Generated banner for Doca Bare Metal Deployment
Generated logo for Doca Bare Metal Deployment

Doca Bare Metal Deployment

NVIDIAOfficialCreated by NVIDIA

  • Skill
  • Workflow
  • Cloud and DevOps
  • Apache-2.0
  • Medium risk

From the author

Running a DOCA-linked binary directly on the hardware, with no container or kubelet: on host x86 with a BlueField NIC over PCIe, or bare-metal on BlueField Arm. Use this skill for launching and supervising it (direct, tmux, systemd), and when it "exits 1 right after launch", "systemd keeps restarting it", reports "no matching device on the BF", or the BlueField itself is unhealthy: "bfb-install exited 0 but DPU is dead", "ping 192.168.100.2 works but ssh fails", "host PFs aren't showing netdevs". Refuse service containers under kubelet (doca-container-deployment). Covers PCI/NUMA/CPU/IRQ binding, co-tenant isolation (cgroup-v2/netns/numactl), a seven-layer error taxonomy, platform lifecycle (BFB install, RShim/TMFIFO, host PF rebind, post-BFB recovery) and a six-state BlueField lifecycle classifier. Destructive firmware burn / mlxconfig set requires explicit confirmation via doca-hardware-safety; library APIs, env prep, and build use other skills.
— the description by NVIDIA

AutoGineer summary

Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author

This skill provides a structured approach for running DOCA-linked application binaries directly on host x86 systems with BlueField NICs or on BlueField Arm cores. It covers the full lifecycle of bare-metal deployment, including launch modes, hardware resource binding, per-tenant isolation, and troubleshooting. It is designed for operators who need to manage binaries outside of containerized environments, focusing on stability, performance, and correct hardware interaction.

What it does

  • Guides the configuration and launch of DOCA-linked binaries on bare-metal hardware.
  • Provides methods for process supervision using direct execution, tmux, or systemd.
  • Details hardware-resource binding for PCIe, NUMA, CPU, and IRQ affinity.
  • Implements per-tenant isolation using cgroup-v2, network namespaces, and numactl.
  • Offers a seven-layer error taxonomy for diagnosing launch and runtime failures.
  • Manages BlueField platform lifecycle including BFB installation and recovery.

When to use it

  • When deploying a DOCA-linked binary directly on hardware without containers or Kubernetes.
  • When diagnosing launch failures, immediate exits, or device-access issues on BlueField.
  • When setting up process isolation for multiple co-tenant DOCA applications.
  • When determining the appropriate supervision strategy for long-running DOCA services.
  • When recovering a BlueField DPU from an unhealthy state or failed BFB installation.

Advantages

  • Ensures optimal performance through precise hardware and NUMA binding.
  • Prevents resource contention between multiple DOCA processes on the same hardware.
  • Provides a systematic, layered approach to debugging complex hardware-level failures.
  • Standardizes deployment procedures across different host and DPU environments.
  • Promotes safe operational practices for high-stakes bare-metal environments.

Usage examples

“My DOCA-linked binary exits with status 1 immediately after launch. How do I debug this?”
The agent will guide you through the seven-layer error taxonomy to isolate whether the failure is due to device binding, resource constraints, or environment configuration.
“Should I run my DOCA application in tmux or as a systemd unit?”
The agent will provide a decision framework based on your requirements for persistence, logging, and automatic recovery after reboots.
“How do I pin my DOCA process to a specific NUMA node to improve performance?”
The agent will provide the correct commands for CPU and NUMA binding using numactl and taskset to ensure the process aligns with the BlueField PCIe topology.
“My BlueField DPU is unresponsive after a BFB install. What are the recovery steps?”
The agent will walk you through the BlueField lifecycle classifier and the post-BFB recovery sequence to restore the DPU to a healthy state.

Install

  1. Download the skill as a ZIP:

    https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/nvidia/doca-bare-metal-deployment/download
  2. Unzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:

    mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip doca-bare-metal-deployment.zip -d .agents/skills

Documentation by NVIDIA

DOCA bare-metal deployment

Examples

  • "The binary exits 1 right after launch." — this is in scope. Treat it as a launch / device-bind / isolation failure before rewriting application code.

  • "systemd keeps restarting my DOCA app." — a restart loop on hardware is high-stakes. Debug the first exit before enabling Restart=always.

Instructions

Follow Loading order below. Open the tasks companion for launch / supervise / recover, and the capabilities companion for the runtime contract. Do not open every companion file.

Where to start: This skill is the bundle's home for operating a DOCA-linked application binary directly on hardware — no container, no kubelet, no static-pod manifest. It is the parallel of doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md for the non-container path. If the user has a DOCA-linked binary they built (per the canonical workflow in doca-programming-guide/SKILL.md) and they want to know how to actually run it on the host or on the BlueField Arm cores correctly, open the tasks companion and start at ## configure. If the question is what shape does the bare-metal runtime even have and what is the deployment contract, start at the capabilities companion. If the user is not yet sure whether their target system shape is the container path or the bare-metal path, route the recognition step to doca-setup/SKILL.md first; only return here once bare-metal is the confirmed shape.

Audience

This skill serves external DOCA developers and operators who have a DOCA-linked application binary they built and want to run it directly on hardware — i.e., people who already have:

  • a DOCA-linked application binary they built per doca-programming-guide ## build,

  • a real BlueField NIC and a host that talks to it (the host x86 path — DOCA host install on the host talks to the BlueField NIC over PCIe), OR a BlueField with a console or SSH to the Arm side (the BlueField Arm bare-metal path — DOCA installed on the DPU Arm cores; the binary runs there directly), and

  • a desire to RUN that binary directly on the hardware, not inside a kubelet-standalone-managed container.

It is not for:

  • kernel-driver developers contributing to mlx5_* or the BlueField OS,

  • DOCA library contributors (library changes are outside the scope of a bare-metal deployment),

  • full-Kubernetes-cluster operators managing a fleet of BlueFields (the bundle covers doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md for the single-host kubelet-standalone shape; fleet/production-scale deployment is fleet-orchestration scope — route to the orchestration entry-point in doca-public-knowledge-map ## Deploying DOCA services at scale (DPF / Network Operator / Launch Kit), not hand-rolled static-pod loops),

  • fresh-laptop-no-hardware users with no DOCA install yet — those belong on doca-setup ## no-install.

The skill teaches the agent the bare-metal-deployment procedure and the rules for quoting documented commands from the public DOCA Programming Guide and the public BlueField / DPU User Manual via doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md; it does not invent flag names, PCI BDFs, NUMA numbers, devlink paths, representor strings, or systemd Restart= mode names from memory.

When to load this skill

Load this skill when the user is doing hands-on bare-metal deployment of a DOCA-linked application binary on either of the two supported host modes (host x86 or BlueField Arm), or asking a cross-cutting bare-metal question that is not specific to one library's API. Concretely:

  • Launching a DOCA-linked binary for the first time on a host with a BlueField NIC in a PCIe slot, with DOCA installed on the host.

  • Launching a DOCA-linked binary on the BlueField Arm cores directly (BlueField Arm bare-metal mode), with DOCA installed on the Arm side per the BlueField OS image.

  • Deciding which launch mode to use (direct foreground for interactive debug; tmux/screen for long-running with manual reattach; systemd-supervised for restart-after-reboot, journald-integrated logs, and Restart= policy).

  • Binding the DOCA process to the right PCIe function, the right representor, the right NUMA node, and the right CPU set — and pinning IRQs to match — without inventing the addresses or the flag names.

  • Setting up per-tenant isolation (cgroup-v2 cpu / memory / io controllers, network namespaces for multi-tenant deployments, numactl / taskset for CPU + NUMA binding) so multiple DOCA processes co-tenant on the same BlueField without crushing each other.

  • Diagnosing a bare-metal launch that is misbehaving — won't start, starts and exits immediately, runs but can't find the device, attaches to the device but the workload errors, OOMs or is signal-killed, is in a restart loop under a supervisor, or is being interfered with by a co-tenant.

  • Cross-cutting questions: "should I run this in tmux or as a systemd unit", "what is the smoke-before-bulk loop for a binary on bare metal", "my binary works in a container on the BlueField but not when I run it directly on the Arm — what changed".

Do not load this skill for the container-path equivalent (those questions go to doca-container-deployment/SKILL.md); for full-Kubernetes-cluster operations (out of scope per the bundle's non-goals); for library-API questions (route to the matching libs/<library> skill); for env-preparation questions including hugepages, IOMMU, pkg-config, and devlink mode flips (use doca-setup/SKILL.md); for any hardware-state-changing operation including mlxconfig writes and BFB reflashes (route to doca-hardware-safety/SKILL.md for the cross-cutting meta-policy); or for cross-library programming questions (use doca-programming-guide/SKILL.md).

What this skill provides

This is a thin loader. Substantive material lives in two companion files:

  • the capabilities companion — the bare-metal deployment runtime contract for a DOCA-linked binary: the two host modes (host x86 vs BlueField Arm bare-metal), the three launch modes (direct, tmux/screen, systemd-supervised), the hardware-resource-binding surface (PF / VF / representor enumeration; NUMA topology discovery; CPU pinning rationale; IRQ affinity rules), the per-tenant isolation surface (cgroup-v2 cpu / memory / io, network namespaces, numactl / taskset), the restart and recovery semantics (documented systemd Restart= modes vs crash-and-investigate vs supervisor-driven restart), the bare-metal-specific version overlay on the four-way version match owned by doca-version/SKILL.md, the cross-cutting error taxonomy (seven layers, walked in order), the observability surface (stdout/stderr discipline by launch mode; device-state introspection via devlink / sysfs / mlxconfig query; per-tenant resource visibility), and the safety policy (overlay on doca-hardware-safety/SKILL.md: smoke-before-bulk for binaries; failed bare-metal process is HIGH-STAKES; do not invent PCI addresses, NUMA numbers, representor names, devlink paths, or systemd Restart= mode names; confirm tenant-isolation primitives BEFORE the workload starts).

  • the tasks companion — step-by-step workflows for the in-scope bare-metal verbs: configure, build, modify, run (with an explicit ### isolation sub-anchor covering cgroup-v2 / namespaces / numactl per-tenant primitives), test, debug, bluefield-lifecycle (the BFB-install → RShim/TMFIFO → post-BFB-recovery operational sequencing ladder, with the six-state bluefield-state-classifier sub-anchor), the Command appendix (documented commands the agent may quote, each cross-linked to its public-doc source — no invented commands), and the Deferred task verbs block routing container-path / cluster / library-API / env-prep / hardware-state-change / cross-library questions out to their owning skills. (The change-application discipline for any mutating burn invoked from ## bluefield-lifecycle is still meta-policy owned by doca-hardware-safety/SKILL.md, loaded alongside.)

The skill assumes a host or BlueField target where:

  • DOCA is already installed and healthy (per doca-setup ## test),

  • the user has a DOCA-linked application binary they built (per doca-programming-guide ## build),

  • the user has the host-OS permissions to enumerate devices, reserve hugepages, write systemd units (if they choose that launch mode), and bind processes to NUMA nodes.

It does not cover installing DOCA — that path goes through doca-setup/SKILL.md — and it does not cover building the binary — that path goes through doca-programming-guide/SKILL.md.

Loading order

  1. Read this skill first to confirm the user's question is in scope (bare-metal launch of a DOCA-linked binary on host x86 or BlueField Arm; NOT the container path, NOT a full cluster, NOT a library-API question).

  2. For the runtime contract (two host modes, three launch modes, hardware-binding surface, per-tenant isolation, version overlay, seven-layer error taxonomy, observability surface, bare-metal safety overlay), see the capabilities companion.

  3. For step-by-step workflows — configure, build (routing stub), modify (routing stub), run (with ### isolation sub-anchor), test, debug, bluefield-lifecycle (BFB install + RShim/TMFIFO + post-BFB recovery + the six-state bluefield-state-classifier), plus the Command appendix and the Deferred task verbs block — see the tasks companion.

Example questions this skill answers well

What this skill deliberately does not ship

Files

LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.


                                 Apache License
                           Version 2.0, January 2004
                        http://www.apache.org/licenses/

   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION

   1. Definitions.

      "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
      and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.

      "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
      the copyright owner that is granting the License.

      "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
      other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
      control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
      "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
      direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
      otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
      outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

      "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
      exercising permissions granted by this License.

      "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
      including but not limited to software source code, documentation
      source, and configuration files.

      "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
      transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
      not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
      and conversions to other media types.

      "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
      Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
      copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
      (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

      "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
      form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
      editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
      represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
      of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
      separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
      the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

      "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
      the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
      to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
      submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
      or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
      the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
      means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
      to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
      communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
      and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
      Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
      excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
      designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

      "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
      on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
      subsequently incorporated within the Work.

   2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
      publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
      Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.

   3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
      this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
      worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
      (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
      use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
      where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
      by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
      Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
      with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
      institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
      cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
      or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
      or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
      granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
      as of the date such litigation is filed.

   4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
      Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
      modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
      meet the following conditions:

      (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
          Derivative Works a copy of this License; and

      (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that You changed the files; and

      (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
          that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
          attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
          excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
          the Derivative Works; and

      (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
          distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
          include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
          within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
          pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
          of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
          as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
          documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
          within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
          wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
          of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
          do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
          notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
          or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
          that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
          as modifying the License.

      You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
      may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
      for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
      for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
      reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
      the conditions stated in this License.

   5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
      any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
      by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
      this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
      Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
      the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
      with Licensor regarding such Contributions.

   6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
      names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
      except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
      origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.

   7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
      agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
      Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
      implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
      of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
      PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
      appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
      risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.

   8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
      whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
      unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
      negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
      liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
      incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
      result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
      Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
      work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
      other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
      has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

   9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
      the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
      and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
      or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
      License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
      on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
      of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
      defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
      incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
      of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.

   END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

   APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.

      To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
      boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
      replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
      the brackets!)  The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
      comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
      file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
      same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
      identification within third-party archives.

   Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]

   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   limitations under the License.

Requirements and compatibility

Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta

“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.

Needs: Needs Node.js

The author says: No DOCA install required to read this skill (it is an overlay loaded against any DOCA artifact skill); the validation steps within this skill require a live DOCA install at /opt/mellanox/doca on a host or BlueField with a built DOCA-linked binary.

Security

What our scanner noticed· Medium risk

  • Large base64-encoded blobs

A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.

Attribution and licence

Created by
NVIDIA
Publisher
NVIDIA (Official)
Source
NVIDIA/skills · skills/doca-bare-metal-deployment · commit fce3cca
Licence
Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
  • LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE-APACHE)
  • ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
Synced

AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by NVIDIA.

Download ZIP

The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download doca-bare-metal-deployment.zip