-mkbfb -x default.bfb
  $ mlx-mkbfb \
  --bl2r-v1=dump-bl2r-v1 \
  --bl2r-cert-v1=dump-bl2r-cert-v1 \
  --bl2-v1=dump-bl2-v1 \
  --bl2-cert-v1=dump-bl2-cert-v1 \
  --bl31-v1=dump-bl31-v1 \
  --bl31-cert-v1=dump-bl31-cert-v1 \
  --bl31-key-cert-v1=dump-bl31-key-cert-v1 \
  --bl33-v0=dump-bl33-v0 \
  --bl33-cert-v1=dump-bl33-cert-v1 \
  --bl33-key-cert-v1=dump-bl33-key-cert-v1 \
  --boot-acpi-v0=dump-boot-acpi-v0 \
  --boot-args-v0=dump-boot-args-v0 \
  --boot-desc-v0=dump-boot-desc-v0 \
  --boot-path-v0=dump-boot-path-v0 \
  --ddr_ini-v1=dump-ddr_ini-v1 \
  --ddr-cert-v1=dump-ddr-cert-v1 \
  --ddr_ate_imem-v1=dump-ddr_ate_imem-v1 \
  --ddr_ate_dmem-v1=dump-ddr_ate_dmem-v1 \
  --snps_images-v1=dump-snps_images-v1 \
  --trusted-key-cert-v1=dump-trusted-key-cert-v1 \
  default_min.bfb
          

Keywords: Software; upgrade

Discovered in version: 4.5.1

3204153

Description: On BlueField-2, the OOB may not get an IP address due to the interface being down.

Workaround: Restart auto-negotiation using the command ethtool -r oob_net0.

Keyword: OOB; IP

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3601491

Description: Symmetric pause must be enabled in the DHCP server for the OOB to be able to reliably get an IP address assigned.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: OOB; IP

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3673330

Description: On Debian 12, Arm ports remain in Legacy mode after multiple Arm reboot iterations. The following error message appears in /var/log/syslog:

            

            
mlnx_bf_configure[2601]: ERR: Failed to configure switchdev mode for 0000:03:00.0 after 61 retries
        

Workaround: Run:

            

            
$ echo SET_MODE_RETRY_NUM=300 >> /etc/mellanox/mlnx-bf.conf
$ reboot
        

Keyword: Debian; Arm

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3695543

Description: PXE boot may fail after a firmware upgrade from 32.36.xxxx, 32.37.xxxx, to 32.38.xxxx and above.

Workaround: Create /etc/bf.cfg with the following lines, then run bfcfg to recreate the PXE boot entries:

            

            
BOOT0=DISK
BOOT1=NET-NIC_P0-IPV4
BOOT2=NET-NIC_P0-IPV6
BOOT3=NET-NIC_P1-IPV4
BOOT4=NET-NIC_P1-IPV6
BOOT5=NET-OOB-IPV4
BOOT6=NET-OOB-IPV6
        

Keyword: MAC allocation; PXE boot

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3663398

Description: On rare occasions, OP-TEE may panic upon boot.

Workaround: Perform graceful shutdown and power cycle the DPU.

Keyword: fTPM over OP-TEE

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3647476

Description: Debian 12 OS does not support CT tunnel offload.

Workaround: Recompile the kernel with CONFIG_NET_TC_SKB_EXT set.

Keyword: Connection tracking; Linux

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3007696

Description: When configuring a static IP address for tmfifo_net0 interface in /etc/network/interfaces, the IP address is lost after restarting the RShim driver on Debian Linux.

Workaround: Use netplan configuration. For example

            

            
# cat /etc/netplan/tmfifo_net0.yaml
network:
  version: 2
  renderer: networkd
  ethernets:
    tmfifo_net0:
      addresses:
      - 192.168.100.1/30
      dhcp4: false
        

Then run "netplan apply".

Keyword: IP address; tmfifo_net0; host

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3633453

Description: Jumbo MTU is only supported on a guest OS with kernel 4.11 and above.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: Virtio-net; jumbo MTU

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3021967

Description: When rebooting a DPU with a large number of VFs created on host, VF recovery may fail due to timeout.

Workaround: Restart the driver on the host after the DPU is up.

Keyword: Reboot; VFs

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3670628

Description: When NIC subsystem is in recovery mode, the interface towards to NVMe is not accessible. Thus, the SSD boot device would not be available.

Workaround: The admin must configure the Arm subsystem boot device to boot from the eMMC, for example.

Keyword: mlxfwreset; RShim

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3702393

Description: On rare occasions, the boot process part of SWRESET (via RShim) or FWRESET (via mlxfwreset) may result in a device hanging on the boot flow or cause the host server to reboot.

Workaround: Perform graceful shutdown and then a power cycle.

Keyword: mlxfwreset; RShim

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3695367

Description: For Blu eField-2, although an option to configure "large ICM size" appears in the UEFI menu it is not functional as large ICM size is not supported on it.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: UEFI

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3665724

Description: If the UEFI password is an empty string (""), then it cannot be changed via Redfish.

Workaround: UEFI; password; Redfish

Keyword: UEFI; password; Redfish

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3677366

Description: On rare occasions, the devices /dev/tpm0 and /dev/tpmrm0 are not created triggering an fTPM panic during boot. This message indicates that the fTPM over OP-TEE feature is not functional.

Workaround: Reboot the DPU.

Keyword: fTPM over OP-TEE

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3671185

Description: XFRM rules must be deleted before driver restart or warm reboot are performed.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: IPsec

Reported in version: 4.5.0

3666160

Description: Installing BFB using bfb-install when mlxconfig PF_TOTAL_SF>1700, triggers server reboot immediately.

Workaround: Change PF_TOTAL_SF to 0, perform graceful shutdown, then power cycle, and then install the BFB.

Keyword: SF; PF_TOTAL_SF; BFB installation

Reported in version: 4.2.2

3618936

Description: When moving to DPU mode from NIC mode, it is necessary to reinstall the BFB and perform a graceful reboot to the DPU by shutting down the Arm cores before rebooting the host system.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: NIC mode

Reported in version: 4.2.2

3605254

Description: Following a system power cycle, both the DPU and BMC boot independently which may lead to the DPU's UEFI boot process to complete before the BMC's. As a result, when attempting to establish Redfish communication, the BMC may not yet be prepared to respond.

Workaround: Wait until the BMC is done booting before issuing a reset command to the DPU.

Keyword: Power cycle; Redfish; boot

Reported in version: 4.2.1

3603146

Description: Running mlxfwreset on BlueField-3 may cause the external host to crash when the RShim driver is running on that host.

Workaround: Stop the RShim driver on the external host using systemctl stop rshim before performing mlxfwreset.

Keyword: RShim; mlxfwreset

Reported in version: 4.2.1

3602044

Description: When the public key is deleted while Redfish is enabled, UEFI secure boot is disabled and UEFI reverts to Setup Mode (i.e., the SecureBootEnable Redfish property is reset to false). If later, the public key is re-enrolled, the platform does not implement UEFI secure boot until the SecureBootEnable Redfish property is explicitly changed to true.

Workaround: Set SecureBootEnable to true using the Redfish API.

Keyword: Redfish; UEFI secure boot

Reported in version: 4.2.1

3592080

Description: When using UEK8 on the host in DPU mode, creating a VF on the host consumes about 100MB memory on the DPU.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: UEK; VF

Reported in version: 4.2.1

3568341

Description: Downgrading BSP software from 4.2.0 fails if UEFI secure boot is enabled.

Workaround: Disable UEFI secure boot before downgrading.

Keyword: Software; downgrade

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3566042

Description: Virtio hotplug is not supported in GPU-HOST mode on the NVIDIA Converged Accelerator.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: Virtio; Converged Accelerator

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3546474

Description: PXE boot over ConnectX interface might not work due to an invalid MAC address in the UEFI boot entry.

Workaround: On the DPU, create /etc/bf.cfg file with the relevant PXE boot entries, then run the command bfcfg.

Keyword: PXE; boot; MAC

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3306489

Description: After rebooting a BlueField-3 DPU running Rocky Linux 8.6 BFB, the kernel log shows the following error:

            

            
[    3.787135] mlxbf_gige MLNXBF17:00: Error getting PHY irq. Use polling instead
        

This message indicates that the Ethernet driver will function normally in all aspects, except that PHY polling is enabled.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: Linux; PHY; kernel

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3529297

Description: Enhanced NIC mode is not supported on BlueField-2 DPUs.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: Operation; mode

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3306489

Description: When performing longevity tests (e.g., mlxfwreset, DPU reboot, burning of new BFBs), a host running an Intel CPU may observer errors related to "CPU 0: Machine Check Exception".

Workaround: Add intel_idle.max_cstate=1 entry to the kernel command line.

Keyword: Longevity; mlxfwreset; DPU reboot

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3538486

Description: When removing LAG configuration from the DPU, a kernel warning for uverbs_destroy_ufile_hw is observed if virtio-net-controller is still running.

Workaround: Stop virtio-net-controller service before cleaning up bond configuration.

Keyword: Virtio-net; LAG

Reported in version: 4.2.0

3444073

Description: mlxfwreset is not supported in this release.

Workaround: Perform graceful shutdown and power cycle the host.

Keyword: mlxfwreset; support

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3462630

Description: When trying to perform a PXE installation when UEFI Secure Boot is enabled, the following error messages may be observed:

            

            
error: shim_lock protocol not found.
error: you need to load the kernel first.
        

Workaround: Download a Grub EFI binary from the Ubuntu website. For further information on Ubuntu UEFI Secure Boot PXE Boot, please visit Ubuntu's official website.

Keyword: PXE; UEFI Secure Boot

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3412847

Description: Socket-Direct is currently not supported on BlueField-3 devices.

Workaround: N/A

Keyword: Socket-Direct; support

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3448841

Description: While running CentOS 8.2, switchdev Ethernet DPU runs in "shared" RDMA net namespace mode instead of "exclusive".

Workaround: Use ib_core module parameter netns_mode=0. For example:

            

            
echo "options ib_core netns_mode=0" >> /etc/modprobe.d/mlnx-bf.conf
        

Keywords: RDMA; isolation; Net NS

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3413938

Description: Using mlnx-sf script, creating and deleting an SF with same ID number in a stressful manner may cause the setup to hang due to a race between create and delete commands.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Hang; mlnx-sf

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3452740

Description: Ovs-pki is not working due to two versions of OpenSSL being installed, causing the PKA engine to not load properly.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: PKA; OpenSSL

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3232444

Description: After live migration of virtio-net devices using the VFE driver, the max_queues_size output from the virtnet list may be wrong. This does not affect the actual value.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtio-net; live migration

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3441287

Description: Failure occurs when attempting to raise static LAG with ifenslave_2.10ubuntu3 package.

Workaround: Use ifenslave_2.9ubuntu1.

Keywords: ifenslave; bonding

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3341481

Description: RShim console may hang after pushing BFB or running reboot command from the DPU Arm Linux.

Workaround: Restart the RShim driver on the host side using systemctl restart rshim.

Keywords: RShim console; hang; BFB push

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3273435

Description: Changing the mode of operation between NIC and DPU modes results in different capabilities for the host driver which might cause unexpected behavior.

Workaround: Reload the host driver or reboot the host.

Keywords: Modes of operation; driver

Reported in version: 4.0.2

2706803

Description: When an NVMe controller, SoC management controller, and DMA controller are configured, the maximum number of VFs is limited to 124.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: VF; limitation

Reported in version: 4.0.2

3948009

Description: The command bfcfg -d may show an incorrect out-of-band MAC.

Workaround: Read the OOB MAC address from /sys/devices/platform/MLNXBF04:00/oob_mac instead.

Keywords: OOB; MAC

Reported in version: 3.9.7

3264224

Description: When trying to change boot order using efibootmgr, BlueField fails to attempt PXE boot from p0 even though efibootmgr returns a successful result.

Workaround: Drop into the UEFI menu and regenerate all the EFI entries.

Keywords: PXE; efibootmgr

Reported in version: 3.9.3.1

3188415

Description: An Arm firmware update to the same version that is installed will fail and is not supported.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Arm; firmware; update

Reported in version: 3.9.2

N/A

Description: The BootOptionEnabled attribute changes back to true after DPU-force reset.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Redfish; BootOptionEnabled

Reported in version: 3.9.2

3012182

Description: The command ethtool -I --show-fec is not supported by the DPU with kernel 5.4.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Kernel; show-fec

Reported in version: 3.9.0

2855986

Description: After disabling SR-IOV VF on a virtio device, removing virtio-net/PCIe driver from guest OS may render the virtio controller unusable .

Workaround: Restart the virtio-net controller to recover it. To avoid this issue, m onitor the log from controller and make sure VF resources are destroyed before unloading virtio-net/PCIe drivers.

Keywords: Virtio-net; VF

Reported in version: 3.9.0

2863456

Description: SA limit by packet count (hard and soft) are supported only on traffic originated from the ECPF. Trying to configure them on VF traffic removes the SA when hard limit is hit. However, traffic could still pass as plain text due to the tunnel offload used in such configuration.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: ASAP2; IPsec Full Offload

Reported in version: 3.9.0

2982184

Description: When multiple BlueField resets are issued within 10 seconds of each other, EEPROM error messages are displayed on the console and, as a result, the BlueField may not boot from the eMMC and may halt at the UEFI menu.

Workaround: Power-cycle the BlueField to fix the EEPROM issue. Manual recovery of the boot options and/or SW installation may be needed.

Keywords: Reset; EEPROM

Reported in version: 3.9.0

2853408

Description: Some pre-OS environments may fail when sensing a hot plug operation during their boot stage.

Workaround: Run "mlxconfig -d <mst dev> set PF_LOG_BAR_SIZE=0".

Keywords: BIOS; hot-plug; Virtio-net

Reported in version: 3.9.0

2934833

Description: Running I/O traffic and toggling both physical ports status in a stressful manner on the receiving-end machine may cause traffic loss.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: MLNX_OFED; RDMA; port toggle

Reported in version: 3.8.5

2911425

Description: ProLiant DL385 Gen10 Plus server with BIOS version 1.3 hangs when large number of SFs (PF_TOTAL_SF=252) are configured.

Workaround: Update the BIOS version to 2.4 which should correctly detect the PCIe device with the bigger BAR size.

Keywords: Scalable functions; BIOS

Reported in version: 3.8.5

2801780

Description: When running virtio-net-controller with host kernel older than 3.10.0-1160.el7, host virtio driver may get error (Unexpected TXQ (13) queue failure: -28) from dmesg in traffic stress test.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtio-net; error

Reported in version: 3.8.0

2870213

Description: Servers do not recover after configuring PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT to 32 followed by power cycle.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: VirtIO-net; power cycle

Reported in version: 3.8.0

–

Description: Only QP queues are supported for GGA accelerators from this version onward.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Firmware; SQ; QP

Reported in version: 3.8.0

2846108

Description: Setting VHCA_TRUST_LEVEL does not work when there are active SFs or VFs.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Firmware; SF; VF

Reported in version: 3.8.0

2750499

Description: Some devlink commands are only supported by mlnx devlink (/opt/mellanox/iproute2/sbin/devlink). The default devlink from the OS may produce failure (e.g., devlink port show -j).

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Devlink

Reported in version: 3.7.1

2730157

Description: Kernel upgrade is not currently supported on BlueField as there are out of tree kernel modules (e.g., ConnectX drivers that will stop working after kernel upgrade).

Workaround: Kernel can be upgraded if there is a matching DOCA repository that includes all the drivers compiled with the new kernel or as a part of the new BFB package.

Keywords: Kernel; upgrade

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2706710

Description: Call traces are seen on the host when recreating VFs before the controller side finishes the deletion procedure.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtio-net controller

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2685478

Description: 3rd party (netkvm.sys) Virtio-net drivers for Windows do not support SR-IOV.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtio-net; SR-IOV; WinOF-2

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2685191

Description: Once Virtio-net is enabled, the mlx5 Windows VF becomes unavailable.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Virtio-net; virtual function; WinOF-2

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2702395

Description: When a device is hot-plugged from the virtio-net controller, the host OS may hang when warm reboot is performed on the host and Arm at the same time.

Workaround: Reboot the host OS first and only then reboot DPU.

Keywords: Virtio-net controller; hot-plug; reboot

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2684501

Description: Once the contiguous memory pool, a limited resource, is exhausted, fallback allocation to other methods occurs. This process triggers cma_alloc failures in the dmesg log.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Log; cma_alloc; memory

Reported in version: 3.7.0

2590016

Description: ibdev2netdev tool is not supported for PCIe PF operating in switchdev mode or on SFs.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: ibdev2netdev

Reported in version: 3.6.0.11699

2590016

Description: A "double free" error is seen when using the "curl" utility. This error is from libcrypto.so library which is part of the OpenSSL package. This happens only when OpenSSL is configured to use a dynamic engine (e.g. Bluefield PKA engine).

Workaround: Set OPENSSL_CONF=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf.orig before using the curl utility.

For example:

            

            
# OPENSSL_CONF=/etc/ssl/openssl.cnf.orig curl -O https://tpo.pe/pathogen.vim
        

Keywords: OpenSSL; curl

Reported in version: 3.6.0.11699

2407897

Description: The host may crash when the number of PCIe devices overflows the PCIe device address. According to the PCIe spec, the device address space is 8 bits in total—device (5 bits) and function (3 bits)—which means that the total number of devices cannot be more than 256.

The second PF maximum number of VFs is limited by the total number of additional PCIe devices that precedes it. By default, the preceding PCIe devices are 2 PFs + RShim DMA + 127 VFs of the first PF. This means that the maximum valid number of VFs for the second port will be 126.

Workaround: Use the maximum allowed VFs on the 2nd PCIe PF of BlueField instead of the maximum of 127 VFs.

Keywords: Emulated devices; VirtIO-net; VirtIO-blk; VFs; RShim

Reported in version: 3.6.0.11699

2445289

Description: If secure boot is enabled, MFT cannot be installed on the BlueField DPU independently from BlueField drivers (MLNX_OFED).

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: MFT; secure boot

Reported in version: 3.5.1.11601

2377021

Description: Executing sudo poweroff on the Arm side causes the system to hang.

Workaround: Perform graceful shutdown, then reboot your BlueField device or power cycle the server.

Keywords: Hang; reboot

Reported in version: 3.5.0.11563

2350132

Description: Boot process hangs at BIOS (version 1.2.11) stage when power cycling a server (model Dell PowerEdge R7525) after configuring "PCI_SWITCH_EMULATION_NUM_PORT" > 27​​​​​​​.

Workaround: N/A

Keywords: Server; hang; power cycle

Reported in version: 3.5.0.11563

2581408

Description: On a BlueField device operating in Embedded CPU mode, PXE driver will fail to boot if the Arm side is not fully loaded and the OVS bridge is not configured.

Workaround: Run warm reboot on the host side and boot again via the device when Arm is up and the OVS bridge is configured.

Keywords: Embedded CPU; PXE; UEFI; Arm

Reported in version: 2.5.0.11176

1859322

Description: On some setups, DPU does not power on following server cold boot when UART cable is attached to the same server.

Workaround: As long as the RShim driver is loaded on the server and the RShim interface is visible, the RShim driver will detect this and auto-reset the card into normal state.

Keywords: DPU; Arm; Cold Boot

Reported in version: 2.4.0.11082

1899921

Description: Driver restart fails when SNAP service is running.

Workaround: Stop the SNAP services nvme_sf and nvme_snap@nvme0, then restart the driver. After the driver loads restart the services.

Keywords: SNAP

Reported in version: 2.2.0.11000

1911618

Description: Defining namespaces with certain Micron disks (Micron_9300_MTFDHAL3T8TDP) using consecutive attach-ns commands can cause errors.

Workaround: Add delay between attach-ns commands.

Keywords: Micron; disk; namespace; attach-ns

Reported in version: 2.2.0.11000