[QUESTION] mlx5/hws: format_select_dw_8_6_ext gating on standalone ConnectX-7

[Max Makarov <makarov@volta.cloud>]

Hi all,

We are building an SDN/IaaS data plane on ConnectX-7 using DOCA Flow and
need IPv6 Connection Tracking. CT pipe for IPv6 requires the 11-DW jumbo
STE format, which is gated by HCA_CAP_GENERAL_2.format_select_dw_8_6_ext
(full_dw_jumbo_support in drivers/net/mlx5/hws/mlx5dr_cmd.c).

On all three of our standalone ConnectX-7 SKUs (PSIDs MT_0000000838,
MT_0000000840, MT_0000000892, firmware 28.48.1000) this bit reads as 0 in
BOTH GET_CUR and GET_MAX modes. We have verified the bit is not affected
by any documented NV-config TLV (tested ~20 candidates with mlxfwreset).

Questions:

  1. Is this capability silicon-locked on standalone ConnectX-7, or could
     a future firmware release expose it?

  2. The DOCA Flow CT documentation states "BlueField-3 and above is
     required for IPv6". Is this permanent product positioning, or is
     there a roadmap to enable it on CX-7?

  3. For existing CX-7 deployments that need IPv6 stateful CT, is there
     a recommended DOCA Flow pattern (e.g. splitting the 5-tuple match
     across multiple 8-DW STEs while preserving CT semantics)?

Happy to share full HCA_CAP dumps or any diagnostic output that would
help.

Thanks,
Max Makarov
Volta Cloud