# VMWARE vmxnet3 device driver plugin {#vmxnet3_doc} ##Overview This plugin provides native PCI driver support for VMWare vmxnet3. ##Prerequisites * This code is tested with vfio-pci driver installed with Ubuntu 18.04 which has kernel version 4.15.0-33-generic. * This driver is tested with ESXi vSwitch version 6.5/6.7 for LRO/TSO support, VMware Workstation 15 Pro (no LRO/TSO), and VMware Fusion 11 Pro (no LRO/TSO) * Driver requires MSI-X interrupt support, which is not supported by uio_pci_generic driver. So vfio-pci must be used. On systems without IOMMU, vfio driver can still be used with 4.15.0-33-generic kernel (Ubuntu 18.04) which supports no-iommu mode. ##Known issues * VLAN filter ## Usage ### System setup 1. load VFIO driver ``` sudo modprobe vfio-pci ``` 2. Make sure the interface is down ``` sudo ifconfig <if-name> down ``` Steps 3 and 4 are optional. They can be accomplished by specifying the optional keyword "bind" when creating the vmxnet3 interface. 3. (systems without IOMMU only) enable unsafe NOIOMMU mode ``` echo Y | sudo tee /sys/module/vfio/parameters/enable_unsafe_noiommu_mode ``` 4. Bind interface to vfio-pci ``` sudo dpdk-devbind.py --bind vfio-pci 0b:00.0 ``` ### Interface Creation Interface can be dynamically created with following CLI, with or without the bind option. If step 3 and 4 were executed, bind can be omitted. ``` create interface vmxnet3 0000:0b:00.0 bind set int state vmxnet3-0/b/0/0 up ``` ### Interface Deletion Interface can be deleted with following CLI: ``` delete interface vmxnet3 <if-name> ``` ### Interface Statistics Interface statistics can be displayed with `show hardware-interface <if-name>` command. ### Show Interface CLI Interface and ring information can be obtained with `show vmxnet3 [if-name] [desc]`