[dpdk-dev] Unable to bring up VF interface at guest when using DPDK PMD driver on host

[Shian-Tung Wong]

I create 7 Virtual Functions on 82599 using DPDK PMD PF ixgbe driver on a
host as stated in the DPDK programming guide:

    modprobe uio
    insmod ./build/kmod/igb_uio.ko
    ./pci_unbind.py -b igb_uio 0000:02:00.1
    echo 7 > /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000\:02\:00.1/max_vfs

Then I assign a VF to a KVM guest using "-device pci-assign,host=02:10.1".
When login to the guest, I see the interface in "ip addr" command, but the
interface is down.  I try to bring it up, but I can't:

       [DPDK-1.6.0]# ifconfig eth1 up
       SIOCSIFFLAGS: Network is down

On the host, I do configure the port up (using ifconfig) before creating
the virtual functions.

On the guest, I invoke rte_eal_init() with the port, I got this MAC error:

       PMD:     The MAC address is not valid.
                    The most likely cause of this error is that the VM host
                    has not assigned a valid MAC address to this VF device.
                    Please consult the DPDK Release Notes (FAQ section) for
                    a possible solution to this problem.

Any help is appreciated.

Regards,
Shian