Provided by: libfabric-dev_2.1.0-1.1_amd64 
NAME
fi_endpoint - Fabric endpoint operations
fi_endpoint / fi_endpoint2 / fi_scalable_ep / fi_passive_ep / fi_close
Allocate or close an endpoint.
fi_ep_bind
Associate an endpoint with hardware resources, such as event queues, completion queues, counters,
address vectors, or shared transmit/receive contexts.
fi_scalable_ep_bind
Associate a scalable endpoint with an address vector
fi_pep_bind
Associate a passive endpoint with an event queue
fi_enable
Transitions an active endpoint into an enabled state.
fi_cancel
Cancel a pending asynchronous data transfer
fi_ep_alias
Create an alias to the endpoint
fi_control
Control endpoint operation.
fi_getopt / fi_setopt
Get or set endpoint options.
fi_rx_context / fi_tx_context / fi_srx_context / fi_stx_context
Open a transmit or receive context.
fi_tc_dscp_set / fi_tc_dscp_get
Convert between a DSCP value and a network traffic class
fi_rx_size_left / fi_tx_size_left (DEPRECATED)
Query the lower bound on how many RX/TX operations may be posted without an operation returning
-FI_EAGAIN. This functions have been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of the
library.
SYNOPSIS
#include <rdma/fabric.h>
#include <rdma/fi_endpoint.h>
int fi_endpoint(struct fid_domain *domain, struct fi_info *info,
struct fid_ep **ep, void *context);
int fi_endpoint2(struct fid_domain *domain, struct fi_info *info,
struct fid_ep **ep, uint64_t flags, void *context);
int fi_scalable_ep(struct fid_domain *domain, struct fi_info *info,
struct fid_ep **sep, void *context);
int fi_passive_ep(struct fi_fabric *fabric, struct fi_info *info,
struct fid_pep **pep, void *context);
int fi_tx_context(struct fid_ep *sep, int index,
struct fi_tx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **tx_ep,
void *context);
int fi_rx_context(struct fid_ep *sep, int index,
struct fi_rx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **rx_ep,
void *context);
int fi_stx_context(struct fid_domain *domain,
struct fi_tx_attr *attr, struct fid_stx **stx,
void *context);
int fi_srx_context(struct fid_domain *domain,
struct fi_rx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **rx_ep,
void *context);
int fi_close(struct fid *ep);
int fi_ep_bind(struct fid_ep *ep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);
int fi_scalable_ep_bind(struct fid_ep *sep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);
int fi_pep_bind(struct fid_pep *pep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);
int fi_enable(struct fid_ep *ep);
int fi_cancel(struct fid_ep *ep, void *context);
int fi_ep_alias(struct fid_ep *ep, struct fid_ep **alias_ep, uint64_t flags);
int fi_control(struct fid *ep, int command, void *arg);
int fi_getopt(struct fid *ep, int level, int optname,
void *optval, size_t *optlen);
int fi_setopt(struct fid *ep, int level, int optname,
const void *optval, size_t optlen);
uint32_t fi_tc_dscp_set(uint8_t dscp);
uint8_t fi_tc_dscp_get(uint32_t tclass);
DEPRECATED ssize_t fi_rx_size_left(struct fid_ep *ep);
DEPRECATED ssize_t fi_tx_size_left(struct fid_ep *ep);
ARGUMENTS
fid On creation, specifies a fabric or access domain. On bind, identifies the event queue, completion
queue, counter, or address vector to bind to the endpoint. In other cases, it’s a fabric identi‐
fier of an associated resource.
info Details about the fabric interface endpoint to be opened. The struct fi_info must have been ob‐
tained using either fi_getinfo() or fi_dupinfo().
ep A fabric endpoint.
sep A scalable fabric endpoint.
pep A passive fabric endpoint.
context
Context associated with the endpoint or asynchronous operation.
index Index to retrieve a specific transmit/receive context.
attr Transmit or receive context attributes.
flags Additional flags to apply to the operation.
command
Command of control operation to perform on endpoint.
arg Optional control argument.
level Protocol level at which the desired option resides.
optname
The protocol option to read or set.
optval The option value that was read or to set.
optlen The size of the optval buffer.
DESCRIPTION
Endpoints are transport level communication portals. There are two types of endpoints: active and pas‐
sive. Passive endpoints belong to a fabric domain and are most often used to listen for incoming connec‐
tion requests. However, a passive endpoint may be used to reserve a fabric address that can be granted
to an active endpoint. Active endpoints belong to access domains and can perform data transfers.
Active endpoints may be connection-oriented or connectionless, and may provide data reliability. The da‐
ta transfer interfaces – messages (fi_msg), tagged messages (fi_tagged), RMA (fi_rma), and atomics
(fi_atomic) – are associated with active endpoints. In basic configurations, an active endpoint has
transmit and receive queues. In general, operations that generate traffic on the fabric are posted to
the transmit queue. This includes all RMA and atomic operations, along with sent messages and sent
tagged messages. Operations that post buffers for receiving incoming data are submitted to the receive
queue.
Active endpoints are created in the disabled state. They must transition into an enabled state before
accepting data transfer operations, including posting of receive buffers. The fi_enable call is used to
transition an active endpoint into an enabled state. The fi_connect and fi_accept calls will also tran‐
sition an endpoint into the enabled state, if it is not already active.
In order to transition an endpoint into an enabled state, it must be bound to one or more fabric re‐
sources. An endpoint that will generate asynchronous completions, either through data transfer opera‐
tions or communication establishment events, must be bound to the appropriate completion queues or event
queues, respectively, before being enabled. Additionally, endpoints that use manual progress must be as‐
sociated with relevant completion queues or event queues in order to drive progress. For endpoints that
are only used as the target of RMA or atomic operations, this means binding the endpoint to a completion
queue associated with receive processing. Connectionless endpoints must be bound to an address vector.
Once an endpoint has been activated, it may be associated with an address vector. Receive buffers may be
posted to it and calls may be made to connection establishment routines. Connectionless endpoints may
also perform data transfers.
The behavior of an endpoint may be adjusted by setting its control data and protocol options. This al‐
lows the underlying provider to redirect function calls to implementations optimized to meet the desired
application behavior.
If an endpoint experiences a critical error, it will transition back into a disabled state. Critical er‐
rors are reported through the event queue associated with the EP. In certain cases, a disabled endpoint
may be re-enabled. The ability to transition back into an enabled state is provider specific and depends
on the type of error that the endpoint experienced. When an endpoint is disabled as a result of a criti‐
cal error, all pending operations are discarded.
fi_endpoint / fi_passive_ep / fi_scalable_ep
fi_endpoint allocates a new active endpoint. fi_passive_ep allocates a new passive endpoint. fi_scal‐
able_ep allocates a scalable endpoint. The properties and behavior of the endpoint are defined based on
the provided struct fi_info. See fi_getinfo for additional details on fi_info. fi_info flags that con‐
trol the operation of an endpoint are defined below. See section SCALABLE ENDPOINTS.
If an active endpoint is allocated in order to accept a connection request, the fi_info parameter must be
the same as the fi_info structure provided with the connection request (FI_CONNREQ) event.
An active endpoint may acquire the properties of a passive endpoint by setting the fi_info handle field
to the passive endpoint fabric descriptor. This is useful for applications that need to reserve the fab‐
ric address of an endpoint prior to knowing if the endpoint will be used on the active or passive side of
a connection. For example, this feature is useful for simulating socket semantics. Once an active end‐
point acquires the properties of a passive endpoint, the passive endpoint is no longer bound to any fab‐
ric resources and must no longer be used. The user is expected to close the passive endpoint after open‐
ing the active endpoint in order to free up any lingering resources that had been used.
fi_endpoint2
Similar to fi_endpoint, buf accepts an extra parameter flags. Mainly used for opening endpoints that use
peer transfer feature. See fi_peer(3)
fi_close
Closes an endpoint and release all resources associated with it.
When closing a scalable endpoint, there must be no opened transmit contexts, or receive contexts associ‐
ated with the scalable endpoint. If resources are still associated with the scalable endpoint when at‐
tempting to close, the call will return -FI_EBUSY.
Outstanding operations posted to the endpoint when fi_close is called will be discarded. Discarded oper‐
ations will silently be dropped, with no completions reported. Additionally, a provider may discard pre‐
viously completed operations from the associated completion queue(s). The behavior to discard completed
operations is provider specific.
fi_ep_bind
fi_ep_bind is used to associate an endpoint with other allocated resources, such as completion queues,
counters, address vectors, event queues, shared contexts, and memory regions. The type of objects that
must be bound with an endpoint depend on the endpoint type and its configuration.
Passive endpoints must be bound with an EQ that supports connection management events. Connectionless
endpoints must be bound to a single address vector. If an endpoint is using a shared transmit and/or re‐
ceive context, the shared contexts must be bound to the endpoint. CQs, counters, AV, and shared contexts
must be bound to endpoints before they are enabled either explicitly or implicitly.
An endpoint must be bound with CQs capable of reporting completions for any asynchronous operation initi‐
ated on the endpoint. For example, if the endpoint supports any outbound transfers (sends, RMA, atomics,
etc.), then it must be bound to a completion queue that can report transmit completions. This is true
even if the endpoint is configured to suppress successful completions, in order that operations that com‐
plete in error may be reported to the user.
An active endpoint may direct asynchronous completions to different CQs, based on the type of operation.
This is specified using fi_ep_bind flags. The following flags may be OR’ed together when binding an end‐
point to a completion domain CQ.
FI_RECV
Directs the notification of inbound data transfers to the specified completion queue. This in‐
cludes received messages. This binding automatically includes FI_REMOTE_WRITE, if applicable to
the endpoint.
FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION
By default, data transfer operations write CQ completion entries into the associated completion
queue after they have successfully completed. Applications can use this bind flag to selectively
enable when completions are generated. If FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is specified, data transfer op‐
erations will not generate CQ entries for successful completions unless FI_COMPLETION is set as an
operational flag for the given operation. Operations that fail asynchronously will still generate
completions, even if a completion is not requested. FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION must be OR’ed with
FI_TRANSMIT and/or FI_RECV flags.
When FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is set, the user must determine when a request that does NOT have FI_COMPLE‐
TION set has completed indirectly, usually based on the completion of a subsequent operation or by using
completion counters. Use of this flag may improve performance by allowing the provider to avoid writing
a CQ completion entry for every operation.
See Notes section below for additional information on how this flag interacts with the FI_CONTEXT and
FI_CONTEXT2 mode bits.
FI_TRANSMIT
Directs the completion of outbound data transfer requests to the specified completion queue. This
includes send message, RMA, and atomic operations.
An endpoint may optionally be bound to a completion counter. Associating an endpoint with a counter is
in addition to binding the EP with a CQ. When binding an endpoint to a counter, the following flags may
be specified.
FI_READ
Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA read, atomic fetch, or atomic compare operation
initiated from the endpoint has completed successfully or in error.
FI_RECV
Increments the specified counter whenever a message is received over the endpoint. Received mes‐
sages include both tagged and normal message operations.
FI_REMOTE_READ
Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA read, atomic fetch, or atomic compare operation
is initiated from a remote endpoint that targets the given endpoint. Use of this flag requires
that the endpoint be created using FI_RMA_EVENT.
FI_REMOTE_WRITE
Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA write or base atomic operation is initiated from
a remote endpoint that targets the given endpoint. Use of this flag requires that the endpoint be
created using FI_RMA_EVENT.
FI_SEND
Increments the specified counter whenever a message transfer initiated over the endpoint has com‐
pleted successfully or in error. Sent messages include both tagged and normal message operations.
FI_WRITE
Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA write or base atomic operation initiated from the
endpoint has completed successfully or in error.
An endpoint may only be bound to a single CQ or counter for a given type of operation. For example, a EP
may not bind to two counters both using FI_WRITE. Furthermore, providers may limit CQ and counter bind‐
ings to endpoints of the same endpoint type (DGRAM, MSG, RDM, etc.).
fi_scalable_ep_bind
fi_scalable_ep_bind is used to associate a scalable endpoint with an address vector. See section on
SCALABLE ENDPOINTS. A scalable endpoint has a single transport level address and can support multiple
transmit and receive contexts. The transmit and receive contexts share the transport-level address. Ad‐
dress vectors that are bound to scalable endpoints are implicitly bound to any transmit or receive con‐
texts created using the scalable endpoint.
fi_enable
This call transitions the endpoint into an enabled state. An endpoint must be enabled before it may be
used to perform data transfers. Enabling an endpoint typically results in hardware resources being as‐
signed to it. Endpoints making use of completion queues, counters, event queues, and/or address vectors
must be bound to them before being enabled.
Calling connect or accept on an endpoint will implicitly enable an endpoint if it has not already been
enabled.
fi_enable may also be used to re-enable an endpoint that has been disabled as a result of experiencing a
critical error. Applications should check the return value from fi_enable to see if a disabled endpoint
has successfully be re-enabled.
fi_cancel
fi_cancel attempts to cancel an outstanding asynchronous operation. Canceling an operation causes the
fabric provider to search for the operation and, if it is still pending, complete it as having been can‐
celed. An error queue entry will be available in the associated error queue with error code FI_ECAN‐
CELED. On the other hand, if the operation completed before the call to fi_cancel, then the completion
status of that operation will be available in the associated completion queue. No specific entry related
to fi_cancel itself will be posted.
Cancel uses the context parameter associated with an operation to identify the request to cancel. Opera‐
tions posted without a valid context parameter – either no context parameter is specified or the context
value was ignored by the provider – cannot be canceled. If multiple outstanding operations match the
context parameter, only one will be canceled. In this case, the operation which is canceled is provider
specific. The cancel operation is asynchronous, but will complete within a bounded period of time.
fi_ep_alias
This call creates an alias to the specified endpoint. Conceptually, an endpoint alias provides an alter‐
nate software path from the application to the underlying provider hardware. An alias EP differs from
its parent endpoint only by its default data transfer flags. For example, an alias EP may be configured
to use a different completion mode. By default, an alias EP inherits the same data transfer flags as the
parent endpoint. An application can use fi_control to modify the alias EP operational flags.
When allocating an alias, an application may configure either the transmit or receive operational flags.
This avoids needing a separate call to fi_control to set those flags. The flags passed to fi_ep_alias
must include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both) with other operational flags OR’ed in. This will override
the transmit or receive flags, respectively, for operations posted through the alias endpoint. All allo‐
cated aliases must be closed for the underlying endpoint to be released.
fi_control
The control operation is used to adjust the default behavior of an endpoint. It allows the underlying
provider to redirect function calls to implementations optimized to meet the desired application behav‐
ior. As a result, calls to fi_ep_control must be serialized against all other calls to an endpoint.
The base operation of an endpoint is selected during creation using struct fi_info. The following con‐
trol commands and arguments may be assigned to an endpoint.
FI_BACKLOG - int *value
This option only applies to passive endpoints. It is used to set the connection request backlog
for listening endpoints.
FI_GETOPSFLAG – uint64_t *flags
Used to retrieve the current value of flags associated with the data transfer operations initiated
on the endpoint. The control argument must include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both) flags to in‐
dicate the type of data transfer flags to be returned. See below for a list of control flags.
FI_GETWAIT – void **
This command allows the user to retrieve the file descriptor associated with a socket endpoint.
The fi_control arg parameter should be an address where a pointer to the returned file descriptor
will be written. See fi_eq.3 for addition details using fi_control with FI_GETWAIT. The file de‐
scriptor may be used for notification that the endpoint is ready to send or receive data.
FI_SETOPSFLAG – uint64_t *flags
Used to change the data transfer operation flags associated with an endpoint. The control argu‐
ment must include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both) to indicate the type of data transfer that the
flags should apply to, with other flags OR’ed in. The given flags will override the previous
transmit and receive attributes that were set when the endpoint was created. Valid control flags
are defined below.
fi_getopt / fi_setopt
Endpoint protocol operations may be retrieved using fi_getopt or set using fi_setopt. Applications spec‐
ify the level that a desired option exists, identify the option, and provide input/output buffers to get
or set the option. fi_setopt provides an application a way to adjust low-level protocol and implementa‐
tion specific details of an endpoint, and must be called before the endpoint is enabled (fi_enable).
The following option levels and option names and parameters are defined.
FI_OPT_ENDPOINT • .RS 2
FI_OPT_CM_DATA_SIZE - size_t
Defines the size of available space in CM messages for user-defined data. This value limits the
amount of data that applications can exchange between peer endpoints using the fi_connect, fi_ac‐
cept, and fi_reject operations. The size returned is dependent upon the properties of the end‐
point, except in the case of passive endpoints, in which the size reflects the maximum size of the
data that may be present as part of a connection request event. This option is read only.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_MIN_MULTI_RECV - size_t
Defines the minimum receive buffer space available below which the receive buffer is released by
the provider (see FI_MULTI_RECV). Modifying this value is only guaranteed to set the minimum
buffer space needed on receives posted after the value has been changed. It is recommended that
applications that want to override the default MIN_MULTI_RECV value set this option before en‐
abling the corresponding endpoint.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_FI_HMEM_P2P - int
Defines how the provider should handle peer to peer FI_HMEM transfers for this endpoint. By de‐
fault, the provider will chose whether to use peer to peer support based on the type of transfer
(FI_HMEM_P2P_ENABLED). Valid values defined in fi_endpoint.h are:
• FI_HMEM_P2P_ENABLED: Peer to peer support may be used by the provider to handle FI_HMEM trans‐
fers, and which transfers are initiated using peer to peer is subject to the provider implemen‐
tation.
• FI_HMEM_P2P_REQUIRED: Peer to peer support must be used for transfers, transfers that cannot be
performed using p2p will be reported as failing.
• FI_HMEM_P2P_PREFERRED: Peer to peer support should be used by the provider for all transfers if
available, but the provider may choose to copy the data to initiate the transfer if peer to peer
support is unavailable.
• FI_HMEM_P2P_DISABLED: Peer to peer support should not be used.
fi_setopt() will return -FI_EOPNOTSUPP if the mode requested cannot be supported by the provider. The
FI_HMEM_DISABLE_P2P environment variable discussed in fi_mr(3) takes precedence over this setopt option.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_CUDA_API_PERMITTED - bool
This option only applies to the fi_setopt call. It is used to control endpoint’s behavior in mak‐
ing calls to CUDA API. By default, an endpoint is permitted to call CUDA API. If user wish to
prohibit an endpoint from making such calls, user can achieve that by set this option to false.
If an endpoint’s support of CUDA memory relies on making calls to CUDA API, it will return
-FI_EOPNOTSUPP for the call to fi_setopt. If either CUDA library or CUDA device is not available,
endpoint will return -FI_EINVAL. All providers that support FI_HMEM capability implement this op‐
tion.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_SHARED_MEMORY_PERMITTED - bool
This option only applies to the fi_setopt call. This option controls the use of shared memory for
intra-node communication. Setting it to true will allow the use of shared memory. When set to
false, shared memory will not be used and the implementation of intra-node communication is
provider dependent.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_MAX_MSG_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum message size that can be transferred by the endpoint in a single untagged mes‐
sage. The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and
must be less than or equal to ep_attr->max_msg_size. Providers that don’t support this option
will return -FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, ep_attr->max_msg_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_MAX_TAGGED_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum message size that can be transferred by the endpoint in a single tagged mes‐
sage. The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and
must be less than or equal to ep_attr->max_msg_size. Providers that don’t support this option
will return -FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, ep_attr->max_msg_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_MAX_RMA_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum message size that can be transferred by the endpoint via a single RMA opera‐
tion. The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and
must be less than or equal to ep_attr->max_msg_size. Providers that don’t support this option
will return -FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, ep_attr->max_msg_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_MAX_ATOMIC_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum data size that can be transferred by the endpoint via a single atomic opera‐
tion. The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and
must be less than or equal to ep_attr->max_msg_size. Providers that don’t support this option
will return -FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, ep_attr->max_msg_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_INJECT_MSG_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum message size that can be injected by the endpoint in a single untagged message.
The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and must be
less than or equal to tx_attr->inject_size. Providers that don’t support this option will return
-FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, tx_attr->inject_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_INJECT_TAGGED_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum message size that can be injected by the endpoint in a single tagged message.
The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and must be
less than or equal to tx_attr->inject_size. Providers that don’t support this option will return
-FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, tx_attr->inject_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_INJECT_RMA_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum data size that can be injected by the endpoint in a single RMA operation. The
size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and must be less
than or equal to tx_attr->inject_size. Providers that don’t support this option will return
-FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, tx_attr->inject_size should be used.
• .RS 2
FI_OPT_INJECT_ATOMIC_SIZE - size_t
Define the maximum data size that can be injected by the endpoint in a single atomic operation.
The size is limited by the endpoint’s configuration and the provider’s capabilities, and must be
less than or equal to tx_attr->inject_size. Providers that don’t support this option will return
-FI_ENOPROTOOPT. In that case, tx_attr->inject_size should be used.
fi_tc_dscp_set
This call converts a DSCP defined value into a libfabric traffic class value. It should be used when as‐
signing a DSCP value when setting the tclass field in either domain or endpoint attributes
fi_tc_dscp_get
This call returns the DSCP value associated with the tclass field for the domain or endpoint attributes.
fi_rx_size_left (DEPRECATED)
This function has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of the library. It may not be
supported by all providers.
The fi_rx_size_left call returns a lower bound on the number of receive operations that may be posted to
the given endpoint without that operation returning -FI_EAGAIN. Depending on the specific details of the
subsequently posted receive operations (e.g., number of iov entries, which receive function is called,
etc.), it may be possible to post more receive operations than originally indicated by fi_rx_size_left.
fi_tx_size_left (DEPRECATED)
This function has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version of the library. It may not be
supported by all providers.
The fi_tx_size_left call returns a lower bound on the number of transmit operations that may be posted to
the given endpoint without that operation returning -FI_EAGAIN. Depending on the specific details of the
subsequently posted transmit operations (e.g., number of iov entries, which transmit function is called,
etc.), it may be possible to post more transmit operations than originally indicated by fi_tx_size_left.
ENDPOINT ATTRIBUTES
The fi_ep_attr structure defines the set of attributes associated with an endpoint. Endpoint attributes
may be further refined using the transmit and receive context attributes as shown below.
struct fi_ep_attr {
enum fi_ep_type type;
uint32_t protocol;
uint32_t protocol_version;
size_t max_msg_size;
size_t msg_prefix_size;
size_t max_order_raw_size;
size_t max_order_war_size;
size_t max_order_waw_size;
uint64_t mem_tag_format;
size_t tx_ctx_cnt;
size_t rx_ctx_cnt;
size_t auth_key_size;
uint8_t *auth_key;
};
type - Endpoint Type
If specified, indicates the type of fabric interface communication desired. Supported types are:
FI_EP_DGRAM
Supports a connectionless, unreliable datagram communication. Message boundaries are maintained,
but the maximum message size may be limited to the fabric MTU. Flow control is not guaranteed.
FI_EP_MSG
Provides a reliable, connection-oriented data transfer service with flow control that maintains
message boundaries.
FI_EP_RDM
Reliable datagram message. Provides a reliable, connectionless data transfer service with flow
control that maintains message boundaries.
FI_EP_UNSPEC
The type of endpoint is not specified. This is usually provided as input, with other attributes
of the endpoint or the provider selecting the type.
Protocol
Specifies the low-level end to end protocol employed by the provider. A matching protocol must be used
by communicating endpoints to ensure interoperability. The following protocol values are defined.
Provider specific protocols are also allowed. Provider specific protocols will be indicated by having
the upper bit of the protocol value set to one.
FI_PROTO_EFA
Proprietary protocol on Elastic Fabric Adapter fabric. It supports both DGRAM and RDM endpoints.
FI_PROTO_IB_RDM
Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over InfiniBand reliable-connected queue pairs.
FI_PROTO_IB_UD
The protocol runs over Infiniband unreliable datagram queue pairs.
FI_PROTO_IWARP
The protocol runs over the Internet wide area RDMA protocol transport.
FI_PROTO_IWARP_RDM
Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over iWarp reliable-connected queue pairs.
FI_PROTO_NETWORKDIRECT
Protocol runs over Microsoft NetworkDirect service provider interface. This adds reliable-data‐
gram semantics over the NetworkDirect connection- oriented endpoint semantics.
FI_PROTO_PSMX2
The protocol is based on an Intel proprietary protocol known as PSM2, performance scaled messaging
version 2. PSMX2 is an extended version of the PSM2 protocol to support the libfabric interfaces.
FI_PROTO_PSMX3
The protocol is Intel’s protocol known as PSM3, performance scaled messaging version 3. PSMX3 is
implemented over RoCEv2 and verbs.
FI_PROTO_RDMA_CM_IB_RC
The protocol runs over Infiniband reliable-connected queue pairs, using the RDMA CM protocol for
connection establishment.
FI_PROTO_RXD
Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over datagram endpoints. RXD is a libfabric utility compo‐
nent that adds RDM endpoint semantics over DGRAM endpoint semantics.
FI_PROTO_RXM
Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over message endpoints. RXM is a libfabric utility compo‐
nent that adds RDM endpoint semantics over MSG endpoint semantics.
FI_PROTO_SOCK_TCP
The protocol is layered over TCP packets.
FI_PROTO_UDP
The protocol sends and receives UDP datagrams. For example, an endpoint using FI_PROTO_UDP will
be able to communicate with a remote peer that is using Berkeley SOCK_DGRAM sockets using IPPRO‐
TO_UDP.
FI_PROTO_SHM
Protocol for intra-node communication using shared memory segments used by the shm provider
FI_PROTO_SM2
Protocol for intra-node communication using shared memory segments used by the sm2 provider
FI_PROTO_CXI
Reliable-datagram protocol optimized for HPC applications used by cxi provider.
FI_PROTO_CXI_RNR
A version of the FI_PROTO_CXI protocol that implements an RNR protocol which can be used when mes‐
saging is primarily expected and FI_ORDER_SAS ordering is not required.
FI_PROTO_UNSPEC
The protocol is not specified. This is usually provided as input, with other attributes of the
socket or the provider selecting the actual protocol.
protocol_version - Protocol Version
Identifies which version of the protocol is employed by the provider. The protocol version allows
providers to extend an existing protocol, by adding support for additional features or functionality for
example, in a backward compatible manner. Providers that support different versions of the same protocol
should inter-operate, but only when using the capabilities defined for the lesser version.
max_msg_size - Max Message Size
Defines the maximum size for an application data transfer as a single operation.
msg_prefix_size - Message Prefix Size
Specifies the size of any required message prefix buffer space. This field will be 0 unless the
FI_MSG_PREFIX mode is enabled. If msg_prefix_size is > 0 the specified value will be a multiple of
8-bytes.
Max RMA Ordered Size
The maximum ordered size specifies the delivery order of transport data into target memory for RMA and
atomic operations. Data ordering is separate, but dependent on message ordering (defined below). Data
ordering is unspecified where message order is not defined.
Data ordering refers to the access of the same target memory by subsequent operations. When back to back
RMA read or write operations access the same registered memory location, data ordering indicates whether
the second operation reads or writes the target memory after the first operation has completed. For ex‐
ample, will an RMA read that follows an RMA write read back the data that was written? Similarly, will
an RMA write that follows an RMA read update the target buffer after the read has transferred the origi‐
nal data? Data ordering answers these questions, even in the presence of errors, such as the need to re‐
send data because of lost or corrupted network traffic.
RMA ordering applies between two operations, and not within a single data transfer. Therefore, ordering
is defined per byte-addressable memory location. I.e. ordering specifies whether location X is accessed
by the second operation after the first operation. Nothing is implied about the completion of the first
operation before the second operation is initiated. For example, if the first operation updates loca‐
tions X and Y, but the second operation only accesses location X, there are no guarantees defined rela‐
tive to location Y and the second operation.
In order to support large data transfers being broken into multiple packets and sent using multiple paths
through the fabric, data ordering may be limited to transfers of a specific size or less. Providers
specify when data ordering is maintained through the following values. Note that even if data ordering
is not maintained, message ordering may be.
max_order_raw_size
Read after write size. If set, an RMA or atomic read operation issued after an RMA or atomic
write operation, both of which are smaller than the size, will be ordered. Where the target memo‐
ry locations overlap, the RMA or atomic read operation will see the results of the previous RMA or
atomic write.
max_order_war_size
Write after read size. If set, an RMA or atomic write operation issued after an RMA or atomic
read operation, both of which are smaller than the size, will be ordered. The RMA or atomic read
operation will see the initial value of the target memory location before a subsequent RMA or
atomic write updates the value.
max_order_waw_size
Write after write size. If set, an RMA or atomic write operation issued after an RMA or atomic
write operation, both of which are smaller than the size, will be ordered. The target memory lo‐
cation will reflect the results of the second RMA or atomic write.
An order size value of 0 indicates that ordering is not guaranteed. A value of -1 guarantees ordering
for any data size.
mem_tag_format - Memory Tag Format
The memory tag format field is used to convey information on the use of the tag and ignore parameters in
the fi_tagged API calls, as well as matching criteria. This information is used by the provider to opti‐
mize tag matching support, including alignment with wire protocols. The following tag formats are de‐
fined:
FI_TAG_BITS
If specified on input to fi_getinfo, this indicates that tags contain up to 64-bits of data, and
the receiver must apply ignore_bits to tags when matching receive buffers with sends. The output
of fi_getinfo will set 0 or more upper bits of mem_tag_format to 0 to indicate those tag bits
which are ignored or reserved by the provider. Applications must check the number of upper bits
which are 0 and set them to 0 on all tag and ignore bits.
The value of FI_TAG_BITS is 0, making this the default behavior if the hints are left uninialized after
being allocated by fi_allocinfo(). This format provides the most flexibility to applications, but limits
provider optimization options. FI_TAG_BITS aligns with the behavior defined for libfabric versions 1.x.
FI_TAG_MPI
FI_TAG_MPI is a constrained usage of FI_TAG_BITS. When selected, applications treat the tag as
fields of data, rather than bits, with the ability to wildcard each field. The MPI tag format
specifically targets MPI based implementations and applications. An MPI formatted tag consists of
2 fields: a message tag and a payload identier. The message tag is a 32-bit searchable tag.
Matching on a message tag requires searching through a list of posted buffers at the receiver,
which we refer to as a searchable tag. The integer tag in MPI point-to-point messages can map di‐
rectly to the libfabric message tag field.
The second field is an identifier that corresponds to the operation or data being carried in the message
payload. For example, this field may be used to identify the type of collective operation associated
with a message payload. Note that only the size and behavior for the MPI tag formats are defined. De‐
scribed use of the fields are only suggestions.
Applications that use the MPI format should initialize their tags using the fi_tag_mpi() function. Ig‐
nore bits should be specified as FI_MPI_IGNORE_TAG, FI_MPI_IGNORE_PAYLOAD, or their bitwise OR’ing.
FI_TAG_CCL
The FI_TAG_CCL format further restricts the FI_TAG_MPI format. When used, only a single tag field
may be set, which must match exactly at the target. The field may not be wild carded. The CCL
tag format targets collective communication libraries and applications. The CCL format consists
of a single field: a payload identifier. The identifier corresponds to the operation or data be‐
ing carried in the message payload. For example, this field may be used to identify whether a
message is for point-to-point communication or part of a collective operation, and in the latter
case, the type of collective operation.
The CCL tag format does not require searching for matching receive buffers, only directing the message to
the correct virtual message queue based on to the payload identifier.
Applications that use the CCL format pass in the payload identifier directly as the tag and set ignore
bits to 0.
FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT
If the value of mem_tag_format is >= FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT, the tag format is treated as a set of bit
fields. The behavior is functionally the same as FI_TAG_BITS. The following description is for
backwards compatibility and describes how the provider may interpret the mem_tag_format field if
the value is >= FI_TAG_MAX_FORMAT.
The memory tag format may be used to divide the bit array into separate fields. The mem_tag_format op‐
tionally begins with a series of bits set to 0, to signify bits which are ignored by the provider. Fol‐
lowing the initial prefix of ignored bits, the array will consist of alternating groups of bits set to
all 1’s or all 0’s. Each group of bits corresponds to a tagged field. The implication of defining a
tagged field is that when a mask is applied to the tagged bit array, all bits belonging to a single field
will either be set to 1 or 0, collectively.
For example, a mem_tag_format of 0x30FF indicates support for 14 tagged bits, separated into 3 fields.
The first field consists of 2-bits, the second field 4-bits, and the final field 8-bits. Valid masks for
such a tagged field would be a bitwise OR’ing of zero or more of the following values: 0x3000, 0x0F00,
and 0x00FF. The provider may not validate the mask provided by the application for performance reasons.
By identifying fields within a tag, a provider may be able to optimize their search routines. An appli‐
cation which requests tag fields must provide tag masks that either set all mask bits corresponding to a
field to all 0 or all 1. When negotiating tag fields, an application can request a specific number of
fields of a given size. A provider must return a tag format that supports the requested number of
fields, with each field being at least the size requested, or fail the request. A provider may increase
the size of the fields. When reporting completions (see FI_CQ_FORMAT_TAGGED), it is not guaranteed that
the provider would clear out any unsupported tag bits in the tag field of the completion entry.
It is recommended that field sizes be ordered from smallest to largest. A generic, unstructured tag and
mask can be achieved by requesting a bit array consisting of alternating 1’s and 0’s.
tx_ctx_cnt - Transmit Context Count
Number of transmit contexts to associate with the endpoint. If not specified (0), 1 context will be as‐
signed if the endpoint supports outbound transfers. Transmit contexts are independent transmit queues
that may be separately configured. Each transmit context may be bound to a separate CQ, and no ordering
is defined between contexts. Additionally, no synchronization is needed when accessing contexts in par‐
allel.
If the count is set to the value FI_SHARED_CONTEXT, the endpoint will be configured to use a shared
transmit context, if supported by the provider. Providers that do not support shared transmit contexts
will fail the request.
See the scalable endpoint and shared contexts sections for additional details.
rx_ctx_cnt - Receive Context Count
Number of receive contexts to associate with the endpoint. If not specified, 1 context will be assigned
if the endpoint supports inbound transfers. Receive contexts are independent processing queues that may
be separately configured. Each receive context may be bound to a separate CQ, and no ordering is defined
between contexts. Additionally, no synchronization is needed when accessing contexts in parallel.
If the count is set to the value FI_SHARED_CONTEXT, the endpoint will be configured to use a shared re‐
ceive context, if supported by the provider. Providers that do not support shared receive contexts will
fail the request.
See the scalable endpoint and shared contexts sections for additional details.
auth_key_size - Authorization Key Length
The length of the authorization key in bytes. This field will be 0 if authorization keys are not avail‐
able or used. This field is ignored unless the fabric is opened with API version 1.5 or greater.
If the domain is opened with FI_AV_AUTH_KEY, auth_key_size must be 0.
auth_key - Authorization Key
If supported by the fabric, an authorization key (a.k.a. job key) to associate with the endpoint. An
authorization key is used to limit communication between endpoints. Only peer endpoints that are pro‐
grammed to use the same authorization key may communicate. Authorization keys are often used to imple‐
ment job keys, to ensure that processes running in different jobs do not accidentally cross traffic. The
domain authorization key will be used if auth_key_size is set to 0. This field is ignored unless the
fabric is opened with API version 1.5 or greater.
If the domain is opened with FI_AV_AUTH_KEY, auth_key is must be NULL.
TRANSMIT CONTEXT ATTRIBUTES
Attributes specific to the transmit capabilities of an endpoint are specified using struct fi_tx_attr.
struct fi_tx_attr {
uint64_t caps;
uint64_t mode;
uint64_t op_flags;
uint64_t msg_order;
uint64_t comp_order;
size_t inject_size;
size_t size;
size_t iov_limit;
size_t rma_iov_limit;
uint32_t tclass;
};
caps - Capabilities
The requested capabilities of the context. The capabilities must be a subset of those requested of the
associated endpoint. See the CAPABILITIES section of fi_getinfo(3) for capability details. If the caps
field is 0 on input to fi_getinfo(3), the applicable capability bits from the fi_info structure will be
used.
The following capabilities apply to the transmit attributes: FI_MSG, FI_RMA, FI_TAGGED, FI_ATOMIC,
FI_READ, FI_WRITE, FI_SEND, FI_HMEM, FI_TRIGGER, FI_FENCE, FI_MULTICAST, FI_RMA_PMEM, FI_NAMED_RX_CTX,
FI_COLLECTIVE, and FI_XPU.
Many applications will be able to ignore this field and rely solely on the fi_info::caps field. Use of
this field provides fine grained control over the transmit capabilities associated with an endpoint. It
is useful when handling scalable endpoints, with multiple transmit contexts, for example, and allows con‐
figuring a specific transmit context with fewer capabilities than that supported by the endpoint or other
transmit contexts.
mode
The operational mode bits of the context. The mode bits will be a subset of those associated with the
endpoint. See the MODE section of fi_getinfo(3) for details. A mode value of 0 will be ignored on input
to fi_getinfo(3), with the mode value of the fi_info structure used instead. On return from fi_get‐
info(3), the mode will be set only to those constraints specific to transmit operations.
op_flags - Default transmit operation flags
Flags that control the operation of operations submitted against the context. Applicable flags are list‐
ed in the Operation Flags section.
msg_order - Message Ordering
Message ordering refers to the order in which transport layer headers (as viewed by the application) are
identified and processed. Relaxed message order enables data transfers to be sent and received out of
order, which may improve performance by utilizing multiple paths through the fabric from the initiating
endpoint to a target endpoint. Message order applies only between a single source and destination end‐
point pair. Ordering between different target endpoints is not defined.
Message order is determined using a set of ordering bits. Each set bit indicates that ordering is main‐
tained between data transfers of the specified type. Message order is defined for [read | write | send]
operations submitted by an application after [read | write | send] operations. Value 0 indicates that no
ordering is specified. Value 0 may be used as input in order to obtain the default message order sup‐
ported by the provider.
Message ordering only applies to the end to end transmission of transport headers. Message ordering is
necessary, but does not guarantee, the order in which message data is sent or received by the transport
layer. Message ordering requires matching ordering semantics on the receiving side of a data transfer
operation in order to guarantee that ordering is met.
FI_ORDER_NONE (deprecated)
This is an alias for value 0. It is deprecated and should not be used.
FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_RAR
Atomic read after read. If set, atomic fetch operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to other atomic fetch operations. If not set, atomic fetches may be transmitted out of
order from their submission.
FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_RAW
Atomic read after write. If set, atomic fetch operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to atomic update operations. If not set, atomic fetches may be transmitted ahead of
atomic updates.
FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_WAR
RMA write after read. If set, atomic update operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to atomic fetch operations. If not set, atomic updates may be transmitted ahead of atom‐
ic fetches.
FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_WAW
RMA write after write. If set, atomic update operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to other atomic update operations. If not atomic updates may be transmitted out of order
from their submission.
FI_ORDER_RAR
Read after read. If set, RMA and atomic read operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to other RMA and atomic read operations. If not set, RMA and atomic reads may be trans‐
mitted out of order from their submission.
FI_ORDER_RAS
Read after send. If set, RMA and atomic read operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to message send operations, including tagged sends. If not set, RMA and atomic reads may
be transmitted ahead of sends.
FI_ORDER_RAW
Read after write. If set, RMA and atomic read operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to RMA and atomic write operations. If not set, RMA and atomic reads may be transmitted
ahead of RMA and atomic writes.
FI_ORDER_RMA_RAR
RMA read after read. If set, RMA read operations are transmitted in the order submitted relative
to other RMA read operations. If not set, RMA reads may be transmitted out of order from their
submission.
FI_ORDER_RMA_RAW
RMA read after write. If set, RMA read operations are transmitted in the order submitted relative
to RMA write operations. If not set, RMA reads may be transmitted ahead of RMA writes.
FI_ORDER_RMA_WAR
RMA write after read. If set, RMA write operations are transmitted in the order submitted rela‐
tive to RMA read operations. If not set, RMA writes may be transmitted ahead of RMA reads.
FI_ORDER_RMA_WAW
RMA write after write. If set, RMA write operations are transmitted in the order submitted rela‐
tive to other RMA write operations. If not set, RMA writes may be transmitted out of order from
their submission.
FI_ORDER_SAR
Send after read. If set, message send operations, including tagged sends, are transmitted in or‐
der submitted relative to RMA and atomic read operations. If not set, message sends may be trans‐
mitted ahead of RMA and atomic reads.
FI_ORDER_SAS
Send after send. If set, message send operations, including tagged sends, are transmitted in the
order submitted relative to other message send. If not set, message sends may be transmitted out
of order from their submission.
FI_ORDER_SAW
Send after write. If set, message send operations, including tagged sends, are transmitted in or‐
der submitted relative to RMA and atomic write operations. If not set, message sends may be
transmitted ahead of RMA and atomic writes.
FI_ORDER_WAR
Write after read. If set, RMA and atomic write operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to RMA and atomic read operations. If not set, RMA and atomic writes may be transmitted
ahead of RMA and atomic reads.
FI_ORDER_WAS
Write after send. If set, RMA and atomic write operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to message send operations, including tagged sends. If not set, RMA and atomic writes
may be transmitted ahead of sends.
FI_ORDER_WAW
Write after write. If set, RMA and atomic write operations are transmitted in the order submitted
relative to other RMA and atomic write operations. If not set, RMA and atomic writes may be
transmitted out of order from their submission.
comp_order - Completion Ordering
This field is provided for version 1 compatibility and should be set to 0.
Deprecated
Completion ordering refers to the order in which completed requests are written into the completion
queue. Supported completion order values are:
FI_ORDER_NONE (deprecated)
No ordering is defined for completed operations. Requests submitted to the transmit context may
complete in any order.
FI_ORDER_STRICT (deprecated)
Requests complete in the order in which they are submitted to the transmit context.
inject_size
The requested inject operation size (see the FI_INJECT flag) that the context will support. This is the
maximum size data transfer that can be associated with an inject operation (such as fi_inject) or may be
used with the FI_INJECT data transfer flag.
size
The size of the transmit context. The mapping of the size value to resources is provider specific, but
it is directly related to the number of command entries allocated for the endpoint. A smaller size value
consumes fewer hardware and software resources, while a larger size allows queuing more transmit re‐
quests.
While the size attribute guides the size of underlying endpoint transmit queue, there is not necessarily
a one-to-one mapping between a transmit operation and a queue entry. A single transmit operation may
consume multiple queue entries; for example, one per scatter-gather entry. Additionally, the size field
is intended to guide the allocation of the endpoint’s transmit context. Specifically, for connectionless
endpoints, there may be lower-level queues use to track communication on a per peer basis. The sizes of
any lower-level queues may only be significantly smaller than the endpoint’s transmit size, in order to
reduce resource utilization.
iov_limit
This is the maximum number of IO vectors (scatter-gather elements) that a single posted operation may
reference.
rma_iov_limit
This is the maximum number of RMA IO vectors (scatter-gather elements) that an RMA or atomic operation
may reference. The rma_iov_limit corresponds to the rma_iov_count values in RMA and atomic operations.
See struct fi_msg_rma and struct fi_msg_atomic in fi_rma.3 and fi_atomic.3, for additional details. This
limit applies to both the number of RMA IO vectors that may be specified when initiating an operation
from the local endpoint, as well as the maximum number of IO vectors that may be carried in a single re‐
quest from a remote endpoint.
Traffic Class (tclass)
Traffic classes can be a differentiated services code point (DSCP) value, one of the following defined
labels, or a provider-specific definition. If tclass is unset or set to FI_TC_UNSPEC, the endpoint will
use the default traffic class associated with the domain.
FI_TC_BEST_EFFORT
This is the default in the absence of any other local or fabric configuration. This class carries
the traffic for a number of applications executing concurrently over the same network infrastruc‐
ture. Even though it is shared, network capacity and resource allocation are distributed fairly
across the applications.
FI_TC_BULK_DATA
This class is intended for large data transfers associated with I/O and is present to separate
sustained I/O transfers from other application inter-process communications.
FI_TC_DEDICATED_ACCESS
This class operates at the highest priority, except the management class. It carries a high band‐
width allocation, minimum latency targets, and the highest scheduling and arbitration priority.
FI_TC_LOW_LATENCY
This class supports low latency, low jitter data patterns typically caused by transactional data
exchanges, barrier synchronizations, and collective operations that are typical of HPC applica‐
tions. This class often requires maximum tolerable latencies that data transfers must achieve for
correct or performance operations. Fulfillment of such requests in this class will typically re‐
quire accompanying bandwidth and message size limitations so as not to consume excessive bandwidth
at high priority.
FI_TC_NETWORK_CTRL
This class is intended for traffic directly related to fabric (network) management, which is crit‐
ical to the correct operation of the network. Its use is typically restricted to privileged net‐
work management applications.
FI_TC_SCAVENGER
This class is used for data that is desired but does not have strict delivery requirements, such
as in-band network or application level monitoring data. Use of this class indicates that the
traffic is considered lower priority and should not interfere with higher priority workflows.
fi_tc_dscp_set / fi_tc_dscp_get
DSCP values are supported via the DSCP get and set functions. The definitions for DSCP values are
outside the scope of libfabric. See the fi_tc_dscp_set and fi_tc_dscp_get function definitions
for details on their use.
RECEIVE CONTEXT ATTRIBUTES
Attributes specific to the receive capabilities of an endpoint are specified using struct fi_rx_attr.
struct fi_rx_attr {
uint64_t caps;
uint64_t mode;
uint64_t op_flags;
uint64_t msg_order;
uint64_t comp_order;
size_t size;
size_t iov_limit;
};
caps - Capabilities
The requested capabilities of the context. The capabilities must be a subset of those requested of the
associated endpoint. See the CAPABILITIES section if fi_getinfo(3) for capability details. If the caps
field is 0 on input to fi_getinfo(3), the applicable capability bits from the fi_info structure will be
used.
The following capabilities apply to the receive attributes: FI_MSG, FI_RMA, FI_TAGGED, FI_ATOMIC, FI_RE‐
MOTE_READ, FI_REMOTE_WRITE, FI_RECV, FI_HMEM, FI_TRIGGER, FI_RMA_PMEM, FI_DIRECTED_RECV, FI_TAGGED_DI‐
RECTED_RECV, FI_TAGGED_MULTI_RECV, FI_MULTI_RECV, FI_SOURCE, FI_RMA_EVENT, FI_SOURCE_ERR, FI_COLLECTIVE,
and FI_XPU.
Many applications will be able to ignore this field and rely solely on the fi_info::caps field. Use of
this field provides fine grained control over the receive capabilities associated with an endpoint. It
is useful when handling scalable endpoints, with multiple receive contexts, for example, and allows con‐
figuring a specific receive context with fewer capabilities than that supported by the endpoint or other
receive contexts.
mode
The operational mode bits of the context. The mode bits will be a subset of those associated with the
endpoint. See the MODE section of fi_getinfo(3) for details. A mode value of 0 will be ignored on input
to fi_getinfo(3), with the mode value of the fi_info structure used instead. On return from fi_get‐
info(3), the mode will be set only to those constraints specific to receive operations.
op_flags - Default receive operation flags
Flags that control the operation of operations submitted against the context. Applicable flags are list‐
ed in the Operation Flags section.
msg_order - Message Ordering
For a description of message ordering, see the msg_order field in the Transmit Context Attribute section.
Receive context message ordering defines the order in which received transport message headers are
processed when received by an endpoint. When ordering is set, it indicates that message headers will be
processed in order, based on how the transmit side has identified the messages. Typically, this means
that messages will be handled in order based on a message level sequence number.
The following ordering flags, as defined for transmit ordering, also apply to the processing of received
operations: FI_ORDER_RAR, FI_ORDER_RAW, FI_ORDER_RAS, FI_ORDER_WAR, FI_ORDER_WAW, FI_ORDER_WAS, FI_OR‐
DER_SAR, FI_ORDER_SAW, FI_ORDER_SAS, FI_ORDER_RMA_RAR, FI_ORDER_RMA_RAW, FI_ORDER_RMA_WAR, FI_OR‐
DER_RMA_WAW, FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_RAR, FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_RAW, FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_WAR, and FI_ORDER_ATOMIC_WAW.
comp_order - Completion Ordering
This field is provided for version 1 compatibility and should be set to 0.
Deprecated
Completion ordering refers to the order in which completed requests are written into the completion
queue. Supported completion order values are:
FI_ORDER_DATA (deprecated)
When set, this bit indicates that received data is written into memory in order. Data ordering
applies to memory accessed as part of a single operation and between operations if message order‐
ing is guaranteed.
FI_ORDER_NONE (deprecated)
No ordering is defined for completed operations. Requests submitted to the transmit context may
complete in any order.
FI_ORDER_STRICT (deprecated)
Requests complete in the order in which they are submitted to the transmit context.
total_buffered_recv
This field is provided for version 1 compatibility and should be set to 0.
size
The size of the receive context. The mapping of the size value to resources is provider specific, but it
is directly related to the number of command entries allocated for the endpoint. A smaller size value
consumes fewer hardware and software resources, while a larger size allows queuing more transmit re‐
quests.
While the size attribute guides the size of underlying endpoint receive queue, there is not necessarily a
one-to-one mapping between a receive operation and a queue entry. A single receive operation may consume
multiple queue entries; for example, one per scatter-gather entry. Additionally, the size field is in‐
tended to guide the allocation of the endpoint’s receive context. Specifically, for connectionless end‐
points, there may be lower-level queues use to track communication on a per peer basis. The sizes of any
lower-level queues may only be significantly smaller than the endpoint’s receive size, in order to reduce
resource utilization.
iov_limit
This is the maximum number of IO vectors (scatter-gather elements) that a single posted operating may
reference.
SCALABLE ENDPOINTS
A scalable endpoint is a communication portal that supports multiple transmit and receive contexts.
Scalable endpoints are loosely modeled after the networking concept of transmit/receive side scaling, al‐
so known as multi-queue. Support for scalable endpoints is domain specific. Scalable endpoints may im‐
prove the performance of multi-threaded and parallel applications, by allowing threads to access indepen‐
dent transmit and receive queues. A scalable endpoint has a single transport level address, which can
reduce the memory requirements needed to store remote addressing data, versus using standard endpoints.
Scalable endpoints cannot be used directly for communication operations, and require the application to
explicitly create transmit and receive contexts as described below.
fi_tx_context
Transmit contexts are independent transmit queues. Ordering and synchronization between contexts are not
defined. Conceptually a transmit context behaves similar to a send-only endpoint. A transmit context
may be configured with fewer capabilities than the base endpoint and with different attributes (such as
ordering requirements and inject size) than other contexts associated with the same scalable endpoint.
Each transmit context has its own completion queue. The number of transmit contexts associated with an
endpoint is specified during endpoint creation.
The fi_tx_context call is used to retrieve a specific context, identified by an index (see above for de‐
tails on transmit context attributes). Providers may dynamically allocate contexts when fi_tx_context is
called, or may statically create all contexts when fi_endpoint is invoked. By default, a transmit con‐
text inherits the properties of its associated endpoint. However, applications may request context spe‐
cific attributes through the attr parameter. Support for per transmit context attributes is provider
specific and not guaranteed. Providers will return the actual attributes assigned to the context through
the attr parameter, if provided.
fi_rx_context
Receive contexts are independent receive queues for receiving incoming data. Ordering and synchroniza‐
tion between contexts are not guaranteed. Conceptually a receive context behaves similar to a receive-
only endpoint. A receive context may be configured with fewer capabilities than the base endpoint and
with different attributes (such as ordering requirements and inject size) than other contexts associated
with the same scalable endpoint. Each receive context has its own completion queue. The number of re‐
ceive contexts associated with an endpoint is specified during endpoint creation.
Receive contexts are often associated with steering flows, that specify which incoming packets targeting
a scalable endpoint to process. However, receive contexts may be targeted directly by the initiator, if
supported by the underlying protocol. Such contexts are referred to as `named'. Support for named con‐
texts must be indicated by setting the caps FI_NAMED_RX_CTX capability when the corresponding endpoint is
created. Support for named receive contexts is coordinated with address vectors. See fi_av(3) and
fi_rx_addr(3).
The fi_rx_context call is used to retrieve a specific context, identified by an index (see above for de‐
tails on receive context attributes). Providers may dynamically allocate contexts when fi_rx_context is
called, or may statically create all contexts when fi_endpoint is invoked. By default, a receive context
inherits the properties of its associated endpoint. However, applications may request context specific
attributes through the attr parameter. Support for per receive context attributes is provider specific
and not guaranteed. Providers will return the actual attributes assigned to the context through the attr
parameter, if provided.
SHARED CONTEXTS
Shared contexts are transmit and receive contexts explicitly shared among one or more endpoints. A
shareable context allows an application to use a single dedicated provider resource among multiple trans‐
port addressable endpoints. This can greatly reduce the resources needed to manage communication over
multiple endpoints by multiplexing transmit and/or receive processing, with the potential cost of serial‐
izing access across multiple endpoints. Support for shareable contexts is domain specific.
Conceptually, shareable transmit contexts are transmit queues that may be accessed by many endpoints.
The use of a shared transmit context is mostly opaque to an application. Applications must allocate and
bind shared transmit contexts to endpoints, but operations are posted directly to the endpoint. Shared
transmit contexts are not associated with completion queues or counters. Completed operations are posted
to the CQs bound to the endpoint. An endpoint may only be associated with a single shared transmit con‐
text.
Unlike shared transmit contexts, applications interact directly with shared receive contexts. Users post
receive buffers directly to a shared receive context, with the buffers usable by any endpoint bound to
the shared receive context. Shared receive contexts are not associated with completion queues or coun‐
ters. Completed receive operations are posted to the CQs bound to the endpoint. An endpoint may only be
associated with a single receive context, and all connectionless endpoints associated with a shared re‐
ceive context must also share the same address vector.
Endpoints associated with a shared transmit context may use dedicated receive contexts, and vice-versa.
Or an endpoint may use shared transmit and receive contexts. And there is no requirement that the same
group of endpoints sharing a context of one type also share the context of an alternate type. Further‐
more, an endpoint may use a shared context of one type, but a scalable set of contexts of the alternate
type.
fi_stx_context
This call is used to open a shareable transmit context (see above for details on the transmit context at‐
tributes). Endpoints associated with a shared transmit context must use a subset of the transmit con‐
text’s attributes. Note that this is the reverse of the requirement for transmit contexts for scalable
endpoints.
fi_srx_context
This allocates a shareable receive context (see above for details on the receive context attributes).
Endpoints associated with a shared receive context must use a subset of the receive context’s attributes.
Note that this is the reverse of the requirement for receive contexts for scalable endpoints.
SOCKET ENDPOINTS
The following feature and description should be considered experimental. Until the experimental tag is
removed, the interfaces, semantics, and data structures associated with socket endpoints may change be‐
tween library versions.
This section applies to endpoints of type FI_EP_SOCK_STREAM and FI_EP_SOCK_DGRAM, commonly referred to as
socket endpoints.
Socket endpoints are defined with semantics that allow them to more easily be adopted by developers fa‐
miliar with the UNIX socket API, or by middleware that exposes the socket API, while still taking advan‐
tage of high-performance hardware features.
The key difference between socket endpoints and other active endpoints are socket endpoints use synchro‐
nous data transfers. Buffers passed into send and receive operations revert to the control of the appli‐
cation upon returning from the function call. As a result, no data transfer completions are reported to
the application, and socket endpoints are not associated with completion queues or counters.
Socket endpoints support a subset of message operations: fi_send, fi_sendv, fi_sendmsg, fi_recv,
fi_recvv, fi_recvmsg, and fi_inject. Because data transfers are synchronous, the return value from send
and receive operations indicate the number of bytes transferred on success, or a negative value on error,
including -FI_EAGAIN if the endpoint cannot send or receive any data because of full or empty queues, re‐
spectively.
Socket endpoints are associated with event queues and address vectors, and process connection management
events asynchronously, similar to other endpoints. Unlike UNIX sockets, socket endpoint must still be
declared as either active or passive.
Socket endpoints behave like non-blocking sockets. In order to support select and poll semantics, active
socket endpoints are associated with a file descriptor that is signaled whenever the endpoint is ready to
send and/or receive data. The file descriptor may be retrieved using fi_control.
OPERATION FLAGS
Operation flags are obtained by OR-ing the following flags together. Operation flags define the default
flags applied to an endpoint’s data transfer operations, where a flags parameter is not available. Data
transfer operations that take flags as input override the op_flags value of transmit or receive context
attributes of an endpoint.
FI_COMMIT_COMPLETE
Indicates that a completion should not be generated (locally or at the peer) until the result of
an operation have been made persistent. See fi_cq(3) for additional details on completion seman‐
tics.
FI_COMPLETION
Indicates that a completion queue entry should be written for data transfer operations. This flag
only applies to operations issued on an endpoint that was bound to a completion queue with the
FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION flag set, otherwise, it is ignored. See the fi_ep_bind section above for
more detail.
FI_DELIVERY_COMPLETE
Indicates that a completion should be generated when the operation has been processed by the des‐
tination endpoint(s). See fi_cq(3) for additional details on completion semantics.
FI_INJECT
Indicates that all outbound data buffers should be returned to the user’s control immediately af‐
ter a data transfer call returns, even if the operation is handled asynchronously. This may re‐
quire that the provider copy the data into a local buffer and transfer out of that buffer. A
provider can limit the total amount of send data that may be buffered and/or the size of a single
send that can use this flag. This limit is indicated using inject_size (see inject_size above).
FI_INJECT_COMPLETE
Indicates that a completion should be generated when the source buffer(s) may be reused. See
fi_cq(3) for additional details on completion semantics.
FI_MULTICAST
Indicates that data transfers will target multicast addresses by default. Any fi_addr_t passed
into a data transfer operation will be treated as a multicast address.
FI_MULTI_RECV
Applies to posted receive operations. This flag allows the user to post a single buffer that will
receive multiple incoming messages. Received messages will be packed into the receive buffer un‐
til the buffer has been consumed. Use of this flag may cause a single posted receive operation to
generate multiple completions as messages are placed into the buffer. The placement of received
data into the buffer may be subjected to provider specific alignment restrictions. The buffer
will be released by the provider when the available buffer space falls below the specified minimum
(see FI_OPT_MIN_MULTI_RECV).
FI_TRANSMIT_COMPLETE
Indicates that a completion should be generated when the transmit operation has completed relative
to the local provider. See fi_cq(3) for additional details on completion semantics.
NOTES
Users should call fi_close to release all resources allocated to the fabric endpoint.
Endpoints allocated with the FI_CONTEXT or FI_CONTEXT2 mode bits set must typically provide struct
fi_context(2) as their per operation context parameter. (See fi_getinfo.3 for details.) However, when
FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is enabled to suppress CQ completion entries, and an operation is initiated with‐
out the FI_COMPLETION flag set, then the context parameter is ignored. An application does not need to
pass in a valid struct fi_context(2) into such data transfers.
Operations that complete in error that are not associated with valid operational context will use the
endpoint context in any error reporting structures.
Although applications typically associate individual completions with either completion queues or coun‐
ters, an endpoint can be attached to both a counter and completion queue. When combined with using se‐
lective completions, this allows an application to use counters to track successful completions, with a
CQ used to report errors. Operations that complete with an error increment the error counter and gener‐
ate a CQ completion event.
As mentioned in fi_getinfo(3), the ep_attr structure can be used to query providers that support various
endpoint attributes. fi_getinfo can return provider info structures that can support the minimal set of
requirements (such that the application maintains correctness). However, it can also return provider in‐
fo structures that exceed application requirements. As an example, consider an application requesting no
msg_order. The resulting output from fi_getinfo may have all the ordering bits set. The application can
reset the ordering bits it does not require before creating the endpoint. The provider is free to imple‐
ment a stricter ordering than is required by the application.
RETURN VALUES
Returns 0 on success. On error, a negative value corresponding to fabric errno is returned. For fi_can‐
cel, a return value of 0 indicates that the cancel request was submitted for processing, a return value
of -FI_EAGAIN indicates that the request could not be submitted and that it should be retried once
progress has been made. For fi_setopt/fi_getopt, a return value of -FI_ENOPROTOOPT indicates the
provider does not support the requested option.
Fabric errno values are defined in rdma/fi_errno.h.
ERRORS
-FI_EDOMAIN
A resource domain was not bound to the endpoint or an attempt was made to bind multiple domains.
-FI_ENOCQ
The endpoint has not been configured with necessary completion queue.
-FI_EOPBADSTATE
The endpoint’s state does not permit the requested operation.
SEE ALSO
fi_getinfo(3), fi_domain(3), fi_cq(3) fi_msg(3), fi_tagged(3), fi_rma(3) fi_peer(3)
AUTHORS
OpenFabrics.
Libfabric Programmer’s Manual 2025-02-05 fi_endpoint(3)