Blueprint scope and intended audience

This blueprint targets technical teams, architects, and operators who are considering or planning to evaluate NVIDIA ASAP² Direct datapath offloading on MOSK. It provides decision makers and implementers with:

  • A detailed explanation of how ASAP² Direct offloading integrates with OpenStack networking (Neutron, Nova) and Open vSwitch (OVS)

  • Clarification of the benefits and prerequisites of enabling hardware-accelerated switching with SmartNICs

  • Documentation of validated hardware, software, and network topologies

  • Prescriptive guidance on configuration steps used in successful testbed deployments

  • Summary of observed performance improvements and any known limits or caveats

The document assumes familiarity with OpenStack networking, OVS, and Linux system administration, but aims to be accessible to both platform architects and operators conducting proof-of-concept validation, performance tuning, or capacity planning with supported SmartNICs.

This material is not a product support document or a substitute for vendor compatibility lists. It should be used to inform proof-of-concept efforts, risk analysis, and planning for potential adoption of ASAP² in lab or pre-production environments.

Applicability bounds:

  • This blueprint documents the outcomes of validation Mirantis conducted in a test environment against specific hardware and software component versions. The documented instructions and results do not automatically transfer to untested configurations.

  • ASAP² Direct with the Open vSwitch (OVS) Linux kernel datapath (switchdev / TC Flower) is the target networking path:

    • The other MOSK networking backends, OVN and OpenSDN, are not covered.

    • OVS-DPDK datapath acceleration was not validated.

    • DPU-hosted OVS/DOCA, for example on BlueField NICs, is a different deployment model, out of the scope of this blueprint.

  • Encryption offloading or other advanced SmartNIC capabilities were not tested.

  • Not every cloud-application networking topology benefits equally from hardware acceleration. Some traffic paths, such as Neutron routers and floating-IP NAT, stay on the software path. See Limitations.

  • NVIDIA ASAP² is not a generally available or supported MOSK product feature. Outcomes are limited to this research documentation.