NVIDIA Firmware Tools (MFT) Documentation

mlxprivhost - NIC Configuration by the Host Restriction Tool (Zero Trust Mode)

mlxprivhost enables the user to restrict the hosts from managing the device in case the BlueField DPU is in a Zero Trust environment, and the host cannot be considered “trusted”.  

mlxprivhost is supported in Linux only.

mlxprivhost is not supported in ESXi 7.0.

This utility is supported in BlueField devices only.

 mlxprivhost Synopsis

mlxprivhost [OPTIONS] <command> [parameters…]
  • Restrict configuration takes effect immediately, but disabling/enabling RShim requires power cycle

  • A zero-trust (restricted) host will not be able to perform operations that can compromise the DPU, such as:

  • For Multi-host systems, the tool is compatible with firmware versions starting from xx.31.10xx and later

where:

-h, --help  

Shows this help message and exit

-v, --version    

Shows program's version number and exit

-d <dev>, --device <dev> 

Device to work with.

--disable_rshim 

When TRUE, the host does not have an RSHIM function to access the embedded CPU registers (power cycle is required to apply changes)

--disable_tracer

When TRUE, the host will not be allowed to own the Tracer (requires FW reset to be applied)

--disable_counter_rd

When TRUE, the host will not be allowed to read Physical port counters (requires FW reset to be applied)

--disable_port_owner  

When TRUE, the host will not be allowed to be Port Owner (requires FW reset to be applied)

r,restrict

Set all external hosts as zero-trust (restricted) except of the one that called the command

p,privilege   

Set all external hosts privileged except the one that called the command

q,query

From external HOST: query the status of the host

From Embedded ARM CPU: query the status of all external hosts.

-f, --full

Run with query command for high verbosity level - valid from embedded ARM CPU only.

Example of mlxprivhost:

  • Enabling Zero-Trust host (Full Host Restriction - Embedded ARM CPU Only): 

    mlxprivhost –d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 r --disable_rshim --disable_tracer --disable_counter_rd --disable_port_owner
    
  • Disabling Zero-Trust host restriction (Embedded ARM CPU Only): 

    mlxprivhost –d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 p
    
  • Query the status of the host\hosts (the full flag valid for embedded ARM CPU Only): 

    mlxprivhost -d /dev/mst/mt41682_pciconf0 q --full
    Host configurations
    -------------------
    host index			: 0				1			2			3
    level				: PRIVILEGED	PRIVILEGED	PRIVILEGED	PRIVILEGED
    
    Port functions status:
    -----------------------
    disable_rshim		: FALSE			FALSE		FALSE		FALSE
    disable_tracer		: FALSE			FALSE		FALSE		FALSE
    disable_port_owner	: FALSE			FALSE		FALSE		FALSE
    disable_counter_rd	: FALSE			FALSE		FALSE		FALSE
    

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