Deploying BlueField Software Using BFB from BMC
It is recommended to upgrade your BlueField product to the latest software and firmware versions available to benefit from new features and latest bug fixes.
This section assumes that a BlueField DPU has already been installed in a server according to the instructions detailed in the DPU's hardware user guide.
The following table lists an overview of the steps required to install Ubuntu BFB on your DPU:
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Step |
Procedure |
Direct Link |
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1 |
Verify that RShim is already running on BMC |
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2 |
Change the default credentials using bf.cfg file (optional) |
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3 |
Install the Ubuntu BFB image |
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4 |
Verify installation completed successfully |
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5 |
Upgrade the firmware on your DPU |
It is important to know your device name (e.g., mt41686_pciconf0).
MST tool is necessary for this purpose which is installed by default on the DPU.
Run:
mst status -v
Example output:
MST modules:
------------
MST PCI module is not loaded
MST PCI configuration module loaded
PCI devices:
------------
DEVICE_TYPE MST PCI RDMA NET NUMA
BlueField2(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0.1 3b:00.1 mlx5_1 net-ens1f1 0
BlueField2(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 3b:00.0 mlx5_0 net-ens1f0 0
Display the current setting. Run:
# cat /dev/rshim<N>/misc | grep DEV_NAME
DEV_NAME usb-1.0
This output indicates that the RShim service is ready to use. If you do not receive this output:
Restart RShim service:
sudo systemctl restart rshim
Verify the current setting again. Run:
# cat /dev/rshim<N>/misc | grep DEV_NAME
If DEV_NAME does not appear, then proceed to "RShim driver not loading on DPU with integrated BMC".
Ubuntu users are prompted to change the default password (ubuntu) for the default user (ubuntu) upon first login. Logging in will not be possible even if the login prompt appears until all services are up ("DPU is ready" message appears in /dev/rshim0/misc).
Attempting to log in before all services are up prints the following message: "Permission denied, please try again."
Alternatively, Ubuntu users can provide a unique password that will be applied at the end of the BFB installation. This password would need to be defined in a bf.cfg configuration file. To set the password for the ubuntu user:
Create password hash. Run:
# openssl passwd -1 Password: Verifying - Password: $1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1
Add the password hash in quotes to the bf.cfg file:
# vim bf.cfg ubuntu_PASSWORD='$1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1'
The bf.cfg file is used with the bfb-install script in the steps that follow.
NotePassword policy:
Minimum password length – 8
At least one upper-case letter
At least one lower-case letter
At least one numerical character
For comprehensive list of the supported parameters to customize bf.cfg during BFB installation, refer to section "bf.cfg Parameters".
To update the software on the NVIDIA® BlueField® device, the BlueField must be booted up without mounting the eMMC flash device. This requires an external boot flow where a BFB (which includes ATF, UEFI, Arm OS, NIC firmware, and initramfs) is pushed from an external host via USB or PCIe. On BlueField devices with an integrated BMC, the USB interface is internally connected to the BMC and is enabled by default. Therefore, you must verify that the RShim driver is running on the BMC. This provides the ability to push a bootstream over the USB interface to perform an external boot.
Disable RShim on the host. Run on the host:
systemctl stop rshim systemctl disable rshim
Enable RShim on the BMC. Run on the BMC shell:
ipmitool raw 0x32 0x6a 1
Verify that the RShim service is running and that the /dev/rshim0 device is present.
ipmitool raw 0x32 0x69
The expected output for this command is 0x01.
Normally, the BFB is first copied to the USB host and then written to the RShim device. However, since the BFB is too big to be stored on the BMC flash or tmpfs, these two steps can be combined, and the image can be written to the RShim device from the remote server directly.
scp <path_to_bfb> root@<bmc_ip>:/dev/rshim0/boot
This initiates a soft reset on the BlueField-2 and then pushes the bootstream. For Ubuntu BFBs, the eMMC is flashed automatically once the bootstream is pushed.
If bf.cfg is needed as part of the boot process, run:
cat <path_to_bfb> bf.cfg > new.bfb scp <path to new.bfb> root@<bmc_ip>:/dev/rshim0/boot
For comprehensive list of the supported parameters to customize bf.cfg during BFB installation, refer to section "bf.cfg Parameters".
After installation of the Ubuntu OS is complete, the following note appears in /dev/rshim0/misc on first boot:
...
INFO[MISC]: Linux up
INFO[MISC]: DPU is ready
"DPU is ready" indicates that all the relevant services are up and users can login the system.
After the installation of the Ubuntu 20.04 BFB, the configuration detailed in the following sections is generated.
Make sure all the services (including cloud-init) are started on BlueField and to perform a graceful shutdown before power cycling the host server.
BlueField OS image version is stored under /etc/mlnx-release in the DPU.
# cat /etc/mlnx-release
DOCA_2.6.0_BSP_4.6.0_Ubuntu_22.04-<version>
mlxfwreset is not supported in this release. Please perform a graceful shutdown, and power cycle the host where mlxfwreset is requested.
To upgrade firmware:
Set a temporary static IP on the host. Run:
sudo ip addr add 192.168.100.1/24 dev tmfifo_net0
SSH to your DPU via 192.168.100.2 (preconfigured). The default credentials for Ubuntu are as follows.
Username
Password
ubuntu
Set during installation
For example:
ssh ubuntu@192.168.100.2 Password: <unique-password>
Upgrade the firmware on the DPU. Run:
sudo /opt/mellanox/mlnx-fw-updater/mlnx_fw_updater.pl --force-fw-update
Example output:
Device #1: ---------- Device Type: BlueField-2 [...] Versions: Current Available FW <Old_FW> <New_FW>
NoteImportant! To apply NVConfig changes, stop here and follow the steps in section "Updating NVConfig Params".
Perform a graceful shutdown and p ower cycle the host for the changes to take effect.
Reset the nvconfig params to their default values:
# sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/<device-id> -y reset Reset configuration for device /dev/mst/<device-name>? (y/n) [n] : y Applying... Done! -I- Please reboot machine to load new configurations.
NoteTo learn the device ID of the DPUs on your setup, run:
mst start mst status -v
Example output:
MST modules: ------------ MST PCI module is not loaded MST PCI configuration module loaded PCI devices: ------------ DEVICE_TYPE MST PCI RDMA NET NUMA BlueField2(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0.1 3b:00.1 mlx5_1 net-ens1f1 0 BlueField2(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 3b:00.0 mlx5_0 net-ens1f0 0 BlueField3(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0.1 e2:00.1 mlx5_1 net-ens7f1np1 4 BlueField3(rev:1) /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 e2:00.0 mlx5_0 net-ens7f0np0 4
The device IDs for the BlueField-2 and BlueField-3 DPUs in this example are /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 and /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0 respectively.
(Optional) Enable NVMe emulation. Run:
sudo mlxconfig -d <device-id> s NVME_EMULATION_ENABLE=1
Skip this step if your BlueField DPU is Ethernet only. Please refer to section "Supported Platforms and Interoperability" under the Release Notes to learn your DPU type.
If you have a VPI DPU, the default link type of the ports will be configured to IB. If you want to change the link type to Ethernet, please run the following configuration:
sudo mlxconfig -d <device-id> s LINK_TYPE_P1=2 LINK_TYPE_P2=2
Perform a graceful shutdown and power cycle the host for the mlxconfig settings to take effect.