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====================
DPDK Virtual Devices
====================

DPDK provides drivers for both physical and virtual devices. Physical DPDK
devices are added to OVS by specifying a valid PCI address in ``dpdk-devargs``.
Virtual DPDK devices which do not have PCI addresses can be added using a
different format for ``dpdk-devargs``.

.. important::

   To use any DPDK-backed interface, you must ensure your bridge is configured
   correctly. For more information, refer to :doc:`bridge`.

.. note::

    Not all DPDK virtual PMD drivers have been tested and verified to work.

.. versionadded:: 2.7.0

Quick Example
-------------

To add a virtual ``dpdk`` devices, the ``dpdk-devargs`` argument should be of
the format ``eth_<driver_name><x>``, where ``x``' is a unique identifier of
your choice for the given port. For example to add a ``dpdk`` port that uses
the ``null`` DPDK PMD driver, run::

   $ ovs-vsctl add-port br0 null0 -- set Interface null0 type=dpdk \
       options:dpdk-devargs=eth_null0

Similarly, to add a ``dpdk`` port that uses the ``af_packet`` DPDK PMD driver,
run::

   $ ovs-vsctl add-port br0 myeth0 -- set Interface myeth0 type=dpdk \
       options:dpdk-devargs=eth_af_packet0,iface=eth0

More information on the different types of virtual DPDK PMDs can be found in
the `DPDK documentation`__.

__ https://doc.dpdk.org/guides-24.11/nics/overview.html
