Set Up ntpcap.ini and ntservice.ini for Merging Between SmartNICs

Before you begin

Note: For merging between SmartNICs, time synchronization is required. See DN-0384, DN-0985 and/or DN-0737 for further information regarding time synchronization.

About this task

If merging of packets between SmartNICs is needed, the packet-based interface must be used. This means that the PCAP packet descriptor and the PCAP-ns and PCAP-μs time stamp formats cannot be used.

Steps

To set up for merging packets between SmartNICs:

Procedure

In the ntpcap.ini file, include the following to set up packet-based interface.
```
NTInterface = Packet
```
In the ntservice.ini file, include the following to select the standard packet descriptor (default setting).
```
PacketDescriptor = NT
```
In the ntservice.ini file, select one of the following to select the native, native UNIX (default setting), native UNIX ns or native NDIS time stamp format, respectively.
- ```
TimestampFormat=NATIVE
```
  Note: The native format is based on a 10 ns unit with a 64-bit unit counter.
  
  Note: This time stamp format does not apply to 4GA SmartNICs.
- ```
TimestampFormat=NATIVE_UNIX
```
  Note: The native UNIX format is based on a 10 ns unit with a 64-bit unit counter. The start time is January 1st 1970.
- ```
TimestampFormat=UNIX_NS
```
  Note: The native UNIX ns format is based on a 1 ns unit with a 64-bit unit counter. The start time is January 1st 1970.
  
  Note: This time stamp format does not apply to 3GA SmartNICs.
- ```
TimestampFormat=NATIVE_NDIS
```
  Note: The native NDIS format is based on a 10 ns unit with a 64-bit unit counter. The start time is January 1st 1601.
  
  Note: This time stamp format does not apply to 4GA SmartNICs.
  
  Note: When using the native NDIS format you cannot set a time on a PCIe Gen3 or a PCIe Gen2 SmartNIC (or on a PCIe Gen1 SmartNIC using the config tool) before January 1st 1970.