diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/gettingstarted/running')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/gettingstarted/running/index.rst | 121 |
1 files changed, 121 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/gettingstarted/running/index.rst b/docs/gettingstarted/running/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..626be6c7deb --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/gettingstarted/running/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,121 @@ +.. _running: + +Running VPP +=========== + +.. toctree:: + +Usergroup +--------- + +When VPP is installed, a new usergroup *'vpp'* is created. To avoid running the +VPP CLI (vppctl) as root, add any existing users to the new group that need to +interact with VPP: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ sudo usermod -a -G vpp user1 + +Update your current session for the group change to take effect: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ newgrp vpp + + +Systemd File vpp.service +------------------------ + +When the VPP is installed, a systemd service files is also installed. This +file, vpp.service (Ubuntu: /lib/systemd/system/vpp.service and CentOS: +/usr/lib/systemd/system/vpp.service), controls how VPP is run as a service. For +example, whether or not to restart on failure and if so, with how much delay. +Also, which UIO driver should be loaded and location of the *'startup.conf'* +file. + +.. code-block:: console + + $ cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/vpp.service + [Unit] + Description=Vector Packet Processing Process + After=syslog.target network.target auditd.service + + [Service] + ExecStartPre=-/bin/rm -f /dev/shm/db /dev/shm/global_vm /dev/shm/vpe-api + ExecStartPre=-/sbin/modprobe uio_pci_generic + ExecStart=/usr/bin/vpp -c /etc/vpp/startup.conf + Type=simple + Restart=on-failure + RestartSec=5s + + [Install] + WantedBy=multi-user.target + +.. note:: + + Some older versions of the *'uio_pci_generic'* driver don't bind all + the supported NICs properly, so the *'igb_uio'* driver built from DPDK + needs to be installed. This file controls which driver is loaded at boot. + *'startup.conf'* file controls which driver is used. + +Huge Pages +---------- + +VPP requires *hugepages* to run during VPP operation, to manage large pages of memory. +During VPP installation, VPP will overwrite the existing hugepage settings. +By default, VPP sets the number of hugepages on a system to 1024 2M hugepages. +This is the number of hugepages on the system, not just used by VPP. + +When VPP is installed, the following configuration file is copied to the system. The +hugepage settings are applied in the VPP installation and on system reboots. To set +the hugepage settings, perform the following commands: + +.. code-block:: console + + $ cat /etc/sysctl.d/80-vpp.conf + # Number of 2MB hugepages desired + vm.nr_hugepages=1024 + + # Must be greater than or equal to (2 * vm.nr_hugepages). + vm.max_map_count=3096 + + # All groups allowed to access hugepages + vm.hugetlb_shm_group=0 + + # Shared Memory Max must be greater or equal to the total size of hugepages. + # For 2MB pages, TotalHugepageSize = vm.nr_hugepages * 2 * 1024 * 1024 + # If the existing kernel.shmmax setting (cat /sys/proc/kernel/shmmax) + # is greater than the calculated TotalHugepageSize then set this parameter + # to current shmmax value. + kernel.shmmax=2147483648 + +Depending on how the system is being used, this configuration file can be updated to adjust +the number of hugepages reserved on a system. Below are some examples of +possible settings. + +For a small VM with minimal workload: + +.. code-block:: console + + vm.nr_hugepages=512 + vm.max_map_count=2048 + kernel.shmmax=1073741824 + +For a large system running multiple VMs, each needing its own set of hugepages: + +.. code-block:: console + + vm.nr_hugepages=32768 + vm.max_map_count=66560 + kernel.shmmax=68719476736 + + +.. note:: + + If VPP is being run in a Virtual Machine (VM), the VM must have hugepage + backing. When VPP is installed, it will attempt to overwrite existing the + hugepage setting. If the VM does not have hugepage backing, the install will fail, + but the failure may go unnoticed. When the VM is rebooted, on system startup, + *'vm.nr_hugepages'* will be reapplied, and will fail, and the VM will abort kernel + boot, locking up the VM. To avoid this scenario, ensure the VM has enough + hugepage backing. |