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Virtual Network

note

Make sure your DevKit is updated to the latest firmware version before using the Virtual Network feature.

This feature is available only on Linux hosts.

When the Modalix PCIe Card is connected over PCIe, it creates a virtual Ethernet interface between the host and the card.

Use the virtual network for:

  • Secure Shell (SSH): Access the DevKit command line for troubleshooting and system management.
  • Secure Copy Protocol (SCP): Transfer logs, configuration files, and other files between the host and the DevKit.

Manual IP Assignment​

When loading the module manually with insmod, use the command below. This lets you assign a static IP address to the host interface and then to the Modalix PCIe Card.

sudo insmod sima_mla_drv.ko default_ip=false

This also requires the ifconfig utility on the host.

ifconfig <eth interface> 20.1.2.1

After you assign an IP address to the host interface, IP + 1 is assigned to the SoC interface automatically. For example, if the host uses 20.1.2.1, the MLSoC IP is 20.1.2.2.

When the interfaces are created, the host interface uses a MAC address in the format cardnum:S:I:m:A:0, and the SoC interface uses cardnum:S:I:m:A:1. The IP addresses are assigned on creation as host:10.0.cardnum.1 and soc:10.0.cardnum.2.

  1. ifconfig output on the host machine:

    enp2s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 65536
        inet 10.0.0.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.0.255
        inet6 fe80::253:49ff:fe4d:4130  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:53:49:4d:41:30  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 14107  bytes 4460994 (4.4 MB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 818  bytes 74840 (74.8 KB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

  2. ifconfig output on the SiMa.ai DevKit:

    eth2: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 65536
        inet 10.0.0.2  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.0.255
        inet6 fe80::253:49ff:fe4d:4131  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:53:49:4d:41:31  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 818  bytes 74840 (73.0 KiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 14109  bytes 4461636 (4.2 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

  3. SSH from the host to the device. Use the default username sima and password edgeai.

    sima-user@sima-user-machine:~$ ssh sima@10.0.0.2
    The authenticity of host '10.0.0.2 (10.0.0.2)' can't be established.
    ED25519 key fingerprint is SHA256:ulxwiRM+cCQNJ90R5Qn5eV+9hqvkVNo0eWQ9pY3l8E0.
    This key is not known by any other names
    Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no/[fingerprint])? yes
    Warning: Permanently added '10.0.0.2' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts..
    sima@10.0.0.2's password:
    sima@modalix:~#