[ofa-general] atomic operations on ppc64

[Ronni Zimmermann]

Rui Machado wrote:
> > 2008/9/22 Ronni Zimmermann <ronniz at mellanox.co.il>:
> >> Hi,
> >> We run tests which use atomic operations (both fetch and 
> add and comp and swap) on PPC64 all the time, without 
> experiencing any problem.
> >>
> >> Just to make sure I ran few simple tests, which use atomic 
> operations, on our PPC64 machines, both with SLES10 SP1 and 
> with RHAS5.1, and all of them passed.
> >> I was working with the latest OFED1.4 driver and mlx4 HCA 
> with the latest released FW and with FW 2.3.000 (on the 
> SLES10 SP1 machine).
> >>
> >> Given the above information I believe that there's either 
> a problem with your code (although looking at the code you 
> posted I couldn't see anything wrong) or it's an OFED1.2.5 
> issue, as Dotan suggested.
> >>
> 
> OK thanks for the feedback. We have ppc64 machines with mlx4 
> and mthca0 (from ibv_devinfo) ) Both don't work. Any 
> experience with the mthca0? It is older and should be better 
> supported on 1.2.5 or?
> My priority is the machines with the mlx4 but of course I 
> would like to see both working.
> 
Sorry, I have no experience with mthca0 on PPC64 machines.
It is indeed an older HCA, but I don't know weather or not it's working
properly on PPC64 with ofed 1.2.5.

> I also tried with a 2.6.26.2 kernel (had it at hand) with the same
> ofed1.2.5 installation and still see the problem.
> I guess my last and longest try to install the whole ofed 1.4 package.
> 

Please bear in mind that OFED 1.4 is RC2 and will probably be GA by the
end of October. 
If installing a new driver on youe machine is a big problem for you, and
you don't need the new features supported by ofed 1.4 and not by ofed
1.3.1, maybe it'll be better for you to install ofed 1.3.1, which is
already GA.

We also recommend that you updgrade the FW in your mlx4 HCAs to the
latest released FW, which is 2.5.000, since your current FW is quite
old.

Good luck,
Ronni.

> btw: changing hardware is not an option :-/
> 
> Cheers and thanks for the support,
>