Enable SRIOV with DPDK

SRIOV and DPDK

SRI-IOV WorkerNode Prerequisites

In order for the cni-sriov-plugin to start reading Virtual Functions resources as well HostNetworkTemplate objects can configure virtual functions you need to perform the following steps.

Enable** VT-D** at BIOS level.
Enable SRIOV feature globally and/or per nic according to the nic you are working with, for example Intel x710 should be enabled per nic at BIOS level.
Upgrade Kernel boot line to enable intel_iommu=on and iommu=pt

$ grubby --update-kernel=ALL --args="iommu=pt intel_iommu=on" $ reboot

Huge page Support

Most network applications use huge pages, so you may want to enable that. Please edit /etc/default/grub and add huge-ages

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="nofb nomodeset vga=normal iommu=pt intel_iommu=on default_hugepagesz=1G hugepagesz=1G hugepages=16" #Rebuild grub.cfg grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg && reboot

Please copy paste the following definition update the values of your Physical Functions and ranges or Virtual Functions as well as Drivers and apply it to our cluster, in case that you have multiple nics, that each one uses different kernels drivers please omit the drivers section and just mentioned pfName within the selectors section.

SR-IOV Kernel Driver plus DPDK ConfigMap

apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: sriovdp-config namespace: kube-system data: config.json: | { "resourceList": [ { "resourceName": "intel_sriov_dpdk0", "selectors": { "drivers": ["vfio-pci"], "pfNameis": ["enp3s0f0#0-7"] } }, { "resourceName": "intel_sriov_kernel0", "selectors": { "drivers": ["ixgbevf"], "pfNames": ["enp3s0f0#8-15"] } }, { "resourceName": "intel_sriov_dpdk1", "selectors": { "drivers": ["vfio-pci"], "pfNames": ["enp3s0f1#0-7"] } }, { "resourceName": "intel_sriov_kernel1", "selectors": { "drivers": ["ixgbevf"], "pfNames": ["enp3s0f1#8-15"] } } ] }

Create NetworkAttachDefinition of DPDK type

kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition metadata: name: sriov-net-a annotations: k8s.v1.cni.cncf.io/resourceName: intel.com/intel_sriov_dpdk_a spec: config: '{ "type": "sriov", "cniVersion": "0.3.1", "name": "sriov-network-a", "vlan": 100, "vlanQoS": 1, "max_tx_rate": 100, "spoofchk": "off", "trust": "on" }'

Network Attach Definition Validation SR-IOV-DPDK type

Let’s validate our work by listing and describing our new Network Attach Definition

$ kubectl get net-attach-def NAME AGE sriov-dpdk0 15s

$ kubectl describe net-attach-def sriov-dpdk0 Name: sriov-dpdk0 Namespace: default Labels: <none> Annotations: k8s.v1.cni.cncf.io/resourceName: intel.com/intel_sriov_dpdk0 kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration: {"apiVersion":"k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1","kind":"NetworkAttachmentDefinition","metadata":{"annotations":{"k8s.v1.cni.cncf.io/resourceName":"inte... API Version: k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1 Kind: NetworkAttachmentDefinition Metadata: Creation Timestamp: 2020-10-05T20:25:57Z Generation: 1 Resource Version: 2310115 Self Link: /apis/k8s.cni.cncf.io/v1/namespaces/default/network-attachment-definitions/sriov-dpdk0 UID: 5307140a-3771-41b4-845e-1aa8460acffc Spec: Config: { "cniVersion": "0.3.1", "name": "sriov-dpdk0", "type": "sriov", "vlan": 90 } Events: <none>

Create Pods with SR-IOV interfaces (DPDK Driver - vfio-pci)

# cat sriov-pod-2.yaml apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: sriov-pod-2 annotations: k8s.v1.cni.cncf.io/networks: sriov-net-a spec: containers: - name: sriov-example image: rparikh/dpdk-app-centos securityContext: privileged: true volumeMounts: - mountPath: /etc/podnetinfo name: podnetinfo readOnly: false - mountPath: /dev/hugepages name: hugepage resources: requests: memory: 1Gi #cpu: "4" intel.com/intel_sriov_dpdk_a: '1' limits: hugepages-1Gi: 2Gi #cpu: "4" intel.com/intel_sriov_dpdk_a: '1' # Uncomment to control which DPDK App is running in container. # If not provided, l3fwd is default. # Options: l2fwd l3fwd testpmd env: - name: DPDK_SAMPLE_APP value: "testpmd" # # Uncomment to debug DPDK App or to run manually to change # DPDK command line options. command: ["sleep", "infinity"] volumes: - name: podnetinfo downwardAPI: items: - path: "labels" fieldRef: fieldPath: metadata.labels - path: "annotations" fieldRef: fieldPath: metadata.annotations - name: hugepage emptyDir: medium: HugePages

Deploy the new pods

$ kubectl apply -f sriov-pod-2.yaml

Validate Pods Creation with SR-IOV interfaces (DPDK - Driver vfio-pci)

Let’s validate your work by confirming that the created pods got successfully created by doing the following commands:

$ kubectl get pods -o wide NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE IP NODE NOMINATED NODE READINESS GATES sriov-pod-2 1/1 Running 0 5d21h 10.167.181.11 10.128.237.204 <none> <none>

SR-IOV DPDK Driver - vfio-pci Validation

$ kubectl exec -it sriov-pod-2 -- sh sh-4.4# dpdk-app ENTER dpdk-app: argc=1 dpdk-app cpuRsp.CPUSet = 0-31 Interface[0]: IfName="" Name="" Type=SR-IOV MAC="" IP="10.143.181.4" PCIAddress=0000:03:10.7 myArgc=14 dpdk-app -n 4 -l 1 --master-lcore 1 -w 0000:03:10.7 -- -p 0x1 -P --config="(0,0,1)" --parse-ptype

Last updated by Anagha Pamidi on Jan 27, 2026

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