[ofa-general] OFED July 16 meeting summary

[Tziporet Koren]

*OFED July 16 meeting summary*

*1. Merge the OFED 1.2.1 release with OFED 1.2.c release in August. *

There was a long discussion on pros & cons regarding merging the two 
releases.

Pros:
- Everybody will be focused on the same release
- All user space libs (except for the new libmlx4) are the same
- Reduce QA efforts

Cons:
- The kernel was changed to 2.6.22 based and this can cause instability.
- Harder to distinguish what are the differences between 1.2 to 1.2.c. 
(since its not only few patches)
- 1.2.c release was aimed for ConnectX support only. If we lump the two 
releases together it may slow the convergence of this release.

In addition there is a need to check with IBM and Chelsio, who actually 
asked for the 1.2.1 release, if this suites them.
Steve agreed to test 1.2.c to see if its OK with his fixes.
Need a respond from IBM too. (BTW - no patches from IBM were sent so far.)

Decision: No decision was taken.
I suggest we stay with two different branches for now.
After more people will test 1.2.c  and see if its stable enough we can 
decide not to do 1.2.1

*2. Agree on OFED 1.3 schedule:
*The suggested schedule:*
*        * Feature freeze - Sep 4
        * Alpha release - Sep 10
        * Beta release - Sep 25
        * RC1 - Oct 16
        * RC2 - Oct 30
        * RC3 - Nov 8 (assuming many of us are at SC07 on the week of 
Nov 11)
        * RC4 - Nov 20
        * GA release - Nov 30 (or first week of Dec)

Discussion:
- Due to the 1.2.c release the schedule seems very tight.
- Since 1.2.c progress only the kernel, many user level features that 
are already done are not exposed to customers in OFED release.

Decision: Revisit the schedule on September according to the "must have" 
features readiness.

*3. Review OFED 1.3 features list:
*

There was an agreement on the must have features, except QoS that should 
be defined after IBTA SPEC is published
We have not reviewed the list of features thoroughly. Each company 
should review the features and send comments to the list.

Must have general features:
====================

    * Kernel base on 2.6.23 (all new features that will be part of this
      kernel will be included in OFED 1.3)
    * Install:
          o Break the packages RPMs (work with Novell and Redhat) to
            minimize integration effort into OS distribution
    * Package:
          o Sources arrangement for the end user (for the labs)
    * New HCAs & RNICs:
          o ConnectX support
          o Neteffect support
    * QoS: OSM, CM, CMA, ULPs (IPoIB, SDP, SRP)

Other features (must have marked with *)
==============================

    * libibverbs: New verbs:
          o Scalable Reliable Connected Transport (with Mellanox ConnectX)*
          o Reliable Multicast?

ULPs:

    * IPoIB:
          o Performance improvements (those that will be stable on time)
          o NAPI - done
    * SDP:
          o * Keepalive
          o * AIO
    * uDAPL:
          o DAT 2.0 support with IB extensions for immediate data, atomics;
          o Add extensions for new verbs (SRCT,RM)
    * VNIC:
          o GA quality. Not a technology preview version anymore.
          o Added support for QLogic EVIC (10 Gbps
            Infiniband-to-Ethernet gateway) - in GA
    * RDS: RDMA API (using FMRs); GA quality with Oracle 11
    * NFSoRDMA integration - pending we have a maintainer
    * Management:
          o * Multiple partitions via libibumad
          o OpenSM
                + More routing performance improvements - done
                + Even more speedups - done
                + Better packaging/installation - done
                + "Native" daemon mode - done
                + * Performance management
                + * Quality of Service manager: Based on IBTA annex
                + Enhancements for fat tree routing (non pure tree
                  support) - done
                + More console commands and telnet access to console - done
          o More diagnostics
                + ibidsverify.pl: validate LIDs and GUIDs in subnet - done
                + Updated ibnetdiscover format with link width and
                  speed, and GUIDs - done
                + ibnetdiscover grouping support for new Voltaire
                  chassis - done
                + diag updates for IB router support - done
                + iblinkinfo.pl: Support peer port link width and speed
                  validation - done
                + ibdatacounters: Add script and man page for subnet
                  wide data counters saquery enhancements - done
    * iWARP:
          o * Chelsio: Get to GA level
          o NetEffect: Get the drivers into OFED


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