Creating a Virtual Function on the Host Server

Notes: If you wish the AIFF to protect all workloads (or for a PoC), you may skip this entire procedure and use the "Entire workload protection" on both channels. If you wish the AIFF to protect specific workloads, then on the Host Server you must create Virtual Functions (VFs) for these workloads (one VF for each channel). You configure an IP address for your workloads and use this information when the AIFF installation script (AIFFctl) prompts you for it.

This procedure enables SR-IOV for the BlueField-3 network function and creates one Virtual Function (VF) to be dedicated to a workload.

For reference, use NVIDIA DOCA Documentation > BlueField SR-IOV.

All low-level BlueField-3 configuration is performed using the Mellanox Firmware Tools (MFT).

Procedure:

1. Connect to the command line on the Host Server and log in.

2. Start the "MST" service:

   sudo mst start

3. Make sure the MST devices are available:

   sudo mst status -v

   In this output, locate the BlueField-3 network interface.

4. Identify the BlueField-3 network interface and the MST device.

   In our example, we use only channel 0:

   • Host Server Physical Function (PF) interface: ens2f0

   • MST device: /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0

   Important - Always make sure the BlueField-3 network interface and the MST device correspond to the same PCI function.

5. Check whether the SR-IOV support is already enabled for the identified BlueField-3 network interface:

   sudo ls /sys/class/net/ens2f0/device/sriov_numvfs

   • If the file exists, then SR-IOV is already enabled. Skip to the next step.

   • If the file does not exist:

     1. Run these commands to enable SR-IOV for the identified the MST device:

        sudo mlxconfig -e -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PF_NUM_OF_VF_VALID=1

        sudo mlxconfig -e -d /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0 s PF_NUM_OF_VF=1

     2. Reboot the Host Server (a full power cycle is required).

6. Create the Virtual Function (VF) for the identified BlueField-3 network interface:

   echo 1 | sudo tee /sys/class/net/ens2f0/device/sriov_numvfs

   This creates one Host Server VF (in our example, "ens2f0v0") and a corresponding DPU VF representor (in our example, "pf0vf0").

7. Bring up the Host Server VF:

   sudo ip link set ens2f0v0 up

8. Assign an IP address to the Host Server VF:

   sudo ip addr add 20.20.20.8/8 dev ens2f0v0

9. Examine the VF on the Host Server:

   sudo ip link show ens2f0v0

10. Examine the VF on the DPU:

    sudo ip link show | grep pf0vf

At this point the VF exists, it is up, and has an IP address assigned.