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Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2024 14:34:07 -0700
From: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>
To: Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@nvidia.com>
Cc: Edward Cree <ecree.xilinx@gmail.com>, David Ahern <dsahern@kernel.org>,
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Subject: Re: [PATCH V4 0/5] mlx5 ConnectX control misc driver
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On Thu, 4 Apr 2024 17:44:54 -0300 Jason Gunthorpe wrote:
> > To my knowledge the "customizations" are mostly around fitting into OCP
> > servers.  
> 
> Nope. I understand it is significant. If Meta had to work with a COTS
> environment like a HP/Dell customer then Meta would have a list of
> flash configurables to set. I think you greatly underestimate the
> privilege of being at a hyperscaler and having vendors create custom
> products just for you..
> 
> > Those unfamiliar with how hyperscalers operate can mentally
> > replace $hyperscaler with HP or Dell in your message. Minus all the
> > proprietary OOB management stuff those guys also provide.  
> 
> A significant Dell customer will get a server pre-populated with a NIC
> with some generic Dell configuration. In most cases the customer will
> have to then program the flash to match their needs. Set a specific FW
> version, set site specific configurables, etc.
> 
> Similar to how a Dell customer will have to change the BIOS settings
> in the Dell to match their needs.

I can only guess that you are again thinking about RDMA/HPC.
Flashing tunables is not a workable solution for extremely varied 
and ephemeral TCP/IP workloads :|