openvswitch-dpdk starting with DPDK_OPTS parameter

[Janghoon-Paul Sim]

To start OpenvSwitch in DPDK mode,
Users can use parameter DPDK_OPTS in /etc/default/openvswitch-switch.
However, OpenvSwitch-dpdk doesn't start although DPDK_OPTS parameter is uncomment.
For example,
# DPDK options - see /usr/share/doc/openvswitch-common/INSTALL.DPDK.md.gz
DPDK_OPTS='--dpdk -c 0x1 -n 4'

What I did was,

#install openvswitch-dpdk package
$sudo apt-get install openvswitch-switch-dpdk

#enable hugepage
on /etc/default/grub
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="transparent_hugepage=never hugepagesz=1G hugepages=4 default_hugepagesz=1G"
$sudo update-grub
$sudo reboot

#mount hugepage
$sudo mount -t hugetlbfs -o pagesize=1G none /dev/hugepages

# DPDK setup
$sudo modprobe uio_pci_generic
$sudo dpdk_nic_bind --bind=uio_pci_generic p1p1

#uncomment DPDK_OPTS on /etc/default/openvswitch-switch
DPDK_OPTS='--dpdk -c 0x1 -n 4'

# update alternatives ovs-vswitchd and start openvswitch
$sudo update-alternatives --set ovs-vswitchd /usr/lib/openvswitch-switch-dpdk/ovs-vswitchd-dpdk
$sudo start openvswitch-switch

# check if openvswitch-dpdk enabled
ps -ef doesn't show ovs-vswitchd process running with --dpdk option.
Also, /var/log/openvswitch/ovs-ctl.log doesn't show any DPDK relevant message.

Package version :
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ dpkg -l | grep openvswitch
ii openvswitch-common 2.4.0-0ubuntu4~cloud0 amd64 Open vSwitch common components
ii openvswitch-switch 2.4.0-0ubuntu4~cloud0 amd64 Open vSwitch switch implementations
ii openvswitch-switch-dpdk 2.4.0-0ubuntu1~cloud0 amd64 DPDK enabled Open vSwitch switch implementation

[Janghoon-Paul Sim (janghoon)]

This issue happens since DPDK_OPTS parameter is not forwarded to ovs-ctl.

To make it working,
/etc/init/openvswitch-switch.conf should be modified like the following so that DPDK_OPTS parameter can be forwarded to ovs-ctl

if test X"$FORCE_COREFILES" != X; then
set "$@" --force-corefiles="$FORCE_COREFILES"
fi
set "$@" $OVS_CTL_OPTS

# To enable openvswitch-dpdk
if test X"$DPDK_OPTS" != X; then
set "$@" --dpdk-opts="$DPDK_OPTS"
fi

This patch works fine on my machine.

[Hua Zhang (zhhuabj)]

Hi Paul,

Above workaround can't work for me, do you know why ?

hua@node1:~$ cat /etc/default/openvswitch-switch |grep DPDK_OPTS
DPDK_OPTS='--dpdk -c 0x1 -n 4'

hua@node1:~$ cat /etc/init/openvswitch-switch.conf |grep -B 1 -A 2 DPDK
  set "$@" $OVS_CTL_OPTS
  if test X"$DPDK_OPTS" != X; then
    #set "$@" DPDK_OPTS="$DPDK_OPTS"
    set "$@" --dpdk-opts="$DPDK_OPTS"
  fi
  "$@"

hua@node1:~$ cat /usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovs-ctl |grep -A 2 DPDK
  if test X"$DPDK_OPTS" != X; then
      set "$@" $DPDK_OPTS --
  fi
  set "$@" unix:"$DB_SOCK"

hua@node1:~$ sudo restart openvswitch-switch
openvswitch-switch start/running

hua@node1:~$ ps -ef |grep ovs-vswitchd
root 22896 1 0 11:38 ? 00:00:00 ovs-vswitchd: monitoring pid 22897 (healthy)
root 22897 22896 5 11:38 ? 00:00:00 ovs-vswitchd unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock -vconsole:emer -vsyslog:err -vfile:info --mlockall --no-chdir --log-file=/var/log/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.log --pidfile=/var/run/openvswitch/ovs-vswitchd.pid --detach --monitor
hua 23000 4470 0 11:38 pts/12 00:00:00 grep --color=auto ovs-vswitchd

hua@node1:~$ dpkg -l |grep openvswitch
ii openvswitch-common 2.4.0-0ubuntu4~cloud0 amd64 Open vSwitch common components
ii openvswitch-switch 2.4.0-0ubuntu4~cloud0 amd64 Open vSwitch switch implementations
ii openvswitch-switch-dpdk 2.4.0-0ubuntu1~cloud0 amd64 DPDK enabled Open vSwitch switch implementation

[Hua Zhang (zhhuabj)]

Finally I use the following workaround, it works for me.

sudo restart openvswitch-switch
sudo killall ovs-vswitchd
sudo ovs-vswitchd --dpdk -c 0x1 -n 2 -- unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock --pidfile --detach

hua@node1:~$ ps -ef |grep ovs-vswitchd |grep dpdk
root 24124 3720 99 11:47 ? 00:01:59 ovs-vswitchd --dpdk -c 0x1 -n 2 -- unix:/var/run/openvswitch/db.sock --pidfile --detach

But I hit another following problem after executing the command 'sudo ovs-vsctl add-port ovsbr0 dpdk0 -- set Interface dpdk0 type=dpdk':

2016-04-12T03:44:32.151Z|00014|netdev|WARN|could not create netdev dpdk0 of unknown type dpdk
2016-04-12T03:44:32.151Z|00015|bridge|WARN|could not open network device dpdk0 (Address family not supported by protocol)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alexandre Derumier (aderumier-odiso)]

Hi,

It's work for me if I add

test -e /etc/default/openvswitch-switch && . /etc/default/openvswitch-switch

at the begin of
/usr/share/openvswitch/scripts/ovs-ctl

[Ethan Lynn (ethanlynn)]

Will this be fixed in 16.04.1? I have this problem in 16.04.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi,
I beg your pardon as I didn't see that bug before.
Lacked to subscribe for this particular package :-/

It was reported on a similar bug that this works if you use systemd calls like (thnaks Thiago for that):
$ service openvswitch-switch stop
$ service openvswitch-switch start

In general dpdk and even more so openvswitch-dpdk was very experimental back then.
So before looking deeper at what was with dpdk-2.2+OVS-2.5.2 It want to encourage you to upgrade.
If you are bound to Xenial as a base release take a look if [1] is an option for you.

[1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OpenStack/CloudArchive

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Note: in latter versions the options are actual real database properties of ovsdb and can be configured much like anything else in OVS.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

For the issue of zhhuabi in comment #3 - that seems to be missing the update-alternatives call to actually switch to the OVS compiled with dpdk.

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

I can confirm it worked back then and still works for me with systemd controls.
That is also what the tests were based on which were good in that regard.

I retested today just to the extend of seeing the options where they should be:
# Xenial guest to test on
$ uvt-kvm create --password=ubuntu --memory 3096 xenial-dpdk-test release=xenial arch=amd64 label=daily
# further commands in the guest
$ sudo apt install openvswitch-switch-dpdk
# Of course this won't work, but we want to test args passed
$ echo "DPDK_OPTS='--dpdk -c test -n 4 -m bugno 1547463'" | sudo tee -a /etc/default/openvswitch-switch
# set the dpdk enabled version
$ update-alternatives --set ovs-vswitchd /usr/lib/openvswitch-switch-dpdk/ovs-vswitchd-dpdk
$ sudo systemctl restart openvswitch-switch
# This triggers the other components and in openvswitch-nonetwork.service the env file is read and all works.
# Of course this give me an "invalid core mask" as test isn't good.
# Switching to the suggested defaults of "--dpdk -c 0x1 -n 4" gets me further

So TL;DR it works for me, maybe the sysV call is broken but honestly I don't mind - far more important is to no more use the old experimental version.

Thereby I set the remaining bug to incomplete and would ask (if still import and and not able or willing to follow to a newer version) how you restart the service - is it the sysV style call that doesn't work for you or something else?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for openvswitch-dpdk (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]