Xilinx Alveo U50 User manual
Alveo U50 Data Center
Accelerator Card Installaon
Guide
UG1370 (v1.8) October 28, 2021
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Revision History
The following table shows the revision history for this document.
Section Revision Summary
10/28/2021 Version 1.8
General Updates Removed U50DD related information.
Card Features Updated format and information.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
RedHat and CentOS
Updated installation steps for 2021.1 update.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
Ubuntu
Updated installation steps for 2021.1 update.
Chapter 7: Troubleshooting Updated to direct users to more detailed troubleshooting
and known issues content located in the Alveo Card Debug
Guide and AR71752.
12/09/2020 Version 1.7
Chapter 1: Introduction Updated description for latest tools version.
Minimum System Requirements Updated supported operating system.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
RedHat and CentOS
Updated installation procedure.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
Ubuntu
Updated installation procedure.
xbutil validate Removed note about XRT installation on Ubuntu.
Known Issues Updated to remove a known issue about XRT installation.
Generating the xbmgmt flash --update Command Updated output log.
Appendix A: Regulatory and Compliance Information Added appendix.
06/04/2020 Version 1.6
Chapter 1: Introduction Updated the information.
Card Features Added new section.
Card Interfaces and Details Added a caution.
Known Issues •Added a known issue about installing the U50 card
deployment package.
•Added a known issue about downgrading to a beta
platform.
Downgrading Packages Added information about downgrading to a beta platform.
02/27/2020 Version 1.5
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
RedHat and CentOS
Replaced steps 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to document the new
installation steps for U50. Replaced all mentions of zip files
with tar.gz.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
Ubuntu
Replaced steps 1, 2, 3, and the log file of step 6 to document
the new installation steps for U50. Replaced all mentions of
zip files with tar.gz.
Running lspci Revised log file in step 2.
Running xbmgmt flash --scan Revised output, platform, and ID information in step 1.
Revision History
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Section Revision Summary
Upgrading Packages Updated step 1 to include a link to chapter 4; removed steps
2-6.
01/07/2020 Version 1.4
Installing the Card Updated to add notes about UL Listed Servers and card
handling.
12/18/2019 Version 1.3
General Updated output logs.
Qualified Servers Updated the section and provided the web link to the
qualified servers information.
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on
Ubuntu
Added a note about XRT installation.
10/31/2019 Version 1.2
General Updated to the Vitis™ unified software platform throughout.
Updated outputs throughout the document.
Chapter 4: Installing the Deployment Software Replaced xbutil command with the new xbmgmt
command for card flashing. Updated output logs.
Running xbmgmt flash --scan Replaced xbutil command with the new xbmgmt
command when scanning card. Updated output logs.
Known Issues Added a link to Xilinx Answer Record 72766.
Added a known issue.
Changing XRT and Target Platform Versions Replaced xbutil command with the new xbmgmt
command for card flashing. Updated output logs.
09/18/2019 Version 1.1
General updates Updated sample outputs.
Card Interfaces and Details Added card interface related information and updated
images.
Known Issues Included a link to Xilinx Answer Record 71752.
Added information about power.
08/05/2019 Version 1.0
Initial release N/A
Revision History
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Table of Contents
Revision History...............................................................................................................2
Chapter 1: Introduction.............................................................................................. 6
Chapter 2: Accelerator Card Overview............................................................... 7
Card Features...............................................................................................................................7
Minimum System Requirements...............................................................................................8
Qualified Servers......................................................................................................................... 8
Card Interfaces and Details........................................................................................................8
Chapter 3: Card Installation Procedures......................................................... 10
Safety Instructions.................................................................................................................... 10
Before You Begin.......................................................................................................................12
Installing the Card.....................................................................................................................13
Chapter 4: Installing the Deployment Software......................................... 15
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on RedHat and CentOS............. 16
XRT and Deployment Platform Installation Procedures on Ubuntu...................................18
Chapter 5: Card Bring-Up and Validation........................................................21
Environment Setup................................................................................................................... 21
Running lspci............................................................................................................................. 22
Confirm Firmware Installation ................................................................................................22
Card Validation.......................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 6: Next Steps.................................................................................................25
Chapter 7: Troubleshooting.................................................................................... 26
Appendix A: Regulatory and Compliance Information...........................27
Safety Compliance.....................................................................................................................27
EMC Compliance........................................................................................................................27
CE Directives.............................................................................................................................. 28
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CE Standards..............................................................................................................................28
Other Compliance Statements................................................................................................ 29
Compliance Markings............................................................................................................... 32
Appendix B: Additional Resources and Legal Notices............................. 34
Xilinx Resources.........................................................................................................................34
Documentation Navigator and Design Hubs.........................................................................34
References..................................................................................................................................35
Please Read: Important Legal Notices................................................................................... 36
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Chapter 1
Introduction
This document provides hardware and soware installaon procedures for the half-height, half-
length Xilinx® Alveo™ U50 data center accelerator card and applies to XRT 2021.1 and later. For
installaon procedures using previous XRT versions, see v1.7 of Alveo U50 Data Center
Accelerator Card Installaon Guide (UG1370).
If you encounter any issues during installaon, see Chapter 7: Troubleshoong. For Alveo Data
Center accelerator card known issues and general informaon, see AR71752.
Dierent system conguraons are available for running, developing, and debugging applicaons
on your Alveo accelerator cards:
•Running Applicaons: To congure a system to run accelerated applicaons, install an Alveo
card into a system as described in Chapter 3: Card Installaon Procedures along with the
required deployment soware to support running applicaons as described in Chapter 4:
Installing the Deployment Soware.
•Developing Applicaons: To develop FPGA accelerated applicaons, it is necessary to install
both the deployment soware and the development soware. Development soware
installaon, described in Chapter 6: Next Steps, consists of installing both a development
target plaorm and the Vis™ environment. This conguraon does not have an Alveo card
installed and is used for development along with debugging in emulaon modes.
•Running, Developing, and Debugging Applicaons: By installing the Alveo card along with
both the deployment and development soware on a single machine, you can congure a
system for developing and running accelerated applicaons. With the card installed,
developers can debug applicaons in both emulaon modes and on the hardware.
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Chapter 2
Accelerator Card Overview
Card Features
The Alveo U50 data center accelerator card is PCIe® Gen3 x16 compliant and Gen4 x8
compable featuring the Xilinx 16 nm UltraScale+™ technology. It features 8 GB HBM to provide
high-performance, adaptable acceleraon for memory-bound, compute-intensive applicaons
including database, analycs, and machine learning inference.
The Alveo U50 accelerator card features are as follows.
Table 1: Alveo U50 Features
Card Component Alveo U50
FPGA UltraScale+™ XCU50 FPGA
HBM 8 GB - two 4 gigabyte (GB) HBM memory stacks
Split into 32 256 MB channels
Network Interface 1x QSFP28
Supporting 100 GbE, 40 GbE, or 4x10/25 GbE
PCIe 16-lane PCI Express
PCIe Integrated Endpoint block connectivity
Gen1, 2, or 3 up to x16, Gen4 x8
Single or dual Gen4 x8
I2C Bus ✓
Status LEDs ✓
Power Management Power management with system management bus (SMBus)
voltage, current, and temperature monitoring
Electrical Design Power 75W PCIe slot functional with PCIe slot power only
Configuration Options 1 gigabit (Gb) Quad Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) flash
memory
UltraScale+ device configurable over USB/JTAG and Quad
SPI configuration flash memory
UART UART access through the maintenance connector
Chapter 2: Accelerator Card Overview
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Note: The Alveo U50 card has separate power rails for FPGA fabric and HBM memory. Developers must
ensure their designs do not draw too much power for each rail. The HBM rail is a 10W rail, and may limit
HBM performance (see AR75222). For details on how to monitor power and temperature, see Monitor
Card Power and Temperature.
Minimum System Requirements
The minimum system requirements for running the Alveo™ U50 Data Center accelerator cards
are listed in the following table.
Table 2: Minimum System Requirements
Component Requirement
Motherboard PCI Express® 3.0-compliant with one x16 slot.
System Power Supply 75W via PCI Express slot connection.
Operating System For the latest OS support see the Xilinx Runtime (XRT) Release Notes.
System Memory For deployment installations, a minimum of 16 GB plus application memory
requirements is required.
For development installations, a minimum of 64 GB of system memory is
required, but 80 GB is recommended.
Internet Connection Required for downloading drivers and utilities.
Hard disk space Satisfy the minimum system requirements for your operating system.
Licensing None required for application deployment.
For the application development environment, see Vitis Unified Software
Platform Documentation: Application Acceleration Development (UG1393).
For details on the acceptable environmental condions, see Alveo U50 Data Center Accelerator
Cards Data Sheet (DS965).
Qualified Servers
The Xilinx Qualied Servers Catalog provides a list of servers that Alveo cards are fully qualied.
Card Interfaces and Details
The Alveo™ U50 accelerator card is available in a passive cooling conguraon and is designed
for installaon into a data center server where controlled air ow provides direct cooling to the
card. The card includes the following interfaces.
Chapter 2: Accelerator Card Overview
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• A PCI Express® card connector
• One QSFP28 connector supporng 100 GbE, 40 GbE, or 4x10/25 GbE
• Maintenance Connector
Used to program the card in RTL ow through the programming cable. For more informaon
see the Alveo Programming Cable User Guide (UG1377).
Figure 1: Alveo U50 PQ Card with Half-Height Bracket
CAUTION! Alveo accelerator cards are designed to be installed into a data center server, where controlled
air ow provides direct cooling. If the cooling enclosure is removed from the card and the card is powered-
up, external fan cooling airow MUST be applied to prevent over-temperature shut-down and possible
damage to the card electronics. Removing the cooling enclosure voids the board warranty.
For card specicaons, dimensions, list of card features, and block diagram, see Alveo U50 Data
Center Accelerator Cards Data Sheet (DS965).
Chapter 2: Accelerator Card Overview
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Chapter 3
Card Installation Procedures
To reduce the risk of re, electric shock, or injury, always follow basic safety precauons.
CAUTION! You must always use an ESD strap or other anstac device when handling hardware.
ATTENTION! Il est fortement recommandé d'uliser un bracelet ESD ou autres disposifs anstaques.
VORSICHT! Beim Umgang mit Hardware müssen sie immer ein Erdungs Armband oder ein anderes
anstasches Gerät verwenden.
Safety Instructions
Safety Information
To ensure your personal safety and the safety of your equipment:
• Keep your work area and the computer/server clean and clear of debris.
• Before opening the computer/system cover, unplug the power cord.
Dispositif de Sécurité
Pour assurer votre sécurité personnelle et la sécurité de votre équipement:
• Maintenez votre zone de travail et l'ordinateur/serveur propre et dégagé de débris.
• Avant d'ouvrir le capot de l'ordinateur/système, débranchez le cordon d'alimentaon.
Sicherheitsinformation
Um ihre persönliche Sicherheit und die Sicherheit ihrer Ausrüstung zu gewährleisten:
• Halten sie ihren Arbeitsbereich und den Computer / Server sauber und frei von Ablagerungen.
• Ziehen sie vor dem Önen der Computer / Systemabdeckung das Netzkabel ab.
Chapter 3: Card Installation Procedures
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