Deploying FortiGate-VM using compute shapes that use Mellanox network cards

You can deploy FortiGate-VMs that are paravirtualized with SR-IOV and DPDK/vNP on OCI shapes that use Mellanox network cards.

To deploy the VM using a Mellanox card:

1. Create an instance using a compute shape that supports the Mellanox network card, such as VM.Standard.E3.Flex.
2. In the OCI console, verify the instance has SR-IOV enabled:

   # oci compute instance get --instance-id <instance ID>
   {
     "data": {
     ...
       "launch-mode": "PARAVIRTUALIZED",
       "launch-options": {
         "boot-volume-type": "PARAVIRTUALIZED",
         "firmware": "BIOS",
         "is-consistent-volume-naming-enabled": false,
         "is-pv-encryption-in-transit-enabled": false,
         "network-type": "VFIO",
         "remote-data-volume-type": "PARAVIRTUALIZED"
       },
     ...

   The network type is VFIO (as opposed to PARAVIRTUALIZED), which means that SR-IOV is enabled.

3. In FortiOS, verify that the boot succeeds and check instance details:

   # get system status
   Version: FortiGate-VM64-OPC v6.4.3,build1776,201013 (interim)
   ...
   Serial-Number: FGVMULTM20000xxx
   IPS Malicious URL Database: 2.00798(2020-10-15 09:20)
   License Status: Valid
   License Expiration Date: 2021-07-01
   VM Resources: 2 CPU, 16085 MB RAM
   VM Instance ID: ocid1.instance.oc1.iad.xxxxxxxx
   ...

4. Check the NIC driver to ensure that it is mlx5_core:

   # diagnose hardware deviceinfo nic port1
   Name:            port1
   Driver:          mlx5_core
   ...

5. Enable DPDK:

   config dpdk global
       set status enable
       set interface port2 port1
   end

6. Reboot the FortiGate.
7. Verify the drivers are now net_mlx5 to signify they are DPDK enabled:

   # diagnose hardware deviceinfo nic port1
   Name:            port1
   Driver:          net_mlx5
   ...

8. Verify that DPDK was initiated successfully:

   # diagnose dpdk log show early-init
   -----------------------------------------------------------------
       DPDK early initialzation starts at 2020-10-16 00:37:36(UTC)
   -----------------------------------------------------------------
   Content of early configuration file:
       status=1
       multiqueue=0
       sleep-on-idle=0
       elasticbuffer=0
       per-session-accounting=1
       hugepage-percentage=30
       nr_hugepages=2412
       interfaces=port1 port2
       cpus=0 1
       rxcpus=0 1
       vnpcpus=0 1
       ipscpus=0 1
       txcpus=0 1
   Parse config file success!
   
   Check CPU definitions 'cpus'
   Check CPU definitions 'rxcpus'
   Check CPU definitions 'ipscpus'
   Check CPU definitions 'vnpcpus'
   Check CPU definitions 'txcpus'
   Check CPUs success!
   
   Huge page allocation done
   
   Ports enabled for DPDK:
       port1
       port2
   Port name to device name mapping:
       port1: eth0
       port2: eth1
       port3: eth2
       port4: eth3
       ...
       
   Start enabling DPDK kernel driver for port 'port1'...
   Getting PCI device info for eth0...
   reading pci dev /sys/class/net/eth0
   link path: ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:03.0/net/eth0
   Device info of eth0:
       dev_name: eth0
       macaddr: 00:00:17:02:3c:d9
       pci_vendor: 0x15b3
       pci_device: 0x101a
       pci_id: 0000:00:03.0
       pci_domain: 0
       pci_bus: 0
       pci_devid: 3
       pci_function: 0
       guid: n/a
   Device eth0 is mlx5_core name changed to slv0
   Creating DPDK kernel driver for device eth0...
   Add VNP dev: eth0 PCI: 0000:00:03.0, Succeeded
   DPDK kernel driver for eth0 successfully created
   DPDK kernel driver enabled for port 'port1' (device name 'eth0')
   
   Start enabling DPDK kernel driver for port 'port2'...
   Getting PCI device info for eth1...
   reading pci dev /sys/class/net/eth1
   link path: ../../devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:05.0/net/eth1
   Device info of eth1:
       dev_name: eth1
       macaddr: 02:00:17:02:bd:df
       pci_vendor: 0x15b3
       pci_device: 0x101a
       pci_id: 0000:00:05.0
       pci_domain: 0
       pci_bus: 0
       pci_devid: 5
       pci_function: 0
       guid: n/a
   Device eth1 is mlx5_core name changed to slv1
   Creating DPDK kernel driver for device eth1...
   Add VNP dev: eth1 PCI: 0000:00:05.0, Succeeded
   DPDK kernel driver for eth1 successfully created
   DPDK kernel driver enabled for port 'port2' (device name 'eth1')
   Bind ports success!
   
   Make UIO nodes success!
   
   DPDK sanity test passed

9. Send traffic through the FortiGate and verify the statistics to ensure packets actually pass through DPDK:

   # diagnose dpdk statistics show engine
   

   # diagnose dpdk statistics show port
   

   # diagnose dpdk statistics show vnp
   

   # diagnose dpdk statistics show memory