Install Nvidia OFED Driver¶
This article will describe how to install the Nvidia OFED driver on nodes through Kubernetes and manually.
Environment Check¶
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Please ensure that the host has Mellanox series network cards by executing the following command in the host terminal:
$ lspci -nn | grep Eth | grep Mellanox 3b:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] [15b3:1017] 3b:00.1 Ethernet controller [0200]: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] [15b3:1017]The above output indicates that the host has two Mellanox series network cards, with the model being ConnectX-5.
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Confirm whether the host has correctly installed the OFED driver
The above output indicates that the current host has installed the OFED driver. If the command does not exist, it means that it is not installed. If the above output is present, further check whether the RDMA device is correctly recognized:
$ rdma link show link mlx5_0/1 state ACTIVE physical_state LINK_UP netdev enp4s0f0np0 link mlx5_1/1 state ACTIVE physical_state LINK_UP netdev enp4s0f1np1 $ ibdev2netdev mlx5_0 port 1 ==> enp4s0f0np0 (Up) mlx5_1 port 1 ==> enp4s0f1np1 (Up)The above output indicates that the RDMA environment of the host is ready. Otherwise, check the physical status of the network card (such as whether it is properly connected to the switch, etc.). If there is no problem with the physical link, follow the steps below to install the OFED driver.
Install Driver¶
Different host operating systems require different installation methods. In order to meet the installation of different environments as much as possible, the following two methods, Kubernetes and manual, are introduced to install the OFED driver.
Install through Kubernetes DaemonSet¶
We can create a DaemonSet in the cluster to help install the driver, but the following points should be noted:
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The supported image list currently only supports Ubuntu22.04, Ubuntu20.04, Ubuntu18.04, Centos8, RHEL8, and RHEL9 series operating system versions. And only x86 architecture is supported. For other operating systems and architectures, refer to the manual installation of the OFED driver section.
OS Kernel Version Image Name ubuntu22.04 5.15 daocloud.io/nvidia/mellanox/mofed:23.10-0.5.5.0-ubuntu22.04-amd64ubuntu20.04 5.4 daocloud.io/nvidia/mellanox/mofed:23.10-0.5.5.0-ubuntu22.04-amd64ubuntu18.04 4.15 daocloud.io/daocloud/mellanox-mofed:23.07-0.5.0.0-ubuntu18.04-amd64RHEL9 5.14.0 daocloud.io/daocloud/mellanox-mofed:23.10-0.5.5.0-rhel9.0-amd64RHEL8/Centos8 4.18.0 daocloud.io/daocloud/mellanox-mofed:23.10-0.5.5.0-rhel8.8-amd64 -
The operating systems or architectures of different nodes in the cluster may be different, and the same image may not be applicable to all nodes in the cluster. In this case, we should ensure that the pod runs on the specified node. Otherwise, the installation of the driver will fail due to the difference in the node operating system and architecture.
Below is the deployment manifest file of the DaemonSet. Note that you need to modify the nodeSelector field to ensure that the pod is scheduled to the node that needs to install the driver:
Here, take the node's operating system as Ubuntu22.04 and the architecture as x86 as an example:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: DaemonSet
metadata:
name: mofed
namespace: kube-system
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
driver-pod: mofed-22.04-0.5.3.3.1
metadata:
name: mofed
labels:
app: mofed-ubuntu22.04
driver-pod: mofed-22.04-0.5.3.3.1
nvidia.com/ofed-driver: ""
spec:
containers:
- image: nvcr.io/nvidia/mellanox/mofed:23.10-0.5.5.0-rhel8.6-amd64
imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
name: mofed-container
securityContext:
privileged: true
seLinuxOptions:
level: s0
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /run/mellanox/drivers
mountPropagation: Bidirectional
name: run-mlnx-ofed
- mountPath: /etc/network
name: etc-network
- mountPath: /host/etc
name: host-etc
- mountPath: /host/usr
name: host-usr
- mountPath: /host/lib/udev
name: host-udev
- mountPath: /host/lib/modules
name: host-lib-modules
hostNetwork: true
volumes:
- hostPath:
path: /run/mellanox/drivers
type: ""
name: run-mlnx-ofed
- hostPath:
path: /etc/network
type: ""
name: etc-network
- hostPath:
path: /etc
type: ""
name: host-etc
- hostPath:
path: /usr
type: ""
name: host-usr
- hostPath:
path: /lib/udev
type: ""
name: host-udev
- hostPath:
path: /lib/modules
type: ""
name: host-lib-modules
Note
After creation, you can view the logs of the mofed pod to view the driver installation process.
If the driver installation fails, the pod will continuously restart to attempt to reinstall the driver.
If the installation is successful, the pod will sleep indefinitely. You can enter the pod and execute ofed_info to view the driver installation status.
Manually Install¶
For scenarios where the driver cannot be installed through Kubernetes, such as unsupported images, we can choose manual installation:
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Check the host operating system, version, and CPU architecture
Static hostname: 10-20-1-20 Icon name: computer-server Chassis: server Machine ID: 12998dac94434e66aaf6546cb42b9c93 Boot ID: 852a0d1c0382438a98e84591f322fc36 Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS Kernel: Linux 5.15.0-91-generic Architecture: x86-64 Hardware Vendor: Lenovo Hardware Model: -_7X06CTO1WW_- -
Download the corresponding OFED driver version for the host architecture and operating system on the Nvidia official website:
Note
Note that the current version needs to match the host's distribution, architecture, and operating system version.
If you want to download earlier versions, click Archive Version to switch.
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When installing the OFED driver, some dependencies may be installed online through
apt install. If you are in an offline environment and cannot access the external network, you can refer to this step to obtain all the required dependencies.OS Version Architecture Size Package Date Ubuntu 22.04 AMD 64 165.25 MB 
ubuntu22.04-ofed-driver-offline-deb.tar.gz2024-07-29 After obtaining the offline dependency package, please decompress and load the corresponding deb package
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Take downloading the ISO file as an example. Download the file and upload it to the host. Mount it to the
/mnt/path and execute the installation command.root@10-20-1-20:~/install# mount MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-1.1.9.0-ubuntu22.04-x86_64.iso /mnt/ mount: /mnt: WARNING: source write-protected, mounted read-only. root@10-20-1-20:/mnt# ./mlnxofedinstall --with-nvmf --with-nfsrdma --all Logs dir: /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX.86055.logs General log file: /tmp/MLNX_OFED_LINUX.86055.logs/general.log Below is the list of MLNX_OFED_LINUX packages that you have chosen (some may have been added by the installer due to package dependencies): ofed-scripts mlnx-tools mlnx-ofed-kernel-utils mlnx-ofed-kernel-dkms iser-dkms isert-dkms srp-dkms mlnx-nfsrdma-dkms mlnx-nvme-dkms rdma-core libibverbs1 ibverbs-utils ibverbs-providers libibverbs-dev libibverbs1-dbg libibumad3 libibumad-dev ibacm librdmacm1 rdmacm-utils librdmacm-dev mstflint ibdump libibmad5 libibmad-dev libopensm opensm opensm-doc libopensm-devel libibnetdisc5 infiniband-diags mft kernel-mft-dkms perftest ibutils2 ibsim ibsim-doc ucx sharp hcoll knem-dkms knem openmpi mpitests dpcp srptools mlnx-ethtool mlnx-iproute2 rshim ibarr This program will install the MLNX_OFED_LINUX package on your machine. Note that all other Mellanox, OEM, OFED, RDMA or Distribution IB packages will be removed. Those packages are removed due to conflicts with MLNX_OFED_LINUX, do not reinstall them. Do you want to continue?[y/N]:Note
- Enter y to start the driver installation, which will take about 20 minutes. Please be patient.
- '--with-nvmf' and '--with-nfsrdma' are optional parameters, configure them as needed. You can enter --help to view details.
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If the firmware version of your network card is lower than the current driver firmware version, the firmware will be automatically updated. After the driver installation is successful, it will prompt to restart the driver
/etc/init.d/openibd restart... Device (86:00.0): 86:00.0 Infiniband controller: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] Link Width: x16 PCI Link Speed: 8GT/s Device (86:00.1): 86:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] Link Width: x16 PCI Link Speed: 8GT/s Device (af:00.0): af:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] Link Width: x8 PCI Link Speed: 8GT/s Device (af:00.1): af:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5] Link Width: x8 PCI Link Speed: 8GT/s Installation passed successfully To load the new driver, run: /etc/init.d/openibd restart Note: In order to load the new nvme-rdma and nvmet-rdma modules, the nvme module must be reloaded. -
Restart the driver
$ /etc/init.d/openibd restart Unloading HCA driver: [ OK ] Loading HCA driver and Access Layer: [ OK ]If the execution fails, refer to the following errors:
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Restarting the driver fails due to opensm still running.
$ /etc/init.d/openibd restart Please stop "opensm" and all applications running over InfiniBand. Please stop the following applications still using Infiniband devices: opensm(1632) user root is using device issm0 opensm(1632) user root is using device umad0 Error: Cannot unload the Infiniband driver stack due to the above issue(s)! Once the above issue(s) resolved, run: # /etc/init.d/openibd restartManually execute
systemctl stop opensmdto fix this issue. -
The kernel module is being referenced and cannot be removed, causing the restart to fail.
$ /etc/init.d/openibd restart Unloading mlx_compat [FAILED] rmmod: ERROR: Module mlx_compat is in use by: nvme_core nvme_fabricsUse lsmod to view the modules: nvme_core and nvme_fabrics depend on each other. After uninstalling these modules in order, the problem can be solved.
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-
Check whether the driver is installed successfully
$ ofed_info MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-1.1.9.0 (OFED-23.10-1.1.9): clusterkit: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/clusterkit-1.11.442-1.2310055.src.rpm dpcp: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/dpcp-1.1.43-1.2310055.src.rpm hcoll: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/hcoll-4.8.3223-1.2310055.src.rpm ibarr: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/ibarr-0.1.3-1.2310055.src.rpm ibdump: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/ibdump-6.0.0-1.2310055.src.rpm ibsim: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/ibsim-0.12-1.2310055.src.rpm ibutils2: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/ibutils2-2.1.1-0.1.MLNX20231105.g79770a56.2310055.src.rpm iser: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff isert: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff kernel-mft: mlnx_ofed_mft/kernel-mft-4.26.1-3.src.rpm knem: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/knem-1.1.4.90mlnx3-OFED.23.10.0.2.1.1.src.rpm libvma: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/libvma-9.8.40-1.src.rpm libxlio: /sw/release/sw_acceleration/xlio/libxlio-3.20.8-1.src.rpm mlnx-dpdk: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mlnx-dpdk-22.11.0-2310.1.0.2310055.src.rpm mlnx-en: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff mlnx-ethtool: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mlnx-ethtool-6.4-1.2310055.src.rpm mlnx-iproute2: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mlnx-iproute2-6.4.0-1.2310055.src.rpm mlnx-nfsrdma: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff mlnx-nvme: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff mlnx-ofa_kernel: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff mlnx-tools: https://github.com/Mellanox/mlnx-tools mlnx_ofed commit d3edfb102ad4c3103796192b3719a5f9cd24c7f9 mlx-steering-dump: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mlx-steering-dump-1.0.0-0.2310055.src.rpm mpitests: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mpitests-3.2.21-8418f75.2310055.src.rpm mstflint: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/mstflint-4.16.1-2.2310055.src.rpm multiperf: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/multiperf-3.0-3.0.2310055.src.rpm ofed-docs: docs.git mlnx_ofed-4.0 commit 3d1b0afb7bc190ae5f362223043f76b2b45971cc openmpi: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/openmpi-4.1.7a1-1.2310055.src.rpm opensm: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/opensm-5.17.0.MLNX20231105.d437ae0a-0.1.2310055.src.rpm openvswitch: https://gitlab-master.nvidia.com/sdn/ovs mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit c5eb44be9b4d8ee0f6b367b439c582f3487cc741 perftest: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/perftest-23.10.0-0.29.g0705c22.2310055.src.rpm rdma-core: mlnx_ofed/rdma-core.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit 6c404a661569eb130be94df67f8a98e6794c0c35 rshim: mlnx_ofed_soc/rshim-2.0.17-0.g0caa378.src.rpm sharp: mlnx_ofed_sharp/sharp-3.5.1.MLNX20231116.7fcef5af.tar.gz sockperf: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/sockperf-3.10-0.git5ebd327da983.2310055.src.rpm srp: mlnx_ofed/mlnx-ofa_kernel-4.0.git mlnx_ofed_23_10 commit a675be032c722b022cd9166921fbc6195e7fe8ff ucx: mlnx_ofed_ucx/ucx-1.16.0-1.src.rpm xpmem-lib: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/xpmem-lib-2.7-0.2310055.src.rpm xpmem: /sw/release/mlnx_ofed/IBHPC/MLNX_OFED_LINUX-23.10-0.5.5/SRPMS/xpmem-2.7.3-1.2310055.src.rpm Installed Packages: ------------------- ii dpcp 1.1.43-1.2310055 amd64 Direct Packet Control Plane (DPCP) is a library to use Devx ii hcoll 4.8.3223-1.2310055 amd64 Hierarchical collectives (HCOLL) ii ibacm 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 InfiniBand Communication Manager Assistant (ACM) ii ibarr:amd64 0.1.3-1.2310055 amd64 Nvidia address and route userspace resolution services for Infiniband ii ibdump 6.0.0-1.2310055 amd64 Mellanox packets sniffer tool ii ibsim 0.12-1.2310055 amd64 InfiniBand fabric simulator for management ii ibsim-doc 0.12-1.2310055 all documentation for ibsim ii ibutils2 2.1.1-0.1.MLNX20231105.g79770a56.2310055 amd64 OpenIB Mellanox InfiniBand Diagnostic Tools ii ibverbs-providers:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 User space provider drivers for libibverbs ii ibverbs-utils 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Examples for the libibverbs library ii infiniband-diags 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 InfiniBand diagnostic programs ii iser-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support fo iser kernel modules ii isert-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support fo isert kernel modules ii kernel-mft-dkms 4.26.1.3-1 all DKMS support for kernel-mft kernel modules ii knem 1.1.4.90mlnx3-OFED.23.10.0.2.1.1 amd64 userspace tools for the KNEM kernel module ii knem-dkms 1.1.4.90mlnx3-OFED.23.10.0.2.1.1 all DKMS support for mlnx-ofed kernel modules ii libibmad-dev:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Development files for libibmad ii libibmad5:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Infiniband Management Datagram (MAD) library ii libibnetdisc5:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 InfiniBand diagnostics library ii libibumad-dev:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Development files for libibumad ii libibumad3:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 InfiniBand Userspace Management Datagram (uMAD) library ii libibverbs-dev:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Development files for the libibverbs library ii libibverbs1:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Library for direct userspace use of RDMA (InfiniBand/iWARP) ii libibverbs1-dbg:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Debug symbols for the libibverbs library ii libopensm 5.17.0.MLNX20231105.d437ae0a-0.1.2310055 amd64 Infiniband subnet manager libraries ii libopensm-devel 5.17.0.MLNX20231105.d437ae0a-0.1.2310055 amd64 Development files for OpenSM ii librdmacm-dev:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Development files for the librdmacm library ii librdmacm1:amd64 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Library for managing RDMA connections ii mlnx-ethtool 6.4-1.2310055 amd64 This utility allows querying and changing settings such as speed, ii mlnx-iproute2 6.4.0-1.2310055 amd64 This utility allows querying and changing settings such as speed, ii mlnx-nfsrdma-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support for NFS RDMA kernel module ii mlnx-nvme-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support for nvme kernel module ii mlnx-ofed-kernel-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support for mlnx-ofed kernel modules ii mlnx-ofed-kernel-utils 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 amd64 Userspace tools to restart and tune mlnx-ofed kernel modules ii mlnx-tools 23.10.0-1.2310119 amd64 Userspace tools to restart and tune MLNX_OFED kernel modules ii mpitests 3.2.21-8418f75.2310055 amd64 Set of popular MPI benchmarks and tools IMB 2018 OSU benchmarks ver 4.0.1 mpiP-3.3 ii mstflint 4.16.1-2.2310055 amd64 Mellanox firmware burning application ii openmpi 4.1.7a1-1.2310055 all Open MPI ii opensm 5.17.0.MLNX20231105.d437ae0a-0.1.2310055 amd64 An Infiniband subnet manager ii opensm-doc 5.17.0.MLNX20231105.d437ae0a-0.1.2310055 amd64 Documentation for opensm ii perftest 23.10.0-0.29.g0705c22.2310055 amd64 Infiniband verbs performance tests ii rdma-core 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 RDMA core userspace infrastructure and documentation ii rdmacm-utils 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Examples for the librdmacm library ii rshim 2.0.17-0.g0caa378.2310119 amd64 driver for Mellanox BlueField SoC ii sharp 3.5.1.MLNX20231116.7fcef5af-1.2310119 amd64 SHArP switch collectives ii srp-dkms 23.10.OFED.23.10.1.1.9.1-1 all DKMS support fo srp kernel modules ii srptools 2307mlnx47-1.2310119 amd64 Tools for Infiniband attached storage (SRP) ii ucx 1.16.0-1.2310119 amd64 Unified Communication XThe above output lists the installed OFED driver version and installed packages, indicating that the driver has been installed correctly.