[dpdk-dev] Very low performance with l2fwd in a VM with PCI Passthrough

[Surya Nimmagadda]

>    To set up a VM and use the virtual functions from the 10G NIC, I suggest referring to Chapter 9 of the Programmers Guide available at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/intel-technology/intel-dpdk-      programmers-guide.html . Instructions for setting up the VM to use VFs are covered by section 9.2

Thanks a lot. This helped me out.

Surya
________________________________________
From: Richardson, Bruce <bruce.richardson at intel.com>
Sent: Friday, March 7, 2014 1:27 AM
To: Surya Nimmagadda; dev at dpdk.org
Subject: RE: [dpdk-dev] Very low performance with l2fwd in a VM with PCI        Passthrough

> My setup details are
>
> - Traffic coming in on a 10G interface(eth0) and going out on another 10G
> interface(eth1)
> - Both 10G NICs are 82599
> - Created virtual functions eth5 and eth8 on eth0 and eth1 respectively
> - eth5 and eth8 are mapped to eth0 and eth1 in a VM, with device type as
> e1000 in Passthru mode.

If the NIC in the VM is showing up as an e1000 then you have not passed the VF through to the VM at all, instead you are using an emulated NIC, which will be very, very slow in comparison - if nothing else, it's an emulated 1G NIC, not a 10G one.
To set up a VM and use the virtual functions from the 10G NIC, I suggest referring to Chapter 9 of the Programmers Guide available at http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/intel-technology/intel-dpdk-programmers-guide.html . Instructions for setting up the VM to use VFs are covered by section 9.2