[ewg] OFA EWG Meeting: Monday, April 4th 2020 - Minutes

[Adit Ranadive]

Hi Arlin,

I attended the first 30mins of the meeting. Sorry I had to drop off before the end to go to another meeting. I mostly agree with others that having a OFED release with just bug fixes isn't that helpful. It's better to have a fully featured one. Having said that we are happy to do backports to either one.

We right now have just enough resources (me) to do backporting. I'll have to check internally if some other folks might volunteer if we want to stick with the full version of OFED.

- Adit


________________________________
From: ewg <ewg-bounces at lists.openfabrics.org> on behalf of Davis, Arlin R <arlin.r.davis at intel.com>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 7:56:03 PM
To: ewg at lists.openfabrics.org <ewg at lists.openfabrics.org>
Subject: [ewg] OFA EWG Meeting: Monday, April 4th 2020 - Minutes


Attendees                    Company

Arlin Davis                     Intel

Bob Woodruff               Intel

Bill Snapko                     HPE

Rupert Dance               SW Forge

Vladimir Sokolovsky    Mellanox

Devesh Sharma             Broadcom

Eddie Wai                       Broadcom

Jim Ryan                         OFA



Agenda:

·         OFA board asked if EWG community would be interested in supporting an OFED “lite” distribution going forward.

·         OFED lite option:

o   Simple packaging, update drivers only – ported to in-box distro release of rdma-core

o   Bug fixing only, no new features, in-kernel rdma_core would not be replaced/modified



·         IBTA use of OFED – brief history from Rupert

o   Initially used OFED, supported all vendors with distribution – everyone backported drivers

o   Then moved to MOFED for Mellanox, OFED for other vendors that still supported backports from upstream kernel

o   Now, MOFED for Mellanox, in-box distro releases for vendors (Broadcom, Cavium), OFED no longer useful without backports

o   Unless this new model supported driver updates, within 1-2 months of distro release it will be too dated to be useful



  *   Open discussion regarding OFED lite option
     *   General feeling is that there is little value with driver fixes only, should just go directly to distro upgrade packages, supported and timely (yum update)
     *   OFED driver fixes packaged for in-box release, installed by customers, wouldn’t be supported by distro’s
     *   Requires vendors to build/maintain drivers across many different kernel source trees and rdma_core stacks
     *   Cavium email,  “we prefer to deliver our own drivers to customers, we don’t see the added value of having a common ofed release if it’s just for drivers”
     *   Broadcom and HPE still see the value in getting the latest upstream rdma-core feature set for their customers
     *   Broadcom is willing to pick up rdma-core, compat-rdma porting if they get help.
        *   Vlad explained details of compat-rdma backporting, huge amount of work - similar to what RH does for major releases with a 4-person team.
     *   Intel uses own packaging for OPA, works directly with distro’s for other network drivers, no need for OFED or OFED lite.
     *   Mellanox builds and maintains its own distribution for customers, doesn’t need OFED



  *   Suggestion was made to take a quick rollcall - OFED lite vs continue with OFED full support
     *   Company             OFED lite              OFED full
     *   Broadcom           no                           yes
     *   Mellanox             no                           no
     *   Intel                       no                           no
     *   SW Forge             no                           no
     *   HPE                        no                           yes
     *   Cavium (email)  no                           no



Please send any corrections or omissions as needed.



Regards,



Arlin
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