Introduction

Intel® P4 Studio Software Development Environment (SDE) is a set of packages for programming Intel’s line of programmable Ethernet Switches. The package also contains scripts for building and installing SDE. The fully automated script (install.sh) introduced in this release internally invokes the existing command line interface tool (p4studio) to ease the build and installation process. The following sections describe how to build, install, and run the Intel P4 Studio SDE.

What is included

The following things are included in this repository:

• Driver software sufficient for running with the simulation model.
• The Barefoot Runtime Interface (BRI), which consists of:
  • The locally callable BfRt API, with bindings in C and C++.
  • The gRPC-based protocol, called BF Runtime, together with the server implementation in C++ and both C++ and Python client bindings (others can be generated using the provided proto files).
    • The additional bfrt_grpc.client Python module provides easier-to-use, simplified interface to BF Runtime (used for most PTF tests).
• An x86_64 binary of the simulation model
  • Note: Source code for the simulation model is in the process of being released to open source, but that is not yet complete.
• Example P4_16 programs and PTF tests
• Git submodule referring to the latest version of the P4 compiler in the repository https://github.com/p4lang/p4c tested with this code.

This supports developing and compiling P4 programs for Tofino 1 and 2, developing control plane software that runs with the simulation model (but not a real hardware board with Tofino switch ASICs - see below), and simulating its execution on the model.

Some things not included, that one must get from Intel:

• Open source members who submit requests to Intel for BSP and driver software for running the SDE on hardware before January 1, 2026 will be granted access. Intel will discontinue granting requests on January 1, 2026.
• P4Insight GUI for visualizing the hardware resources used by P4 programs after they have been compiled.
  • Note: P4.org personnel are in communication with Intel to see if this can be released as open source soon.
• BSPs (Board Support Packages) that enable the SDE to access and configure hardware on a physical board, e.g. configuring physical Ethernet ports and manage related components, such as repeaters, retimers, SFPs, QSFPs, etc. Reach out to Intel (intel.tofino.contact@intel.com) for the BSP package.
• ASIC-specific Serdes drivers. These are not necessary for running the simulation model, but essential for running the code on the real ASICs. See instructions in the directory hw. The necessary code is available from Intel RDC (Resource & Documentation Center) for those with authorization to access it.

Setup

The installation scripts for these programs attempt to enable installing multiple versions of it, in different directories, on the same system. That said, if you have unusual problems installing it, consider attempting to follow the install steps on a freshly installed and supported version of Linux, to see if that helps.

git clone https://github.com/p4lang/open-p4studio.git
cd open-p4studio

Proceed by choosing one of the following options:

• a "batch build", with a default choice of packages selected for you. See instructions in the next section. This option is recommended if you are trying out this software for the first time.
• Or, if you wish to customize the set of packages to be installed, skip down to the section "Installation with customization of options"

Batch build and install Intel® P4 Studio Software Development Environment (SDE)

This script checks that you have the right processor type, and sufficient RAM and free disk space, and then installs the SDE using a default choice for options.

# If you have not already done so, update submodules
git submodule update --init --recursive
./p4studio/p4studio profile apply ./p4studio/profiles/testing.yaml

When that script completes, proceed by following the steps in section "Finishing the installation" below.

Installation with customization of options

1. Run the install.sh script

   Note: The install.sh script initially evaluates system capabilities such as free space and OS support to build and install SDE.

2. Install default settings or user-defined settings based on your need.

   Install default setting:

   Note: Default settings allow you to run P4-16 examples for all Tofino chip types on the ASIC model. This is more appropriate for a beginner as the entire build and installation will be taken care of by the script.

   a) Select Yes to start with default setting installation.

   b) Script installs the following source packages:

   • bridge
   • libcli
   • libcrafter
   • thrift
   • grpc

   c) Script installs the following configuration options:

   • tofino
   • tofino2
   • tofino2m
   • tofino3

   d) Script installs the p4-16-programs.

   e) Script installs all the dependencies one after the other.

   Install user-defined setting:

   Note 1: It is recommended to install user-defined settings by an experienced SDE user.

   a) Select No to start with user-defined setting installation.

   b) Select Yes to install missing third-party dependencies.

   c) Select an appropriate deployment target.

   Note: The available targets are Hardware and ASIC Model. The following interactive questions varies based on the target selection. Here, we use ASIC Model to explain the concept.

   d) Select the Tofino chip type.

   Note: The available p4 architectures are tofino, tofino2, tofino2m, and tofino3.

   e) Select Yes to build kernel modules (for example, bf_kdrv, bf_kpkt, and bf_knet).

   f) Enter path to kernel headers directory or leave blank to autodetect.

   g) Select p4 programs and corresponding control plane code.

   Note: The supported options are P4 examples: P4-16, P4 examples: P4-14, switch-p4-16: x1_tofino, switch-p4-16: x2_tofino, switch-p4-16: x6_tofino, and bf-diags.

   h) Select Yes to configure advanced options. Advanced options include p4rt, TDI, and SAI configurations.

   i) The created profile details are displayed at this stage. Save the profile details in a YAML file for future use.

3. Script completes the SDE installation process.

When that script completes, proceed by following the steps in section "Finishing the installation" below.

Finishing the installation

Run this command from the open-p4studio directory where you installed the software:

./create-setup-script.sh > ~/setup-open-p4studio.bash

If you only install one version of this software on a system, you will likely find it very convenient to add a line like the following to your ~/.bashrc file:

source ~/setup-open-p4studio.bash

If you do not do this, you will need to do that command once in each terminal or shell session where you wish to use this software.

Tip for advanced users: If you install more than one version of this software on the same system, and want to switch between them, create different setup-<name>.bash files, one for each version you want to use.

Optional step: Install documentation

You can generate HTML documentation using the following command:

cd $SDE/build/pkgsrc/bf-drivers
make doc-driver install

At least some of this documentation is then browsable via the command:

xdg-open $SDE_INSTALL/share/doc/bf-drivers/html/index.html

Or you can use any other method appropriate on your system to open a browser to that HTML file.

Run instructions

This command creates many virtual Ethernet interfaces that are used when running tests involving the Tofino model, so it can send and receive packets on those interfaces. It only needs to be done once on a system after it has been rebooted, before running tests that require these interfaces:

sudo ${SDE_INSTALL}/bin/veth_setup.sh 128

Run the Tofino Model

The below steps outline how to run P4 tests against the model in a three-window setup.

In first window, launch the model:

./run_tofino_model.sh -p [P4 TEST] --arch [tofino|tofino2]

In the second window, launch the driver:

./run_switchd.sh -p [P4 TEST] --arch [tofino|tofino2]

Note: It may take one to two minutes after the last of the two commands above has been started before they complete their initialization. When it is, you will see a bf_shell> prompt in the driver window.

In the third window, launch the P4 test suite:

./run_p4_tests.sh -p [P4 TEST] --arch [tofino|tofino2]

To run a specific test within a test suite:

./run_p4_tests.sh -p [P4 TEST] --arch [tofino|tofino2] -s test.[SINGLE TEST]

For example, to run the tna_counter test suite on the Tofino 1 model:

./run_tofino_model.sh -p tna_counter --arch tofino
./run_switchd.sh -p tna_counter --arch tofino
./run_p4_tests.sh -p tna_counter --arch tofino

To run just a specific test from the suite:

./run_p4_tests.sh -p tna_counter --arch tofino -s test.DirectCounterTest

For users who acquired the private RDC software release and want to adapt the existing open source code to run on Tofino hardware, follow the RDC_README instructions within the open-p4studio/hw directory. The script open-p4studio/hw/rdc_setup.sh automates the transfer of the RDC files necessary in the open source repository for running on hardware.

P4Studio

The p4studio tool is available in open-p4studio/p4studio and is used to build the Intel P4 studio SDE as directed by the user’s YAML build profile.

The p4studio tool works in one of three different modes: Interactive Mode, Profile Mode, or Command Mode. All the user-defined installation process explained above falls under interactive mode.

Run ./p4studio/p4studio --help to show all supported options.

Syntax

p4studio {
          app {
               activate
              }          
          check-system {
                        --install-dir
                        --asic
                        --kdir
                       }
          packages {
                    extract
                    list
                   }     
          dependencies {
                        install
                        list
                       }
          configure {
                     --verbosity
                     --log-file
                     --build-type [debug|release|relwithdebinfo|minsizerel]
                     --install-prefix
                     --bsp-path
                     --p4ppflags
                     --extra-cppflags
                     --p4flags
                     --kdir
                    }           
          build  {
                  --verbosity
                  --log-file
                  --jobs
                 }       
          profile {
                   apply
                   create
                   describe
                  }      
          Interactive {
                       --verbosity
                       --log-file                                  
                      }
          Clean {
                 --skip-logs       
                 --skip-build-dir 
                 -y, --yes
                }                      
}