Install System Prerequisites

Note: Vivado and VitisNet P4 are build tools that are required to compile udplb. You will need to separately download Vivado and VitisNet P4 in order to work with this software.

sudo pip3 install scapy robotframework
sudo apt install tshark

Install wireshark/tshark dissectors for the EJFAT protocol stack

mkdir -p ~/.local/lib/wireshark/plugins
cp protocols/ejfat-stack.lua ~/.local/lib/wireshark/plugins/

Set up the vivado tools environment

source /tools/Xilinx/Vivado/2023.2/settings64.sh

Use robot and the p4bm behavioural model to simulate the p4 pipeline

Note: All instructions in this section are relative to the root of the git repo.

Compile the p4 program to

• use the p4c-vitisnet to compile your p4 program into the IR (udplb.json) required by the p4bm simulator

make -s -C p4 compile

Run the robot test suite to

• run the p4 behavioural model (p4bm)
• configure p4 tables
• generate and inject packets into the p4bm simulator
• validate the internal p4 pipeline state after each test
• capture and validate any output packets produced by each test

robot \
  --variable P4_HW_ENV:p4bm-sim \
  --pythonpath=esnet-smartnic-hw/test/library/p4_robot_p4bm \
  --pythonpath=esnet-smartnic-hw/test/library/p4_robot \
  --pythonpath=esnet-smartnic-hw/test/library/packet_robot \
  --pythonpath=robot-tests/library/lb_robot \
  --pythonpath=robot-tests/library/packet_lb_robot \
  -d robot-output/ \
  robot-tests/p4-tests.robot

The test results are stored under the robot-output directory. A test-specific directory under that tree contains the input and output packets and metadata produced by the test.

Displaying the simulation input and output packets (optional)

You can display information about the simulated input packets using capinfos and tshark.

Input packets

export TEST_NAME="LB0_Random_UDP_Ports_UDPLBv3_IPv6_Test"

capinfos robot-output/${TEST_NAME}/packets_in.pcap

tshark \
  -X lua_script:protocols/ejfat-stack.lua \
  -r robot-output/${TEST_NAME}/packets_in.pcap \
  -o 'udp.check_checksum:True' \
  -o 'ip.check_checksum:True' \
  -O ejfatlb,ejfatlbv2,ejfatlbv3,e2sarseg

Output packets

export TEST_NAME="LB0_Random_UDP_Ports_UDPLBv3_IPv6_Test"

capinfos robot-output/${TEST_NAME}/packets_out.pcap

tshark \
  -X lua_script:protocols/ejfat-stack.lua \
  -r robot-output/${TEST_NAME}/packets_out.pcap \
  -o 'udp.check_checksum:True' \
  -o 'ip.check_checksum:True' \
  -O ejfatlb,ejfatlbv2,ejfatlbv3,e2sarseg

Copyright Notice

ESnet-JLab FPGA Accelerated Transport (data plane) [EJFAT (udplb)] Copyright (c) 2025, Malleable Networks Inc, Apical Networks Inc, and 12574861 Canada Inc. All rights reserved.

If you have questions about your rights to use or distribute this software, please contact Berkeley Lab's Intellectual Property Office at IPO@lbl.gov.

NOTICE.  This Software was developed under funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Government consequently retains certain rights.  As such, the U.S. Government has been granted for itself and others acting on its behalf a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license in the Software to reproduce, distribute copies to the public, prepare derivative  works, and perform publicly and display publicly, and to permit others to do so.