Flexible Port Partitioning

Configuration Guide
Intel® Ethernet CNA X710 & XL710 on Red Hat*
Enterprise Linux 7*
Technical Brief

Networking Division (ND)

December 2014

Revision 1.0
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LEGAL

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Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
© 2014 Intel Corporation.
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Revision History

Revision Date Comments

1.0 December 1, 2014 Initial release (Intel Public).

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Contents

1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 7

1.1 Intel and the Ethernet ......................................................................................... 7
1.2 Intel® Ethernet Controller XL710 .......................................................................... 8
1.3 I/O Virtualization ................................................................................................ 9
1.3.1 Hardware Requirements ........................................................................... 9
1.3.2 Software Requirements ............................................................................ 9
2.0 Installation and Configuration .................................................................................. 9
2.1 Server Setup...................................................................................................... 9
2.2 Application Binding ............................................................................................16
2.3 Process Binding .................................................................................................20
2.4 Virtual Machine Binding ......................................................................................21
3.0 Summary .................................................................................................................25
4.0 Customer Support ....................................................................................................26
5.0 Product Information ................................................................................................26

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1.0 Introduction
In the past, systems administrators employed multiple 1 GbE network ports to segregate or partition
various types of outbound network traffic from servers. 10 GbE networks are becoming the standard,
and data centers have started deploying 40 GbE networks. System administrators are constantly
challenged to manage these resources effectively, and need mechanisms to control, shape, and
partition/segregate network traffic.
Intel Flexible Port Partitioning (FPP) uses SR-IOV technology to create Virtual Functions (VFs) on Intel
10 GbE and 40 GbE Converged Network Adapters. These VFs can be assigned to dedicated services,
processes, and applications running on Linux servers. Systems administrators can also enforce Quality
of Service (QoS) and transmit rate limits to further fine-tune network resources.
This document is a follow-on to An Introduction to Intel Flexible Port Partitioning Using SR-IOV
Technology technical brief. This document shows how to partition an Ethernet network interface using
Intel® Ethernet CNA X710 & XL710 Virtual Functions in Red Hat* Enterprise Linux* version 7.

1.1 Intel and the Ethernet

Since its inception in 1973, Intel has been vital to the development of the Ethernet, and continues to be
the Industry leader. For over 40 years, the Ethernet has been growing to accommodate increasing
bandwidth needs for complex multi-media; streaming video, music and voice data, for example.
Beginning with One Gigabit Ethernet, expanding to 10 Gigabit, and now introducing 40 Gigabit
Ethernet, computing and storage resource needs continue to grow.
Following is a brief history of Intel and the Ethernet:
• 1994: Intel ships the world's first 10/100 Mb/s Network Interface Card (NIC).
• 1997: Intel ships the first single-chip 10/100 Mb/s controller.
• 2001: Intel ships the first single-chip 10/100/1000 Mb/s controller.
• 2002: Intel ships the first XPAK Multimode Optical Transceiver, delivering 10-Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
and 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel transport for storage systems at half the cost, a third less
power consumption, and a third of the size of earlier solutions.
• 2003: Intel ships the world's first 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC.
• 2006: Intel introduces the first low-profile quad-port Ethernet NIC. By incorporating 4-Gigabit
Ethernet connections in a low-profile PCI Express slot, it improved server throughput and
rack density at the same time.
• 2007: Intel releases first “initiator” source code to enable Linux implementations of Fibre Channel
over Ethernet (FCoE). By allowing fiber channel SAN traffic to run over Gigabit Ethernet
networks, FCoE enables consolidation of storage area network (SAN) and LAN traffic,
simplifying network infrastructure in data centers.

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1.2 Intel® Ethernet Controller XL710

The 40 Gigabit XL710 Controller is designed for flexibility, with configurable port speeds of up to
2 x 40 GbE, or 4 x 10 GbE, ensuring a smooth transition to 40 GbE, It also provides a 222% increase in
Gigabits per Watt in adapter power for approximately half the power cost when compared to using two
previous generation dual-port adapters.
The XL710 offers the following features:
• 10/40 GbE Controller (Dual and Single 40 GbE, Quad and Dual 10 GbE configurations).
• PCI Express* (PCIe) 3.0, x8 including Direct I/O optimizations via TLP Processing Hints (TPH).
• Intelligent Off-load to enable high-performance with Intel® Xeon® servers.
• Network Virtualization off-loads including VXLAN and NVGRE.
• Industry-leading I/O virtualization innovations and performance with broad hypervisor and
standards support.
• Intel® Ethernet Flow Director (for hardware application traffic steering).
• Excellent small packet performance for network appliances and NFV.
• Intel® Data Plane Developer Kit Optimize.
• Unified Networking providing a single wire for LAN and storage: NAS(SMB,NFS) and SAN (iSCSI,
FCoE).
The following are the Intel 40 Gigabit XL710 Controller-based Dual and Quad Adapter offerings:
Note: These boards do NOT ship with optics installed. Optics must be purchased separately.
• Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-DA4
— X710DA4FH, XL710DA4FHBLK (Retail, Quad Port Full Height)
— X710DA4FHG1P5 (OEM Gen, Quad Port Full Height)
— X710DA4G1P5 (OEM Gen, Quad Port Low Profile)
• Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-DA2
— X710DA2, XL710DA2BLK (Retail, Dual Port)
— X710DA2G1P5 (OEM Gen, Dual Port)
• Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710-QDA2
— XL710QDA2, XL710QDA2BLK (Retail, Dual Port)
— XL710QDA2G1P5 (OEM Gen, Dual Port)
• Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710-QDA1
— XL710QDA1, XL710QDA1BLK (Retail, Single Port)
— XL710QDA1G1P5 (OEM Gen, Single Port)
Power efficiency is critical to IT specialists as energy consumption is a real concern in data center
operations. The Intel Ethernet Controller provides a low-power interface to eliminate the need for
additional power. It also offers the manageability IT personnel require for remote control and alerting.
This controller provides multiple interface options, a smaller footprint for reduced infrastructure and
cabling costs, lower power consumption, and intelligent off-loads that do not require disabling key
features and flow direction to balance high volume traffic flows.

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1.3 I/O Virtualization

The Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X710 & XL710 family of adapters delivers numerous industry-
leading features that are helping data center administrators implement innovative solutions for difficult
and challenging connectivity problems. I/O Virtualization is one of the fastest growing usage models
within the data center.
The X710 & XL710 family of adapters provides the ability to create Virtual Functions (VFs) that are
identical instantiations of the Physical Functions (PFs). VFs are capable of providing up to 10 GbE or
40 GbE connectivity to Virtual Machines (VMs) within a virtualized operating system framework. The
Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X710 (Quad Port) supports up to 32 VFs per port, for a total of up to
128 VFs per adapter. The Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter XL710 (Dual Port) supports up to 64 VFs per
port, for a total of up to 128 VFs per adapter.

1.3.1 Hardware Requirements

• An Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710 or XL710 (codename Fortville).
• A server platform that supports Intel® Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) and the
PCI-SIG* Single Root I/O Virtualization and Sharing (SR-IOV) specification.
• A server platform with an available PCI Express*: x8 5.0Gb/s (Gen2) or x8 8.0Gb/s (Gen3) slot.

1.3.2 Software Requirements

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7.0.
• Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710 or XL710 Linux Drivers for PF and VF
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000/files/).

2.0 Installation and Configuration

2.1 Server Setup

This section shows various setup and configuration steps for enabling SR-IOV on the X710 or XL710
server adapters.
1. Install the X710 or XL710 server adapter in an available PCI-Express x8 slot. (Ensure that the x8
slot is electrically connected as x8, some slots are physically x8 but electrically support only x4.
Verify this with your server manufacturer or system documentation.)
2. Power up the server.
3. Enter the server's BIOS setup and make sure the virtualization technology and Intel® VT-d features
are enabled.
4. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 on the server.
5. Make sure all Linux KVM modules, libraries, user tools, and utilities have been installed during the
operation system installation.
6. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux installation process may require a server reboot upon successful
operating system install.
7. Log in to the newly-installed Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system and use sudo to run
commands in superuser or root mode.

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8. I/O Memory Management Unit (IOMMU) support is not enabled by default in Red Hat Enterprise
Linux 7.0 distribution. IOMMU support is required for a VF to function properly when assigned to a
VM. The following kernel boot parameter is required to enable IOMMU support for Linux kernels:
intel_iommu=on
This parameter can be appended to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX entry in /etc/default/grub
configuration file, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. GRUB Configuration File

9. Update grub configuration using the grub2-mkconfig command, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. GRUB Boot Loader Update Process Output

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10. Reboot the server for the iommu change to take effect.
11. PF and VF drivers for the X710 and XL710 server adapters are included in Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7.0 distribution and are named as i40e and i40evf respectively. Newer versions of these drivers are
available at Intel's Open Source Linux driver site. Using latest available drivers is strongly
recommended.
12. The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0 installation does not create VF by default. The X710 server
adapter supports up to 32 VFs per port. The XL710 server adapter supports up to 64 VFs per port.
There are two methods to create VFs depending on the Linux Kernel installed:
a. Linux Kernel version 3.7.x and below — VFs can be created by using the i40e driver load time
parameter called max_vfs.
#modprobe i40e max_vfs=4,4
The example in Figure 3 shows the creation of four VFs per port.

Figure 3. i40e Driver Load Example

b. Linux Kernel version 3.8.x and above — VF can be created by writing an appropriate value to the
sriov_numvfs parameter via sysfs interface.
#echo 4 > /sys/class/net/<device_name>/device/sriov_numvfs
The example in Figure 4 shows the creation of four VFs per port.

Figure 4. VF Creation via SysFS

The example in Figure 4 shows four VFs being created on device name ens787f0, the device
name assigned to XL710 server adapter port 0 by the Linux operating system. Device name for
the XL710 server adapter ports on your system may be different.
The second command in the example above queries the sriov_numvfs parameter to verify the
four VFs are successfully created.

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13. Module options are not persistent from one boot to the next. To ensure that the desired number of
VFs are created each time the server is power-cycled, append the above command to the rc.local
file, which is located in the /etc/rc.d/ directory. The Linux OS executes the rc.local script at the end
of the boot process. The example in Figure 5 shows contents of rc.local file.

Figure 5. rc.local File Contents

Warning: Errors and informational messages during i40e driver load are logged in the
/var/log/messages file. It is good practice to review this file to confirm that the driver
loaded successfully without warnings or errors.
14. On Linux Kernel version 3.8.x and above, VF can be destroyed or disabled by writing the value 0 to
the sriov_numvfs parameter via sysfs interface.
#echo 0 > /sys/class/net/<device_name>/device/sriov_numvfs
The example in Figure 6 shows disabling SR-IOV on a given port.

Figure 6. Disabling/Destroying VFs Example

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15. On Linux Kernel version 3.8.x and above, the maximum number of VFs supported by the adapter
can be queried by reading the sriov_totalvfs parameter via sysfs interface.
#cat /sys/class/net/<device_name>/device/sriov_totalvfs
The example in Figure 7 shows the maximum number of VFs supported by a given port.

Figure 7. Total VF Supported Query Output

16. Use the lspci command to confirm that the VF was successfully created.
#lspci | grep 'Ether'
The example in Figure 8 shows the result of this command.

Figure 8. lspci Output

Figure 8 shows four VFs each for the physical port 0 and port 1 of the XL710 server adapter. Each
VF is identified by a unique bus, device, and function number. In the example, the first VF is
assigned Bus #81, Device #02, and Function #0.
VFs with low device number belong to PF 0, which is port 0. In the example above VF designated by
02:02:1 belongs to PF0. VFs with high device number belong to PF 1, which is port 1. VF
designated by 02:0a:1 belongs to PF1.

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17. Module options are not persistent from one boot to the next. On Linux Kernel version 3.7.x and
below, create the i40e.conf file in the /etc/modprobe.d/ folder to ensure the user-defined number
of VFs are created during server boot time, as shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9. i40e.conf Driver Configuration File Contents

Upon successful VF creation, the Linux operating system automatically loads the i40vf driver.
18. The VF driver automatically loads in the host operating system as soon as the VFs are created by
the PF driver. The VF driver claims newly-created VFs, and these VFs are available for assignment to
various services, processes or applications.
19. During the creation of a user-defined number of VFs, the i40e driver assigns MAC address
00:00:00:00:00:00 to each VF. An application such as LibVirt, VF driver, or Virtual Machine
Manager assigns a valid MAC address to the VF before use. The Intel i40e driver has a built-in
security feature that allows system administrators to assign a valid MAC address to a VF from
within the host operating system. Make sure each VF is assigned a unique MAC address; duplicate
MAC addresses cause loss of communication on the network. Use the following command to set a
MAC address for each VF, if necessary.
#ip link set ens787f0 vf 0 mac aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff
20. Use the following command to confirm that the VF MAC address assignment was completed
successfully.
#ip link show ens787f0
Figure 10 shows an example of the results of this command.

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Figure 10. VF MAC Address Query Result

21. To ensure each VF carries the same MAC address assignment from one boot to the next, the
commands from the previous step can be appended to the rc.local file, which is located in the
/etc/rc.d/ directory. The Linux OS executes the rc.local script at the end of the boot process, as
shown in Figure 11.

Figure 11. rc.local File Contents

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2.2 Application Binding

In this example, the Apache web server application is bound to a specific network interface. The
network interface is a channel bond created using Linux Channel Bonding driver in mode=1 (active-
backup), also known as failover mode, which employs two VFs. Each VF is associated with a physical
network port of the Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710, delivering up to 40 GbE
Network connectivity per physical port. An example is shown in Figure 12.

Figure 12. Application Binding Setup Diagram

1. Create VFs on the X710 or XL710 server adapter as prescribe in Section 2.1, “Server Setup”.
2. Execute the modinfo bonding command to verify Linux Bonding driver’s module and usage
information for various supported Linux Channel Bonding driver module parameters.
3. Execute the modprobe --first-time bonding command at Linux shell prompt. This command
loads the Linux Channel Bonding driver.
4. Execute the lsmod bonding command to confirm that the Linux Channel Bonding driver is loaded.
Note: Network Manager service may try to configure network interface automatically.
Consider stopping and disabling Network Manager Service to avoid automatic network
interface configuration.
5. Linux operating system loads the VF driver as soon as the VFs are created. Linux network stack also
creates the network interfaces and assigns names. In this example, the Linux operating system has
assigned enp129s2 and enp129s10 to the VFs.
6. Create the ifcfg-enp129s2 file for the VF in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory. The
contents of this file is shown in Figure 13.

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Figure 13. VF Interface Configuration File

The example file shows enp129s2 network interface configuration. The network interface is
configured as a Slave interface, and its master is Bond0 interface.
7. Create the ifcfg-enp129s10 file for the VF in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ directory. The
contents of this file is shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. VF Interface Configuration File

The example file shows enp129s2 network interface configuration. The network interface is
configured as a Slave interface, and its master is Bond0 interface.
8. Create the ifcfg-bond0 file for the NIC team (bonding) in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/
directory. The contents of this file is shown in Figure 15.

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Figure 15. Bond0 interface Configuration File

The example file shows Bond0 network interface configuration. The network interface is configured
as a Master interface, Bond interface type, and is in Mode 1 (Active-Backup). Bond0 network
interface is configured for IP Address 172.15.45.11.
In this example, static IP Address scheme is used. Alternatively, Bond0 can be configured for DHCP.
9. Execute the ifup bond0 command to bring up the bonded network interface.
Figure 16 shows contents of /proc/net/bonding/bond0.

Figure 16. Bond0 Configuration

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10. Use the ping 172.16.45.11 command from another server on the network to confirm connectivity
to the bonding interface.
11. Install and configure Apache Web Server using the yum install httpd command from a Linux shell
prompt.
12. Update the /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf file with Bond0 network interface IP Address for Apache Web
Server.
Figure 17 shows contents of the httpd.conf file. Apache Web Server is configured to listen on Port
80, and is bound to IP Address 172.16.45.11.

Figure 17. Apache Web Server Configuration file

Note: Follow your Linux Distribution's best known method to properly configure and secure
Apache Web Server.

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2.3 Process Binding

Extending the example setup introduced in Section 2.2, “Application Binding”, the Linux backup process
(rsync) is bound to a specific network interface. The network interface is a VF associated with a physical
network port of the Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter XL710, delivering up to 40 GbE
Network connectivity per physical port. An example is shown in Figure 12.

Figure 18. Process Binding Setup Diagram

Rsync can run in standalone and daemon mode. Standalone mode is used for this example.
1. Select an unused VF and assign an IP address to it. In this example, IP Address 172.16.123.45 and
Subnet Mask 255.255.255.0 are assigned to the VF.
2. Configure rsync to perform backup. In this example, the rsync process is bound to IP Address
172.16.123.45. This binding ensures that the rsync process is using VF for backups.

Figure 19. rsync Process Command Line Example

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The example in Figure 19 shows the rsync process command configured to back up the contents of the
/home/paelab/ directory to the /backups/ folder on a server with the IP Address 172.16.123.200, and
the process is using a local network interface with the IP Address 172.16.123.45.
3. System Administrators can further fine tune the rsync process by limiting bandwidth utilizing the
X710 and XL710 adapter's Transmit Rate Limit feature. The example in Figure 20 shows how to
configure Transmit Rate Limit for limiting VF # 2 to utilize maximum of 500 MB of available
bandwidth.

Figure 20. Link Transmit Rate Limit Example

2.4 Virtual Machine Binding

Building on the example setups introduced in Section 2.2 and Section 2.3, one or more VFs can be
assigned to Virtual Machines. For example, an existing VM running Ubuntu 14.04 is assigned a VF. An
example is shown in Figure 21.

Figure 21. Virtual Machine Binding Setup Diagram

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1. Select one or more VFs that are to be assigned to VMs. Remember the bus, device, and function
numbers for these VFs, as this information will be used later. The VF driver claims all VFs visible on
the PCIe bus when it is loaded within the Linux host. To assign VFs to one or more VMs, VFs should
be unbound from the VF driver. The example in Figure 22 shows how to release VFs from VF driver.

Figure 22. Unbinding VF from Driver

The example in Figure 22 shows the VF identified by 81:02.1 is being unbound from the VF driver
by writing to the sysfs. Once the VF driver releases the VF, it can be assigned to a VM.
2. Use virt-manager to create a VM.
3. Click on the icon to edit the VM properties.
4. Click on the Add Hardware icon to display the Add New Virtual Hardware wizard, as shown in
Figure 23.

Figure 23. Virtual Machine Configuration Page

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5. Click PCI Host Device to display the Add New Virtual Hardware window, as shown in Figure 24.

Figure 24. Add New Virtual Hardware Page

6. Select an XL710 X710 Virtual Function and click the Finish.

Figure 25. PCI Device Selection Page

In Figure 25, the Intel Ethernet XL710 or X710 Virtual Functions are listed as “XL710 X710 Virtual
Function”. One or more VFs can be assigned to a VM. Upon successful assignment, the VM is ready
to use.

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7. Power up the Ubuntu 14.04 VM. Log into the VM using the credentials created during the VM
installation process.
8. At the Linux Console, use the Linux lspci utility to confirm that the assigned VF is shown within the
VM's PCIe hierarchy, as shown in Figure 26.

Figure 26. “lspci” Output of the VM

9. Use the Linux lsmod utility to confirm that i40evf driver for the VF has loaded successfully, as
shown in Figure 27.

Figure 27. “lsmod” Output

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10. Use the Linux ifconfig utility to confirm that the newly assigned VF is ready for use, as shown in
Figure 28.

Figure 28. “ifconfig” Output

11. The VF can be configured for DHCP or static IP address assignment. The VF is ready to
communicate once it has an IP address assigned.

3.0 Summary
Intel Flexible Port Partitioning (FPP) technology utilizes industry standard PCI SIG SR-IOV to efficiently
divide a physical Ethernet device into multiple virtual devices. Intel FPP provides an instant Quality of
Service by ensuring each process is assigned to a VF and is provided a fair share of available
bandwidth.
Intel FPP requires an SR-IOV-enabled platform, OS, and an Intel SR-IOV-capable Ethernet device.
There are no requirements for special hardware outside of the system. Intel FPP is available today on
several Linux* based operating systems. Intel continues to work with the Linux community to add
additional features to the kernel. Intel FPP uses SR-IOV virtual functions for kernel processes as well as
for virtual machines.
Intel's best-of-breed 40 GbE solutions are now available with I/O Virtualization capabilities. Customers
get world-class Ethernet support along with I/O virtualization support in mainstream Linux distributions
in a single adapter.

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4.0 Customer Support

Intel® Customer Support Services offers a broad selection of programs, including phone support and
warranty service. For more information, contact us as the following:
support.intel.com/support/go/network/ adapter/home.htm
support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
Service and availability may vary by country.

5.0 Product Information

To see the full line of Intel Network Adapters for PCI Express*, visit www.intel.com/go/ethernet.
To speak to a customer service representative regarding Intel products, please call 1-800-538-3373
(U.S. and Canada) or visit support.intel.com/support/go/network/contact.htm for the telephone
number in your area.

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