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Aditya-Sarna edited this page Oct 1, 2026 · 1 revision

5. BF-Bundle vs BF-FW-Bundle, and DOCA-Host compatibility

Week 5. I read NVIDIA’s package pages and the lab BF2 pin, then checked the live dh5 / BF3 pair (2026-10-01).

Understanding confirmed: BF-Bundle includes the BlueField Arm OS and the DOCA environment on the DPU (plus firmware). BF-FW-Bundle is firmware only.

What each package is

Both BF-Bundle and BF-FW-Bundle are .bfb files. The prefix is what matters.

Package NVIDIA contents Use
BF-Bundle (bf-bundle-*.bfb) Firmware (ATF, UEFI, NIC FW, BMC) + Arm OS + DOCA on the DPU Fresh install, recovery, major upgrade, rebuild DPU mode
BF-FW-Bundle (bf-fwbundle-*.bfb) Firmware only (ATF, UEFI, NIC FW, BMC, eROT). No Arm OS. No DOCA SDK Day-2 firmware, NIC mode, keep the Arm OS already on the card
DOCA-Host (.deb / repo on the server) Drivers, rshim userspace, host DOCA Installed on dh5, not on the card

Sources: DOCA Framework, Types and Methods of Updating BlueField Software Image.

How to pick the file

https://developer.nvidia.com/doca-downloads (archives: https://developer.nvidia.com/doca-archive).

  1. Platform: BlueField
  2. Package: BF-Bundle or BF-FW-Bundle or DOCA-Host
  3. Installer: BFB for .bfb
  4. OS on the selector:
  • BF-Bundle: Arm OS inside the image. Live 3.5 bundle is Ubuntu 24.04 _64k_. NVIDIA’s DOCA Framework page still says the default Arm OS is Ubuntu 22.04 — trust the Downloads filename and /etc/mlnx-release, not that leftover sentence.
  • DOCA-Host: Dell host OS (live dh5 is Ubuntu 24.04.5; repo install docs still say 22.04)

Host OS and Arm OS do not have to be the same number. A 22.04 host with a 24.04 Arm BF-Bundle is valid if both packages are from the same DOCA release.

Filename:

bf-bundle-3.5.0-89_26.07_ubuntu-24.04_64k_prod.bfb
│          │     │   │     │      │
│          │     │   │     │      └─ 64k Arm kernel
│          │     │   │     └─ Arm OS in the BFB (not the host)
│          │     │   └─ calendar stamp (2026-07)
│          │     └─ bundle build
│          └─ DOCA release to pair with DOCA-Host
└─ full bundle (OS + DOCA + firmware)

Lab BF2 file bf-bundle-2.7.0-33_24.04_ubuntu-22.04_prod.bfb (hardware/dh2/README.md) is DOCA 2.7 for BF2. Do not use it on this BF3.

How to determine BF-Bundle ↔ DOCA-Host compatibility

Before download

  1. Open one DOCA Downloads (or archive) row. Record the page version (example: 3.5.0).
  2. Take DOCA-Host for the host OS and BF-Bundle for BlueField from that same row.
  3. Record filename and SHA256.
  4. Do not take DOCA-Host from 3.5 and a BFB from 2.9 / 2.7.

NVIDIA’s install order: upgrade DOCA on the host first, then install BF-Bundle on the card (DOCA Installation Guide, BF-Bundle install).

Same minor is the safe pin, not a hard rule. DOCA Dependency Compatibility Policy (updated 2026-09-01):

Upper layer Lower layer Level
DOCA-Host: DOCA-OFED profile BF-Bundle Level 1 – Perpetual
DOCA-Host: other profiles (Networking, All) BF-Bundle Level 2 – Limited

This host has doca-all, so it is Level 2. NVIDIA: compatibility is guaranteed for releases in one annual cycle (October through July). The July release is compatible with the preceding April, January, and October of that cycle.

OFED “general support” tables are not a substitute. They do not mean “install 2.7 host with 3.5 BFB.”

After install (live check)

Host (root@dh5):

doca_caps --version
ofed_info -s
dpkg -l | grep -iE 'doca-all|doca-ofed'

DPU (ubuntu@172.22.222.3):

cat /etc/mlnx-release
sudo bfver

Expect the host DOCA major.minor and the bf-bundle-X.Y.Z-… string to be the same release (or a Level 2 pair in the same annual cycle). bfver ATF / UEFI / BSP should match that BSP line.

Pairs

Host DPU Policy
Live 2026-10-01: DOCA-Host 3.5.0098 (doca-all) bf-bundle-3.5.0-89_26.07_ubuntu-24.04_64k_prod Yes. Matched 3.5 / 26.07
DOCA-Host 3.4 + DPU 2.6 old lab pair No. Outside the 3.4/3.5 annual cycle. Not installed now
DOCA-Host 3.4 + BF-Bundle 3.5 — Yes, Level 2 (same cycle). Not the live pair
Lab BF2 bf-bundle-2.7.0-33_… on this BF3 — No. Wrong generation and card
DOCA-Host 3.5 + bf-fwbundle-3.5.0-… only firmware only DPU OS/DOCA not rebuilt

Live confirmation (2026-10-01)

Side Measured
Host Ubuntu 24.04.5, 6.8.0-142-generic, doca_caps 3.5.0098, OFED 26.07-0.7.7, doca-all 3.5.0-082000
DPU Ubuntu 24.04.5, 6.8.0-1030-bluefield-64k, /etc/mlnx-release bf-bundle-3.5.0-89_26.07_ubuntu-24.04_64k_prod, BSP 4.16.0.14075, ATF 4.16.0-8, UEFI 4.16.0-48

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