/doca-bare-metal-deployment

license: Apache-2.0
name: doca-bare-metal-deployment
description: >
  Running a DOCA-linked binary directly on the hardware, with no container
  or kubelet: on host x86 with a BlueField NIC over PCIe, or bare-metal on
  BlueField Arm. Use this skill for launching and supervising it (direct, tmux,
  systemd), and when it "exits 1 right after launch", "systemd keeps
  restarting it", reports "no matching device on the BF", or the BlueField
  itself is unhealthy: "bfb-install exited 0 but DPU is dead", "ping
  192.168.100.2 works but ssh fails", "host PFs aren't showing netdevs".
  Refuse service containers under kubelet (doca-container-deployment).
  Covers PCI/NUMA/CPU/IRQ binding, co-tenant isolation
  (cgroup-v2/netns/numactl), a seven-layer error taxonomy, platform
  lifecycle (BFB install, RShim/TMFIFO, host PF rebind, post-BFB recovery)
  and a six-state BlueField lifecycle classifier. Destructive firmware
  burn / mlxconfig set requires explicit confirmation via
  doca-hardware-safety; library APIs, env prep, and build use other
  skills.
metadata:
  author: NVIDIA <doca-feedback@nvidia.com>
  kind: library
  doca_version: "3.5"
  tags:
    - doca
    - deployment
    - bare-metal
compatibility: >
  No DOCA install required to read this skill (it is an overlay
  loaded against any DOCA artifact skill); the validation steps
  within this skill require a live DOCA install at /opt/mellanox/doca on
  a host or BlueField with a built DOCA-linked binary.

DOCA bare-metal deployment

Examples

• **"The binary exits 1 right after launch."** — this is in scope.

Treat it as a launch / device-bind / isolation failure before rewriting application code.

• **"systemd keeps restarting my DOCA app."** — a restart loop on

hardware is high-stakes. Debug the first exit before enabling Restart=always.

Instructions

Follow Loading order below. Open the tasks companion for launch / supervise / recover, and the capabilities companion for the runtime contract. Do not open every companion file.

**Where to start:** This skill is the bundle's home for *operating* a DOCA-linked application binary **directly on hardware** — no container, no kubelet, no static-pod manifest. It is the parallel of `doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md` for the non-container path. If the user has a DOCA-linked binary they built (per the canonical workflow in `doca-programming-guide/SKILL.md`) and they want to know *how to actually run it on the host or on the BlueField Arm cores correctly*, open the tasks companion and start at `## configure`. If the question is *what shape does the bare-metal runtime even have and what is the deployment contract*, start at the capabilities companion. If the user is not yet sure whether their target system shape is the container path or the bare-metal path, route the recognition step to `doca-setup/SKILL.md` first; only return here once *bare-metal* is the confirmed shape.

Audience

This skill serves **external DOCA developers and operators who have a DOCA-linked application binary they built and want to run it directly on hardware** — i.e., people who already have:

• a DOCA-linked application binary they built per

`doca-programming-guide ## build`,

• a real BlueField NIC and a host that talks to it (the **host

x86** path — DOCA host install on the host talks to the BlueField NIC over PCIe), OR a BlueField with a console or SSH to the Arm side (the **BlueField Arm bare-metal** path — DOCA installed on the DPU Arm cores; the binary runs there directly), and

• a desire to RUN that binary directly on the hardware, not

inside a kubelet-standalone-managed container.

It is **not** for:

• kernel-driver developers contributing to `mlx5_*` or the

BlueField OS,

• DOCA library contributors (library changes are outside the

scope of a bare-metal deployment),

• full-Kubernetes-cluster operators managing a fleet of

BlueFields (the bundle covers `doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md` for the single-host kubelet-standalone shape; **fleet/production-scale deployment is fleet-orchestration scope** — route to the orchestration entry-point in `doca-public-knowledge-map ## Deploying DOCA services at scale` (DPF / Network Operator / Launch Kit), not hand-rolled static-pod loops),

• fresh-laptop-no-hardware users with no DOCA install yet — those

belong on `doca-setup ## no-install`.

The skill teaches the agent the bare-metal-deployment *procedure* and the rules for quoting documented commands from the public DOCA Programming Guide and the public BlueField / DPU User Manual via `doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md`; it does not invent flag names, PCI BDFs, NUMA numbers, devlink paths, representor strings, or systemd `Restart=` mode names from memory.

When to load this skill

Load this skill when the user is doing **hands-on bare-metal deployment of a DOCA-linked application binary** on either of the two supported host modes (host x86 or BlueField Arm), or asking a cross-cutting bare-metal question that is not specific to one library's API. Concretely:

• Launching a DOCA-linked binary for the first time on a host

with a BlueField NIC in a PCIe slot, with DOCA installed on the host.

• Launching a DOCA-linked binary on the BlueField Arm cores

directly (BlueField Arm bare-metal mode), with DOCA installed on the Arm side per the BlueField OS image.

• Deciding which launch mode to use (direct foreground for

interactive debug; tmux/screen for long-running with manual reattach; systemd-supervised for restart-after-reboot, journald-integrated logs, and Restart= policy).

• Binding the DOCA process to the right PCIe function, the right

representor, the right NUMA node, and the right CPU set — and pinning IRQs to match — without inventing the addresses or the flag names.

• Setting up per-tenant isolation (cgroup-v2 cpu / memory / io

controllers, network namespaces for multi-tenant deployments, `numactl` / `taskset` for CPU + NUMA binding) so