21. QEDE Poll Mode Driver

The QEDE poll mode driver library (librte_pmd_qede) implements support for QLogic FastLinQ QL4xxxx 10G/25G/40G/50G/100G CNA family of adapters as well as their virtual functions (VF) in SR-IOV context. It is supported on several standard Linux distros like RHEL7.x, SLES12.x and Ubuntu. It is compile-tested under FreeBSD OS.

More information can be found at QLogic Corporation’s Website.

21.1. Supported Features

  • Unicast/Multicast filtering
  • Promiscuous mode
  • Allmulti mode
  • Port hardware statistics
  • Jumbo frames
  • VLAN offload - Filtering and stripping
  • Stateless checksum offloads (IPv4/TCP/UDP)
  • Multiple Rx/Tx queues
  • RSS (with RETA/hash table/key)
  • TSS
  • Multiple MAC address
  • Default pause flow control
  • SR-IOV VF
  • MTU change
  • Multiprocess aware
  • Scatter-Gather
  • VXLAN tunneling offload
  • N-tuple filter and flow director (limited support)
  • LRO/TSO

21.2. Non-supported Features

  • SR-IOV PF
  • GENEVE and NVGRE Tunneling offloads
  • NPAR

21.3. Supported QLogic Adapters

  • QLogic FastLinQ QL4xxxx 10G/25G/40G/50G/100G CNAs.

21.4. Prerequisites

  • Requires firmware version 8.18.x. and management firmware version 8.18.x or higher. Firmware may be available inbox in certain newer Linux distros under the standard directory E.g. /lib/firmware/qed/qed_init_values-8.18.9.0.bin
  • If the required firmware files are not available then visit QLogic Driver Download Center.

21.4.1. Performance note

  • For better performance, it is recommended to use 4K or higher RX/TX rings.

21.4.2. Config File Options

The following options can be modified in the .config file. Please note that enabling debugging options may affect system performance.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_PMD (default y)

    Toggle compilation of QEDE PMD driver.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_DEBUG_INFO (default n)

    Toggle display of generic debugging messages.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_DEBUG_DRIVER (default n)

    Toggle display of ecore related messages.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_DEBUG_TX (default n)

    Toggle display of transmit fast path run-time messages.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_DEBUG_RX (default n)

    Toggle display of receive fast path run-time messages.

  • CONFIG_RTE_LIBRTE_QEDE_FW (default “”)

    Gives absolute path of firmware file. Eg: "/lib/firmware/qed/qed_init_values_zipped-8.18.9.0.bin" Empty string indicates driver will pick up the firmware file from the default location.

21.5. Driver compilation and testing

Refer to the document compiling and testing a PMD for a NIC for details.

21.6. SR-IOV: Prerequisites and Sample Application Notes

This section provides instructions to configure SR-IOV with Linux OS.

Note: librte_pmd_qede will be used to bind to SR-IOV VF device and Linux native kernel driver (QEDE) will function as SR-IOV PF driver. Requires PF driver to be 8.10.x.x or higher.

  1. Verify SR-IOV and ARI capability is enabled on the adapter using lspci:

    lspci -s <slot> -vvv
    

    Example output:

    [...]
    Capabilities: [1b8 v1] Alternative Routing-ID Interpretation (ARI)
    [...]
    Capabilities: [1c0 v1] Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)
    [...]
    Kernel driver in use: igb_uio
    
  2. Load the kernel module:

    modprobe qede
    

    Example output:

    systemd-udevd[4848]: renamed network interface eth0 to ens5f0
    systemd-udevd[4848]: renamed network interface eth1 to ens5f1
    
  3. Bring up the PF ports:

    ifconfig ens5f0 up
    ifconfig ens5f1 up
    
  4. Create VF device(s):

    Echo the number of VFs to be created into "sriov_numvfs" sysfs entry of the parent PF.

    Example output:

    echo 2 > /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/0000:81:00.0/sriov_numvfs
    
  5. Assign VF MAC address:

    Assign MAC address to the VF using iproute2 utility. The syntax is:

    ip link set <PF iface> vf <VF id> mac <macaddr>
    

    Example output:

    ip link set ens5f0 vf 0 mac 52:54:00:2f:9d:e8
    
  6. PCI Passthrough:

    The VF devices may be passed through to the guest VM using virt-manager or virsh. QEDE PMD should be used to bind the VF devices in the guest VM using the instructions from Driver compilation and testing section above.

  7. Running testpmd (Enable QEDE_DEBUG_INFO=y to view informational messages):

    Refer to the document compiling and testing a PMD for a NIC to run testpmd application.

    Example output:

      testpmd -l 0,4-11 -n 4 -- -i --nb-cores=8 --portmask=0xf --rxd=4096 \
      --txd=4096 --txfreet=4068 --enable-rx-cksum --rxq=4 --txq=4 \
      --rss-ip --rss-udp
    
      [...]
    
    EAL: PCI device 0000:84:00.0 on NUMA socket 1
    EAL:   probe driver: 1077:1634 rte_qede_pmd
    EAL:   Not managed by a supported kernel driver, skipped
    EAL: PCI device 0000:84:00.1 on NUMA socket 1
    EAL:   probe driver: 1077:1634 rte_qede_pmd
    EAL:   Not managed by a supported kernel driver, skipped
    EAL: PCI device 0000:88:00.0 on NUMA socket 1
    EAL:   probe driver: 1077:1656 rte_qede_pmd
    EAL:   PCI memory mapped at 0x7f738b200000
    EAL:   PCI memory mapped at 0x7f738b280000
    EAL:   PCI memory mapped at 0x7f738b300000
    PMD: Chip details : BB1
    PMD: Driver version : QEDE PMD 8.7.9.0_1.0.0
    PMD: Firmware version : 8.7.7.0
    PMD: Management firmware version : 8.7.8.0
    PMD: Firmware file : /lib/firmware/qed/qed_init_values_zipped-8.7.7.0.bin
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_common_dev_init:macaddr \
                                                        00:0e:1e:d2:09:9c
      [...]
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_tx_queue_setup:txq 0 num_desc 4096 \
                                                tx_free_thresh 4068 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_tx_queue_setup:txq 1 num_desc 4096 \
                                                tx_free_thresh 4068 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_tx_queue_setup:txq 2 num_desc 4096 \
                                                 tx_free_thresh 4068 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_tx_queue_setup:txq 3 num_desc 4096 \
                                                 tx_free_thresh 4068 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_rx_queue_setup:rxq 0 num_desc 4096 \
                                                rx_buf_size=2148 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_rx_queue_setup:rxq 1 num_desc 4096 \
                                                rx_buf_size=2148 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_rx_queue_setup:rxq 2 num_desc 4096 \
                                                rx_buf_size=2148 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_rx_queue_setup:rxq 3 num_desc 4096 \
                                                rx_buf_size=2148 socket 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_dev_start:port 0
    [QEDE PMD: (84:00.0:dpdk-port-0)]qede_dev_start:link status: down
      [...]
    Checking link statuses...
    Port 0 Link Up - speed 25000 Mbps - full-duplex
    Port 1 Link Up - speed 25000 Mbps - full-duplex
    Port 2 Link Up - speed 25000 Mbps - full-duplex
    Port 3 Link Up - speed 25000 Mbps - full-duplex
    Done
    testpmd>