Documentation/networking/devlink/devlink-reload.rst

.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0

==============
Devlink Reload
==============

``devlink-reload`` provides mechanism to reinit driver entities, applying
``devlink-params`` and ``devlink-resources`` new values. It also provides
mechanism to activate firmware.

Reload Actions
==============

User may select a reload action.
By default ``driver_reinit`` action is selected.

.. list-table:: Possible reload actions
   :widths: 5 90

   * - Name
     - Description
   * - ``driver-reinit``
     - Devlink driver entities re-initialization, including applying
       new values to devlink entities which are used during driver
       load such as ``devlink-params`` in configuration mode
       ``driverinit`` or ``devlink-resources``
   * - ``fw_activate``
     - Firmware activate. Activates new firmware if such image is stored and
       pending activation. If no limitation specified this action may involve
       firmware reset. If no new image pending this action will reload current
       firmware image.

Note that even though user asks for a specific action, the driver
implementation might require to perform another action alongside with
it. For example, some driver do not support driver reinitialization
being performed without fw activation. Therefore, the devlink reload
command returns the list of actions which were actrually performed.

Reload Limits
=============

By default reload actions are not limited and driver implementation may
include reset or downtime as needed to perform the actions.

However, some drivers support action limits, which limit the action
implementation to specific constraints.

.. list-table:: Possible reload limits
   :widths: 5 90

   * - Name
     - Description
   * - ``no_reset``
     - No reset allowed, no down time allowed, no link flap and no
       configuration is lost.

Change Namespace
================

The netns option allows user to be able to move devlink instances into
namespaces during devlink reload operation.
By default all devlink instances are created in init_net and stay there.

example usage
-------------

.. code:: shell

    $ devlink dev reload help
    $ devlink dev reload DEV [ netns { PID | NAME | ID } ] [ action { driver_reinit | fw_activate } ] [ limit no_reset ]

    # Run reload command for devlink driver entities re-initialization:
    $ devlink dev reload pci/0000:82:00.0 action driver_reinit
    reload_actions_performed:
      driver_reinit

    # Run reload command to activate firmware:
    # Note that mlx5 driver reloads the driver while activating firmware
    $ devlink dev reload pci/0000:82:00.0 action fw_activate
    reload_actions_performed:
      driver_reinit fw_activate