3. Running the Application

3.1. EAL Command-line Options

Please refer to EAL parameters (Linux) or EAL parameters (FreeBSD) for a list of available EAL command-line options.

3.2. Testpmd Command-line Options

The following are the command-line options for the testpmd applications. They must be separated from the EAL options, shown in the previous section, with a -- separator:

sudo ./testpmd -l 0-3 -n 4 -- -i --portmask=0x1 --nb-cores=2

The command line options are:

  • -i, --interactive

    Run testpmd in interactive mode. In this mode, the testpmd starts with a prompt that can be used to start and stop forwarding, configure the application and display stats on the current packet processing session. See Testpmd Runtime Functions for more details.

    In non-interactive mode, the application starts with the configuration specified on the command-line and immediately enters forwarding mode.

  • -h, --help

    Display a help message and quit.

  • -a, --auto-start

    Start forwarding on initialization.

  • --tx-first

    Start forwarding, after sending a burst of packets first.

Note

This flag should be only used in non-interactive mode.

  • --stats-period PERIOD

    Display statistics every PERIOD seconds, if interactive mode is disabled. The default value is 0, which means that the statistics will not be displayed.

  • --nb-cores=N

    Set the number of forwarding cores, where 1 <= N <= “number of cores” or CONFIG_RTE_MAX_LCORE from the configuration file. The default value is 1.

  • --nb-ports=N

    Set the number of forwarding ports, where 1 <= N <= “number of ports” on the board or CONFIG_RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS from the configuration file. The default value is the number of ports on the board.

  • --coremask=0xXX

    Set the hexadecimal bitmask of the cores running the packet forwarding test. The master lcore is reserved for command line parsing only and cannot be masked on for packet forwarding.

  • --portmask=0xXX

    Set the hexadecimal bitmask of the ports used by the packet forwarding test.

  • --numa

    Enable NUMA-aware allocation of RX/TX rings and of RX memory buffers (mbufs). [Default setting]

  • --no-numa

    Disable NUMA-aware allocation of RX/TX rings and of RX memory buffers (mbufs).

  • --port-numa-config=(port,socket)[,(port,socket)]

    Specify the socket on which the memory pool to be used by the port will be allocated.

  • --ring-numa-config=(port,flag,socket)[,(port,flag,socket)]

    Specify the socket on which the TX/RX rings for the port will be allocated. Where flag is 1 for RX, 2 for TX, and 3 for RX and TX.

  • --socket-num=N

    Set the socket from which all memory is allocated in NUMA mode, where 0 <= N < number of sockets on the board.

  • --mbuf-size=N

    Set the data size of the mbufs used to N bytes, where N < 65536. The default value is 2048.

  • --total-num-mbufs=N

    Set the number of mbufs to be allocated in the mbuf pools, where N > 1024.

  • --max-pkt-len=N

    Set the maximum packet size to N bytes, where N >= 64. The default value is 1518.

  • --eth-peers-configfile=name

    Use a configuration file containing the Ethernet addresses of the peer ports. The configuration file should contain the Ethernet addresses on separate lines:

    XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:01
XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:02
...

  • --eth-peer=N,XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX

    Set the MAC address XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX of the peer port N, where 0 <= N < CONFIG_RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS from the configuration file.

  • --pkt-filter-mode=mode

    Set Flow Director mode where mode is either none (the default), signature or perfect. See flow_director_filter for more details.

  • --pkt-filter-report-hash=mode

    Set Flow Director hash match reporting mode where mode is none, match (the default) or always.

  • --pkt-filter-size=N

    Set Flow Director allocated memory size, where N is 64K, 128K or 256K. Sizes are in kilobytes. The default is 64.

  • --pkt-filter-flexbytes-offset=N

    Set the flexbytes offset. The offset is defined in words (not bytes) counted from the first byte of the destination Ethernet MAC address, where N is 0 <= N <= 32. The default value is 0x6.

  • --pkt-filter-drop-queue=N

    Set the drop-queue. In perfect filter mode, when a rule is added with queue = -1, the packet will be enqueued into the RX drop-queue. If the drop-queue does not exist, the packet is dropped. The default value is N=127.

  • --disable-crc-strip

    Disable hardware CRC stripping.

  • --enable-lro

    Enable large receive offload.

  • --enable-rx-cksum

    Enable hardware RX checksum offload.

  • --enable-scatter

    Enable scatter (multi-segment) RX.

  • --enable-hw-vlan

    Enable hardware VLAN.

  • --enable-hw-vlan-filter

    Enable hardware VLAN filter.

  • --enable-hw-vlan-strip

    Enable hardware VLAN strip.

  • --enable-hw-vlan-extend

    Enable hardware VLAN extend.

  • --enable-drop-en

    Enable per-queue packet drop for packets with no descriptors.

  • --disable-rss

    Disable RSS (Receive Side Scaling).

  • --port-topology=mode

    Set port topology, where mode is paired (the default), chained or loop.

    In paired mode, the forwarding is between pairs of ports, for example: (0,1), (2,3), (4,5).

    In chained mode, the forwarding is to the next available port in the port mask, for example: (0,1), (1,2), (2,0).

    The ordering of the ports can be changed using the portlist testpmd runtime function.

    In loop mode, ingress traffic is simply transmitted back on the same interface.

  • --forward-mode=mode

    Set the forwarding mode where mode is one of the following:

    io (the default)
mac
macswap
flowgen
rxonly
txonly
csum
icmpecho
ieee1588
tm
noisy

  • --rss-ip

    Set RSS functions for IPv4/IPv6 only.

  • --rss-udp

    Set RSS functions for IPv4/IPv6 and UDP.

  • --rxq=N

    Set the number of RX queues per port to N, where 1 <= N <= 65535. The default value is 1.

  • --rxd=N

    Set the number of descriptors in the RX rings to N, where N > 0. The default value is 128.

  • --txq=N

    Set the number of TX queues per port to N, where 1 <= N <= 65535. The default value is 1.

  • --txd=N

    Set the number of descriptors in the TX rings to N, where N > 0. The default value is 512.

  • --burst=N

    Set the number of packets per burst to N, where 1 <= N <= 512. The default value is 32. If set to 0, driver default is used if defined. Else, if driver default is not defined, default of 32 is used.

  • --mbcache=N

    Set the cache of mbuf memory pools to N, where 0 <= N <= 512. The default value is 16.

  • --rxpt=N

    Set the prefetch threshold register of RX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 8.

  • --rxht=N

    Set the host threshold register of RX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 8.

  • --rxfreet=N

    Set the free threshold of RX descriptors to N, where 0 <= N < value of –rxd. The default value is 0.

  • --rxwt=N

    Set the write-back threshold register of RX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 4.

  • --txpt=N

    Set the prefetch threshold register of TX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 36.

  • --txht=N

    Set the host threshold register of TX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 0.

  • --txwt=N

    Set the write-back threshold register of TX rings to N, where N >= 0. The default value is 0.

  • --txfreet=N

    Set the transmit free threshold of TX rings to N, where 0 <= N <= value of --txd. The default value is 0.

  • --txrst=N

    Set the transmit RS bit threshold of TX rings to N, where 0 <= N <= value of --txd. The default value is 0.

  • --rx-queue-stats-mapping=(port,queue,mapping)[,(port,queue,mapping)]

    Set the RX queues statistics counters mapping 0 <= mapping <= 15.

  • --tx-queue-stats-mapping=(port,queue,mapping)[,(port,queue,mapping)]

    Set the TX queues statistics counters mapping 0 <= mapping <= 15.

  • --no-flush-rx

    Don’t flush the RX streams before starting forwarding. Used mainly with the PCAP PMD.

  • --txpkts=X[,Y]

    Set TX segment sizes or total packet length. Valid for tx-only and flowgen forwarding modes.

  • --disable-link-check

    Disable check on link status when starting/stopping ports.

  • --no-lsc-interrupt

    Disable LSC interrupts for all ports, even those supporting it.

  • --no-rmv-interrupt

    Disable RMV interrupts for all ports, even those supporting it.

  • --bitrate-stats=N

    Set the logical core N to perform bitrate calculation.

  • --print-event <unknown|intr_lsc|queue_state|intr_reset|vf_mbox|macsec|intr_rmv|dev_probed|dev_released|all>

    Enable printing the occurrence of the designated event. Using all will enable all of them.

  • --mask-event <unknown|intr_lsc|queue_state|intr_reset|vf_mbox|macsec|intr_rmv|dev_probed|dev_released|all>

    Disable printing the occurrence of the designated event. Using all will disable all of them.

  • --flow-isolate-all

    Providing this parameter requests flow API isolated mode on all ports at initialization time. It ensures all traffic is received through the configured flow rules only (see flow command).

    Ports that do not support this mode are automatically discarded.

  • --tx-offloads=0xXXXXXXXX

    Set the hexadecimal bitmask of TX queue offloads. The default value is 0.

  • --hot-plug

    Enable device event monitor mechanism for hotplug.

  • --vxlan-gpe-port=N

    Set the UDP port number of tunnel VXLAN-GPE to N. The default value is 4790.

  • --mlockall

    Enable locking all memory.

  • --no-mlockall

    Disable locking all memory.

  • --mp-alloc <native|anon|xmem|xmemhuge>

    Select mempool allocation mode:

    • native: create and populate mempool using native DPDK memory
    • anon: create mempool using native DPDK memory, but populate using anonymous memory
    • xmem: create and populate mempool using externally and anonymously allocated area
    • xmemhuge: create and populate mempool using externally and anonymously allocated hugepage area

  • --noisy-tx-sw-buffer-size

    Set the number of maximum elements of the FIFO queue to be created for buffering packets. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.

  • --noisy-tx-sw-buffer-flushtime=N

    Set the time before packets in the FIFO queue is flushed. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.

  • --noisy-lkup-memory=N

    Set the size of the noisy neighbor simulation memory buffer in MB to N. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.

  • --noisy-lkup-num-reads=N

    Set the number of reads to be done in noisy neighbor simulation memory buffer to N. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.

  • --noisy-lkup-num-writes=N

    Set the number of writes to be done in noisy neighbor simulation memory buffer to N. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.

  • --noisy-lkup-num-reads-writes=N

    Set the number of r/w accesses to be done in noisy neighbor simulation memory buffer to N. Only available with the noisy forwarding mode. The default value is 0.