Introduction; System Requirements - Nvidia BlueField-2 InfiniBand/VPI DPU User Manual

Introduction

The NVIDIA® BlueField®-2 data processing unit (DPU) is a data center infrastructure on a chip
optimized for traditional enterprise, high-performance computing (HPC), and modern cloud
workloads, delivering a broad set of accelerated software-defined
networking, storage, security, and management services. BlueField-2 DPU enables organizations to
transform their IT infrastructures into state-of-the-art data centers that are accelerated, fully
programmable and armed with "zero trust" security to prevent data breaches and cyber-attacks.
By combining the industry-leading NVIDIA ConnectX®-6 Dx network adapter with an array of Arm®
cores, BlueField-2 offers purpose-built, hardware-acceleration engines with full software
programmability. Sitting at the edge of every server, BlueField-2 is optimized to handle critical
infrastructure tasks quickly, increasing data center efficiency. BlueField-2 empowers agile and high-
performance solutions for cloud networking, storage, cybersecurity, data analytics, HPC, and
artificial intelligence (AI), from edge to core data centers and clouds, all while reducing the total
cost of ownership. The NVIDIA DOCA software development kit (SDK) enables developers to create
applications and services for the BlueField-2 DPU rapidly. The DOCA SDK makes it easy and
straightforward to leverage DPU hardware accelerators and CPU programmability for better
application performance and security.

System Requirements


The BlueField-2 DPU is designed and validated for operation in data-center servers and
other large environments that guarantee proper power supply and airflow conditions.
The DPU is not intended for installation on a desktop or a workstation. Moreover, installing
the DPU in any system without proper power and airflow levels can impact the DPU's
functionality and potentially damage it. Failure to meet the environmental requirements
listed in this user manual may void the warranty.
Item Description
Main-
x16 PCIe Gen 4.0 slot.
board
PCI
Expres
s slot
System Minimum 75W or greater system power supply for all cards.
Power
P-Series DPU controllers with PCIe Gen 4.0 x16 require an additional 75W through a supplementary
Supply
6-pin ATX power supply connector.
NOTE: The connector is not included in the package. It should be part of system wiring, or it can be
ordered separately as a system accessory.
Operat BlueField-2 DPU is shipped with Ubuntu – a Linux commercial operating system – which includes the
ing NVIDIA OFED stack (MLNX_OFED) and is capable of running all customer-based Linux applications
System seamlessly. BlueField-2 DPU also supports CentOS and has an out-of-band 1GbE management
interface. For more information, please refer to the DOCA SDK documentation or NVIDIA BlueField-2
Software User Manual.
Connec
tivity
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• Interoperable with 1/10/25/40/50/100/200 Gb/s Ethernet switches and SDR/DDR/QDR/FDR/
EDR/HDR100/HDR InfiniBand switches
• Interoperable with copper/optic cables and SR4 modules only
• Powered connectors for optical and active cable support
8