Use this information to install and set up a Napatech IPU with Link-Storage™ Software for NVMe™/TCP offloading.
Test setup
As shown in the following figure, the target server contains NVMe™ disks or RAM disks, and an IPU is installed in the host server.
where:
- Test server: The server where the test script runs to execute the performance test on
both the target and host servers.Note: The test script can be placed and run on the target server if needed. However, be aware that this may affect precise performance measurements due to the utilization of system resources on the target server.
- Test script: Sets up and executes the performance test.
- Target server: A server where NVMe devices are installed. The network interface on the target server must support the same port speed as the IPU.
- Host server (initiator): The server where the IPU is installed and where an application or benchmark tool (for example, fio) to test NVMe storage performance.
- SoC: The system-on-chip (SoC) on the IPU where NVMe devices of the target server are attached.
IP addresses for the SoC on the IPU and for the target
server are configured as follows.
| Port | Target server | IPU |
|---|---|---|
|
Port 0 |
172.168.1.2/24 (64:9d:99:ff:ed:dc) |
172.168.1.1/24 |
|
Port 1 |
172.168.2.2/24 (64:9d:99:ff:ed:dd) |
172.168.2.1/24 |
The following steps are required to
complete the installation and configuration.
- To program an FPGA image, see Napatech Link-Storage™ Software FPGA images.
- To prepare the host, see Preparing the Host.
- To compile and install the SPDK on the target server, see Installing the SPDK on the Target Server.
- To compile and install Link-Storage™ Software on the IPU, see Installing the Napatech SDPK on the IPU.
- To configure the target server:
- To configure the target server with NVMe™ disks, see Configuring the Target Server with NVMe™ SSD Disks.
- To configure the target server with RAM disks, see Configuring the Target Server with RAM disks.
- To configure the IPU, see Configuring the IPU.
- To prepare the test server, see Preparing the Test Server.
- To test and validate NVMe performance with the Napatech IPU running Link-Storage™ Software, see Testing NVMe Performance.