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Supported NICs

osvbng supports multiple Dataplane modes:

Mode Interface Type Performance Notes
DPDK Native DPDK PMD Line-rate Vendor-specific binding
AF_XDP eBPF/XDP High Coming soon
AF_PACKET Linux kernel Standard Any NIC

This document covers DPDK mode configuration. Different NIC vendors require different driver binding strategies.

Vendor Support Matrix

Vendor Driver Strategy Dataplane Ownership Linux Visibility Notes
Mellanox/NVIDIA Bifurcated Shared Yes Uses mlx5 PMD with kernel driver
Intel vfio-pci Exclusive No Requires IOMMU
Other vfio-pci Exclusive No Falls back to vfio-pci

Mellanox (ConnectX-4/5/6/7)

Vendor ID: 15b3

Strategy: Bifurcated driver

Mellanox NICs use a bifurcated driver architecture where: - Kernel driver (mlx5_core) remains bound - DPDK mlx5 PMD accesses hardware via Verbs API - Data plane is 100% DPDK (kernel bypassed for packets) - Control plane shared (link status, ethtool, firmware)

Implications: - Interfaces appear in both Linux (eth1, eth2) and Dataplane - Linux interfaces should remain unconfigured (no IP) - Full line-rate DPDK performance - Works in VMs with PCI passthrough (no guest IOMMU required)

Requirements: - rdma-core / libibverbs packages - mlx5_core kernel module

Intel (X710, XXV710, E810, etc.)

Vendor ID: 8086

Strategy: vfio-pci

Intel NICs use the standard DPDK model: - Device unbound from kernel driver (i40e, ice) - Bound to vfio-pci for DPDK access - Dataplane has exclusive ownership - Device disappears from Linux

Implications: - Requires working IOMMU - Not suitable for VMs without nested IOMMU - Device invisible to Linux tools

Requirements: - IOMMU enabled (intel_iommu=on iommu=pt) - vfio-pci kernel module

Adding New Vendor Support

NIC vendor implementations are located in pkg/config/system/nic/. Each vendor has its own file.

1. Create a new vendor file (e.g., pkg/config/system/nic/broadcom.go):

package nic

type Broadcom struct{}

func (b Broadcom) Name() string { return "Broadcom" }

func (b Broadcom) Match(vendorID string) bool {
    return vendorID == "14e4"  // PCI vendor ID
}

func (b Broadcom) BindStrategy() BindStrategy {
    return BindStrategyVFIO  // or BindStrategyBifurcated, BindStrategyUIO
}

2. Register the vendor in pkg/config/system/nic/all.go:

func init() {
    Register(Mellanox{})
    Register(Intel{})
    Register(Broadcom{})  // Add before Generic
    Register(Generic{})   // Generic must be last (matches everything)
}

File structure: 

pkg/config/system/nic/
├── nic.go       # Vendor interface and registration logic
├── bind.go      # Device binding (vfio-pci, uio, bifurcated)
├── mellanox.go  # Mellanox vendor
├── intel.go     # Intel vendor
├── generic.go   # Generic fallback
└── all.go       # Registration order

Bind Strategies

BindStrategyBifurcated

  • Kernel driver stays bound
  • DPDK PMD works alongside kernel
  • Used by: Mellanox

BindStrategyVFIO

  • Unbind from kernel, bind to vfio-pci
  • Requires IOMMU
  • Exclusive DPDK ownership
  • Used by: Intel, most other vendors

BindStrategyUIO

  • Unbind from kernel, bind to uio_pci_generic
  • No IOMMU required
  • Less secure (no DMA protection)
  • Fallback when vfio-pci unavailable

Troubleshooting

Device not appearing in Dataplane

Check driver binding: 

ls -la /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:XX:00.0/driver

For Mellanox, should show mlx5_core. For Intel/others with vfio, should show vfio-pci.

vfio-pci bind fails with EINVAL (-22)

IOMMU not available. Options: 1. Enable IOMMU in BIOS and kernel (intel_iommu=on) 2. Use noiommu mode (less secure): echo 1 > /sys/module/vfio/parameters/enable_unsafe_noiommu_mode 3. Use uio_pci_generic instead

Mellanox device not working

Ensure required packages are installed: 

apt install rdma-core libibverbs-dev

Check kernel module: 

lsmod | grep mlx5