4. DPDK Release 17.08

4.1. New Features

  • Increase minimum x86 ISA version to SSE4.2.

    Starting with version 17.08, DPDK requires SSE4.2 to run on x86. Previous versions required SSE3.

  • Added Service Core functionality.

    The service core functionality added to EAL allows DPDK to run services such as software PMDs on lcores without the application manually running them. The service core infrastructure allows flexibility of running multiple services on the same service lcore, and provides the application with powerful APIs to configure the mapping from service lcores to services.

  • Added Generic Receive Offload API.

    Added Generic Receive Offload (GRO) API support to reassemble TCP/IPv4 packets. The GRO API assumes all input packets have the correct checksums. GRO API doesn’t update checksums for merged packets. If input packets are IP fragmented, the GRO API assumes they are complete packets (i.e. with L4 headers).

  • Added Fail-Safe PMD

    Added the new Fail-Safe PMD. This virtual device allows applications to support seamless hotplug of devices. See the Fail-safe poll mode driver library guide for more details about this driver.

  • Added support for generic flow API (rte_flow) on igb NICs.

    This API provides a generic means of configuring hardware to match specific ingress or egress traffic, altering its behavior and querying related counters according to any number of user-defined rules.

    Added generic flow API support for Ethernet, IPv4, UDP, TCP and RAW pattern items with QUEUE actions. There are four types of filter support for this feature on igb.

  • Added support for generic flow API (rte_flow) on enic.

    Added flow API support for outer Ethernet, VLAN, IPv4, IPv6, UDP, TCP, SCTP, VxLAN and inner Ethernet, VLAN, IPv4, IPv6, UDP and TCP pattern items with QUEUE, MARK, FLAG and VOID actions for ingress traffic.

  • Added support for Chelsio T6 family of adapters

    The CXGBE PMD was updated to run Chelsio T6 family of adapters.

  • Added latency and performance improvements for cxgbe

    the Tx and Rx path in cxgbe were reworked to improve performance. In addition the latency was reduced for slow traffic.

  • Updated the bnxt PMD.

    Updated the bnxt PMD. The major enhancements include:

    • Support MTU modification.
    • Add support for LRO.
    • Add support for VLAN filter and strip functionality.
    • Additional enhancements to add support for more dev_ops.
    • Added PMD specific APIs mainly to control VF from PF.
    • Update HWRM version to 1.7.7

  • Added support for Rx interrupts on mlx4 driver.

    Rx queues can be now be armed with an interrupt which will trigger on the next packet arrival.

  • Updated mlx5 driver.

    Updated the mlx5 driver including the following changes:

    • Added vectorized Rx/Tx burst for x86.
    • Added support for isolated mode from flow API.
    • Reworked the flow drop action to implement in hardware classifier.
    • Improved Rx interrupts management.

  • Updated szedata2 PMD.

    Added support for firmware with multiple Ethernet ports per physical port.

  • Updated dpaa2 PMD.

    Updated dpaa2 PMD. Major enhancements include:

    • Added support for MAC Filter configuration.
    • Added support for Segmented Buffers.
    • Added support for VLAN filter and strip functionality.
    • Additional enhancements to add support for more dev_ops.
    • Optimized the packet receive path

  • Reorganized the symmetric crypto operation structure.

    The crypto operation (rte_crypto_sym_op) has been reorganized as follows:

    • Removed the rte_crypto_sym_op_sess_type field.
    • Replaced the pointer and physical address of IV with offset from the start of the crypto operation.
    • Moved length and offset of cipher IV to rte_crypto_cipher_xform.
    • Removed “Additional Authentication Data” (AAD) length.
    • Removed digest length.
    • Removed AAD pointer and physical address from auth structure.
    • Added aead structure, containing parameters for AEAD algorithms.

  • Reorganized the crypto operation structure.

    The crypto operation (rte_crypto_op) has been reorganized as follows:

    • Added the rte_crypto_op_sess_type field.
    • The enumerations rte_crypto_op_status and rte_crypto_op_type have been modified to be uint8_t values.
    • Removed the field opaque_data.
    • Pointer to rte_crypto_sym_op has been replaced with a zero length array.

  • Reorganized the crypto symmetric session structure.

    The crypto symmetric session structure (rte_cryptodev_sym_session) has been reorganized as follows:

    • The dev_id field has been removed.
    • The driver_id field has been removed.
    • The mempool pointer mp has been removed.
    • Replaced private marker with array of pointers to private data sessions sess_private_data.

  • Updated cryptodev library.

    • Added AEAD algorithm specific functions and structures, so it is not necessary to use a combination of cipher and authentication structures anymore.
    • Added helper functions for crypto device driver identification.
    • Added support for multi-device sessions, so a single session can be used in multiple drivers.
    • Added functions to initialize and free individual driver private data with the same session.

  • Updated dpaa2_sec crypto PMD.

    Added support for AES-GCM and AES-CTR.

  • Updated the AESNI MB PMD.

    The AESNI MB PMD has been updated with additional support for:

    • 12-byte IV on AES Counter Mode, apart from the previous 16-byte IV.

  • Updated the AES-NI GCM PMD.

    The AES-NI GCM PMD was migrated from the ISA-L library to the Multi Buffer library, as the latter library has Scatter Gather List support now. The migration entailed adding additional support for 192-bit keys.

  • Updated the Cryptodev Scheduler PMD.

    Added a multicore based distribution mode, which distributes the enqueued crypto operations among several slaves, running on different logical cores.

  • Added NXP DPAA2 Eventdev PMD.

    Added the new dpaa2 eventdev driver for NXP DPAA2 devices. See the “Event Device Drivers” document for more details on this new driver.

  • Added dpdk-test-eventdev test application.

    The dpdk-test-eventdev tool is a Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK) application that allows exercising various eventdev use cases. This application has a generic framework to add new eventdev based test cases to verify functionality and measure the performance parameters of DPDK eventdev devices.

4.2. Known Issues

  • Starting with version 17.08, libnuma is required to build DPDK.

4.3. API Changes

  • Modified the _rte_eth_dev_callback_process function in the ethdev library.

    The function _rte_eth_dev_callback_process() has been modified. The return value has been changed from void to int and an extra parameter void *ret_param has been added.

  • Moved bypass functions from the rte_ethdev library to ixgbe PMD

    • The following rte_ethdev library functions were removed:
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_event_show()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_event_store()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_init()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_state_set()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_state_show()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_ver_show()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_wd_reset()
      • rte_eth_dev_bypass_wd_timeout_show()
      • rte_eth_dev_wd_timeout_store()
    • The following ixgbe PMD functions were added:
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_event_show()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_event_store()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_init()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_state_set()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_state_show()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_ver_show()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_reset()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_timeout_show()
      • rte_pmd_ixgbe_bypass_wd_timeout_store()

  • Reworked rte_cryptodev library.

    The rte_cryptodev library has been reworked and updated. The following changes have been made to it:

    • The crypto device type enumeration has been removed from cryptodev library.
    • The function rte_crypto_count_devtype() has been removed, and replaced by the new function rte_crypto_count_by_driver().
    • Moved crypto device driver names definitions to the particular PMDs. These names are not public anymore.
    • The rte_cryptodev_configure() function does not create the session mempool for the device anymore.
    • The rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_attach_sym_session() and rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_dettach_sym_session() functions require the new parameter device id.
    • Parameters of rte_cryptodev_sym_session_create() were modified to accept mempool, instead of device id and rte_crypto_sym_xform.
    • Removed device id parameter from rte_cryptodev_sym_session_free().
    • Added a new field session_pool to rte_cryptodev_queue_pair_setup().
    • Removed aad_size parameter from rte_cryptodev_sym_capability_check_auth().
    • Added iv_size parameter to rte_cryptodev_sym_capability_check_auth().
    • Removed RTE_CRYPTO_OP_STATUS_ENQUEUED from enum rte_crypto_op_status.

4.4. ABI Changes

  • Changed type of domain field in rte_pci_addr to uint32_t to follow the PCI standard.

  • Added new rte_bus experimental APIs available as operators within the rte_bus structure.

  • Made rte_devargs structure internal device representation generic to prepare for a bus-agnostic EAL.

  • Reorganized the crypto operation structures.

    Some fields have been modified in the rte_crypto_op and rte_crypto_sym_op structures, as described in the New Features section.

  • Reorganized the crypto symmetric session structure.

    Some fields have been modified in the rte_cryptodev_sym_session structure, as described in the New Features section.

  • Reorganized the rte_crypto_sym_cipher_xform structure.

    • Added cipher IV length and offset parameters.
    • Changed field size of key length from size_t to uint16_t.

  • Reorganized the rte_crypto_sym_auth_xform structure.

    • Added authentication IV length and offset parameters.
    • Changed field size of AAD length from uint32_t to uint16_t.
    • Changed field size of digest length from uint32_t to uint16_t.
    • Removed AAD length.
    • Changed field size of key length from size_t to uint16_t.

  • Replaced dev_type enumeration with uint8_t driver_id in rte_cryptodev_info and rte_cryptodev structures.

  • Removed session_mp from rte_cryptodev_config.

4.5. Shared Library Versions

The libraries prepended with a plus sign were incremented in this version.

  librte_acl.so.2
  librte_bitratestats.so.1
  librte_cfgfile.so.2
  librte_cmdline.so.2
+ librte_cryptodev.so.3
  librte_distributor.so.1
+ librte_eal.so.5
+ librte_ethdev.so.7
+ librte_eventdev.so.2
+ librte_gro.so.1
  librte_hash.so.2
  librte_ip_frag.so.1
  librte_jobstats.so.1
  librte_kni.so.2
  librte_kvargs.so.1
  librte_latencystats.so.1
  librte_lpm.so.2
  librte_mbuf.so.3
  librte_mempool.so.2
  librte_meter.so.1
  librte_metrics.so.1
  librte_net.so.1
  librte_pdump.so.1
  librte_pipeline.so.3
  librte_pmd_bond.so.1
  librte_pmd_ring.so.2
  librte_port.so.3
  librte_power.so.1
  librte_reorder.so.1
  librte_ring.so.1
  librte_sched.so.1
  librte_table.so.2
  librte_timer.so.1
  librte_vhost.so.3

4.6. Tested Platforms

  • Intel(R) platforms with Mellanox(R) NICs combinations

    • Platform details:
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2697A v4 @ 2.60GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2697 v3 @ 2.60GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2680 v2 @ 2.80GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2640 @ 2.50GHz
    • OS:
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.3 (Maipo)
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.2 (Maipo)
      • Ubuntu 16.10
      • Ubuntu 16.04
      • Ubuntu 14.04
    • MLNX_OFED: 4.1-1.0.2.0
    • NICs:
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-3 Pro 40G MCX354A-FCC_Ax (2x40G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1007
        • Firmware version: 2.40.5030
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 10G MCX4111A-XCAT (1x10G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 10G MCX4121A-XCAT (2x10G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 25G MCX4111A-ACAT (1x25G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 25G MCX4121A-ACAT (2x25G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 40G MCX4131A-BCAT/MCX413A-BCAT (1x40G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 40G MCX415A-BCAT (1x40G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX4131A-GCAT/MCX413A-GCAT (1x50G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX414A-BCAT (2x50G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX415A-GCAT/MCX416A-BCAT/MCX416A-GCAT (2x50G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 50G MCX415A-CCAT (1x100G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 100G MCX416A-CCAT (2x100G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1013
        • Firmware version: 12.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 Lx 10G MCX4121A-XCAT (2x10G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1015
        • Firmware version: 14.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-4 Lx 25G MCX4121A-ACAT (2x25G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x8
        • Device ID: 15b3:1015
        • Firmware version: 14.18.2000
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX(R)-5 100G MCX556A-ECAT (2x100G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 3.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1017
        • Firmware version: 16.19.1200
      • Mellanox(R) ConnectX-5 Ex EN 100G MCX516A-CDAT (2x100G)
        • Host interface: PCI Express 4.0 x16
        • Device ID: 15b3:1019
        • Firmware version: 16.19.1200

  • Intel(R) platforms with Intel(R) NICs combinations

    • CPU
      • Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU C2758 @ 2.40GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1540 @ 2.00GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU D-1541 @ 2.10GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-4667 v3 @ 2.00GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2680 v2 @ 2.80GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2699 v3 @ 2.30GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2695 v4 @ 2.10GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2658 v2 @ 2.40GHz
      • Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2658 v3 @ 2.20GHz
    • OS:
      • CentOS 7.2
      • Fedora 25
      • FreeBSD 11
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 7.3
      • SUSE Enterprise Linux 12
      • Wind River Linux 8
      • Ubuntu 16.04
      • Ubuntu 16.10
    • NICs:
      • Intel(R) 82599ES 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
        • Firmware version: 0x61bf0001
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:10fb / 8086:10ed
        • Driver version: 4.0.1-k (ixgbe)
      • Intel(R) Corporation Ethernet Connection X552/X557-AT 10GBASE-T
        • Firmware version: 0x800001cf
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:15ad / 8086:15a8
        • Driver version: 4.2.5 (ixgbe)
      • Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-DA4 (4x10G)
        • Firmware version: 6.01 0x80003205
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:1572 / 8086:154c
        • Driver version: 2.0.19 (i40e)
      • Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-DA2 (2x10G)
        • Firmware version: 6.01 0x80003204
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:1572 / 8086:154c
        • Driver version: 2.0.19 (i40e)
      • Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XXV710-DA2 (2x25G)
        • Firmware version: 6.01 0x80003221
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:158b
        • Driver version: 2.0.19 (i40e)
      • Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710-QDA2 (2X40G)
        • Firmware version: 6.01 0x8000321c
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:1583 / 8086:154c
        • Driver version: 2.0.19 (i40e)
      • Intel(R) Corporation I350 Gigabit Network Connection
        • Firmware version: 1.48, 0x800006e7
        • Device id (pf/vf): 8086:1521 / 8086:1520
        • Driver version: 5.2.13-k (igb)