Quick start guide

Install dependencies

With your distro package manager, install these packages (names can change a bit):

• dpdk-dev (obsly)
• libnuma-dev

For Debian:

sudo apt-get install dpdk-dev libnuma-dev

NB: libpcap is not required, as dpdk-replay process pcap files manually.

To manually compile with a custom DPDK version, see Installing custom DPDK version.

Compiling and installing it

Standard way, using autotools:

autoreconf -i && ./configure && make && sudo make install

To use the static Makefile with your custom DPDK version, see Linking custom DPDK version.

Binding wanted DPDK ports

First, you need to unbind the ports you want to use from the Kernel to bind them to DPDK.

To list the available ports:

$> dpdk-devbind.py --status

[...]
Network devices using DPDK-compatible driver
============================================
<none>

Network devices using kernel driver
===================================
0000:01:00.0 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth0 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio *Active*
0000:01:00.1 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth1 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
0000:02:00.0 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth2 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
0000:02:00.1 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth3 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
0000:04:00.0 'Ethernet Controller 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 1528' if=dpdk0 drv=ixgbe unused=igb_uio *Active*
0000:04:00.1 'Ethernet Controller 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 1528' if=dpdk0 drv=ixgbe unused=igb_uio *Active*
0000:05:00.0 '82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection 10fb' if=jenkins1 drv=ixgbe unused=igb_uio *Active*
0000:05:00.1 '82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection 10fb' if=jenkins1 drv=ixgbe unused=igb_uio *Active*
[...]

Here, we have two NICs of two ports each, the X540 and the 82599ES. Their identification are their PCI bus addresses. To bind the four ports to DPDK:

$> dpdk-devbind -b igb_uio 04:00.0 04:00.1 05:00.0 05:00.1

Check that the ports have been well binded:

$> dpdk-devbind.py --status

[...]
Network devices using DPDK-compatible driver
============================================
0000:04:00.0 'Ethernet Controller 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 1528' drv=igb_uio unused=ixgbe
0000:04:00.1 'Ethernet Controller 10-Gigabit X540-AT2 1528' drv=igb_uio unused=ixgbe
0000:05:00.0 '82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection 10fb' drv=igb_uio unused=ixgbe
0000:05:00.1 '82599ES 10-Gigabit SFI/SFP+ Network Connection 10fb' drv=igb_uio unused=ixgbe

Network devices using kernel driver
===================================
0000:01:00.0 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth0 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio *Active*
0000:01:00.1 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth1 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
0000:02:00.0 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth2 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
0000:02:00.1 'NetXtreme BCM5720 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe 165f' if=eth3 drv=tg3 unused=igb_uio
[...]

For more detailed explainations on this point, please refer to the related DPDK documentation.

Launching it

Tool usage:

dpdk-replay [OPTIONS] PCAP_FILE PORT1[,PORTX...]
   PCAP_FILE: the file to send through the DPDK ports.
   PORT1[,PORTX...] : specify the list of ports to be used (pci addresses).
   Options:
   --numacore <NUMA-CORE> : use cores from the desired NUMA. Only
     NICs on the selected numa core will be available (default is 0).
   --nbruns <1-N> : set the wanted number of replay (1 by default).
   --wait-enter: will wait until you press ENTER to start the replay (asked
     once all the initialization are done).

Basic example to replay foobar.pcap on the 04:00.0 DPDK port:

$> dpdk-replay foobar.pcap 04:00.0

Replay a thousand times the foobar.pcap file on four DPDK ports.:

$> dpdk-replay --nbruns 1000 foobar.pcap 04:00.0,04:00.1,04:00.2,04:00.3

Use NIC ports from NUMA 1:

$> dpdk-replay --numacore 1 foobar.pcap 81:00.0

Let dpdk-replay prepare the replay and decide when to make it starts by pressing ENTER:

$> dpdk-replay --wait-enter foobar.pcap 04:00.0