[ofw] OFA WWG 4/1/08 meeting minutes

[Smith, Stan]

What: OFA - Windows Working Group
When: Tue Apr 01, 2008, 09:00 AM - 11:00 AM US Pacific Time

Agenda
------

Update on PXE Boot-over-InfiniBand work (Mx & MS).

  Pending - no progress here as ConnectX is dominating engineering
resources.


Bugzilla bug reporting - is it working?

  Shai to send bug to Stan.


IPoIB partitioning support - SVN deployment estimates early March; Where
is it?

  Partitioning support is almost complete. A lingering ARP transmit
completion error
  is being investigated.  Expectation is to have error resolution by
Friday 4/4 
  with the code checked into the svn trunk upon resolution.
  Bottom line - partitioning support will be ready for WinOF 1.1
release.


Why Server 2008 support should _not_ be a part of WinOF 1.1 release.

  Discussions illuminated the facts that Server 2008 WDK compiler + IB
stack
  source base are not stable enough to make a Server 2008 release at
this time.
  The WinOF Server 2008 release is targeted for the early June time
frame.

  Further discussions centered on should the WinOF 1.1 release start now
and go with
  what's in the source tree. Usha pointed out Mellanox had not commented
on
  proposed QLogic SRP patches, hence the patches are not in the source
tree.
  Pending IPoIB partition support and missing SRP patches suggests WinOF
1.1
  release source freeze is not realistic for the proposed 4/4/08 date.

  Mellanox stated they cannot perform validation on WinOF 1.1 if it does
not
  support ConnectX - ball is in their court pending a timely arrival of
  ConnectX drivers! ConnectX development and Server 2008 support has
been delayed
  by WDK instability. Mellanox has reverted to previous WDK revision to
make forward
  progress.

  Mellanox stated they could have a version of the ConnectX drivers
available by
  Friday 4/11/08 which could be included in a Server 2003/XP WinOF 1.1
release.
  If this is the case, WinOF 1.1 RC-1 could be released by 4/15 for
validation.
  The implication here is ConnectX drivers would be built in WDK
environment
  while the rest of the release is built in the Window DDK environment;
what
  was used to build 'WinOF 1.0.1'.

  John Russo and Stan Smith both strongly advocate a WinOF 1.1 release
ASAP,
  with or without ConnectX. Ensuing 1.1 validation can only reduce the
work
  required to support Server 2008; current bugs resolved.

  Reasons to release WinOF 1.1 ASAP:
   1) Do what we advertised we are going to do, already slipped 5 weeks
for ConnectX.
   2) QLogic SRP & VNIC enhancements.
   3) DAPL source synchronized with OFED 1.3 released DAPL.
   4) DAPL Windows to Linux interoperability using the socket-CM DAPL
provider.
   5) IPoIB partitioning support.
   6) Bug fixes: WSD, Bus driver, SRP, VNIC ...

  Continuing discussions decided the WWG should meet face-2-face for the
first
  time at the OFA Sonoma workshop (Monday @ lunch) to finalize the WinOF
1.1
  release date and contents.

    
Proposed Win-O-F 1.1 Release contents (updated)

  - No Server 2008 support (Server 2003/XP only).
  - ConnectX support ?
  - IPoIB partitioning support - estimated completion by 4/4/08.
  - WSD - ready?
  - VNIC (Qlogic) - driver name change issues: 8.3 format name to use as
boot device.
  - SRP - ready - pending Mx review of QLogic SRP patches.
  - DAT/DAPL - ready.
  - NDI - Network Direct support not included.
  - IB SDK - ready
  - Debug versions & symbols @ the OFA-WinOF download site; needs Wiki
FAQ update (stan)
  - (only WWG validated) Device drivers will be Digitally signed by OFA.

Need release notes level documentation on component
functionality/changes.

Module maintainers will supply Stan with summary change info suitable
for
  release notes inclusion.

trunk\docs\manual.htm, please update for all WinOF components!


Revised WinOF 1.1 release schedule
   
   4-15-08    RC1
   4-22-08    RC2 -or- WinOF 1.1 release
   4-29-08    (if required) WinOF 1.1 release

Additional topics?

Update on moving the openib-windows SVN repository to OFA servers.

  Shai stated OFA will provide a higher bandwidth connection along with
  repository backup procedures. No one seemed aware of current Cornell
  svn backup policies.
  OFA is not ready to move the SVN repository as the OFA domain name is
  still being moved. Stan will update when OFA domain name has been
moved
  and SVN repository can begin it's move.

Shai will report Mx experiences/impressions using git for source code
control.

Anh Dung had questions about IB bus/Fabric driver and how it relates to
the 
ConnectX 'mlx4 bus' driver. Tzachi pointed out they are different
drivers providing
different functionality.
IB bus constructs the Windows bus device framework required for IB
fabric device
Driver for SRP and/or VNIC; IB bus functionality is similar to the PCI
bus driver.
The ConnectX 'mlx4 bus' driver is hardware specific to the mlx4 device.
Windows ConnectX drivers are a port of the Linux ConnectX drivers;
mlx4_bus is a result
of that porting effort.