Testpmd with Mellanox ConnectX-3

Testpmd with Mellanox ConnectX-3

[Raghav Sethi]

Hi folks,

Hopefully this is the right place to ask questions. I'm  trying to run
testpmd (and then develop my own applications) with DPDK 1.8 and the
Mellanox ConnectX-3. The setup script/quickstart/Getting Started guide
don't have too much information about what to do if you have a
Mellanox. I've installed libibverbs and libmlx4 system-wide. This is the
closest I found to a guide for the Mellanox:
https://dpdk.readthedocs.org/en/stable/prog_guide/mlx4_poll_mode_drv.html .
When I run testpmd as described by this article, I get "Cause: No probed
ethernet device".

Here are my questions:
1. Is this how I should set the PMD flag for DPDK? "make install T=<arch>
CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD=y"
2. If not, how should I do it?
3. Does using the Mellanox mean that I shouldn't use igb_uio at all?
4. Do I need to bind the Mellanox to mlx4_core before using testpmd?

I would be happy to contribute to the help page with end-to-end
instructions for using the Mellanox with testpmd.

Best,
Raghav Sethi

Re: Testpmd with Mellanox ConnectX-3

[Adrien Mazarguil]

Hi,

On Wed, Apr 01, 2015 at 08:18:30PM +0000, Raghav Sethi wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> Hopefully this is the right place to ask questions. I'm  trying to run
> testpmd (and then develop my own applications) with DPDK 1.8 and the
> Mellanox ConnectX-3. The setup script/quickstart/Getting Started guide
> don't have too much information about what to do if you have a
> Mellanox. I've installed libibverbs and libmlx4 system-wide. This is the
> closest I found to a guide for the Mellanox:
> https://dpdk.readthedocs.org/en/stable/prog_guide/mlx4_poll_mode_drv.html .
> When I run testpmd as described by this article, I get "Cause: No probed
> ethernet device".

First, the ConnectX-3 (mlx4) driver is not included in DPDK 1.8, the
documentation you refer to is from a DPDK 2.0 release candidate.
DPDK 2.0 will support it.

> Here are my questions:
> 1. Is this how I should set the PMD flag for DPDK? "make install T=<arch>
> CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_MLX4_PMD=y"

No, see below.

> 2. If not, how should I do it?

You should either create a specific configuration file in configs/ with that
option and use make config T=<whatever>, or update your .config file after
you've run make config T=<arch>.

> 3. Does using the Mellanox mean that I shouldn't use igb_uio at all?

Indeed. Loading it is harmless though.

> 4. Do I need to bind the Mellanox to mlx4_core before using testpmd?

The kernel module (mlx4_core) must remain bound to its devices, the PMD
relies on it.

> I would be happy to contribute to the help page with end-to-end
> instructions for using the Mellanox with testpmd.

I've just submitted a patch to provide more details about the installation
process, you should have a look.

-- 
Adrien Mazarguil
6WIND