Switching to DPDK Mode

All the new installations of CloudEOS and vEOS router from the hypervisor image or public cloud by default run in high performance DPDK mode from CloudEOS and vEOS-Router-4.23.0FX.

If you have an existing instance that runs in the kernel mode that you want to switch to DPDK mode, please consider the following:

  • Make sure you are not enabled features that DPDK mode does not support.
  • Memory requirements of DPDK mode are listed below under “Hardware resource requirements”. DPDK requires more memory than the kernel mode.
  • When upgrading an existing instance make sure the instance has sufficient memory to run in DPDK mode.
  • DPDK mode runs the datapath cores in poll mode and therefore it runs the CPU at 100%.
To perform following actions, please ensure that the system is configured to allow bash access, at-least temporarily and the perform the following actions on CloudEOS and vEOS CLI prompt. 

switch#conf t
switch(config)#bash sudo su -

Arista Networks EOS shell

-bash-4.3# cat /mnt/flash/veos-config
# Use 'MODE' to set the forwarding plane for vEOS. If 'MODE' is set multiple times
# the last configuration takes effect.
# 'MODE=linux' runs vEOS with linux forwarding plane
MODE=linux

# 'MODE=sfe' runs vEOS with DPDK forwarding plane
#MODE=sfe
Now, please use a text editor to modify this file by commenting out MODE=linux and un-commenting MODE=sfe. After modification verify the changes and then save the file. The file should look like as shown. 

-bash-4.3# cat /mnt/flash/veos-config
# Use 'MODE' to set the forwarding plane for vEOS. If 'MODE' is set multiple times
# the last configuration takes effect.
# 'MODE=linux' runs vEOS with linux forwarding plane
#MODE=linux

# 'MODE=sfe' runs vEOS with DPDK forwarding plane
MODE=sfe

-bash-4.3# exit
logout
switch(config)# reload
After reload,vEOS Router will boot up in DPDK mode.

Upgrading CloudEOS and vEOS-Kernel to CloudEOS and vEOS-DPDK

Upgrade an existing CloudEOS and vEOS installation from kernel mode to DPDK mode, by copying EOS.swi to /mnt/flash , and then follow procedure defined above in Installing CloudEOS and vEOS-DPDK, to switch to DPDK mode. Please note, this process requires a system reload.