Introduction

The DOCA Firefly service enables time syncing services based on PTP4L. It can also enable PPS if the used DPU supports this capability.

PTP

The Precision Time Protocol (PTP) is a protocol used to synchronize clocks in a network. When used in conjunction with hardware support, PTP is capable of sub-microsecond accuracy, which is far better than is normally obtainable with NTP (Network Time Protocol). PTP support is divided between the kernel and user space. The ptp4l program implements the PTP boundary clock and ordinary clock. With hardware time stamping, it is used to synchronize the PTP hardware clock to the master clock.

Installation and Getting Started

Install Helm

For installing Helm, refer to the official helm website.

Configuration

Please refer to user guide of DOCA Firefly for the needed setup-related configurations that are required before deploying the service using helm.

Important: Please ensure to specify the desired DOCA Firefly tag for the deployment (list of tags):

• Version
• Tag flavor - A "-host" suffix is needed when deploying over the host

Install Firefly service

Install the chart as follows:

helm fetch https://helm.ngc.nvidia.com/nvidia/doca/charts/doca-firefly-1.0.0.tgz --untar
helm install doca-firefly doca-firefly

Documentation

The DOCA Firefly Service Guide is available here.

License & EULA

This DOCA Microservice is licensed under the NVIDIA Networking Product Agreement. By pulling and using this product, you accept the terms and conditions of this license.

Technical Support

Use the NVIDIA Developers forum for questions regarding this Software.

Enterprise Support

Get access to knowledge base articles and support cases or submit a ticket.