1 =================================================
2 FPGA Device Feature List (DFL) Framework Overview
3 =================================================
7 - Enno Luebbers <enno.luebbers@intel.com>
8 - Xiao Guangrong <guangrong.xiao@linux.intel.com>
9 - Wu Hao <hao.wu@intel.com>
11 The Device Feature List (DFL) FPGA framework (and drivers according to this
12 this framework) hides the very details of low layer hardwares and provides
13 unified interfaces to userspace. Applications could use these interfaces to
14 configure, enumerate, open and access FPGA accelerators on platforms which
15 implement the DFL in the device memory. Besides this, the DFL framework
16 enables system level management functions such as FPGA reconfiguration.
19 Device Feature List (DFL) Overview
20 ==================================
21 Device Feature List (DFL) defines a linked list of feature headers within the
22 device MMIO space to provide an extensible way of adding features. Software can
23 walk through these predefined data structures to enumerate FPGA features:
24 FPGA Interface Unit (FIU), Accelerated Function Unit (AFU) and Private Features,
25 as illustrated below::
27 Header Header Header Header
28 +----------+ +-->+----------+ +-->+----------+ +-->+----------+
29 | Type | | | Type | | | Type | | | Type |
30 | FIU | | | Private | | | Private | | | Private |
31 +----------+ | | Feature | | | Feature | | | Feature |
32 | Next_DFH |--+ +----------+ | +----------+ | +----------+
33 +----------+ | Next_DFH |--+ | Next_DFH |--+ | Next_DFH |--> NULL
34 | ID | +----------+ +----------+ +----------+
35 +----------+ | ID | | ID | | ID |
36 | Next_AFU |--+ +----------+ +----------+ +----------+
37 +----------+ | | Feature | | Feature | | Feature |
38 | Header | | | Register | | Register | | Register |
39 | Register | | | Set | | Set | | Set |
40 | Set | | +----------+ +----------+ +----------+
55 FPGA Interface Unit (FIU) represents a standalone functional unit for the
56 interface to FPGA, e.g. the FPGA Management Engine (FME) and Port (more
57 descriptions on FME and Port in later sections).
59 Accelerated Function Unit (AFU) represents a FPGA programmable region and
60 always connects to a FIU (e.g. a Port) as its child as illustrated above.
62 Private Features represent sub features of the FIU and AFU. They could be
63 various function blocks with different IDs, but all private features which
64 belong to the same FIU or AFU, must be linked to one list via the Next Device
65 Feature Header (Next_DFH) pointer.
67 Each FIU, AFU and Private Feature could implement its own functional registers.
68 The functional register set for FIU and AFU, is named as Header Register Set,
69 e.g. FME Header Register Set, and the one for Private Feature, is named as
70 Feature Register Set, e.g. FME Partial Reconfiguration Feature Register Set.
72 This Device Feature List provides a way of linking features together, it's
73 convenient for software to locate each feature by walking through this list,
74 and can be implemented in register regions of any FPGA device.
77 FIU - FME (FPGA Management Engine)
78 ==================================
79 The FPGA Management Engine performs reconfiguration and other infrastructure
80 functions. Each FPGA device only has one FME.
82 User-space applications can acquire exclusive access to the FME using open(),
83 and release it using close().
85 The following functions are exposed through ioctls:
87 - Get driver API version (DFL_FPGA_GET_API_VERSION)
88 - Check for extensions (DFL_FPGA_CHECK_EXTENSION)
89 - Program bitstream (DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_PR)
90 - Assign port to PF (DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_ASSIGN)
91 - Release port from PF (DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_RELEASE)
93 More functions are exposed through sysfs
94 (/sys/class/fpga_region/regionX/dfl-fme.n/):
96 Read bitstream ID (bitstream_id)
97 bitstream_id indicates version of the static FPGA region.
99 Read bitstream metadata (bitstream_metadata)
100 bitstream_metadata includes detailed information of static FPGA region,
101 e.g. synthesis date and seed.
103 Read number of ports (ports_num)
104 one FPGA device may have more than one port, this sysfs interface indicates
105 how many ports the FPGA device has.
107 Global error reporting management (errors/)
108 error reporting sysfs interfaces allow user to read errors detected by the
109 hardware, and clear the logged errors.
111 Power management (dfl_fme_power hwmon)
112 power management hwmon sysfs interfaces allow user to read power management
113 information (power consumption, thresholds, threshold status, limits, etc.)
114 and configure power thresholds for different throttling levels.
116 Thermal management (dfl_fme_thermal hwmon)
117 thermal management hwmon sysfs interfaces allow user to read thermal
118 management information (current temperature, thresholds, threshold status,
124 A port represents the interface between the static FPGA fabric and a partially
125 reconfigurable region containing an AFU. It controls the communication from SW
126 to the accelerator and exposes features such as reset and debug. Each FPGA
127 device may have more than one port, but always one AFU per port.
132 An AFU is attached to a port FIU and exposes a fixed length MMIO region to be
133 used for accelerator-specific control registers.
135 User-space applications can acquire exclusive access to an AFU attached to a
136 port by using open() on the port device node and release it using close().
138 The following functions are exposed through ioctls:
140 - Get driver API version (DFL_FPGA_GET_API_VERSION)
141 - Check for extensions (DFL_FPGA_CHECK_EXTENSION)
142 - Get port info (DFL_FPGA_PORT_GET_INFO)
143 - Get MMIO region info (DFL_FPGA_PORT_GET_REGION_INFO)
144 - Map DMA buffer (DFL_FPGA_PORT_DMA_MAP)
145 - Unmap DMA buffer (DFL_FPGA_PORT_DMA_UNMAP)
146 - Reset AFU (DFL_FPGA_PORT_RESET)
149 reset the FPGA Port and its AFU. Userspace can do Port
150 reset at any time, e.g. during DMA or Partial Reconfiguration. But it should
151 never cause any system level issue, only functional failure (e.g. DMA or PR
152 operation failure) and be recoverable from the failure.
154 User-space applications can also mmap() accelerator MMIO regions.
156 More functions are exposed through sysfs:
157 (/sys/class/fpga_region/<regionX>/<dfl-port.m>/):
159 Read Accelerator GUID (afu_id)
160 afu_id indicates which PR bitstream is programmed to this AFU.
162 Error reporting (errors/)
163 error reporting sysfs interfaces allow user to read port/afu errors
164 detected by the hardware, and clear the logged errors.
167 DFL Framework Overview
168 ======================
172 +----------+ +--------+ +--------+ +--------+
173 | FME | | AFU | | AFU | | AFU |
174 | Module | | Module | | Module | | Module |
175 +----------+ +--------+ +--------+ +--------+
176 +-----------------------+
177 | FPGA Container Device | Device Feature List
178 | (FPGA Base Region) | Framework
179 +-----------------------+
180 ------------------------------------------------------------------
181 +----------------------------+
182 | FPGA DFL Device Module |
183 | (e.g. PCIE/Platform Device)|
184 +----------------------------+
185 +------------------------+
186 | FPGA Hardware Device |
187 +------------------------+
189 DFL framework in kernel provides common interfaces to create container device
190 (FPGA base region), discover feature devices and their private features from the
191 given Device Feature Lists and create platform devices for feature devices
192 (e.g. FME, Port and AFU) with related resources under the container device. It
193 also abstracts operations for the private features and exposes common ops to
194 feature device drivers.
196 The FPGA DFL Device could be different hardwares, e.g. PCIe device, platform
197 device and etc. Its driver module is always loaded first once the device is
198 created by the system. This driver plays an infrastructural role in the
199 driver architecture. It locates the DFLs in the device memory, handles them
200 and related resources to common interfaces from DFL framework for enumeration.
201 (Please refer to drivers/fpga/dfl.c for detailed enumeration APIs).
203 The FPGA Management Engine (FME) driver is a platform driver which is loaded
204 automatically after FME platform device creation from the DFL device module. It
205 provides the key features for FPGA management, including:
207 a) Expose static FPGA region information, e.g. version and metadata.
208 Users can read related information via sysfs interfaces exposed
211 b) Partial Reconfiguration. The FME driver creates FPGA manager, FPGA
212 bridges and FPGA regions during PR sub feature initialization. Once
213 it receives a DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_PR ioctl from user, it invokes the
214 common interface function from FPGA Region to complete the partial
215 reconfiguration of the PR bitstream to the given port.
217 Similar to the FME driver, the FPGA Accelerated Function Unit (AFU) driver is
218 probed once the AFU platform device is created. The main function of this module
219 is to provide an interface for userspace applications to access the individual
220 accelerators, including basic reset control on port, AFU MMIO region export, dma
221 buffer mapping service functions.
223 After feature platform devices creation, matched platform drivers will be loaded
224 automatically to handle different functionalities. Please refer to next sections
225 for detailed information on functional units which have been already implemented
226 under this DFL framework.
229 Partial Reconfiguration
230 =======================
231 As mentioned above, accelerators can be reconfigured through partial
232 reconfiguration of a PR bitstream file. The PR bitstream file must have been
233 generated for the exact static FPGA region and targeted reconfigurable region
234 (port) of the FPGA, otherwise, the reconfiguration operation will fail and
235 possibly cause system instability. This compatibility can be checked by
236 comparing the compatibility ID noted in the header of PR bitstream file against
237 the compat_id exposed by the target FPGA region. This check is usually done by
238 userspace before calling the reconfiguration IOCTL.
241 FPGA virtualization - PCIe SRIOV
242 ================================
243 This section describes the virtualization support on DFL based FPGA device to
244 enable accessing an accelerator from applications running in a virtual machine
245 (VM). This section only describes the PCIe based FPGA device with SRIOV support.
247 Features supported by the particular FPGA device are exposed through Device
248 Feature Lists, as illustrated below:
252 +-------------------------------+ +-------------+
254 +-------------------------------+ +-------------+
257 +-----|------------|---------|--------------|-------+
259 | +-----+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ |
260 | | FME | | Port0 | | Port1 | | Port2 | |
261 | +-----+ +-------+ +-------+ +-------+ |
264 | +-------+ +------+ +-------+ |
265 | | AFU | | AFU | | AFU | |
266 | +-------+ +------+ +-------+ |
268 | DFL based FPGA PCIe Device |
269 +---------------------------------------------------+
271 FME is always accessed through the physical function (PF).
273 Ports (and related AFUs) are accessed via PF by default, but could be exposed
274 through virtual function (VF) devices via PCIe SRIOV. Each VF only contains
275 1 Port and 1 AFU for isolation. Users could assign individual VFs (accelerators)
276 created via PCIe SRIOV interface, to virtual machines.
278 The driver organization in virtualization case is illustrated below:
281 +-------++------++------+ |
282 | FME || FME || FME | |
283 | FPGA || FPGA || FPGA | |
284 |Manager||Bridge||Region| |
285 +-------++------++------+ |
286 +-----------------------+ +--------+ | +--------+
287 | FME | | AFU | | | AFU |
288 | Module | | Module | | | Module |
289 +-----------------------+ +--------+ | +--------+
290 +-----------------------+ | +-----------------------+
291 | FPGA Container Device | | | FPGA Container Device |
292 | (FPGA Base Region) | | | (FPGA Base Region) |
293 +-----------------------+ | +-----------------------+
294 +------------------+ | +------------------+
295 | FPGA PCIE Module | | Virtual | FPGA PCIE Module |
296 +------------------+ Host | Machine +------------------+
297 -------------------------------------- | ------------------------------
298 +---------------+ | +---------------+
299 | PCI PF Device | | | PCI VF Device |
300 +---------------+ | +---------------+
302 FPGA PCIe device driver is always loaded first once a FPGA PCIe PF or VF device
305 * Finishes enumeration on both FPGA PCIe PF and VF device using common
306 interfaces from DFL framework.
309 The FME device driver plays a management role in this driver architecture, it
310 provides ioctls to release Port from PF and assign Port to PF. After release
311 a port from PF, then it's safe to expose this port through a VF via PCIe SRIOV
314 To enable accessing an accelerator from applications running in a VM, the
315 respective AFU's port needs to be assigned to a VF using the following steps:
317 #. The PF owns all AFU ports by default. Any port that needs to be
318 reassigned to a VF must first be released through the
319 DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_RELEASE ioctl on the FME device.
321 #. Once N ports are released from PF, then user can use command below
322 to enable SRIOV and VFs. Each VF owns only one Port with AFU.
326 echo N > $PCI_DEVICE_PATH/sriov_numvfs
328 #. Pass through the VFs to VMs
330 #. The AFU under VF is accessible from applications in VM (using the
331 same driver inside the VF).
333 Note that an FME can't be assigned to a VF, thus PR and other management
334 functions are only available via the PF.
338 This section introduces how applications enumerate the fpga device from
339 the sysfs hierarchy under /sys/class/fpga_region.
341 In the example below, two DFL based FPGA devices are installed in the host. Each
342 fpga device has one FME and two ports (AFUs).
344 FPGA regions are created under /sys/class/fpga_region/::
346 /sys/class/fpga_region/region0
347 /sys/class/fpga_region/region1
348 /sys/class/fpga_region/region2
351 Application needs to search each regionX folder, if feature device is found,
352 (e.g. "dfl-port.n" or "dfl-fme.m" is found), then it's the base
353 fpga region which represents the FPGA device.
355 Each base region has one FME and two ports (AFUs) as child devices::
357 /sys/class/fpga_region/region0/dfl-fme.0
358 /sys/class/fpga_region/region0/dfl-port.0
359 /sys/class/fpga_region/region0/dfl-port.1
362 /sys/class/fpga_region/region3/dfl-fme.1
363 /sys/class/fpga_region/region3/dfl-port.2
364 /sys/class/fpga_region/region3/dfl-port.3
367 In general, the FME/AFU sysfs interfaces are named as follows::
369 /sys/class/fpga_region/<regionX>/<dfl-fme.n>/
370 /sys/class/fpga_region/<regionX>/<dfl-port.m>/
372 with 'n' consecutively numbering all FMEs and 'm' consecutively numbering all
375 The device nodes used for ioctl() or mmap() can be referenced through::
377 /sys/class/fpga_region/<regionX>/<dfl-fme.n>/dev
378 /sys/class/fpga_region/<regionX>/<dfl-port.n>/dev
383 It's possible that developers made some new function blocks (FIUs) under this
384 DFL framework, then new platform device driver needs to be developed for the
385 new feature dev (FIU) following the same way as existing feature dev drivers
386 (e.g. FME and Port/AFU platform device driver). Besides that, it requires
387 modification on DFL framework enumeration code too, for new FIU type detection
388 and related platform devices creation.
391 Add new private features support
392 ================================
393 In some cases, we may need to add some new private features to existing FIUs
394 (e.g. FME or Port). Developers don't need to touch enumeration code in DFL
395 framework, as each private feature will be parsed automatically and related
396 mmio resources can be found under FIU platform device created by DFL framework.
397 Developer only needs to provide a sub feature driver with matched feature id.
398 FME Partial Reconfiguration Sub Feature driver (see drivers/fpga/dfl-fme-pr.c)
399 could be a reference.
404 FME driver exports one ioctl (DFL_FPGA_FME_PORT_PR) for partial reconfiguration
405 to user now. In the future, if unified user interfaces for reconfiguration are
406 added, FME driver should switch to them from ioctl interface.