Install and maintain DOCA-OFED

This guide explains how to install and maintain DOCA-OFED on Ubuntu Server.

Note

DOCA-OFED is NVIDIA’s distribution of OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) drivers and userspace libraries for high-performance networking.

DOCA-OFED is available for Ubuntu 26.04 LTS (Resolute Raccoon).

Available metapackages

The following DOCA-OFED metapackages are provided:

Metapackage

Kernel flavor

doca-ofed-aws

aws

doca-ofed-aws-64k

aws-64k

doca-ofed-azure

azure

doca-ofed-azure-fde

azure-fde

doca-ofed-gcp

gcp

doca-ofed-gcp-64k

gcp-64k

doca-ofed-generic

generic

doca-ofed-generic-64k

generic-64k

doca-ofed-generic-64k-hwe-26.04

generic-64k-hwe-26.04

doca-ofed-generic-64k-hwe-26.04-edge

generic-64k-hwe-26.04-edge

doca-ofed-generic-hwe-26.04

generic-hwe-26.04

doca-ofed-generic-hwe-26.04-edge

generic-hwe-26.04-edge

doca-ofed-oracle

oracle

doca-ofed-oracle-64k

oracle-64k

Install DOCA-OFED

To install the latest available DOCA-OFED version for your kernel flavor, use uname(1) to identify your running kernel variant:

uname -r

Add the stable DOCA PPA using add-apt-repository(1):

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:canonical-nvidia/doca-stable

Install the DOCA-OFED metapackage that matches your kernel flavor with apt(8):

sudo apt install -y doca-ofed-<your_kernel_flavor>

For example, if uname -r returns 6.17.0-20-generic, you should install:

sudo apt install -y doca-ofed-generic

Finally, reboot the machine.

Maintain and upgrade DOCA-OFED

When a newer DOCA-OFED package for your platform is published, it appears in:

apt list --upgradable

For regular system updates, run:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Then reboot the machine.

Warning

Use sudo apt full-upgrade for DOCA-OFED updates. Do not use only sudo apt upgrade for this workflow. (DOCA-OFED updates from our PPA require uninstalling the old version’s package names and installing the new version’s package names (ex: doca-ofed-userspace-3.3 is uninstalled, and doca-ofed-userspace-3.4 is installed on update). sudo apt upgrade will hold such updates back.)

Collect a sosreport for support

If you need to collect a sosreport as part of a support request to NVIDIA, first find the installed doca-ofed-userspace package and note the doca_version suffix:

apt list --installed | grep doca-ofed-userspace

Next, install the matching sosreport package:

sudo apt install doca-sosreport-<doca_version>

Then, follow NVIDIA’s sosreport instructions.