C H A P T E R 3 |
InfiniBand Software on Linux |
This chapter provides an overview and installation instructions for the InfiniBand software stack for the Linux operating system. Consult your Sun Blade server module product documentation for information about supported operating systems, firmware and software versions and updates, and other issues not covered in the main product documentation.
This chapter includes the following sections:
InfiniBand (IB) is a network architecture that is designed for the large-scale interconnection of computing and I/O nodes through a high-speed switched fabric. To operate InfiniBand on a Sun Blade 6048 Series Modular System (or other compatible Sun Blade Series Modular System), you need an Sun Blade X6048 QDR Switched Network ExpressModule (IB-QNEM) and an InfiniBand software stack.
If you have installed current releases of Red Hat Enterprise Linux Advanced Server (RHEL 5.3 or later) or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES10 update 2 or later) on a Sun Blade server module and you have installed the bundled drivers and OFED Release 1.4 or later, you do not need to install or configure additional drivers to support the IB-QNEM.
Specifically, RHEL contains support in the kernel for IB-HCA hardware produced by Mellanox (mthca driver). The kernel also includes core InfiniBand modules, which provide the interface between the lower-level hardware driver and the upper-layer InfiniBand protocol drivers. The InfiniBand modules provide user space access to InfiniBand hardware.
The kernel also includes the Sockets Direct Protocol (SDP) driver, IP over Infiniband (IPoIB) and the SCSI RDMA Protocol (SRP) driver.
RHEL includes the user space packages described in TABLE 3-1.
Note - These package names can change, depending upon the Linux OS. |
The packages selected to support any given configuration will vary. TABLE 3-2 lists the packages considered the absolute minimum needed to support the environment described in this guide.
If you elected not to install these packages when installing the Linux OS or if you want to upgrade your drivers, you can install these packages at any time from the OS distribution source. You can also download the required files from OpenFabrics.org. For information on both of these procedures, see Installing the InfiniBand Drivers on Linux.
As the popularity of InfiniBand technology increases, the number of Linux distributions and open source organizations producing drivers and tools will increase. For up-to-date information, check with open source organizations and your current vendors.
The OpenFabrics organization is the Open Software solution in the InfiniBand software space. OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) is the InfiniBand suite of software produced by this organization. Various vendors contribute their drivers (and other software components) to OFED.
TABLE 3-3 lists the tested Linux platforms and the corresponding OFED release.
Sun has tested OFED Release 1.4 for the SLES10 platform. Note: You must have OFED Release 1.4 or a later version. |
OFED contains the following components:
If you did not install the InfiniBand drivers when installing the Linux OS, you can install them at any time from the OS distribution source or by downloading the necessary files from OpenFabrics.org.
To do so, choose one of the following procedures:
If you need to determine whether or not the drivers are already installed, see To Verify Driver Installation on Linux.
To Install IB Drivers From the Linux Distribution Source |
1. Obtain the Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) files containing the InfiniBand drivers.
Access to these files is dependent on your individual installation configuration (net boot, CD/DVD boot, .iso files, and so on). When you decide on the appropriate access method and package selection, you can add the packages to the KickStart configuration file (on RHEL) for automatic inclusion in future installations.
Note - On a 32-bit RHEL 5.3 system, all packages have a .i386.rpm extension (as shown in the following procedure). On a 64-bit RHEL 5.3 system, all packages have a .x86_64.rpm extension instead. |
2. Enter the rpm -ivh command for each InfiniBand package that you need to install.
Packages must be installed in the following order:
The following example shows the installation of one package (libibcommon) and the resulting dialog on an RHEL 5.3 32-bit system:
3. If you are running the CSH or TCSH shell, enter the rehash command to rebuild the shell’s view of available executables.
4. Enter the ibstat command to verify that the OS sees the IB-FEM.
5. (Optional) You can enter the ibnetdiscover command to verify the presence of an operational IB fabric.
For an example of the output of this command, see To Verify Driver Installation on Linux.
6. (Optional) You can check the status of the ib_ipoib modules in the Linux kernel to determine whether the ib_ipoib driver is installed.
For details on this step, see To Install IPoIB Driver.
To Install the OFED Package |
Note - The InfiniBand Dual Port 4x DDR PCIe Fabric Expansion Module requires OFED Release 1.4 or later. |
1. On the Sun Blade server module, log in as root and copy the required files from the following location:
http://www.openfabrics.org/downloads.htm
In the following example, OFED-1.4.tar is used only as an example.
Note - You need write access to the files to execute the install script. |
2. From superuser (root), extract the files by typing:
3. From the OFED-1.4 directory, initiate the installation process by typing:
4. When the InfiniBand OFED Distribution Software Installation menu appears, select option 2 (Install OFED Software).
5. When the Select OFED Software menu appears, select option 3 (All packages).
6. When you are asked if you want to create/install an MPI RPM with gcc,
enter n.
The following compiler(s) on your system can be used to build/install MPI: gcc Do you wish to create/install an MPI RPM with gcc? [Y/n]: n |
7. When you are asked if you want to create/install an openmpi RPM with gcc. Again, type n.
The following compiler(s) on your system can be used to build/install openmpi: gcc Do you wish to create/install an openmpi RPM with gcc? [Y/n]: n |
The installation script lists the OFED packages that it will build. See the following sample output.
Next, you are prompted to configure InfiniBand IP support.
9. Type Y when asked if you want to include IPoIB configuration files.
10. Press Enter to accept the default when prompted to enter a temporary directory for OFED.
RPM build process requires a temporary directory. Please enter the temporary directory [/var/tmp/OFED]: |
11. Press Enter to accept the default when prompted for the OFED installation directory.
At this point, the installer begins compiling InfiniBand packages. The process of building packages takes approximately 15-20 minutes.
The system displays output like the following:
Installation then begins. See the following message.
Removing previous InfiniBand Software installation Running /bin/rpm -e libibverbs libibverbs-devel libibverbs-utils... |
The actual installation takes about one minute.
Assuming the IB-QNEM hardware is installed (and that an InfiniBand HCA is present), you are prompted to configure InfiniBand IP support.
12. Enter Y in response to the following prompt:
The default IPoIB interface configuration is based on DHCP. A special patch for DHCP is required for supporting IPoIB. The patch is available under:
If you do not have DHCP, you must change this configuration in the following steps.
The system displays the current configuration.
13. When asked if you want to change the configuration as displayed, type y.
The current IPOIB configuration for ib1 is: DEVICE=ib1 BOOTPROTO=dhcp ONBOOT=yes Do you want to change this configuration? [y/N]: Y |
The configuration script guides you through the changes one at a time. See the following as an example.
14. Type Y to save the configuration.
If you have entered a valid IP configuration for ib1, you are now properly configured for IPoIB operations.
15. Iterate the InfiniBand configuration over all InfiniBand interfaces.
Enter a valid IP configuration for each network interface.
Once all IPoIB interfaces have been configured, you are prompted to configure OpenSM for the blade.
16. Enter n to complete this part of the installation.
You should see a message like the following.
The InfiniBand OFED Distribution Software Installation Menu is displayed.
The Sun Blade server module is configured now to start up the InfiniBand software on reboot (ONBOOT=yes).
If this is not the desired behavior, you can edit the /etc/infiniband/openib.conf file, specifying ONBOOT=no. You can also manually control basic InfiniBand behavior by entering the following command:
where option can be start, stop, or status.
19. After a successful installation, reboot the server module.
After the reboot, the server module should boot as a functional member of the InfiniBand fabric.
To Verify Driver Installation on Linux |
1. Verify that the Linux software driver is installed and attached to the IB-QNEM by typing the openibd status command.
When using the openibd command, type the entire path as shown in this example.
This example shows the IB driver installed, running and presenting one IB-HCA channel or network device (ibn) to the OS. In the example, the Linux network device appears as ib1. To view details of operational status, type the ibstat command.
The following example shows one operational IB channel into the IB fabric (or network). The LinkUp state indicates active participation in an IB fabric. The IB fabric is present as lid 8 and it is being managed by lid 34.
You can also verify that the InfiniBand fabric is operational by entering the ibnetdiscover command. The output from this command will list all the nodes, as shown in the following sample output.
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