Nvidia BlueField-3 User manual

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NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 2
Table of Contents
1Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 10
1.1 System Requirements.............................................................................................................................10
1.2 Package Contents ...................................................................................................................................11
1.2.1 Card Package..................................................................................................................................11
1.2.2 Accessories Kit ...............................................................................................................................12
1.2.3 PCIe Auxiliary Card Package...........................................................................................................12
1.3 Features and Benefits.............................................................................................................................13
2BlueField DPU Administrator Quick Start Guide....................................................................... 17
2.1 Verifying DPU Connection and Setting Up Host Environment ...............................................................17
2.2 Connecting to BlueField and Verifying Version ......................................................................................18
2.3 Updating BlueField BFB Image................................................................................................................19
2.4 Additional Reading..................................................................................................................................21
3Supported Interfaces .............................................................................................................. 22
3.1 HHHL DPU Layout and Interface Information.........................................................................................22
3.2 FHHL DPU Layout and Interface Information .........................................................................................24
3.3 Interfaces Detailed Description ..............................................................................................................27
3.3.1 DPU System-on-Chip (SoC) ............................................................................................................27
3.3.2 Networking Interface.....................................................................................................................27
3.3.3 Networking Ports LEDs Interface...................................................................................................28
3.3.4 PCI Express Interface .....................................................................................................................29
3.3.5 DDR5 SDRAM On-Board Memory..................................................................................................29
3.3.6 NC-SI Management Interface ........................................................................................................29
3.3.7 UART Interface Connectivity..........................................................................................................30
3.3.8 USB 4-pin RA Connector ................................................................................................................30
3.3.9 1GbE OOB Management Interface ................................................................................................31
3.3.9.1 1GbE OOB Management LEDs Interface..................................................................................31

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 3
3.3.10 PPS IN/OUT Interface.....................................................................................................................31
3.3.11 External PCIe Power Supply Connector .........................................................................................32
3.3.12 Cabline CA-II Plus Connectors........................................................................................................33
3.3.13 Integrated BMC Interface ..............................................................................................................33
3.3.14 NVMe SSD Interface.......................................................................................................................34
3.3.15 RTC Battery ....................................................................................................................................34
3.3.16 eMMC Interface.............................................................................................................................34
4Pinouts Description ................................................................................................................ 35
4.1 PCI Express Interface ..............................................................................................................................35
4.2 External Power Supply Connector..........................................................................................................39
4.3 NC-SI Management Interface .................................................................................................................40
4.4 Cabline CA-II Plus Connectors Pinouts....................................................................................................43
4.4.1 Component Side.............................................................................................................................43
4.4.2 Print Side........................................................................................................................................46
5Hardware Installation ............................................................................................................. 49
5.1 Safety Warnings......................................................................................................................................49
5.2 Installation Procedure Overview ............................................................................................................49
5.3 System Requirements.............................................................................................................................50
5.3.1 Hardware Requirements................................................................................................................50
5.3.2 Airflow Requirements....................................................................................................................50
5.3.3 Software Requirements.................................................................................................................50
5.4 Safety Precautions..................................................................................................................................51
5.5 Unpacking ...............................................................................................................................................51
5.6 Pre-Installation Checklist ........................................................................................................................51
5.7 Installation Instructions..........................................................................................................................52
5.8 Cables and Modules................................................................................................................................52
5.8.1 Networking Cable Installation .......................................................................................................52
5.9 DPU Power-Up and Power-Down Sequences.........................................................................................54
5.9.1 Power-Up Sequence ......................................................................................................................54

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 4
5.9.2 Power-Down Sequence..................................................................................................................55
5.10 PCIe x16 DPUs Installation Instructions..................................................................................................56
5.10.1 Installation Instructions .................................................................................................................56
5.10.2 Uninstalling the DPU......................................................................................................................58
5.11 PCIe Extension Option (2x PCIe x16) Installation Instructions ...............................................................59
5.11.1 Installing the DPU ..........................................................................................................................60
5.11.2 Uninstalling the Cards....................................................................................................................64
6Setting High-Speed-Port Link Type .......................................................................................... 65
6.1 mlxconfig.................................................................................................................................................65
6.2 UEFI.........................................................................................................................................................65
7Troubleshooting ..................................................................................................................... 66
8Specifications ......................................................................................................................... 67
8.1 B3210 DPUs Specifications .....................................................................................................................68
8.2 B3220 DPUs Specifications .....................................................................................................................70
8.3 B3240 DPUs Specifications .....................................................................................................................72
8.4 B3140L DPUs Specifications....................................................................................................................74
8.5 B3140H DPUs Specifications...................................................................................................................76
8.6 DPUs Mechanical Drawing and Dimensions...........................................................................................77
8.7 Bracket Mechanical Drawings ................................................................................................................80
9Monitoring ............................................................................................................................. 82
9.1 Thermal Sensors .....................................................................................................................................82
9.2 Heatsink..................................................................................................................................................82
10 Finding the GUID/MAC on the DPU......................................................................................... 83
11 PCIe Auxiliary Card Kit ............................................................................................................ 85
11.1 PCIe Auxiliary Card Package Contents....................................................................................................86
11.2 Channel Insertion Loss............................................................................................................................87
11.3 Cabline CA-II Plus Harness Pinouts .........................................................................................................87

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11.3.1 Cabline CA-II Plus Harness - Component Side ...............................................................................87
11.3.2 Cabline CA-II Plus Harness - Print Side...........................................................................................93
11.4 Technical Specifications..........................................................................................................................98
11.4.1 PCIe Auxiliary Card Mechanical Drawings and Dimensions...........................................................99
11.4.2 Bracket Mechanical Drawings and Dimensions.............................................................................99
11.4.3 Cabline CA-II Plus Harnesses Mechanical Drawing......................................................................100
12 Supported Servers and Power Cords ......................................................................................101
13 Document Revision History....................................................................................................102

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 6
About This Manual
This User Manual describes NVIDIA® BlueField®-3 InfiniBand/Ethernet DPU (Data Processing Unit). It provides details as to the interfaces of the board,
specifications, required software and firmware for operating the board, and a step-by-step plan of how to bring up the BlueField-3 DPUs.
Ordering Part Numbers
The tables below list the ordering part numbers (OPNs) for available BlueField-3 DPUs in Full-Height Half-Length (FHHL) form factor.
Form
Factor
NVIDIA OPN
Model
Series/
Cores
Data
Transmission
Rate
No. of
Ports
PCIe
Support
x16 PCIe
Extension
Option
External
Power
Connector
Crypto
On-Board
DDR5
Memory
Integrated
BMC
Bracket
Type
Device ID
PSID
Lifecycle
Single-
Slot HHHL
900-9D3D4-00EN-HA0
B3140H
E-Series
/ 8 Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR
400Gb/s
Ethernet:
400GbE
(Default)
1-Port
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
-
-
✔
16GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000001010
Mass
Production
900-9D3D4-00NN-
HA0
B3140H
E-Series
/ 8 Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR
400Gb/s
Ethernet:
400GbE
(Default)
1-Port
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
-
-
-
16GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000001070
Mass
Production
Single-
Slot FHHL
900-9D3B4-00EN-EA0
B3140L
E-Series
/ 8 Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR 400Gb/s
(Default)
Ethernet:
400GbE
1-Port
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
-
-
✔
16GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000001010
Mass
Production
900-9D3B4-00PN-EA0
B3140L
E-Series
/ 8 Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR 400Gb/s
(Default)
Ethernet:
400GbE
1-Port
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
-
-
-
16GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000001011
Mass
Production
900-9D3B6-00CV-AA0
B3220
P-Series
/ 16
Arm-
cores
InfiniBand:
NDR200
200Gb/s
Ethernet:
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
✔
32GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000000884
Mass
Production

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 7
Form
Factor
NVIDIA OPN
Model
Series/
Cores
Data
Transmission
Rate
No. of
Ports
PCIe
Support
x16 PCIe
Extension
Option
External
Power
Connector
Crypto
On-Board
DDR5
Memory
Integrated
BMC
Bracket
Type
Device ID
PSID
Lifecycle
200GbE
(Default)
900-9D3B6-00SV-AA0
B3220
P-Series
/ 16
Arm-
cores
InfiniBand:
NDR200
200Gb/s
Ethernet:
200GbE
(Default)
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
-
32GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000000965
Mass
Production
Dual-Slot
FHHL
900-9D3B6-00CN-AB0
B3240
P-Series
/ 16
Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR 400Gb/s
(Default)
Ethernet:
400GbE
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
✔
32GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000000883
Mass
Production
900-9D3B6-00SN-AB0
B3240
P-Series
/ 16
Arm-
Cores
InfiniBand:
NDR 400Gb/s
(Default)
Ethernet:
400GbE
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe
Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
-
32GB
✔
Tall
41692
MT_0000000964
Mass
Production

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 8
EOL'ed (End of Life) DPUs
NVIDIA OPN
Model
Series/ Cores
Data Transmission Rate
No. of Ports
PCIe Support
x16 PCIe
Extension
Option
External
Power
Connector
Crypto
On-Board
DDR5
Memory
Integrated
BMC
Bracket
Type
900-9D3B6-00CC-AA0
B3210
P-Series / 16 Arm-
cores
InfiniBand: HDR100
100Gb/s
Ethernet: 100GbE
(Default)
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
✔
32GB
✔
Tall
900-9D3B6-00SC-AA0
B3210
P-Series / 16 Arm-
cores
InfiniBand: HDR100
100Gb/s
Ethernet: 100GbE
(Default)
2-Ports
QSFP112
PCIe Gen 5.0
x16
✔
✔
-
32GB
✔
Tall
Intended Audience
This manual is intended for the installer and user of these cards. The manual assumes basic familiarity with InfiniBand/Ethernet network and architecture
specifications.
Technical Support
Customers who purchased NVIDIA products directly from NVIDIA are invited to contact us through the following methods:
•URL: www.nvidia.com → Support
•E-mail: [e-mail]
Customers who purchased NVIDIA M-1 Global Support Services, please see your contract for details regarding Technical Support.
Customers who purchased NVIDIA products through an NVIDIA-approved reseller should first seek assistance through their reseller.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 9
Related Documentation
InfiniBand Architecture
Specification
InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) InfiniBand® specification Release 1.3.1, November 2, 2016 and Vol. 2, Release 1.4 , and Vol 2 -
Release 1.5.
IEEE Std 802.3
Specification
IEEE Ethernet specification.
PCI Express
Specifications
Industry Standard PCI Express Base and Card Electromechanical Specifications.
NVIDIA LinkX
Interconnect Solutions
The NVIDIA® LinkX® product family of cables and transceivers provide the industry’s broadest portfolio of QDR/FDR10 (40Gb/s), FDR
(56Gb/s), EDR/HDR100 (100Gb/s), HDR (200Gb/s) and NDR (400Gb/s) cables, including Direct Attach Copper cables (DACs), copper
splitter cables, Active Optical Cables (AOCs) and transceivers in a wide range of lengths from 0.5m to 10km. In addition to meeting
IBTA standards, NVIDIA tests every product in an end-to-end environment ensuring a Bit Error Rate of less than 1E-15.
BlueField DPU Platform
BSP Documentation
This guide provides product release notes as well as information on the BSP and how to develop and/or customize applications,
system software, and file system images for the BlueField platform.
DOCA SDK Software
Documentation
NVIDIA DOCA SDK software.
Document Conventions
When discussing memory sizes, GB and GBytes are used in this document to mean size in gigabytes. The use of Gb or Gbits (small b) indicates size in gigabits. In
this document PCIe is used to mean PCI Express.
Revision History
A list of the changes made to this document are provided in Document Revision History.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 10
1Introduction
The NVIDIA® BlueField®-3 data processing unit (DPU) is the 3rd-generation data center infrastructure-on-a-chip that enables organizations to build software-
defined, hardware-accelerated IT infrastructures from cloud to core data center to edge. With 400Gb/s Ethernet or NDR 400Gb/s InfiniBand network
connectivity, BlueField-3 DPU offloads, accelerates, and isolates software-defined networking, storage, security, and management functions in ways that
profoundly improve data center performance, efficiency, and security. Providing powerful computing, and a broad range of programmable acceleration
engines in the I/O path, BlueField-3 is perfectly positioned to address the infrastructure needs of the most demanding applications, while delivering full
software backward compatibility through the NVIDIA DOCA™software framework.
BlueField-3 DPUs transform traditional computing environments into secure and accelerated virtual private clouds, allowing organizations to run application
workloads in secure, multi-tenant environments. Decoupling data center infrastructure from business applications, BlueField-3 enhances data center security,
streamlines operations, and reduces the total cost of ownership. Featuring NVIDIA’s in-network computing technology, BlueField-3 enables the next generation
of supercomputing platforms, delivering optimal bare-metal performance and native support for multi-node tenant isolation.
1.1 System Requirements
Item
Description
PCI Express
slot
In PCIe x16 ConfigurationPCIe Gen 5.0 (32GT/s) through x16 edge connector.
In PCIe x16 Extension Option - Switch DSP (Data Stream Port)
•PCIe Gen 5.0 SERDES @32GT/s through edge connector
•PCIe Gen 5.0 SERDES @32GT/s through PCIe Auxiliary Connection Card
System Power
Supply
Minimum 75W or greater system power supply for all cards.
P-Series DPUs with PCIe Gen 5.0 x16 require a supplementary 8-pin ATX power supply connectivity available through the external power
supply connector.
NOTE: The power supply harness is not included in the package.
To power-up the DPU, power the ATX power supply and the PCIe golden fingers simultaneously. Failure to do so may harm the DPU.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 11
Item
Description
Operating
System
BlueField-3 DPU is shipped with Ubuntu –a Linux commercial operating system –which includes the NVIDIA OFED stack (MLNX_OFED), and is
capable of running all customer-based Linux applications seamlessly. For more information, please refer to the DOCA SDK documentation or
NVIDIA BlueField-3 Software User Manual.
Connectivity
•Interoperable with 1/10/25/40/50/100/200/400 Gb/s Ethernet switches and SDR/DDR/EDR/HDR100/HDR/NDR200/NDR InfiniBand
switches
•Passive copper cable with ESD protection
•Powered connectors for optical and active cable support
For detailed information, see Specifications.
1.2 Package Contents
Prior to unpacking your DPU, it is important to make sure your server meets all the system requirements listed above for a smooth installation. Be sure to
inspect each piece of equipment shipped in the packing box. If anything is missing or damaged, contact your reseller.
1.2.1 Card Package
For FHHL P-Series DPUs, you need an 8-pin PCIe external power cable to activate the card. The cable is not included in the package. For further details,
please refer to External PCIe Power Supply Connector.
Item
Description
Card
1x BlueField-3 DPU
Accessories
1x tall bracket (shipped assembled on the card)

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 12
1.2.2 Accessories Kit
This is an optional accessories kit used for debugging purposes and can be ordered separately.
Kit OPN
Contents
MBF35-DKIT
4-pin USB to female USB Type-A cable
20-pin shrouded connector to USB Type-A cable
1.2.3 PCIe Auxiliary Card Package
This is an optional kit which applies to following OPNs: 900-9D3B6-00CV-AA0, 900-9D3B6-00SV-AA0, 900-9D3B6-00CC-AA0, 900-9D3B6-00SC-AA0, 900-
9D3B6-00CN-AB0 and 900-9D3B6-00SN-AB0.
The PCIe auxiliary kit can be purchased separately to operate selected DPUs in a dual-socket server. For package contents, refer to PCIe Auxiliary Card Kit.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 13
1.3 Features and Benefits
This section describes hardware features and capabilities. Please refer to the relevant driver and/or firmware release notes for feature availability.
Feature
Description
InfiniBand Architecture
Specification v1.5 compliant
BlueField-3 DPU delivers low latency, high bandwidth, and computing efficiency for high-performance computing (HPC),
artificial intelligence (AI), and hyperscale cloud data centers applications.
BlueField-3 DPU is InfiniBand Architecture Specification v1.5 compliant.
InfiniBand Network Protocols and Rates:
Protocol
Standard
Rate (Gb/s)
Comments
4x Port
(4 Lanes)
2x Ports
(2 Lanes)
NDR/NDR200
IBTA Vol2 1.5
425
212.5
PAM4 256b/257b encoding and RS-FEC
HDR/HDR100
IBTA Vol2 1.4
212.5
106.25
PAM4 256b/257b encoding and RS-FEC
EDR
IBTA Vol2 1.3.1
103.125
51.5625
NRZ 64b/66b encoding
FDR
IBTA Vol2 1.2
56.25
N/A
NRZ 64b/66b encoding
Up to 400 Gigabit Ethernet
BlueField-3 DPU complies with the following IEEE 802.3 standards:
400GbE / 200GbE / 100GbE / 50GbE / 40GbE / 25GbE / 10GbE
Protocol
MAC Rate
IEEE802.3ck
400/200/100 Gigabit Ethernet
(Include ETC enhancement)
IEEE802.3cd
IEEE802.3bs
IEEE802.3cm
IEEE802.3cn
IEEE802.3cu
400/200/100 Gigabit Ethernet
(Include ETC enhancement)
IEEE 802.3bj
IEEE 802.3bm
100 Gigabit Ethernet
IEEE 802.3by
Ethernet Consortium25
50/25 Gigabit Ethernet

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 14
Feature
Description
IEEE 802.3ba
40 Gigabit Ethernet
IEEE 802.3ae
10 Gigabit Ethernet
IEEE 802.3cb
2.5/5 Gigabit Ethernet
(For 2.5: support only 2.5 x1000BASE-X)
IEEE 802.3ap
Based on auto-negotiation and KR startup
IEEE 802.3ad
IEEE 802.1AX
Link Aggregation
IEEE 802.1Q
IEEE 802.1P VLAN tags and priority
IEEE 802.1Qau (QCN)
Congestion Notification
IEEE 802.1Qaz (ETS)
EEE 802.1Qbb (PFC)
IEEE 802.1Qbg
IEEE 1588v2
IEEE 802.1AE (MACSec)
Jumbo frame support (9.6KB)
On-board Memory
•Quad SPI NOR FLASH - includes 256Mbit for Firmware image.
•UVPS EEPROM - includes 2Mbit.
•FRU EEPROM - Stores the parameters and personality of the card. The EEPROM capacity is 128Kbit. FRU I2C
address is (0x50) and is accessible through the PCIe SMBus.
•DPU_BMC Flashes:
o2x 64MByte for BMC Image
o512MByte for Config Data
•eMMC pSLC 40GB with 30K Write Cycles eMMC for SoC BIOS and OS.
•SSD (onboard BGA) 128GByte for user SoC OS, logs and application SW.
•DDR5 SDRAM - 16GB/32GB @5600MT/s single/dual-channel DDR5 SDRAM memory. Solder down on-board.
128bit + 16bit ECC

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 15
Feature
Description
BlueField-3 IC
The NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU integrates x8 / x16 Armv8.2+ A78 Hercules cores (64-bit) is interconnected by a coherent
mesh network, one DRAM controller, an RDMA intelligent network adapter supporting up to 400Gb/s, an embedded PCIe
switch with endpoint and root complex functionality, and up to 32 lanes of PCIe Gen 5.0.
Overlay Networks
In order to better scale their networks, data center operators often create overlay networks that carry traffic from
individual virtual machines over logical tunnels in encapsulated formats such as NVGRE and VXLAN. While this solves
network scalability issues, it hides the TCP packet from the hardware offloading engines, placing higher loads on the host
CPU. NVIDIA DPU effectively addresses this by providing advanced NVGRE and VXLAN hardware offloading engines that
encapsulate and de-capsulate the overlay protocol.
RDMA and RDMA over Converged
InfiniBand/Ethernet (RoCE)
NVIDIA DPU, utilizing IBTA RDMA (Remote Data Memory Access) and RoCE (RDMA over Converged InfiniBand/Ethernet)
technology, delivers low-latency and high-performance over InfiniBand/Ethernet networks. Leveraging data center
bridging (DCB) capabilities as well as advanced congestion control hardware mechanisms, RoCE provides efficient low-
latency RDMA services over Layer 2 and Layer 3 networks.
Quality of Service (QoS)
Support for port-based Quality of Service enabling various application requirements for latency and SLA.
Storage Acceleration
•A consolidated compute and storage network achieves significant cost-performance advantages over multi-fabric
networks. Standard block and file access protocols can leverage RDMA for high-performance storage
access: NVMe over Fabric offloads for the target machine
•BlueField-3 DPU may operate as a co-processor offloading specific storage tasks from the host, isolating part of
the storage media from the host, or enabling abstraction of software-defined storage logic using the NVIDIA
BlueField-3 Arm cores. On the storage initiator side, NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU can prove an efficient solution for
hyper-converged systems to enable the host CPU to focus on compute while all the storage interface is handled
through the Arm cores.
NVMe-oF
Non-volatile Memory Express (NVMe) over Fabrics is a protocol for communicating block storage IO requests over RDMA
to transfer data between a host computer and a target solid-state storage device or system over a network. NVIDIA
BlueField-3 DPU may operate as a co-processor offloading specific storage tasks from the host using its powerful NVMe
over Fabrics Offload accelerator.
SR-IOV
NVIDIA DPU SR-IOV technology provides dedicated adapter resources and guaranteed isolation and protection for virtual
machines (VM) within the server.
High-Performance Accelerations
•Tag Matching and Rendezvous Offloads
•Adaptive Routing on Reliable Transport
•Burst Buffer Offloads for Background Checkpointing

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 16
Feature
Description
GPU Direct
GPUDirect RDMA is a technology that provides a direct P2P (Peer-to-Peer) data path between the GPU Memory directly
to/from the NVIDIA HCA devices. This provides a significant decrease in GPU-GPU communication latency and completely
offloads the CPU, removing it from all GPU-GPU communications across the network. NVIDIA DPU uses high-speed DMA
transfers to copy data between P2P devices resulting in more efficient system applications
Isolation
BlueField-3 DPU functions as a “computer-in-front-of-a-computer,” unlocking unlimited opportunities for custom security
applications on its Arm processors, fully isolated from the host’s CPU. In the event of a compromised host, BlueField-3 may
detect/block malicious activities in real-time and at wire speed to prevent the attack from spreading further.
Cryptography Accelerations
From IPsec and TLS data-in-motion inline encryption to AES-XTS block-level data-at-rest encryption and public key
acceleration, BlueField-3 DPU hardware-based accelerations offload the crypto operations and free up the CPU, reducing
latency and enabling scalable crypto solutions. BlueField-3 “host-unaware” solutions may transmit and receive data, while
BlueField-3 acts as a bump-in-the-wire for crypto.
Securing Workloads
BlueField-3 DPU accelerates connection tracking with its ASAP2 technology to enable stateful filtering on a per-connection
basis. Moreover, BlueField-3 includes a Titan IC regular expression (RXP) acceleration engine supported by IDS/IPS tools to
detect host introspection and Application Recognition (AR) in real-time.
Security Accelerators
A consolidated compute and network solution based on DPU achieves significant advantages over a centralized security
server solution. Standard encryption protocols and security applications can leverage NVIDIA BlueField-3 compute
capabilities and network offloads for security application solutions such as Layer4 Statefull Firewall.
Virtualized Cloud
By leveraging BlueField-3 DPU virtualization offloads, data center administrators can benefit from better server utilization,
allowing more virtual machines and more tenants on the same hardware, while reducing the TCO and power consumption
Out-of-Band Management
The NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU incorporates a 1GbE RJ45 out-of-band port that allows the network operator to establish trust
boundaries in accessing the management function to apply it to network resources. It can also be used to ensure
management connectivity (including the ability to determine the status of any network component) independent of the
status of other in-band network components.
BMC
Some BlueField-3 DPUs incorporate local NIC BMC (Baseboard Management Controller) hardware on the board. The BMC
SoC (system on a chip) can utilize either shared or dedicated NICs for remote access. The BMC node enables remote power
cycling, board environment monitoring, BlueField-3 chip temperature monitoring, board power and consumption
monitoring, and individual interface resets. The BMC also supports the ability to push a bootstream to BlueField-3.
Having a trusted on-board BMC that is fully isolated for the host server ensures highest security for the DPU boards.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 17
2BlueField DPU Administrator Quick Start Guide
This page is tailored for system administrators wishing to install BlueField and perform sample administrative actions on it. For a quick start guide aimed at
software developers wishing to develop applications on the BlueField DPU using the DOCA framework, please refer to the NVIDIA DOCA Developer Quick Start
Guide.
Not sure which guide to follow? For more details on the different BlueField user types, please refer to the NVIDIA BlueField and DOCA User
Types document.
2.1 Verifying DPU Connection and Setting Up Host Environment
This section takes you through the basic steps of installing BlueField DPU and performing a sample administrative task on it.
1. Install your DPU into your host server according to the instructions under Hardware Installation.
Ensure your host OS is included in the supported operating systems list and that the BlueField's out-of-band (OOB) management interface is
connected to the network. The OOB interface must be connected to a DHCP/DNS server. The MAC address of the OOB port is found on the
sticker on the BlueField DPU.
2. Verify that the host server correctly identifies the BlueField DPU. The following commands rescan the PCIe bus and list the BlueField's name and PCIe
address:
# sudo update-pciids
# sudo lspci | grep BlueField
The list of identified devices should include a network controller for every physical (Ethernet) port and a DMA controller for DPU management. Expected
output example:

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 18
17:00.0 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies MT43244 BlueField-3 integrated ConnectX-7 network controller (rev 01)
17:00.1 Ethernet controller: Mellanox Technologies MT43244 BlueField-3 integrated ConnectX-7 network controller (rev 01)
17:00.2 DMA controller: Mellanox Technologies MT43244 BlueField-3 SoC Management Interface (rev 01)
3. If an older DOCA software version is installed on your host, make sure to uninstall it before proceeding with the installation of the new version:
oFor Ubuntu/Debian:
$ for f in $( dpkg --list | grep doca | awk '{print $2}' ); do echo $f ; apt remove --purge $f -y ; done
$ sudo apt-get autoremove
oFor CentOS/RHEL/Rocky:
host# for f in $(rpm -qa |grep -i doca ) ; do yum -y remove $f; done
host# yum autoremove
host# yum makecache
4. Download and install the latest "DOCA for Host" package compatible with your specific operating system and version listed here under the "BlueField
Drivers" tab.
Make sure to accept cookies from the website when prompted.
At this stage the host environment is all set and you can now perform administrative tasks on the DPU.
2.2 Connecting to BlueField and Verifying Version
To connect to your DPU:
1. SSH to the DPU using the OOB IP or the RShim IP (192.168.100.2) using the default credentials (ubuntu/ubuntu).
2. When logging into the DPU for the first time after installing the BFB, you must change the default password.

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 19
WARNING: Your password has expired.
You must change your password now and login again!
Changing password for ubuntu.
Current password:
New password:
3. To check the current running BFB:
dpu# sudo cat /etc/mlnx-release
2.3 Updating BlueField BFB Image
These instructions are tailored for installing the BlueField BFB image on the default Ubuntu OS. To install it on other OSs, please contact NVIDIA Support.
The BlueField BFB image includes all the DOCA packages.
1. Installing a new BFB on the DPU is performed using the bfb-install utility that is included in the RShim tool.
# bfb-install --bfb <BFB-image>.bfb --rshim rshim0
Expected output example:
Pushing bfb
Collecting BlueField booting status. Press Ctrl+C to stop…
INFO[BL2]: start
…
INFO[MISC]: Ubuntu installation started
INFO[MISC]: Installation finished
INFO[MISC]: Rebooting...
2. Upgrade the firmware of the BlueField DPU:
a. Upgrade the BlueField DPU's firmware:

NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPU User Guide | 20
dpu# sudo /opt/mellanox/mlnx-fw-updater/mlnx_fw_updater.pl --force-fw-update
Expected output example:
Device #1:
----------
Device Type: BlueField-3 [...]
Versions: Current Available
FW <Old_FW_ver> <New_FW_ver>
[...]
Done
b. Power cycle the host for the changes to take effect.
3. Verify that the BFB has been installed and the firmware has been upgraded successfully by accessing the DPU again:
a. SSH to the BlueField DPU from the host using OOB IP or RShim IP:
ssh <ip>
b. Check the versions of the DPU image and firmware:
# sudo bfvcheck
Expected output example: