By: Justin Borland, Equifax

Below is a document describing how to update/install Solarflare’s SolarCapture drivers on the SolarFlare 71xx NICs for a CentOS system. Note this document was user created and has not yet been reviewed by Solarflare’s Technical Support.

Requirements:
First, acquire the following software from Solarflare support:

• OpenOnload Release Package
• Solarflare Linux Utilities RPM (64bit)
• SolarCapture SDK
• Solarflare Flareon Ultra card already physically installed on a server running CentOS

Implementation steps:
SolarFlare SDK install:

# unzip solar_capture_sdk-.zip
# rpm –Uvh sfutils-*.rpm

OpenOnload build:

# tar –xf openonload-.tgz
# cd openonload-
# onload_uninstall && ./scripts/onload_install

Note that if any capture processes are already running (i.e. Moloch, Bro, Snort or Suricata) kill them before reloading, and keep them off until the end of this install.

# onload_tool reload
# cd ..

SolarCapture Core installation:

# rpm –Uvh solar_capture-core-.rpm

SolarCapture Python install:

# yum install rpm-build
# rpmbuild –rebuild solar_capture-python-.src.rpm
# rpm –Uvh /root/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/solar_capture-python-.rpm

SolarCapture Pro installation:

# rpm –Uvh  –replacepkgs solar_capture-live-.rpm solar_capture-pro-.rpm

Update the NIC firmware

# sfupdate –write

Note that you should answer ‘Y’ for each NIC.

Restart capture services

# /wherever/your/capture/script/lives_start.sh

Verify Install:
Check installed packages

# rpm –qa | grep capture

You should now see this:

solar_capture-core-1.3.1.11-0.x86_64
solar_capture-pro-1.3.1.11-0.x86_64
solar_capture-python-1.3.1.11-0.x86_64
solar_capture-live-1.3.1.11-0.x86_64

Check NIC licensing

# sfkey

Which should then look like this:

2-interface adapter: eth4, eth6
Product name:        Solarflare SFN7122F SFP+ Flareon Ultra Server Adapter
Part number:         SFN7122F
Serial number:       712200210071141137100559
MAC addresses:       00-0F-53-xx-xx-xx, 00-0F-53-xx-xx-xx
Installed keys:      Onload
Active keys:         Onload
Blacklisted keys:    0
Invalid keys:        0
Unverifiable keys:   0
Inapplicable keys:   0

One final note, Solarflare Support has not yet validated the above steps so please use at your own risk.