NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux

This guide details the necessary steps to set up NVIDIA DOCA in your Linux environment.

Introduction

Installation of the NVIDIA® BlueField® networking platform (DPU or SuperNIC) software requires following the following step-by-step procedure.

Supported Platforms

Supported BlueField Platforms

The following NVIDIA® BlueField® Platforms are supported with DOCA:

Supported ConnectX NICs

The NVIDIA® ConnectX® NICs supported with DOCA-Host can be found in: NVIDIA DOCA Profiles

Hardware Prerequisites

For BlueField Platform users, this guide assumes that a BlueField device has been installed in a server according to the instructions detailed in your DPU's hardware user guide.

DOCA Packages

Supported Host OS per DOCA-Host Installation Profile

The default operating system included with the BlueField Bundle (for DPU and SuperNIC) is Ubuntu 22.04.

The supported operating systems on the host machine per DOCA-Host installation profile are the following:

BlueField Networking Platform Image Installation

This guide provides the minimal instructions for setting up DOCA on a standard system.

Installation Files

Uninstalling Software from Host

If an older DOCA (or MLNX_OFED) software version is installed on your host, make sure to uninstall it before proceeding with the installation of the new version:

$ for f in $( dpkg --list | grep doca | awk '{print $2}' ); do echo $f ; apt remove --purge $f -y ; done
$ /usr/sbin/ofed_uninstall.sh --force
$ sudo apt-get autoremove

host# for f in $(rpm -qa | grep -i doca ) ; do yum -y remove $f; done
host# /usr/sbin/ofed_uninstall.sh --force
host# yum autoremove
host# yum makecache

Then perform the following steps:

1. Download NVIDIA's RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256 key:

   # wget http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256
   --2018-01-25 13:52:30--  http://www.mellanox.com/downloads/ofed/RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256
   Resolving www.mellanox.com... 72.3.194.0
   Connecting to www.mellanox.com|72.3.194.0|:80... connected.
   HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
   Length: 1354 (1.3K) [text/plain]
   Saving to: ?RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256?
    
   100%[=================================================>] 1,354       --.-K/s   in 0s
    
   2018-01-25 13:52:30 (247 MB/s) - ?RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256? saved [1354/1354]
   

   
   

2. Install the key:

   # sudo rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256
   warning: rpmts_HdrFromFdno: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 6224c050: NOKEY
   Retrieving key from file:///repos/MLNX_OFED//RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox
   Importing GPG key 0x6224C050:
    Userid: "Mellanox Technologies (Mellanox Technologies - Signing Key v2) "
    From  : /repos/MLNX_OFED//RPM-GPG-KEY-Mellanox-SHA256
   Is this ok [y/N]:
   

   
   

3. Verify that the key was successfully imported:

   # rpm -q gpg-pubkey --qf '%{NAME}-%{VERSION}-%{RELEASE}\t%{SUMMARY}\n' | grep Mellanox
   gpg-pubkey-a9e4b643-520791ba    gpg(Mellanox Technologies )
   

   
   

Installing Prerequisites on Host for Target BlueField

Install RShim to manage and flash the BlueField Platform.

Determining BlueField Device ID

It is important to learn your BlueField's device-id to perform some of the software installations or upgrades in this guide.

To determine the device ID of the BlueField Platform on your setup, run:

host# mst start
host# mst status -v

Example output:

MST modules:
------------
    MST PCI module is not loaded
    MST PCI configuration module loaded
PCI devices:
------------
DEVICE_TYPE             MST                           PCI       RDMA            NET                       NUMA
BlueField2(rev:1)       /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0.1   3b:00.1   mlx5_1          net-ens1f1                0
 
BlueField2(rev:1)       /dev/mst/mt41686_pciconf0     3b:00.0   mlx5_0          net-ens1f0                0

BlueField3(rev:1)       /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0.1   e2:00.1   mlx5_1          net-ens7f1np1             4

BlueField3(rev:1)       /dev/mst/mt41692_pciconf0     e2:00.0   mlx5_0          net-ens7f0np0             4

Installing Software on Host

1. Install DOCA local repo package for host: 

   The following table provides instructions for installing the DOCA host repo on your device depending on your OS and desired profile.

   
   

   OS	Profile	Instructions
   Deb-based	doca-all	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the deb repo. Run: host# dpkg -i <repo_file> Perform apt update. Run:  host# apt-get update If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Ensure that the kernel headers installed match the version of the currently running kernel.  If the build directory exists in under /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build, then the kernel headers are installed. Run apt install for DOCA SDK and DOCA runtime:  host# sudo apt install -y doca-all mlnx-fw-updater
   	doca-networking	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the deb repo. Run:  host# dpkg -i <repo_file> Perform apt update. Run:  host# apt-get update If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Ensure that the kernel headers installed match the version of the currently running kernel. If the build directory exists in under /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build, then the kernel headers are installed. Run apt install for DOCA SDK and DOCA runtime:  host# sudo apt install -y doca-networking mlnx-fw-updater
   	doca-ofed	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the deb repo. Run:  host# sudo dpkg -i <repo_file> Perform apt update. Run:   host# sudo apt-get update If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Ensure that the kernel headers installed match the version of the currently running kernel. If the build directory exists in under /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build, then the kernel headers are installed. Install doca-ofed. Run:  host# sudo apt install -y doca-ofed mlnx-fw-updater
   RPM-based	doca-all	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the rpm repo. Run:  host# rpm -Uvh <repo_file>.rpm Perform yum update. Run:  host# sudo yum makecache If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Run yum install for DOCA SDK and DOCA runtime:  host# sudo yum install -y doca-all mlnx-fw-updater
   	doca-networking	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the rpm repo. Run:  host# rpm -Uvh <repo_file>.rpm Perform yum update. Run:  host# sudo yum makecache If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Run yum install for DOCA SDK and DOCA runtime:  host# sudo yum install -y doca-networking mlnx-fw-updater
   	doca-ofed	Download the DOCA host repo from section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles" for the host. Unpack the RPM repo. Run:  host# sudo rpm -Uvh <repo_file>.rpm Perform yum update. Run:  host# sudo yum makecache If the kernel version on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), refer to section "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux DOCAExtraPackage". Install doca-ofed. Run:   host# sudo yum install -y doca-ofed mlnx-fw-updater

   
   

2. Load the drivers:

   host# sudo /etc/init.d/openibd restart
   

   
   

3. Initialize MST. Run: 

   host# sudo mst restart
   

   
   

4. Skip this step if your BlueField Platform is Ethernet only. Please refer to NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedPlatforms to learn your Bluefield type.

   If you have a VPI-capable BlueField, the default link type of the ports will be configured to IB. To verify your link type, run: 

   host# sudo mst start
   host# sudo mlxconfig -d <device-id> -e q | grep -i link_type
   Configurations:                              Default         Current         Next Boot
   *        LINK_TYPE_P1                        IB(1)           ETH(2)          IB(1)
   *        LINK_TYPE_P2                        IB(1)           ETH(2)          IB(1)
   

   
   

    If your BlueField is Ethernet capable only, then the sudo mlxconfig -d <device> command will not provide an output.

   If the current link type is set to IB, run the following command to change it to Ethernet: 

   host# sudo mlxconfig -d <device-id> s LINK_TYPE_P1=2 LINK_TYPE_P2=2
   

   
   

5. Verify that RShim is active. 

   host# sudo systemctl status rshim
   

   This command is expected to display active (running). If RShim service does not launch automatically, run: 

   host# sudo systemctl enable rshim
   host# sudo systemctl start rshim
   

   
   

6. Assign a dynamic IP to tmfifo_net0 interface (RShim host interface). 

   Skip this step if you are installing the DOCA image on multiple DPUs.

   
   

   host# ifconfig tmfifo_net0 192.168.100.1 netmask 255.255.255.252 up
   

   
   

DOCA Extra Package

If the kernel version on on your host is not supported (not shown under "NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux SupportedOperatingSystemDistributions"), two options are available:

• Switch to a compatible kernel.

• Install doca-extra package:

  1. Run:

     host# sudo apt/yum install -y doca-extra
     

     
     

  2. Execute the doca-kernel-support script which rebuilds and installs the DOCA-Host kernel modules with the running kernel:

     host# sudo /opt/mellanox/doca/tools/doca-kernel-support
     

     
     

  3. Install user-space packages:

     host# sudo apt/yum install -y doca-ofed-userspace
     

     
     

     doca-kernel-support does not support customized or unofficial kernels.

     
     

Installing Software on DPU

Users have two options for installing DOCA on BlueField DPU or SuperNIC:

• Upgrading the full DOCA image on BlueField (recommended) – this option overwrites the entire boot partition with an Ubuntu 22.04 installation and updates BlueField and NIC firmware.

• Upgrading DOCA local repo package on BlueField – this option upgrades DOCA components without overwriting the boot partition. Use this option to preserve configurations or files on BlueField itself.

Installing Full DOCA Image on DPU via Host

Option 1 – No Pre-defined Password

BFB installation is executed as follows: 

host# sudo bfb-install --rshim rshim<N> --bfb <image_path.bfb>

Where rshim<N> is rshim0 if you only have one Bluefield. You may run the following command to verify:

host# ls -la /dev/ | grep rshim

Option 2 – Set Pre-defined Password

Ubuntu users can provide a unique password that will be applied at the end of the BlueField BFB bundle installation. This password needs to be defined in a bf.cfg configuration file.

To set the password for the "ubuntu" user:

1. Create password hash. Run: 

   host# openssl passwd -1
   Password:
   Verifying - Password:
   $1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1
   

   
   

2. Add the password hash in quotes to the bf.cfg file: 

   host# sudo vim bf.cfg
   ubuntu_PASSWORD='$1$3B0RIrfX$TlHry93NFUJzg3Nya00rE1'
   

   When running the installation command, use the --config flag to provide the file containing the password: 

   host# sudo bfb-install --rshim rshim<N> --bfb <image_path.bfb> --config bf.cfg
   

   
   

   Optionally, to upgrade the BlueField integrated BMC firmware using BFB bundle, please provide the current BMC root credentials in a bf.cfg file, as shown in the following:

   
   

   BMC_PASSWORD="<root password>"
   BMC_USER="root"
   BMC_REBOOT="yes"
   

   Unless previously changed, the default BMC root password is 0penBmc. 

   
   

   If --config is not used, then upon first login to the BlueField device, users will be prompted to update the default 'ubuntu' password.

   The following is an example of Ubuntu-22.04 BFB bundle installation (Release version may vary in the future).  

   host# sudo bfb-install --rshim rshim0 --bfb bf-bundle-2.7.0_24.04_ubuntu-22.04_prod.bfb --config bf.cfg
   Pushing bfb 1.41GiB 0:02:02 [11.7MiB/s] [           <=>                                                                                                                                ]
   Collecting BlueField booting status. Press Ctrl+C to stop
    INFO[PSC]: PSC BL1 START
    INFO[BL2]: start
    INFO[BL2]: boot mode (rshim)
    INFO[BL2]: VDDQ: 1120 mV
    INFO[BL2]: DDR POST passed
    INFO[BL2]: UEFI loaded
    INFO[BL31]: start
    INFO[BL31]: lifecycle GA Secured
    INFO[BL31]: VDD: 850 mV
    INFO[BL31]: runtime
    INFO[BL31]: MB ping success
    INFO[UEFI]: eMMC init
    INFO[UEFI]: eMMC probed
    INFO[UEFI]: UPVS valid
    INFO[UEFI]: PMI: updates started
    INFO[UEFI]: PMI: total updates: 1
    INFO[UEFI]: PMI: updates completed, status 0
    INFO[UEFI]: PCIe enum start
    INFO[UEFI]: PCIe enum end
    INFO[UEFI]: UEFI Secure Boot 
    INFO[UEFI]: PK configured
    INFO[UEFI]: Redfish enabled
    INFO[UEFI]: exit Boot Service
    INFO[MISC]: Found bf.cfg
    INFO[MISC]: Ubuntu installation started
    INFO[MISC]: Installing OS image
    INFO[MISC]: Changing the default password for user ubuntu
    INFO[MISC]: Ubuntu installation completed
    INFO[MISC]: Updating NIC firmware...
    INFO[MISC]: NIC firmware update done
    INFO[MISC]: Installation finished 
   
   

   To verify the BlueField has completed booting up, allow additional 90 seconds then perform the following:

   host# sudo cat /dev/rshim<N>/misc
   ...
    INFO[MISC]: Linux up
    INFO[MISC]: DPU is ready  
   

   
   

Installing Full DOCA Image on Multiple BlueField Platforms

On a host with multiple BlueField devices, the BFB image can be installed on all of them using the multi-bfb-install script.

host# ./multi-bfb-install --bfb <image_path.bfb> --password <password>

This script detects the number of RShim devices and configures them statically.

• For Ubuntu – the script creates a configuration file /etc/netplan/20-tmfifo.yaml

• For CentOS/RH 8.0 and 8.2 – the script installs the bridge-utils package to use the brctl command, creates the tm-br bridge, and connects all RShim interfaces to it

After the installation is complete, the configuration of the bridge and each RShim interface can be observed using ifconfig. The expected result is to see the IP on the tm-br bridge configured to 192.168.100.1 with subnet 255.255.255.0.

ssh ubuntu@192.168.100.2

The script burns a new MAC address to each BlueField and configures a new IP, 192.168.100.x, as described earlier.

Installing DOCA Local Repo Package on BlueField

1. Download the DOCA SDK and DOCA Runtime package from section NVIDIA DOCA Installation Guide for Linux | id (2.7.0)NVIDIADOCAInstallationGuideforLinux InstallationFiles.

2. Copy deb repo package into BlueField. Run: 

   host# sudo scp -r doca-repo-aarch64-ubuntu2204-local_<version>_arm64.deb ubuntu@192.168.100.2:/tmp/
   

   
   

3. Unpack the deb repo. Run: 

   dpu# sudo dpkg -i doca-dpu-repo-ubuntu2204-local_<version>_arm64.deb
   

   
   

4. Run apt update. 

   dpu# sudo apt-get update
   

   
   

5. Run apt install for DOCA Runtime and DOCA SDK: 

   dpu# sudo apt install doca-runtime doca-sdk
   

   
   

Upgrading Firmware

This section explains how to update the NIC firmware on a DOCA installed BlueField OS.

An up-to-date NIC firmware image is provided in BlueField BFB bundle and copied to the BlueField filesystem during BFB installation. 

To upgrade firmware in the BlueField Arm OS:

1. SSH to your BlueField Arm OS by any means available.

   The following instructions enable to login to the BlueField Arm OS from the host OS over the RShim virtual interface, tmfifo_net<N> and do not require LAN connectivity with the BlueField OOB network port.

   This operation can be performed over the host's tmfifo_net0 IPv4, 192.168.100.1 (preconfigured) with BlueField Arm OS at 192.168.100.2 (default).

   If multiple BlueField DPUs were updated using the multi-bfb-install script, as explained above, then each target BlueField OS IPv4 address changes in its last octate according to the underlaying RShim interface number: 192.168.100.3 for rshim1, 192.168.100.4 for rshim2, etc.

   The default credentials for Ubuntu are as follows: 

   Username	Password
   ubuntu	ubuntu

   For example, to log into BlueField Arm OS over IPv6: 

   host]# systemctl restart rshim
   // Wait 10 seconds
   
   host]# ssh -6 fe80::21a:caff:feff:ff01%tmfifo_net<N>
   Password: <configured-password>
   

   
   

2. Upgrade firmware in BlueField. Run: 

   dpu# sudo /opt/mellanox/mlnx-fw-updater/mlnx_fw_updater.pl --force-fw-update
   

   Example output: 

   Device #1:
   ----------
   
     Device Type:      BlueField-2
     [...]
     Versions:         Current        Available
        FW             <Old_FW>       <New_FW>
   

   
   

3. For the firmware upgrade to take effect perform a BlueField system reboot.

Post-installation Procedure

1. Restart the driver. Run: 

   host# sudo /etc/init.d/openibd restart
   Unloading HCA driver:                                      [  OK  ]
   Loading HCA driver and Access Layer:                       [  OK  ]
   

   
   

2. Configure the physical function (PF) interfaces. 

   host# sudo ifconfig <interface-1> <network-1/mask> up
   host# sudo ifconfig <interface-2> <network-2/mask> up
   

   For example: 

   host# sudo ifconfig p2p1 192.168.200.32/24 up
   host# sudo ifconfig p2p2 192.168.201.32/24 up
   

   Pings between the source and destination should now be operational.

Upgrading BlueField Using Standard Linux Tools

Building Your Own BFB Installation Image

Users wishing to build their own customized BlueField OS image can use the BFB build environment. Please refer to the bfb-build project in this GitHub webpage for more information. 

Setting Up Build Environment for Developers

For full instructions about setting up a development environment, refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Developer Guide.

Additional SDKs for DOCA

Installing CUDA on NVIDIA Converged Accelerator

NVIDIA® CUDA® is a parallel computing platform and programming model developed by NVIDIA for general computing GPUs.

This section details the necessary steps to set up CUDA on your environment. This section assumes that a BFB image has already been installed on your environment.
To install CUDA on your converged accelerator:

1. Download and install the latest NVIDIA Data Center GPU driver.

2. Download and install CUDA 

   The CUDA version tested to work with DOCA SDK is 11.8.0.

   
   

Configuring Operation Mode

There are two modes that the NVIDIA Converged Accelerator may operate in:

• Standard mode (default) – the BlueField and the GPU operate separately

• BlueField-X mode – the GPU is exposed to BlueField and is no longer visible on the host

To verify which mode the system is operating in, run: 

host# sudo mst start
host# sudo mlxconfig -d <device-id> q PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]

• Standard mode output: 

  Device #1:
  […]
  Configurations:                              Next Boot
           PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]        DEVICE_DEFAULT(0)
  
  
  

  
  

• BlueField-X mode output:

  Device #1:
  […]
  Configurations:                              Next Boot
           PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]        EMBEDDED_CPU(15)
  

  
  

To configure BlueField-X mode, run: 

host# mlxconfig -d <device-id> s PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]=0xF

To configure standard mode, run: 

host# mlxconfig -d <device-id> s PCI_DOWNSTREAM_PORT_OWNER[4]=0x0

Power cycle is required for configuration to take effect. For power cycle the host run:

host# ipmitool power cycle

Downloading and Installing CUDA Toolkit and Driver

This section details the necessary steps to set up CUDA on your environment. It assumes that a BFB image has already been installed on your environment.

1. Install CUDA by visiting the CUDA Toolkit Downloads webpage.

   Select the Linux distribution and version relevant for your environment.

   
   

   This section shows the native compilation option either on x86 or aarch64 hosts.

   
   

2. Test that the driver installation completed successfully. Run: 

   dpu# nvidia-smi
   
   Tue Apr  5 13:37:59 2022       
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | NVIDIA-SMI 510.47.03    Driver Version: 510.47.03    CUDA Version: 11.8     |
   |-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
   | GPU  Name        Persistence-M| Bus-Id        Disp.A | Volatile Uncorr. ECC |
   | Fan  Temp  Perf  Pwr:Usage/Cap|         Memory-Usage | GPU-Util  Compute M. |
   |                               |                      |               MIG M. |
   |===============================+======================+======================|
   |   0  NVIDIA BF A10       Off  | 00000000:06:00.0 Off |                    0 |
   |  0%   43C    P0    N/A / 225W |      0MiB / 23028MiB |      0%      Default |
   |                               |                      |                  N/A |
   +-------------------------------+----------------------+----------------------+
                                                                                  
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   | Processes:                                                                  |
   |  GPU   GI   CI        PID   Type   Process name                  GPU Memory |
   |        ID   ID                                                   Usage      |
   |=============================================================================|
   |  No running processes found                                                 |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
   

   
   

3. Verify that the installation completed successfully.

   1. Download CUDA samples repo. Run: 

      dpu# git clone https://github.com/NVIDIA/cuda-samples.git
      

      
      

   2. Build and run vectorAdd CUDA sample. Run: 

      dpu# cd cuda-samples/Samples/0_Introduction/vectorAdd
      dpu# make
      dpu# ./vectorAdd
      

      
      

   If the vectorAdd sample works as expected, it should output "Test Passed".

   
   

   If it seems that the GPU is slow or stuck, stop execution and run: 

   dpu# sudo setpci -v -d ::0302 800.L=201 # CPL_VC0 = 32
   

   
   

   
   

GPUDirect RDMA

For information on GPUDirect RMDA and more, refer to DOCA GPUNetIO documentation.

Installing Rivermax on BlueField 

NVIDIA Rivermax offers a unique IP-based solution for any media and data streaming use case.

This section provides the steps to install Rivermax assuming that a BFB image has already been installed on your environment.

Downloading Rivermax Driver

1. Navigate to the NVIDIA Rivermax SDK product page.

2. Register to be able to download the driver package using the JOIN button at the top of the page.

3. Download the appropriate driver package according to your BFB under the "Linux" subsection. For example, for Ubuntu 22.04 BFB, download rivermax_ubuntu2204_<version>.tar.gz.

Installing Rivermax Driver

1. Copy the .tgz file to BlueField:
   

   host# sudo scp -r rivermax_ubuntu2204_<version>.tar.gz ubuntu@192.168.100.2:/tmp/
   

   
   

2. Extract the Rivermax file:

   dpu# sudo tar xzf rivermax_ubuntu2204_<version>.tar.gz
   

   
   

3. Install the Rivermax driver package:

   dpu# cd <rivermax-version>/Ubuntu.22.04/deb-dist/aarch64/
   dpu# sudo dpkg -i rivermax_<version>.deb
   

   
   

Installing Rivermax Libraries from DOCA

Rivermax libraries are compatibles with DOCA components and can be found inside the doca-dpu-repo.

1. Unpack the doca-dpu-repo:
   

   dpu# sudo dpkg -i doca-dpu-repo-ubuntu2204-local_<version>_arm64.deb
   

   
   

2. Run apt update:

   dpu# sudo apt-get update
   

   
   

3. Install the Rivermax libraries:

   dpu# sudo apt install doca-rmax-libs
   dpu# sudo apt install libdoca-rmax-libs-dev
   

   
   

For additional details and guidelines, please visit the NVIDIA Rivermax SDK product page.

Last updated: April 02, 2026