1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR Linux-OpenIB
2.. include:: <isonum.txt>
3
4=======================================
5Enabling the driver and kconfig options
6=======================================
7
8:Copyright: |copy| 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
9
10| mlx5 core is modular and most of the major mlx5 core driver features can be selected (compiled in/out)
11| at build time via kernel Kconfig flags.
12| Basic features, ethernet net device rx/tx offloads and XDP, are available with the most basic flags
13| CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=y/m and CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN=y.
14| For the list of advanced features, please see below.
15
16**CONFIG_MLX5_BRIDGE=(y/n)**
17
18|    Enable :ref:`Ethernet Bridging (BRIDGE) offloading support <mlx5_bridge_offload>`.
19|    This will provide the ability to add representors of mlx5 uplink and VF
20|    ports to Bridge and offloading rules for traffic between such ports.
21|    Supports VLANs (trunk and access modes).
22
23
24**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=(y/m/n)** (module mlx5_core.ko)
25
26|    The driver can be enabled by choosing CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=y/m in kernel config.
27|    This will provide mlx5 core driver for mlx5 ulps to interface with (mlx5e, mlx5_ib).
28
29
30**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN=(y/n)**
31
32|    Choosing this option will allow basic ethernet netdevice support with all of the standard rx/tx offloads.
33|    mlx5e is the mlx5 ulp driver which provides netdevice kernel interface, when chosen, mlx5e will be
34|    built-in into mlx5_core.ko.
35
36
37**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN_DCB=(y/n)**:
38
39|    Enables `Data Center Bridging (DCB) Support <https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/howto-auto-config-pfc-and-ets-on-connectx-4-via-lldp-dcbx>`_.
40
41
42**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_IPOIB=(y/n)**
43
44|    IPoIB offloads & acceleration support.
45|    Requires CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN to provide an accelerated interface for the rdma
46|    IPoIB ulp netdevice.
47
48
49**CONFIG_MLX5_CLS_ACT=(y/n)**
50
51|    Enables offload support for TC classifier action (NET_CLS_ACT).
52|    Works in both native NIC mode and Switchdev SRIOV mode.
53|    Flow-based classifiers, such as those registered through
54|    `tc-flower(8)`, are processed by the device, rather than the
55|    host. Actions that would then overwrite matching classification
56|    results would then be instant due to the offload.
57
58
59**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_ARFS=(y/n)**
60
61|    Enables Hardware-accelerated receive flow steering (arfs) support, and ntuple filtering.
62|    https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/howto-configure-arfs-on-connectx-4
63
64
65**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_IPSEC=(y/n)**
66
67|    Enables `IPSec XFRM cryptography-offload acceleration <https://support.mellanox.com/s/article/ConnectX-6DX-Bluefield-2-IPsec-HW-Full-Offload-Configuration-Guide>`_.
68
69
70**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_MACSEC=(y/n)**
71
72|    Build support for MACsec cryptography-offload acceleration in the NIC.
73
74
75**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_RXNFC=(y/n)**
76
77|    Enables ethtool receive network flow classification, which allows user defined
78|    flow rules to direct traffic into arbitrary rx queue via ethtool set/get_rxnfc API.
79
80
81**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_TLS=(y/n)**
82
83|    TLS cryptography-offload acceleration.
84
85
86**CONFIG_MLX5_ESWITCH=(y/n)**
87
88|    Ethernet SRIOV E-Switch support in ConnectX NIC. E-Switch provides internal SRIOV packet steering
89|    and switching for the enabled VFs and PF in two available modes:
90|           1) `Legacy SRIOV mode (L2 mac vlan steering based) <https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/howto-configure-sr-iov-for-connectx-4-connectx-5-with-kvm--ethernet-x>`_.
91|           2) `Switchdev mode (eswitch offloads) <https://www.mellanox.com/related-docs/prod_software/ASAP2_Hardware_Offloading_for_vSwitches_User_Manual_v4.4.pdf>`_.
92
93
94**CONFIG_MLX5_FPGA=(y/n)**
95
96|    Build support for the Innova family of network cards by Mellanox Technologies.
97|    Innova network cards are comprised of a ConnectX chip and an FPGA chip on one board.
98|    If you select this option, the mlx5_core driver will include the Innova FPGA core and allow
99|    building sandbox-specific client drivers.
100
101
102**CONFIG_MLX5_INFINIBAND=(y/n/m)** (module mlx5_ib.ko)
103
104|    Provides low-level InfiniBand/RDMA and `RoCE <https://community.mellanox.com/s/article/recommended-network-configuration-examples-for-roce-deployment>`_ support.
105
106
107**CONFIG_MLX5_MPFS=(y/n)**
108
109|    Ethernet Multi-Physical Function Switch (MPFS) support in ConnectX NIC.
110|    MPFs is required for when `Multi-Host <http://www.mellanox.com/page/multihost>`_ configuration is enabled to allow passing
111|    user configured unicast MAC addresses to the requesting PF.
112
113
114**CONFIG_MLX5_SF=(y/n)**
115
116|    Build support for subfunction.
117|    Subfunctons are more light weight than PCI SRIOV VFs. Choosing this option
118|    will enable support for creating subfunction devices.
119
120
121**CONFIG_MLX5_SF_MANAGER=(y/n)**
122
123|    Build support for subfuction port in the NIC. A Mellanox subfunction
124|    port is managed through devlink.  A subfunction supports RDMA, netdevice
125|    and vdpa device. It is similar to a SRIOV VF but it doesn't require
126|    SRIOV support.
127
128
129**CONFIG_MLX5_SW_STEERING=(y/n)**
130
131|    Build support for software-managed steering in the NIC.
132
133
134**CONFIG_MLX5_TC_CT=(y/n)**
135
136|    Support offloading connection tracking rules via tc ct action.
137
138
139**CONFIG_MLX5_TC_SAMPLE=(y/n)**
140
141|    Support offloading sample rules via tc sample action.
142
143
144**CONFIG_MLX5_VDPA=(y/n)**
145
146|    Support library for Mellanox VDPA drivers. Provides code that is
147|    common for all types of VDPA drivers. The following drivers are planned:
148|    net, block.
149
150
151**CONFIG_MLX5_VDPA_NET=(y/n)**
152
153|    VDPA network driver for ConnectX6 and newer. Provides offloading
154|    of virtio net datapath such that descriptors put on the ring will
155|    be executed by the hardware. It also supports a variety of stateless
156|    offloads depending on the actual device used and firmware version.
157
158
159**CONFIG_MLX5_VFIO_PCI=(y/n)**
160
161|    This provides migration support for MLX5 devices using the VFIO framework.
162
163
164**External options** ( Choose if the corresponding mlx5 feature is required )
165
166- CONFIG_MLXFW: When chosen, mlx5 firmware flashing support will be enabled (via devlink and ethtool).
167- CONFIG_PTP_1588_CLOCK: When chosen, mlx5 ptp support will be enabled
168- CONFIG_VXLAN: When chosen, mlx5 vxlan support will be enabled.
169