Could you please help us to reduce the DKMS kernel module build time?

We have ConnectX5 adapters and would like to use it with Ubuntu 16.04, however when DKMS package is going to be installed it takes approx. 15mins on Dell 620 blade to be built which is quite a huge time, taking account that only some kernel modules are expected to be built.

When trying to build only the modules instead of DKMS the build time significantly less, it takes only approx. 2-3 mins. This time would be acceptable for DKMS build as well.

An other problem is that DKMS package can not be installed without ‘utils’ package while other vendors (eg.: Intel) provides drivers only installation via DKMS without additional packages required.

We would need a solution:

  • to reduce the DKMS installation time - while the kernel modules are built -

  • remove dependency of DKMS package from utils package.

Hi,

Regarding DKMS you can install MOFED without-dkms options

MLNX_OFED for Ubuntu should be installed with the following flags in chroot environment:

./mlnxofedinstall --without-dkms --add-kernel-support --kernel --without-fw-update --force

For example:

./mlnxofedinstall --without-dkms --add-kernel-support --kernel 3.13.0-85-generic --without-fw-update --force

Note that the path to kernel sources (–kernel-sources) should be added if the sources are not in their default location.

Regarding your second request, which utils package do you speak about ?

Did you try the --without- option ?

Regards

Marc

Hi Marc,

Thank you for the answer, but we need to install the drivers on a lot of servers using the DKMS method of installation and we can’t choose the option to pre-build the modules without DKMS or install the full source of the driver and build it on target systems. However the installation time of the DKMS way is unacceptable (15-20 mins).

Even using the DKMS version of the “–without-dkms” option an other package: ‘mlnx-en-utils’ is always there as dependency. Although driver package would be more convenient to be independent of user-space utilities.

Best regards,

Zsolt