1) Intro IB

open standard: IBTA
features:
simple mgmt: each fabric has a SM: subnet manager

• nodes and links discovery
• local id assigment: LIDS
• routing table calculations and deployment
• configure nodes and ports ie: qos
  high bw: non-blocking, bi-dir. 4 physical lanes (max 12) EDR: 25G per lane / HRD: 50G per lane / NDR: 100G per lane
  cpu offload: kernel bypass, RDMA for CPU and GPU.
  low lat: 1micro for RDMA
  scale out/flex: up to 48k nodes in one subnet. Beyond that use IB routers/
  qos:
  resilience: self healing. 1ms.
  LB: adaptive routing, dynamic load balancing
  sharp: mpi super performance: scalable hierarchical aggregation and reduction protocol. offload collective operations from host cpu/gpu.
  variety topologies: fat tree, torus 3d, dragonfly

componets:
gateway: translate IB<>Ethernet
switch, router (between different subnets)
hca: host channel adapter: nic?

2) Intro IB Arch

Arch

L5 Upper: Mgmt protocols: subnet mgmt and subnet svcs. Verbs to interact with Transport Layer
L4 Transport: services to complete specified operation. Reassemble and split packets.
L3 Network: describes the protocol for routing a packet between subnets
L2 Link: describes the packet format and protocols for packet operation. (routing within a subenet)
L1 Physical: framing and signaling

L2: LRH 8B + (L345) + Trailer (ICRC 4B + VCRC 2B)
LRH: Local Route Header: local src and local dst port. Includes SL (Svc Level) and VL (?). VL is the only field that changes while the packet traverses the subnet.
ICRC: Invariant CRC // VCRC: Variant CRC
L3: GRH 40B + L45
GRH: Global Route Header: present in packet that traverses multiple subnets. Routers forward packet based on GRH. Router recalculate VCRF but not ICRC.
L4: BTH 23B + ETH var + L5
BTH: Base Transport Header: operation code (first, last, intermediate or only packet + operattion type: send, rdma wr, read, atomic), seq num (PSN) and partition.
ETH: Extended Transport Header: conditionally present depending on CoS and operation code.
L5: Payload 256-4096B

Wireshark: (L3 only in packet that need to be routed to a different subnet.)
Local Route Header -> L2
Base Transport -> L4
DETH – Datagram Ext Transport Header -> L4
MAD Header – Common mgmt datagram -> L5
SMP (Directed Route) -> L5
ICRC – L2
VCRC – L2

Mgmt

fabric: link, switches and routers than connect channel adaptor
subnet: port and links with comom subnet id and managed by same SM.
-router connects subnets

SM: subnet manager. Centralized routing mgmt. plug and play. One master SM, the rest standy.

• discovering topology
• assigning local ids to nodes (LIDs)
• calculate and program switching forwarding tables
• managin elements
• monitoring elements
  Impleted in a server, switch or specialized device.

elements:
Manager: active entity
Node: managed entity: switch, HCA, router
Agent: each node has a SMA (subnet manager agent). Passive, responds to Manager. Can send traps

MADs: standard message format betwen Agent and Manager

Addressing:
L1: GUID: Global Unique Id: unique address burned by vendor in hw: chassis, HCAs, switches, routers and ports.
L2: LID: Local Id: Assigned by SM. Unique within the subnet. Src and Dst LIDs are present in LRH. Dst LID is used by switch to send packet.
L3: GID: Global Id: identify end port or multicast group. Unique across subnets. Src and dst GID are in GRH. Dst GID is used by router.

OFED Monitoring Utilities

OpenFabrics Entreprise Distribution (OFED): sw stack for RDMA and kernel bypass apps.
OFED utilities facilitate control, mgmt and diagnosis of IB fabrics.

verify OFED installation: $ ofed_info | head -1
verify OFED running: $ /etc/init.d/openibd status
verify HCA (nic) installe: $ lscpi | grep -i mellanox
verify IB running: $ ibstat -> list all local HCAs. info from IB driver. GUID, LID, por state, rate
verify connectivity: ibping (verify connectiity between hosts). It is Client-Servre command
destination: # ibping -S (server mode)
source: # ibping -L
verify path: ibtracert: source LID to dst LID.
# ibtracert ===> You dont have to run the command from the source LID itself !!!

3) Physical Layer

Overview

functions: bit sync, bit rate control, phy topologies, transmission mode
specifications: start, end delimeter, data symbos

HCAs = Host Channel Adapter = NICs

connect server to switch. NIC + offload.
1 or 2 ports.
GUID = MAC

Media Types and Interconnection

link width: 1,4,8,16 lanes. Current usage: only 4
link rate: link speed * link width DAC ACO
EDR: Enhanced Data Rate – 25G per lane = 100G 5m 100m
HDR: High DR – 50G per lane = 200G 2m 100m
NDR: Next DR – 100g per lane = 400G 4m
XDR: Extreme DR – 200G per lane = 800G

DAC: direct attach – copper cable
AOC: active optical cable: each line: 1xtx 1xrx – total 8 (more expensive than DAC). MultiMode (3-100m)

Responsabilities

establlish physical link, monitor status, inform link layer, guaranteeing signal integrity for best Bit Error Rate (BER)

status: polling (not cable connected), disabled, portConfigTraining, LinkUp, LinkError Recovery (cable is faulty)
# ibstat => show you status of hca

BER = number bit errors / total number bit transferred

Addressing

GUID: (like MAC) Globally Unique Id = 65 bit (assigned by vendor)

• system GUID: abstract several GUID in one (like a cluster of devices)
• Node GUID: HCA, switches or routers
• Port GUID: HCA port.

HCA has: 1x System GUID, 1x Node GUID, 1x Port GUID per physical port –> # ibstat

Switch (Fixed): 1xASIC (1xNode GUID), 1xSystem GUID. It doesnt have Port GUID

Director (Modular) switch: 1xSystem GUID, each module has 1xNode GUI

OFED

# ibportstate -> state, speed, lanes, etc

# ibswitches -> list switches in the subnet and GUIDs

# ibhosts: list all HCAs in the subnet and GUIDs

# ibnodes: list both HCAs and switches in subnet.

4) Link Layer

switching inside local subnet

Link Layer Services

Packet Mgmt:
Link mgmt packets
data packets: send, read, write, ack
header= LRH 8B + GRH 40B + BTH 12B + ETH var
payload= 256-4096B
ICRC 4B + VCRC 2B

L2 Addressing
routing inside local subnet. Each node has LID (local ID) 2B inside LRH
LID assigned by Subet Manager when initilization and when topology changes.
HCAs: LID per port
Fix form switch: 1 LID
Modular switches: 1 LID per module
Each subnet max 48k unicast LID
16k multicast LID

QoS
enabled prioritization app/users/data flows.
Service Levels (SL) and Virtaul Lanes (VL)
SL is in LRH: defines class of packet
VL is in LRH: implements multiple logical flows over a single physical link
different packets are mapped to different VLs based on SL (marking)
each VL has a weight and priority
each VL uses different buffers
each VL has a scheduler
Max 16 VL:
special VL: VL15: Subnet Manager traffic only
VL0: all data traffic
VL1-14: free to use to implement your QoS policy

Packet Forwarding
LID is read by switch to route to destination, checking the LFT (Linear Forwarding Table: table of LDID -> Exit Port)
Implementing QoS: LFT contains SL to VL mappings
# ibswitches -> list of switches with LID
# ibroute –> shows LFT of switch with LID 10 // OutPort=000 means the packet is processed by switch.

Flow Control
Lossless Fabric. Flow Control: prevents fast sender to overwhelm slow receiver to avoid drops and retransmissions.
Credit based FC: receiver sends credit to sender to indicate availability of receive buffers. Sender waits for credits before transmissing.
packet are not held forever. There is timeout, if expires, packet is dropped.
Each VL can have a separate FC.

Data Integriy
by CRC: Cyclic Redundancy Check. Hash function. If calculation of CRC doesnt match, packet is dropped and request resend. end-to-end integrity
ICRC: invariant – all field that dont change 32bit
VCRC: variant – whole packet. 16bit

OFED

# iblinkinfo: all nodes in fabric: LID, GUID, hostname, link speeds

# ibnetdisconer: fabric discovery and list all ndoes: LID, GUID, hostnames and link speeds. Generates a file with topology

5) Network Layer

routing solution overview

connect different subnets (each max 48k nodes)

routing benefits:
-scaling
-isolation: separation, fault resilience, reliability, availability
-subnet management per each subnet
-connectivity: each subnet can have different topology

network layer overview

handles routing of packets between subnets using GID in GRH 40B (Global Routing Header)
unicast and multicast
GID: Global ID – 128 bit — identifies single port or multicast group: GID= 64bit subnet prefix + port GUID (kindoff ipv6)
globally unique across subnets

each HCA port has an automatic assigned default GID (fe80::) that can be used only in local subnet (kindoff ipv6 link-local)

OFED

# ibv_devices -> ib devices installed in server (hcas)
# ibaddr -> displays GID and LID

6) Transport Layer

overview

end-2-end communication services for apps – virtual channel. segment/reassembly
channel end-point are called Queue Paros (QPs): Each QP represents one end of a channel. QP bypass kernel during data transfer. HCA oversees reliability
QP has a send and receive queue. QP id is 24 bits. apps have direct access to hw: mapping app’s virtual address into the QP.
If an app required more than 1 connection -> more QPs are created
QP workflow: A work queue is the app’s interface to the IB fabric.
If app wants to send/receive data -> post a Work Request (WR) to a work queue (that is a WQE – WQ Element)
When the HCA completes a WQE, a completion queue element (CQE) is placed on a completion queue.

Responsibilities: Three below

segmentation/reassembly

segment when message bigger than MTU, done by HCA. HCA receiver side reassembles.
payload: 256-4096 bytes
default mtu = 4096

transport modes

QP has 4 transport service types. Source/Destination QPs must have same mode. Service type depends on app.
RC: reliable connection
UC: unreliable connection
RD: reliable datagram
UD: unreliable datagra

connected: dedicated QP for one connection in eachc end. Higher performance than datagra but more kernel memory consumed. Most used. Segmentation is supported
datagram: single QP servers multiple connections. Segmentation is not suppoerted. More scalable that connected (similar to multicast)
reliable: each packet has Packet Seq Num (PSN). Receiver send Acks if packet arrive in order, send negativa ack otherwise. Send QP has a timer. Similar to TCP.
unrelible: no ack.

partitions

divide large cluster into small isolated subclusters -> multitenancy, multi apps, security, qos.
ports maybe members of multiple partitions at once
port in different partitions are unaware of eachc other.

PKEY: partition id. 16bit in BTH header. Carried in packets and stored in HCA. Used to determine partition membership. The Subnet Manager SM assings the PKEY to the ports.

membership type: limited vs full
limited: can’t accept other limited membership in the partition. all nodes may communite with SM. Full<>Limited is always oke (with same PKEY) IE: storage, network mgmt.
default PKEY is 0x7fff. everything is part of that pkey and assigned by SM. And all are full.
65535

high-order bit (left most) in PKEY records the type membership: 0 = limited / 1= full -> 0x7fff = 111 1111 1111 1111

offloading

RDMA: remote direct memory access. data read/write to remote server bypassing CPU in both ends. zero buffer copy.
reduce latency, increase throughput, cpu freed up

two methos for offloading:
-channel semantic: send/receive. Sending app has no visibility on receivers buffer or data structure. Just send data. Syncronoues data flow
-memory semantic: rdma read/write
rdma write example
receivedr side, register a buffer in its memory space and pass it to the sender. Sender uses RDMA send/write. Async communication. sender sides does the same.
send side puts a WQE. its hca generates CQE. The receiver HCA puts the data directly in the memory, there is no WQE/CQE in receiver side.

ofed

perftest: read/write and send tests. client-server. cpu same in client and server.

latency perf test (-h)
 server        client
  ib_read_lat  ib_read_lat
  ib_write_lat ib_write_lat
  ib_send_lat  ib_send_lat

bw perf test (-h)
 server       client
  ib_read_bw  ib_read_bw
  ib_write_bw ib_write_bw
  ib_send_bw  ib_send_bw

7) Upper Layer

overview

support upper layer protocols (Native IB RDMA, IPoIB,etc).
mgmt svc protocls (Subnet mgmt and subnet services).
sw transport verbs to communicate with HCA/IB fabric (clients of upper layer)

upper layer protocols: MPI (for HPC), IPoIB (enables TCP/IP over IB), SDP (high perf interface for standar socket apps – TCP), SRP (SCSI devices over RDMA), iSER (zero copy RDMA to eliminate TCP and iSCSI bottleneck, better than SRP), NFS RDMA (NFS over RDMA)

management service protocols

-subnet mmgnt: Uses special mgmt datagram (MAD) class called SMP: subnet mgmt packet -> uses special QP0, always uses VL15 and not subject to flow control.
-general services: Used MAD called GMP: General mgmt Packet. Each port has a QP1 and all GMPs are received on QP1 are processed by one GSA (General Service Agent).
GMP uses any VL except 15 (default 0), subject to Flow Control

sw transport verbs

verb: describe actions how an app request acctions from the messaging svc.
ie RMDA send: rdma_post_send, rdma_post_recv
RDMA write: rdma_post_write
RDMA read: rdma_post_read
OpenFabrcAlliance: defines verbs specification.

— Fabric Mgmt —

8) Fabric Init

Init Stages

subnet has a common Subnet ID. Router connects subnets. Each subnet has SM (discovery topo, assign LIDs to nodes, calculate/program forwarding tables, manage all elements, monitor changes). SM can be a server, switch or special device. Each node has a SMA (SM Agent) that communicates with SM

1 Phy Fabric Establish: connect all cables

2 Subnet Discovery: Once SM wakes up, starts discovery with direcltly connected nodes, and then their neigbors. SM gathers switch info, port info and host info. SM uses SMPs (SM packets)

3 Info gathering: SMPs uses VL 15. Two types:
-Directed-routed: forwarded based on a vector of port numbers. Not dependent of routing table entries. Provide means to communicate before switches and hosts are configured (before LIDs are assigned). Mainly for discovery. Only SMI (SM interface) allows for these packets.
Two types of messages:
— get: SM polls fabric with get.
— get response: answer from devices.
Two types of commands:
— get node / port info:
— get response node / port info:
-LID-routed: forwards using switch forwarding table (after SM populates them)

topo info gather: switches, hcas, ports, links. Topo described by nodes GUID and port numbers.
node info gather: type, number ports, GUID, description
port info gather: MTU, VLs, width (num lanes), speed.

4 LIDs Assigment: SM assigns LDIS to nodes
HCA: 1 LID per port
1RU switches (1 ASIC): 1 LID for whole switch
Modular switch: 1 LID per module (linecard)

5 Paths Establishments
min-hop: calculate number of hops required by eachc port to reach each destination LID. Shortest is best. tie-breaker: port with fewer LIDs assigned.

6 Port Config
LID (unique in subnet), width (number of physical lines), MTU (default 4096), speed.
QoS: VLs, SL to VL (mapping table Service Level to VL), VL arbitration

7 Switch Config
SM populates the switch’s LFT with the best routes. LFT: destination LIDs -> exit port. And SL-VL table.

8 Subnet Activation
IB port: physical states: polling (after power on, cable not connected), training (establish link sync), linkup (ready to transfer packets)
logical states: down (phy is down: polling or training), init (phy is up but only deals with SMP and flow control), armed (verify data transfer fine. SM sends dummy SMP with VCRC to verify that is not corrupted), active (SM send active to port)

ofed

# ibswitches: GUID, description, ports and LID.
# ibroute <switch_LID>

9) Fabric monitoring

SM properties

election process master SM: recommended (2xSM, master , standby) Each has priority: 4 bit: default=0, highest=15. tie-breaker: lowest GUID
SMInfo attribure used by SM to exchange info during subnet discovery and polling: GUID of the port of SM, priority and SM state (master, standby)

SM failover / handover

SM Failover: Master SM fails. Running sessions are not affected. New sessions need to wait for new master. By default, LIDs are not reassinged by new master.
SM Handover: new SM with hight priority takes over master role.
-avoid double failover: 1) avoid handover. 2) master_sm_priority=15 for all SM (and hight than current priority)

Monitoring

light sweep: each 10s. SM interrogates nodes and port info from all switches: Port status changes, new SM appears, standby SM changes priority
A change traced by light sweep, causes heavy sweep.

heavy sweep: light sweep detects change or SM receives IB trap. -> SM triggres fabric discovery from scratch: topo discovery, new LIDs (if necessary), program fw tables!.
current flows through not affected path, are not affected by rediscovery.

host down or leaf switch down -> avoid heavy sweep (not need to recalculate all fw tables in nodes) -> SM configuration: Ucast-cache=True

ofed

# sminfo -> master SM: LID, GUID, priority and state
# smpquery nd -> identify whitch node is running the SM
# saquery -s -> query all SMs (master and standby)

10) IB topologies part1

concepts

network topology: schematic arrangement of network elements: links, nodes
phy topology: how devices are connected
logical topo: how data moves from one node to another
considerations;

• availability: redundancy and fault tolerance
• reliability: downtime and delays are unacceptable
• performance: locate faults, troubleshoot errors, allocate resources
• future growth: add new nodes without affecting performance or user experience
• budget: effective and affordable

leaf-spine.

• predictable and deterministic latency
• scalability
• redundancy
• increase bw

topologies:

fat-tree

tree like topology where links nearer the top of the hierarchy are “fatter” = having more links/bw, than links further down. thickness = bandwidth
It is about oversubscription ratio: downlinks / uplinks => 1:1 (non-blocking)

non-blocking: oversubscription 1;1 in all levels, higher cost. (real fat-tree are often oversubscribed)
blocking: oversubscription 2:1,3:1,3:2, reduced cost, not full bw, low latency is maintained.

summary: good for hpc, non-blocking or oversubscription, lowest/deterministic latency (2levels->3hops, 3levels->5hops)

dragonfly+ (BGP confederation)

connect groups in full-mesh, inside group leaf-spine. requires adaptive routing.

summary: support large number hosts, extending fabric without reserving ports (fat-tree requires recabling), lowlat and high bw: flexible and cost reduction

torus 3d

nodes connected in a ring formation in 3D (x,y,z)
eachc node has 2 links in each ring (3rings=3D)=6 links to neighbor switches
very scalable and resilient:

summary: good for locality, cabling simpler/shorted (less cost: effective, power, resilient), main benefit: cost -> good for very large installs. Hight fault tolerant.

adaptive routing (AR)

load balancing between same best cost paths (min-hop) and installs in FIB.
For every connection the switch will dynamically choose the least congested port. Reduces contention.

credit loops

IB uses credit-based flow-control to avoid packet loss in congested switches: a sending port can send packets if it is granted with credits from receiving port
credit loop: cyclic buffer dependency (buffers are full) (some cases you have to reboot a switch to fix!) They can create a deadlock (rarely)
avoid credit loops: UpDown routing algo: prevents traffic forwarding from downstream link to an upstream. Forbidden: down -> ups
allowed paths: up, down, up -> down, same level (up-up, down-down)

10) IB topologies part2

routing engines: way paths are choosing = routing protocol. Each RE uses its own algo according to topology

min-hop: topo agnostic. default algo. 2 stages: 1) compute min-hop table on each switch 2) LFT output port assigment in eachc switch.
doesnt prevent credit loops.

up-down (+AR): fat-tree topo
prevent deadlocks (min-hop can’t)
algo: 1) starts with root switches (rank 0). 2) Find all switches 1 hop away fro root -> rank 1 3) Switches 2 hops away from root -> rank 2 4) so on 5) Find shortest path between every pair of endpointns 6) Any path that goes down (away from root) and then up (toward root) is discarded => rank N -> rank N+1 (up) -> rank N (down)
avoid credit loops: forbidden paths go down (away from root) and then up (towards root)

fat-tree (+AR): fat-tree topo. fully-symmetrical fat-tree has its leaf switches connected with the same port index to each spine. Avoid credit loop like UpDown algo (forbidden paths down-up). Can do load-balancing to avoid congestion

torus 2-QoS: torus-2/3d topo. Free of credit loops, two levels of QoS. Self-heal (single failed switch, and/or multiple failed links) -> rerouting automatic by SM. Short run time, good scaling

dragonfly+ AR: dragonfly topo. Achieving max bw for different traffic patterns requires non-min multi-path routing => use min-hop+1 routes. You use min-hop+1 based egress queue load (so you avoid congestion just following a longer path) Trinagule example.
Credit loops prevention:
-path with down->up can potentially cause a credit loop.
-credit-based flow-control operates per VL: Buffers are allocated per VL. Received credits are granted per virtual lanes.
-DragonFly+ uses VL increment to avoid credit loops: The VL value is incremented when packet is forwarded from down->.up direction. 2 VLs are enough to prevent credit loops.

• drangonfly connects “groups”

configure updn routing engine
/etc/opensm/opensm.conf -> default location – SM params
opensm -c /etc/opensm/opensm.conf -> creates default SM config.
For UpDown: provide the roots GUID list -> # ibswitches -> create list in /etc/opensm/root_guid.conf -> update opensm.conf with:
root_guid_file /etc/opensm/root_guid.conf
Update opensm.conf with routeing engine: routing_engine updn // or use # opensm -R updn
restart opensm: # service opensmd restart
check logs: grep table /var/log/opensm.log

— IB fabric bring up —

11) IB driver installation

what is OFED?: OpenFabric Enterprise Distribution: opens source sw for RDMA and kernel-bypass apps.
nvidia-ofed: supports IB and ethernet. up to 400G. linux/windows/VMs.

install ofed linux:
hw requirements: 1GB space, supported linux, admin priv
prepare install: ofed_info -s (current version). For new install: kernel + os -> uname -a / cat /etc/os-release
hca installed: lspci -v | grep -i mellanox
download driver from nvidia site.
mount image, install : # mount -o ro,loop MLNX_OFED_FILE.iso /mnt
cd /mnt && sudo ./mlnxofedinstall
restart: # /etc/init.d/openibd restart
verify: ofed_info | head -1 –> verify new version installed
ibstart –> verify HCA is discovered as IB node

12) HCA firmware upgrade

hca hw and tools overview: host-channel-adapter. If you install ofed, upgrade hca too. You can upgrade hca itself.
MTF tools: MST: NVIDIA software tools serice. Flint: firmware burning tool. MLXfwreset: loading firmware on 5th gen devices tool

firmware upgrade steps:
hca type: lspci | grep -i mellanox
hca info: ibv_devinfo -> hca_id, fw_ver, vendor_part, board_id (PSID)
download firmware: seach card type and then check every OPN option until you find a PSID that matches board_id (above command)
unzip + burn:
1) find hca full path: # mst status (or start it: mst start)-> search for /dev/mst/….
2) # flint -d /dev/mst/xxxxxx -i FIRMWARE.bin b /// b = burn !!!
reset: # mlxfwreset -d CARD reset
$ ibstat -> compare fw version changed

13) Running the SM

SM on a server, switch or NVIDIA UFM. Considere fabric scale (number of nodes): Init fabric, calculate fw tables, conf nodes and monitor changes. Licensing cost. enhanced features

switch: inband or outband mgmt: mgmt in-band by SM, MLNX-OS has embedded SM. Unmanaged dont have SM.
SM for small fabrics (up 2048 nodes). Not support AR and dragonfly. No additional license.
enable sm:

enable
# conf t
# show ib sm
disable
# ib sm
# show ib sm
enable
configure sm:
# ib sm sm-priority 14
# show ib sm sm-priority
# ib sm ? ==> options
# ip sm routing-engine ? => change routing engine from min-hop (default)!

server: large-medium fabrics. open-sm included in mlnx-ofed. no license. support AR and dragonfly
run opensm
# opensm -h
or run as a demon
# /etc/init.d/opensmd start
/etc/init.d/opensmd status
logging: /var/log/messages (general) + /var/log/opensm.log (details errors)
config: opensm -c /etc/opensm/opensm.conf -> creates default config file
routing engine config, list, tries one by one until success: routing_engine ar_updn (nov 2021 default RE is updn with AR)

UFM (Unified Fabric Manager): WebUI solution: telemetry, analytics, etc. Uses OpenSM. Can run on a server as a service, docker or dedicated hw.
telemetry, enterprise (telemetry + enhanced monitoring and mgmt), cyber-ai (telmetry + enterprise + security)
enterprise: licensed per managed device. WebUI: settings -> subnet manager, setting -> network management: routing engine

— IB monitoring —

14) IB diagnostics

node-level
ofed_info: mlnx_ofed driver version
lspci: find hca
ibstat: link status
ibportstate LID PORT
ibroute LID: routing table of switch LID
ibv_devices: list hcas
ibv_devinfo: list hcas details

fabric-level:
ibswitches: list switches
ibhosts: list hcas
ibnodes: list all nodes
ibnetdiscover: show node-to-node connectivity
iblinkinfo: list all nodes and connectivity info
sminfo: show master sm
ipbing
ibtracert SLID DLID
ibdiagnet
ib_write_lat
ib_read_lat
ib_write_bw
ib_read_bw

ibdiagnet: fabric disconery, error detection and diagnostics. part of ibutils2 package. part of mlnx_ofed and ufm.
fabric discovery, duplicated GUIDs, duplicated nodes descriptions, LIDs checks, links in INIT state, counters, error counters check, routing checks, link width and speed checks, topology matching, partition checks and BER test.

dump files: ibdiagnet2.log, .lst, .net_dump, .sm, .pm, .fdbs, .pkey
default location: /var/tmp/ibdiagnet2/*

ibdiagnet -v -h
ibdiagnet (without params) does a lot of stuff
–i mlx5_2 –p 1 (card and port in card)

ibdiagnet -pc => reset all port counters
ibdiagnet –pm_pause_time SEC => port counters delta validation
ibdiagnet -w FILE -> creates a topology file

ibdiagnet2.pm (port counter) port_xmit_wait: waiting time of packet in the send buffer: high values -> bad!

15) Wireshark

ibdump -d mlx5_0 (device_name) -w FILE.pcap

I didnt know that David L Mills invented NTP, IPv4 and FTP! RIP

• BGP in DCs: I didnt read the whole paper but it interesting how they have rewritten BGP to work in the DC at scale.
• NetNORAD: I would like to implement this one day.
• Scale 2022: link
• QoS at Meta – Nanog 89:

I have never heard of Wistron until I reached this page. Maybe it is because:

Wistron typically only sells to hyper-scalers

I guess the hyperscalers put their own NOS on top? Anyway, quite interesting the model with 16 ports for Optical SN (that is 4x400G per port).