Set up the Mellanox ConnectX-6 NICs with custom configurations to optimize for the RF Recording Software workload.

  1. Generate a list of the NIC device names and PCI addresses by executing the following command in the Linux terminal: 
    lshw -class network -businfo
    Note Dual-port NICs appear as two separate devices with similar device names.
  2. Record the following information for each NIC in your system:
    • The PCI address of each device. This is embedded in the Bus Info column of the output with the format of AAAA:BB:CC.D.
    • The name of each device. This is listed in the Device column of the output.
  3. Start mst by executing the following command in the Linux terminal: 
    sudo mst start
  4. Generate a list of paths to the mst configuration files for each NIC device by executing the following command in the Linux terminal: 
    ls /dev/mst
  5. Record the path to each mst configuration file for the NICs.
    It is not important which configuration file belongs to each NIC. Simply recording the list of configuration file paths is all that will be required.
    This information will be required for configuring the NICs in the following steps.
  6. Set CQE_COMPRESSION to aggressive for each NIC by executing the following command template in the Linux terminal: 
    sudo mlxconfig -d [PCI ADDRESS AA:BB.C] s CQE_COMPRESSION=1

    Where [PCI ADDRESS AA:BB.C] is the Bus Info information you collected in step 2, for example: 41:00.0 (omitting the leading set of four zeros).

  7. Enable relaxed ordering for each NIC device by executing the following command template in the Linux terminal: 
    sudo mlxconfig -d [PATH TO MST CONFIGURTATION FILE] s PCI_WR_ORDERING=1

    Where [PATH TO MST CONFIGURTATION FILE] is the NIC's configuration file location, for example: /dev/mst/mt4125_pciconf0.

  8. Reboot the system to apply the new configuration.