[ofw] RE: winmad installation

[Sean Hefty]

Not sure where my reply went to...

>I would like to install WinVerbs to run some of the simple ud_pingpong tests
>and  debugging hca driver.
>
>I am using WinOF2.0.2 stack.

If you can move forward to the winof 2.1 release (now at rc5), that would be
best.  There have been a lot of fixes for winverbs/winmad support between 2.0
and 2.1.

>Ibv_ud_pingpong uses libibverbs and that in turn uses user mode dll of
>WinVerbs.

correct

>Does the verbs call  ( say open-ca / alloc-pd  etc for non-SMI /non-Gsi  .) go
>via kernel mode ibal ?

These calls do not go through ibal.  The call path goes from libibverbs ->
winverbs.dll -> winverbs.sys -> hca driver.  If you use the librdmacm, then
winverbs does use the kernel ibal for the IB CM interfaces.  I don't believe
support for the librdmacm was available in the 2.0 release, however.

>Does it need any user verbs libraries on hca side ?

I'm not sure what you're asking here.

>Do we need to have ibal installed for WinVerbs to operate ?

Yes - winverbs does not implement the SMI/GSI, which are needed to configure the
HCA.  Most winverbs calls do not use IBAL, but the HCA driver still requires it.
Winverbs only uses ibal for the IB CM.

Note that winmad, which is a separate driver and library from winverbs, does
call into IBAL in the kernel for the MAD interfaces.

- Sean