About SmartIO¶
SmartIO is a Dolphin technology that enables direct access to PCIe devices located anywhere in a PCIe network. Users can dynamically add PCIe devices to the SmartIO pool, enabling other cluster nodes to use the devices. The PCIe-based NTB network enables DMA, register accesses and interrupts to be forwarded in hardware between devices and Cluster Nodes without any additional overhead from protocol translation or software middleware. The direct communication does not only allow for optimal performance, but it also means that the same protocols and driver-models can be used for both local and remote devices.
In SmartIO, each cluster node can operate as a lender, borrower, or both. A lender exports local PCIe devices to the cluster and enables them to be used by borrowers. When acting as a borrower, a node may borrow devices exported by lenders.
Devices can be made available to systems on the network and can be temporarily borrowed by any system as long as it is required. When use of the device is completed, the device can be borrowed by other systems on the network or it can be returned to local use where it is physically located. SmartIO Device Lending enables PCIe devices borrowed from a remote system to be used with the native device drivers with no software modifications. SmartIO is designed to be flexible and does not require any boot order or power on sequencing.
SmartIO is controlled using a set of command line tools and options. These tools can be used directly or integrated into any other higher level resource management system.
Getting Started¶
To quickly get starting using SmartIO, have a look at the Quick Start Guides.