Bring Up a V80 Board

This tutorial takes a machine on which the SLASH packages are already installed and brings it into service: verifying the kernel module and daemon, granting user access, programming the board with the static shell, and validating it.

If the packages are not yet installed, begin with Build and Install SLASH, which covers building and installing them. This tutorial covers the steps performed afterwards, on the machine containing the board.

Prerequisites

Hardware:

  • AMD Alveo V80 board installed in a PCIe x8 (or wider) slot.

Software:

  • Linux (Ubuntu LTS 22.04+, RHEL 9+ or compatible recommended).

  • The SLASH runtime packages installed, and vrtd enabled — see Build and Install SLASH.

Verify the Kernel Module

DKMS compiles and loads slash.ko automatically on package install. To confirm the module is loaded:

lsmod | grep slash
dmesg | grep slash

You should see one line in lsmod. If the board already enumerates over PCIe, dmesg should also show messages for each V80 PCI function discovered.

Each V80 board exposes three PCI functions:

Function

Device ID

Driver

Purpose

PF0

0x50B4

ami

AVED management interface

PF1

0x50C1

slash_qdma

Queue-based DMA subsystem

PF2

0x50C2

slash_ctl

BAR MMIO access (register reads/writes)

The legacy device IDs 0x50B5 (PF1) and 0x50B6 (PF2) are still accepted as a fallback for cards carrying a pre-compute-platform bitstream.

For boards already visible over PCIe, check that all three functions appear with their drivers bound:

lspci -d 10ee: -k

Verify the Daemon

Check that vrtd is running and reachable:

v80-smi list

Boards that already enumerate over PCIe should show all four readiness checks passing (PF0, PF1, PF2, VRTD). A new board that has never been programmed will not yet be listed; this is expected and is addressed by Program the Board below.

If the command reports that it cannot reach the daemon, enable it:

sudo systemctl enable --now vrtd

User Access

By default, only root and members of the vrtadmin group have full device access. To grant a user access:

sudo usermod -aG vrtadmin <username>

The user must log out and back in for the group change to take effect.

For fine-grained permission control (per-device, per-operation), edit /etc/vrt/vrtd.conf. See Configuration for the full configuration reference.

Note

Access permissions must be granted before the programming step.

Program the Board

Program the board with the SLASH static shell. New users should complete both steps below:

  1. boot a temporary image over JTAG so the board enumerates over PCIe, then

  2. use PCIe to write the permanent image to the on-board flash.

If the board is already running AVED or a previous SLASH static shell, skip step A and perform only step B. In normal operation, repeat step B only when upgrading to a release that changes the static shell, as noted in the release notes. It is not required after crashes, daemon restarts, or other normal operations — SLASH reads from flash but never writes to it during regular use.

No system restart is required after either step.

A. Write a Temporary Image via JTAG Boot

This step loads the no-FPT static-shell PDI over JTAG. The image is temporary: it lets the board enumerate over PCIe so that step B can write the permanent flash image.

A1. Identify the XSDB Target if Multiple Boards Are Present

If the host has more than one V80 connected over USB-JTAG, use xsdb to find the target_id for the Versal xcv80 device you want to program:

source <path-to-vitis>/settings64.sh
xsdb
connect
targets

Use the number from the matching Versal xcv80 target.

A2. Write via JTAG

If there is a single connected V80, run:

source <path-to-vitis>/settings64.sh
v80-smi write-static-shell --jtag --no-remove-device

For multiple connected V80s, pass the XSDB target ID from step A1:

source <path-to-vitis>/settings64.sh
v80-smi write-static-shell --jtag --no-remove-device --xsdb-target-id <XSDB_TARGET_ID>

B. Flash the Permanent Image via PCIe

B1. Identify the Board in v80-smi list

After step A completes, or if the board was already running a previous version of SLASH, find the board’s PCIe bus address:

v80-smi list

B2. Write via PCIe

Program the primary flash partition (replace <BDF> with the bus address shown by v80-smi list, e.g. 03:00):

v80-smi write-static-shell --flash -d <BDF>

The command resolves the packaged static shell PDI, programs it through VRTD, and resets the board into the programmed partition. No host reboot or system restart is required.

Validate the Board

Run the built-in memory integrity and bandwidth test:

v80-smi validate -d <BDF>

Replace <BDF> with the bus address shown by v80-smi list (e.g. 03:00). This tests both HBM and DDR subsystems. A passing result confirms the hardware, drivers, and daemon are all working correctly.

Next Steps