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HowTo Configure NVIDIA BlueField-3 to BlueField Mode on VMware vSphere 8.0

Created on Nov 19, 2024

Introduction

This guide outlines configuring the NVIDIA® BlueField®-3 DPU to BlueField Mode on VMware ESXi version 8.0.

References

Hardware and Software Requirements

  • A server platform with an adapter card utilizing an NVIDIA BlueField-3 device

  • Administrator privileges are necessary for installation on the target machine

Setup

The setup involves an ESXi 8.0 server with one or more BlueField-3 devices. 

The setup includes:

VMware ESXi server, vSphere Cluster and vCenter install and configuration is out of the scope of this post.

Using the BIOS Menu on DELL and Lenovo Servers

On a Dell server:

    1. Enter the server's BIOS menu.

    2. Click Device Settings: dell 750 01.png

    3. Select the desired BlueField device(s). BF3 Dell BF mode 02.png

    4. Verify that the Chip Type is a BlueField device (BlueField-3) and set the VMware Distributed Services Engine (DPU) to Disabled.
      Click BlueField Internal Cpu Configuration. BF3 Dell BF mode 03.png

    5. Set Internal Cpu Offload Engine to Enabled and Internal CPU Model to EMBEDDED CPU. BF3 Dell BF mode 04.png

    6. Click Back.

    7. Click VMware Configuration.
      BF3 Dell BF mode 05.png

    8. Set Management  PF to Disabled.

    9. Click Back.

    10. Click Finish.

    11. Repeat steps b-i for all necessary BlueField devices in the server.

    12. Save BIOS settings.

    13. Power cycle the server.

On a Lenovo server:

    1. Enter the server's BIOS menu.

    2. Select System Settings. BF3 Lenovo BF mode 01.png

    3. Select Network. BF3 Lenovo BF mode 02.png

    4. Select the desired BlueField device(s). BF3 Lenovo BF mode 03.png

    5. Verify that the Chip Type is a BlueField device (BlueField-3) and set the VMware Distributed Services Engine (DPU) to Disabled.
      BF3 Lenovo BF mode 04.png

    6. Click BlueField Internal Cpu Configuration.
      BF3 Lenovo BF mode 05.png

    7. Set Internal Cpu Offload Engine to Enabled and Internal CPU Model to EMBEDDED CPU. BF3 Lenovo BF mode 06.png

    8. Click Back.

    9. Click VMware Configuration.
      BF3 Lenovo BF mode 07.png

    10. Set Management  PF to Disabled.
      BF3 Lenovo BF mode 08.png

    11. Click Back.

    12. Click Finish.

    13. Repeat steps c-k for all necessary BlueField devices in the server.

    14. Save BIOS settings.

    15. Power cycle the server.

Author


BK.jpg

Boris Kovalev

Boris Kovalev has worked for the past several years as a Solutions Architect, focusing on NVIDIA Networking/Mellanox technology, and is responsible for complex machine learning, Big Data and advanced VMware-based cloud research and design. Boris previously spent more than 20 years as a senior consultant and solutions architect at multiple companies, most recently at VMware. He has written multiple reference designs covering VMware, machine learning, Kubernetes, and container solutions which are available at the NVIDIA Documents website.




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