Set up NVMe over RoCE on the host side

07/19/2023 Contributors

NVMe initiator configuration in a RoCE environment includes installing and configuring the rdma-core and nvme-cli packages, configuring initiator IP addresses, and setting up the NVMe-oF layer on the host.

Before you begin

You must be running the latest compatible RHEL 7, RHEL 8, RHEL 9, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 or 15 service pack operating system. See the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool for a complete list of the latest requirements.

Steps

Install the rdma and nvme-cli packages:

SLES 12 or SLES 15

# zypper install rdma-core
# zypper install nvme-cli

RHEL 7, RHEL 8, and RHEL 9

# yum install rdma-core
# yum install nvme-cli

For RHEL 8 and RHEL 9, install network scripts:

RHEL 8

# yum install network-scripts

RHEL 9

# yum install NetworkManager-initscripts-updown

Get the host NQN, which will be used to configure the host to an array.
```
# cat /etc/nvme/hostnqn
```

Set up IPv4 IP addresses on the ethernet ports used to connect NVMe over RoCE. For each network interface, create a configuration script that contains the different variables for that interface.

The variables used in this step are based on server hardware and the network environment. The variables include the IPADDR and GATEWAY. These are example instructions for SLES and RHEL:

SLES 12 and SLES 15

Create the example file /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth4 with the following contents.

BOOTPROTO='static'
BROADCAST=
ETHTOOL_OPTIONS=
IPADDR='192.168.1.87/24'
GATEWAY='192.168.1.1'
MTU=
NAME='MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5]'
NETWORK=
REMOTE_IPADDR=
STARTMODE='auto'

Then, create the example file /etc/sysconfig/network/ifcfg-eth5:

BOOTPROTO='static'
BROADCAST=
ETHTOOL_OPTIONS=
IPADDR='192.168.2.87/24'
GATEWAY='192.168.2.1'
MTU=
NAME='MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5]'
NETWORK=
REMOTE_IPADDR=
STARTMODE='auto'

RHEL 7 or RHEL 8

Create the example file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth4 with the following contents.

BOOTPROTO='static'
BROADCAST=
ETHTOOL_OPTIONS=
IPADDR='192.168.1.87/24’
GATEWAY='192.168.1.1'
MTU=
NAME='MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5]'
NETWORK=
REMOTE_IPADDR=
STARTMODE='auto'

Then, create the example file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth5:

BOOTPROTO='static'
BROADCAST=
ETHTOOL_OPTIONS=
IPADDR='192.168.2.87/24'
GATEWAY='192.168.2.1'
MTU=
NAME='MT27800 Family [ConnectX-5]'
NETWORK=
REMOTE_IPADDR=
STARTMODE='auto'

RHEL 9

Use the nmtui tool to activate and edit a connection. Below is an example file /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/eth4.nmconnection the tool will generate:

[connection]
id=eth4
uuid=<unique uuid>
type=ethernet
interface-name=eth4

[ethernet]
mtu=4200

[ipv4]
address1=192.168.1.87/24
method=manual

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto

[proxy]

Below is an example file /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/eth5.nmconnection the tool will generate:

[connection]
id=eth5
uuid=<unique uuid>
type=ethernet
interface-name=eth5

[ethernet]
mtu=4200

[ipv4]
address1=192.168.2.87/24
method=manual

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=default
method=auto

[proxy]

Enable the network interfaces:
```
# ifup eth4
# ifup eth5
```
Set up the NVMe-oF layer on the host. Create the following file under /etc/modules-load.d/ to load the nvme_rdma kernel module and make sure the kernel module will always be on, even after a reboot:
```
# cat /etc/modules-load.d/nvme_rdma.conf
  nvme_rdma
```

Reboot the host.

To verify the nvme_rdma kernel module is loaded, run this command:

# lsmod | grep nvme
nvme_rdma              36864  0
nvme_fabrics           24576  1 nvme_rdma
nvme_core             114688  5 nvme_rdma,nvme_fabrics
rdma_cm               114688  7 rpcrdma,ib_srpt,ib_srp,nvme_rdma,ib_iser,ib_isert,rdma_ucm
ib_core               393216  15 rdma_cm,ib_ipoib,rpcrdma,ib_srpt,ib_srp,nvme_rdma,iw_cm,ib_iser,ib_umad,ib_isert,rdma_ucm,ib_uverbs,mlx5_ib,qedr,ib_cm
t10_pi                 16384  2 sd_mod,nvme_core

Set up NVMe over RoCE on the host side

Creating your file...