.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 OR Linux-OpenIB
.. include:: <isonum.txt>
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Enabling the driver and kconfig options
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:Copyright: |copy| 2023, NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
| mlx5 core is modular and most of the major mlx5 core driver features can be selected (compiled in/out)
| at build time via kernel Kconfig flags.
| Basic features, ethernet net device rx/tx offloads and XDP, are available with the most basic flags
| CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=y/m and CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN=y.
| For the list of advanced features, please see below.
**CONFIG_MLX5_BRIDGE=(y/n)**
| Enable :ref:`Ethernet Bridging (BRIDGE) offloading support <mlx5_bridge_offload>`.
| This will provide the ability to add representors of mlx5 uplink and VF
| ports to Bridge and offloading rules for traffic between such ports.
| Supports VLANs (trunk and access modes).
**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=(y/m/n)** (module mlx5_core.ko)
| The driver can be enabled by choosing CONFIG_MLX5_CORE=y/m in kernel config.
| This will provide mlx5 core driver for mlx5 ulps to interface with (mlx5e, mlx5_ib).
**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN=(y/n)**
| Choosing this option will allow basic ethernet netdevice support with all of the standard rx/tx offloads.
| mlx5e is the mlx5 ulp driver which provides netdevice kernel interface, when chosen, mlx5e will be
| built-in into mlx5_core.ko.
**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN_DCB=(y/n)**:
| Enables `Data Center Bridging (DCB) Support <https://enterprise-support.nvidia.com/s/article/howto-auto-config-pfc-and-ets-on-connectx-4-via-lldp-dcbx>`_.
**CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_IPOIB=(y/n)**
| IPoIB offloads & acceleration support.
| Requires CONFIG_MLX5_CORE_EN to provide an accelerated interface for the rdma
| IPoIB ulp netdevice.
**CONFIG_MLX5_CLS_ACT=(y/n)**
| Enables offload support for TC classifier action (NET_CLS_ACT).
| Works in both native NIC mode and Switchdev SRIOV mode.
| Flow-based classifiers, such as those registered through
| `tc-flower(8)`, are processed by the device, rather than the
| host. Actions that would then overwrite matching classification
| results would then be instant due to the offload.
**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_ARFS=(y/n)**
| Enables Hardware-accelerated receive flow steering (arfs) support, and ntuple filtering.
| https://enterprise-support.nvidia.com/s/article/howto-configure-arfs-on-connectx-4
**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_IPSEC=(y/n)**
| Enables :ref:`IPSec XFRM cryptography-offload acceleration <xfrm_device>`.
**CONFIG_MLX5_MACSEC=(y/n)**
| Build support for MACsec cryptography-offload acceleration in the NIC.
**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_RXNFC=(y/n)**
| Enables ethtool receive network flow classification, which allows user defined
| flow rules to direct traffic into arbitrary rx queue via ethtool set/get_rxnfc API.
**CONFIG_MLX5_EN_TLS=(y/n)**
| TLS cryptography-offload acceleration.
**CONFIG_MLX5_ESWITCH=(y/n)**
| Ethernet SRIOV E-Switch support in ConnectX NIC. E-Switch provides internal SRIOV packet steering
| and switching for the enabled VFs and PF in two available modes:
| 1) `Legacy SRIOV mode (L2 mac vlan steering based) <https://enterprise-support.nvidia.com/s/article/HowTo-Configure-SR-IOV-for-ConnectX-4-ConnectX-5-ConnectX-6-with-KVM-Ethernet>`_.
| 2) :ref:`Switchdev mode (eswitch offloads) <switchdev>`.
**CONFIG_MLX5_FPGA=(y/n)**
| Build support for the Innova family of network cards by Mellanox Technologies.
| Innova network cards are comprised of a ConnectX chip and an FPGA chip on one board.
| If you select this option, the mlx5_core driver will include the Innova FPGA core and allow
| building sandbox-specific client drivers.
**CONFIG_MLX5_INFINIBAND=(y/n/m)** (module mlx5_ib.ko)
| Provides low-level InfiniBand/RDMA and `RoCE <https://enterprise-support.nvidia.com/s/article/recommended-network-configuration-examples-for-roce-deployment>`_ support.
**CONFIG_MLX5_MPFS=(y/n)**
| Ethernet Multi-Physical Function Switch (MPFS) support in ConnectX NIC.
| MPFs is required for when `Multi-Host <https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/networking/multi-host/>`_ configuration is enabled to allow passing
| user configured unicast MAC addresses to the requesting PF.
**CONFIG_MLX5_SF=(y/n)**
| Build support for subfunction.
| Subfunctons are more light weight than PCI SRIOV VFs. Choosing this option
| will enable support for creating subfunction devices.
**CONFIG_MLX5_SF_MANAGER=(y/n)**
| Build support for subfuction port in the NIC. A Mellanox subfunction
| port is managed through devlink. A subfunction supports RDMA, netdevice
| and vdpa device. It is similar to a SRIOV VF but it doesn't require
| SRIOV support.
**CONFIG_MLX5_SW_STEERING=(y/n)**
| Build support for software-managed steering in the NIC.
**CONFIG_MLX5_HW_STEERING=(y/n)**
| Build support for hardware-managed steering in the NIC.
**CONFIG_MLX5_TC_CT=(y/n)**
| Support offloading connection tracking rules via tc ct action.
**CONFIG_MLX5_TC_SAMPLE=(y/n)**
| Support offloading sample rules via tc sample action.
**CONFIG_MLX5_VDPA=(y/n)**
| Support library for Mellanox VDPA drivers. Provides code that is
| common for all types of VDPA drivers. The following drivers are planned:
| net, block.
**CONFIG_MLX5_VDPA_NET=(y/n)**
| VDPA network driver for ConnectX6 and newer. Provides offloading
| of virtio net datapath such that descriptors put on the ring will
| be executed by the hardware. It also supports a variety of stateless
| offloads depending on the actual device used and firmware version.
**CONFIG_MLX5_VFIO_PCI=(y/n)**
| This provides migration support for MLX5 devices using the VFIO framework.
**External options** ( Choose if the corresponding mlx5 feature is required )
- CONFIG_MLXFW: When chosen, mlx5 firmware flashing support will be enabled (via devlink and ethtool).
- CONFIG_PTP_1588_CLOCK: When chosen, mlx5 ptp support will be enabled
- CONFIG_VXLAN: When chosen, mlx5 vxlan support will be enabled.
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