src/plugins/vmxnet3/README.rst

VMWARE vmxnet3 device driver
============================

##Overview This plugin provides native PCI driver support for VMWare
vmxnet3.

##Prerequisites \* This code is tested with vfio-pci driver installed
with Ubuntu 18.04 which has kernel version 4.15.0-33-generic.

-  This driver is tested with ESXi vSwitch version 6.5/6.7 for LRO/TSO
   support, VMware Workstation 15 Pro (no LRO/TSO), and VMware Fusion 11
   Pro (no LRO/TSO)

-  Driver requires MSI-X interrupt support, which is not supported by
   uio_pci_generic driver. So vfio-pci must be used. On systems without
   IOMMU, vfio driver can still be used with 4.15.0-33-generic kernel
   (Ubuntu 18.04) which supports no-iommu mode.

##Known issues

-  VLAN filter

Usage
-----

System setup
~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. load VFIO driver

::

   sudo modprobe vfio-pci

2. Make sure the interface is down

::

   sudo ifconfig <if-name> down

Steps 3 and 4 are optional. They can be accomplished by specifying the
optional keyword “bind” when creating the vmxnet3 interface.

3. (systems without IOMMU only) enable unsafe NOIOMMU mode

::

   echo Y | sudo tee /sys/module/vfio/parameters/enable_unsafe_noiommu_mode

4. Bind interface to vfio-pci

::

   sudo dpdk-devbind.py --bind vfio-pci 0b:00.0

Interface Creation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interface can be dynamically created with following CLI, with or without
the bind option. If step 3 and 4 were executed, bind can be omitted.

::

   create interface vmxnet3 0000:0b:00.0 bind
   set int state vmxnet3-0/b/0/0 up

Interface Deletion
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interface can be deleted with following CLI:

::

   delete interface vmxnet3 <if-name>

Interface Statistics
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interface statistics can be displayed with
``show hardware-interface <if-name>`` command.

Show Interface CLI
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Interface and ring information can be obtained with
``show vmxnet3 [if-name] [desc]``