Programming the Shell Partition for DFX-2RP Platforms - 2.3 English

Some Alveo Cards have DFX-2RP platforms require the shell partition to be programmed after a base partition has been programmed.

For more information regarding DFX-2RP platforms, refer to Alveo Data Center Accelerator Card Platforms User Guide (UG1120).

For additional details on DFX technology, see Dynamic Function Exchange in XRT Documentation.

Use the following command to program the shell partition:

$ sudo /opt/xilinx/xrt/bin/xbmgmt program --device <management BDF> --shell <partition file with path>

Use the following command to get the partition file with path.

sudo xbmgmt examine --report platform --format json --output <output>.json --device <management BDF>

Look for the value of the file key in the available_partitions section in the json file. For example:

"available_partitions":
               [
                   {
                       "vbnv": "xilinx_u250_gen3x16_xdma_shell_3_1",
                       "logic-uuid": "BD5FB8AB-AB26-6C32-6591-8257B5048E88",
                       "interface-uuid": "695718EC-21A2-32E4-5E1A-FCB4E558E11F",
                       "file": "\/lib\/firmware\/xilinx\/bd5fb8abab266c3265918257b5048e88\/partition.xsabin"
                   }
               ]

For our example the value of partition file with path is:

/lib/firmware/xilinx/bd5fb8abab266c3265918257b5048e88/partition.xsabin

The following is an example of the command for programing the shell partition and the output:

$ sudo /opt/xilinx/xrt/bin/xbmgmt program --device 03:00.0 --shell /lib/firmware/xilinx/bd5fb8abab266c3265918257b5048e88/partition.xsabin
Programming shell on device [0000:03:00.0]...
Partition file: /lib/firmware/xilinx/bd5fb8abab266c3265918257b5048e88/partition.xsabin
Programmed shell successfully

After the shell partition is programmed, it is not necessary to reprogram it unless the system is rebooted.