Software Installation

This section provides details on building and installing the software.

Note

This document describes the steps required to install the out-of-tree acceleration software package. For details on installing the upstreamed acceleration software, refer to the installation and readme instructions at the Intel QuickAssist Technology Library (QATlib) repository.

Installation Overview

The installation procedure handles a number of tasks that would otherwise have to be done manually, including the following:

Create the kernel module files and copy them the appropriate directory (e.g. /usr/lib/modules/KERN_VERSION/kernel/drivers/crypto )
Create the shared object (.so) files by building the source code.
Copy the shared object (.so) files to the right directory (e.g., /lib or /lib64).
Build adf_ctl and copy it to the right directories ($ICP_ROOT/build and /usr/sbin).
Copy the config files to /etc.
Copy the firmware files to /lib/firmware.
Copy the modules to the appropriate kernel source directory for loading by qat_service.
Start the qat_service, which inserts the appropriate modules as required and runs adf_ctl to bring up the devices.
Set up the qat_service to run on future boots (copy to /etc/init.d, run chkconfig to add the service).

Unpacking the Software

The software package comes in the form of a tarball.

Note

The instructions in this document assume that you have super user privileges.
In this document, the working directory is assumed to be /QAT. This directory is the ICP_ROOT.

Create a working directory for the software. This directory can be user defined, but for the purposes of this document, a recommendation is provided.
export ICP_ROOT=/QAT mkdir -p $ICP_ROOT cd $ICP_ROOT
Obtain the official released Intel QAT package: Intel® QuickAssist Technology Driver for Linux* - HW Version 2.0
Transfer the tarball to the system in the $ICP_ROOT directory. Unpack the tarball using the following command:
tar -zxof QAT20.L.*.tar.gz
Restricting access to the files is recommended.
chmod -R o-rwx *

Configure Acceleration Software

Note

If installing the acceleration software for use in a virtual environment refer to the Virtualization Deployment Guide for additional details.
The ./configure script handles many options that may be of interest. For instance, there is a wide range of possible configurations, including build or install virtualization support (host or guest) or no virtualization support. Some build options may need to be passed as a parameter to the ./configure script before proceeding with the installation. A complete list of configuration options is available in Configuration Options.

Prepare the package installation by checking the prerequisites and configuring the build options by running a script using the following command:

./configure

A welcome message is displayed, followed by the configured build options. Successful configuration will look similar to the following:

checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /usr/bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
...
checking for kernel sources... yes
checking that generated files are newer than configure... done
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: creating Makefile
config.status: creating config.h
config.status: executing depfiles commands

============================================================================
Type make followed by make install to build QAT with the following options
============================================================================
    USE_HARD_CODED_PRIMES [0]
    ICP_ARCH_USER [x86_64]
    ICP_BUILDSYSTEM_PATH [/root/QAT/quickassist/build_system]
    ICP_BUILD_OUTPUT [/root/QAT/build]
    ICP_ENV_DIR [/root/QAT/quickassist/build_system/build_files/env_files]
    ICP_TOOLS_TARGET [accelcomp]
    MAX_MR [50]
    KERNEL_SOURCE_ROOT [/lib/modules/4.18.0-193.el8.x86_64/build]
    ICP_DEBUG [false]
    QAT_UIO [false]
    ICP_PARAM_CHECK [false]
    ICP_DC_DYN_NOT_SUPPORTED [false]
    DISABLE_STATS [false]
    DRBG_POLL_AND_WAIT [false]
    ICP_LOG_SYSLOG [false]
    ICP_NONBLOCKING_PARTIALS_PERFORM [false]
    ICP_TRACE [false]
    ICP_DC_ONLY [false]
    ICP_DC_RETURN_COUNTERS_ON_ERROR [false]
    ICP_DISABLE_INLINE [false]
    INLINE [false]
============================================================================

Dependencies

Various dependencies are required, see the output from .configure.

yasm, for example, may need to be manually downloaded and installed via https://yasm.tortall.net/Download.html .

On Linux:

wget <latest URL> (latest URL is http://www.tortall.net/projects/yasm/releases/yasm-1.3.0.tar.gz )
tar -zxvf yasm-1.3.0.tar.gz
cd yasm-1.3.0/
./configure
make && make install

Then return to the QAT directory to perform the .configure and make install commands.

Configuration Options

A complete list of compile flags and build parameters can also be obtained by executing the following command in the shell:

./configure --help

Note

Compiler flags to produce safer binaries are enabled by default.

Compile Flag Options
Compile Flag	Description
`--disable-option-checking`	Ignore unrecognized –enable/–with option.
`--disable-FEATURE`	Do not include FEATURE (same as `--enable-FEATURE=no`).
`--enable-FEATURE[=ARG]`	Include `FEATURE [ARG=yes]`.
`--enable-silent-rules`	Less verbose build output (undo: `make V=1`).
`--disable-silent-rules`	Verbose build output (undo: `make V=0`).
`--enable-maintainer-mode`	Enable make rules and dependencies not useful (and sometimes confusing) to the casual installer.
`--enable-dependency-tracking`	Do not reject slow dependency extractors.
`--disable-dependency-tracking`	Speeds up one-time build.
`--enable-icp-debug`	Enables debugging.
`--disable-param-check`	Disables parameters checking in the top-level APIs (use for performance optimization).
`--disable-dc-dyn`	Disables dynamic compression support.
`--disable-stats`	Disables statistic collection (use for performance optimization).
`--enable-drbg-poll-and-wait`	Modifies the behavior of DRBG HT functions to use single threaded operation.
`--enable-icp-log-syslog`	Enables debugging messages to be outputted to the system log instead of standard output.
`--enable-icp-nonblocking-partials-perform`	Partial operations results are not being blocked.
`--enable-icp-sriov`	Enables Single-root I/O Virtualization in the QAT driver (available options: `host`, `guest`).
`--enable-icp-trace`	Enables tracing for the Cryptography API.
`--enable-icp-asym-only`	Enables driver to support Asymmetric Crypto services only.
`--enable-icp-sym-only`	Enables driver to support Symmetric Crypto services only.
`--enable-icp-dc-only`	Enables driver supports only compression service (can optimize size of build objects).
`--enable-icp-dc-sym-only`	Enables driver to support Data Compression and Symmetric Crypto services only.
`--enable-icp-dc-return-counters-on-error`	Enables updates of consumed/produced results in case of error during compression or decompression operations.
`--disable-icp-inline`	When defined, function inlining for functions that cannot be inlined by the compiler is removed to enable compilation of the driver for kernels build without `CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_OPTIMIZED_INLINING`.
`--enable-inline`	Enables `INLINE` feature.
`--enable-icp-hb-fail-sim`	Enable Heartbeat Failure Simulation.
`--enable-qat-coexistence`	Enables legacy and upstream driver coexistence.
`--enable-qat-lkcf`	Enables QAT registration with Linux Kernel Crypto Framework. Kernel instances are disabled by default. See Logical Instances Section of the Programmer’s Guide for additional details.
`--enable-kpt`	Enables kpt.
`--disable-dc-strict-mode`	Disables Compress and Verify (CnV) functionality. See below for details.
`--enable-dc-error-simulation`	Enables Data Compression Error Simulation.
`--enable-legacy-algorithms`	Enables legacy algorithms.
`--enable-legacy-sla-mgr`	Enables the legacy SLA manager.
`--enable-icp-thread-specific-usdm`	USDM allocates and handles memory specific to threads (for multi-thread apps, allocated memory information will be maintained separately for each thread).
`--enable-128k-slab`	Enables 128k slab allocator in USDM. It could improve performance and reduce memory consumption for the large number of threads when thread specific memory allocator is enabled.

Important

The Compress and Verify feature checks and ensures data integrity in the compression operation of the Intel^® QAT Data Compression API. This feature introduces an independent capability to verify the compression transformation.

Intel recommends that customers use the Compress and Verify capabilities for Intel^® QAT compression operations.

As Compress and Verify provides an integrity check of the data, Intel cannot guarantee integrity of data that bypasses the Compress and Verify capability.

Intel does not support disabling Compress and Verify.

Install Acceleration Software

Note

It is recommended to uninstall previous installations of the acceleration software (if previously installed).

Open a terminal window and switch to superuser. Provide root password when prompted.
su cd $ICP_ROOT
Enter the following commands to build and install the acceleration software and sample code using the default options:
./configure sudo make -j install sudo make samples-install
Note

After building/installing the acceleration software, secure the build output files by either deleting them or setting permissions according to your needs.
Note

If kernel module signing is required for the Intel QAT out-of-tree drivers, (e.g. if UEFI Secure Boot is enabled), one can incorporate this step by setting the mod_sign_cmd environment variable prior to invoking the make install command.

The mod_sign_cmd environment variable should be set to the path of the required kernel headers sign-file program and include its first three command line arguments, as shown in the following example:
export mod_sign_cmd='<kernel header path>/scripts/sign-file sha256 /root/priv.key /root/pub.der'
Add your user to the qat group by running the below command, and re-login to make the change effective.
sudo usermod -a -G qat `whoami` sudo su -l $USER

Verify the acceleration software kernel objects are loaded and ready to use with this command:

lsmod | grep qat
Depending on the specific hardware present, this command will return an output similar to the following:
qat_4xxx               45056  0
intel_qat             331776  2 qat_4xxx,usdm_drv
uio                    20480  1 intel_qat
mdev                   20480  2 intel_qat,vfio_mdev
vfio                   36864  3 intel_qat,vfio_mdev,vfio_iommu_type1
irqbypass              16384  2 intel_qat,kvm
Note

Not all modules will be required depending on the specific hardware present.

Software Installation Demo

Here is a demonstration of the process to setup and install the Intel^® QAT software package.

Uninstall Acceleration Software

Open a terminal windows and switch to superuser. Provide root password when prompted.
su cd $ICP_ROOT
Enter the following commands to uninstall the acceleration software:
make uninstall make clean make distclean

Starting/Stopping the Acceleration Software

When the acceleration software is installed, a script file titled qat_service is installed in the /etc/init.d directory. The script file can be used to start and stop the acceleration software.

To start the software, issue the following command:

service qat_service start

To stop the software, issue the following command:

service qat_service stop

To stop the software and remove the kernel driver, issue the following command:

service qat_service shutdown

When the acceleration software is installed, it is set to load automatically when the operating system loads.

Configuration Files

When the acceleration software loads, it is configured based on the settings in the platform-specific configuration files.

The configuration files are in the /etc directory. Specifically:

The name for the first configuration file for Intel^® QuickAssist Technology Hardware Version 2.0 devices is 4xxx_dev0.conf
The name of the first configuration file for Intel^® Communications Chipset 8925 to 8955 Series devices is dh895xcc_dev0.conf.
The first configuration file for the Intel^® C62x Chipset or Intel^® Xeon^® Processor D Family SoC is c6xx_dev0.conf.
The first configuration file for Intel^® Atom^® C3000 Processor SoC is c3xxx_dev0.conf.
The first configuration file for other Intel^® Xeon^® Processor D SoC platforms is d15xx_dev0.conf.

Note

If more than one device of a given type is present, its name includes dev1, dev2, etc.

The files are processed when the system boots. If changes are made to the configuration file, the acceleration software must be stopped and restarted for the changes to take effect.

service qat_service restart

The software package includes multiple types of platform-specific configuration files. Depending on your installation options and SKU, a valid configuration file is copied to the /etc directory. If your system has more than one type of hardware device or SKU, verify that the correct configuration files were copied.

Important

The software package has been validated with the default configuration files. Changes to the configuration files could have adverse effects.

Refer to the Programmer’s Guide for additional information on the configuration files.

Running Applications as Non-Root User

The installation of Intel^® QAT software package configures the driver to allow applications to run as non-root user. The users must be added to the qat group.

When the make install command is performed at the directory where the Intel^® QAT package is installed, the following udev file is created which is responsible for setting up non-root access.

KERNEL=="qat_adf_ctl" MODE="0660" GROUP="qat" RUN+="/bin/chgrp qat/usr/local/bin/adf_ctl"
KERNEL=="qat_dev_processes" MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="usdm_drv" MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

ACTION=="add", DEVPATH=="/module/usdm_drv" SUBSYSTEM=="module"
RUN+="/bin/mkdir / dev/hugepages/qat"

ACTION=="add", DEVPATH=="/module/usdm_drv" SUBSYSTEM=="module"
RUN+="/bin/chgrp qat /dev/hugepages/qat"

ACTION=="add", DEVPATH=="/module/usdm_drv" SUBSYSTEM=="module"
RUN+="/bin/chmod 0770 /dev/hugepages/qat"

ACTION=="remove", DEVPATH=="/module/usdm_drv" SUBSYSTEM=="module"
RUN+="/bin/rmdir

/dev/hugepages/qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x0435"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x0443"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x37c8"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x37c9"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x6f54"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x6f55"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x19e2"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

KERNEL=="uio*", ATTRS{vendor}=="0x8086", ATTRS{device}=="0x19e3"
MODE="0660" GROUP="qat"

The updates to the udev rules are performed during the installation of the Intel^® QAT driver.

The following steps need to be manually applied:

Change the amount of max locked memory for the username included in the qat group (the default memory limit is 64). This can be done by specifying the limit in: /etc/security/limits.conf.
@qat - memlock 4096