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Chapter 2. Configuring the rdma service

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With the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) protocol, you can transfer data between the RDMA enabled systems over the network by using the main memory. The RDMA protocol provides low latency and high throughput. To manage supported network protocols and communication standards, you need to configure the rdma service. This configuration includes high speed network protocols such as RoCE and iWARP, and communication standards such as Soft-RoCE and Soft-iWARP. When Red Hat Enterprise Linux detects InfiniBand, iWARP, or RoCE devices and their configuration files residing at the /etc/rdma/modules/* directory, the udev device manager instructs systemd to start the rdma service. Configuration of modules in the /etc/rdma/modules/rdma.conf file remains persistent after reboot. You need to restart the rdma-load-modules@rdma.service configuration service to apply changes.

Procedure

  1. Install the rdma-core package: 

    # dnf install rdma-core

  2. Edit the /etc/rdma/modules/rdma.conf file and uncomment the modules that you want to enable: 

    # These modules are loaded by the system if any RDMA devices is installed

# iSCSI over RDMA client support
ib_iser

# iSCSI over RDMA target support
ib_isert

# SCSI RDMA Protocol target driver
ib_srpt

# User access to RDMA verbs (supports libibverbs)
ib_uverbs

# User access to RDMA connection management (supports librdmacm)
rdma_ucm

# RDS over RDMA support
# rds_rdma

# NFS over RDMA client support
xprtrdma

# NFS over RDMA server support
svcrdma

  3. Restart the service to make the changes effective: 

    # systemctl restart <rdma-load-modules@rdma.service>

Verification

  1. Install the libibverbs-utils and infiniband-diags packages: 

    # dnf install libibverbs-utils infiniband-diags

  2. List the available InfiniBand devices: 

    # ibv_devices

    device                 node GUID
    ------              ----------------
    mlx4_0              0002c903003178f0
    mlx4_1              f4521403007bcba0

  3. Display the information of the mlx4_1 device: 

    # ibv_devinfo -d mlx4_1

hca_id: mlx4_1
     transport:                  InfiniBand (0)
     fw_ver:                     2.30.8000
     node_guid:                  f452:1403:007b:cba0
     sys_image_guid:             f452:1403:007b:cba3
     vendor_id:                  0x02c9
     vendor_part_id:             4099
     hw_ver:                     0x0
     board_id:                   MT_1090120019
     phys_port_cnt:              2
          port:   1
                state:              PORT_ACTIVE (4)
                max_mtu:            4096 (5)
                active_mtu:         2048 (4)
                sm_lid:             2
                port_lid:           2
                port_lmc:           0x01
                link_layer:         InfiniBand

          port:   2
                state:              PORT_ACTIVE (4)
                max_mtu:            4096 (5)
                active_mtu:         4096 (5)
                sm_lid:             0
                port_lid:           0
                port_lmc:           0x00
                link_layer:         Ethernet

  4. Display the status of the mlx4_1 device: 

    # ibstat mlx4_1

CA 'mlx4_1'
     CA type: MT4099
     Number of ports: 2
     Firmware version: 2.30.8000
     Hardware version: 0
     Node GUID: 0xf4521403007bcba0
     System image GUID: 0xf4521403007bcba3
     Port 1:
           State: Active
           Physical state: LinkUp
           Rate: 56
           Base lid: 2
           LMC: 1
           SM lid: 2
           Capability mask: 0x0251486a
           Port GUID: 0xf4521403007bcba1
           Link layer: InfiniBand
     Port 2:
           State: Active
           Physical state: LinkUp
           Rate: 40
           Base lid: 0
           LMC: 0
           SM lid: 0
           Capability mask: 0x04010000
           Port GUID: 0xf65214fffe7bcba2
           Link layer: Ethernet

  5. The ibping utility pings an InfiniBand address and runs as a client/server by configuring the parameters.

    1. Start server mode -S on port number -P with -C InfiniBand certificate authority (CA) name on the host: 

      # ibping -S -C mlx4_1 -P 1

    2. Start client mode, send some packets -c on port number -P by using -C InfiniBand certificate authority (CA) name with -L Local Identifier (LID) on the host: 

      # ibping -c 50 -C mlx4_0 -P 1 -L 2
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