doca-socket-relay

license	Apache-2.0
name	doca-socket-relay
description	Use this skill when the operator is driving the DOCA Socket Relay to bridge a socket-oriented host application onto a BlueField DPU peer without rewriting it — picking the deployment shape (in-process, sidecar, or BlueField service container), configuring the host-side socket and the DPU-side forwarding endpoint, walking the bind → connect → round-trip → admit-fleet smoke, or diagnosing a stuck/silent relay. Trigger even when the user does not explicitly mention "DOCA Socket Relay" — typical implicit phrasings include "move my socket app onto the BlueField without rewriting it", "host app gets ECONNREFUSED on the relay", "relay accepts the connection but bytes never arrive on the DPU side", "first round-trip works, the rest hang", "bridge an AF_UNIX (UDS) socket to a DPU peer over Comch", or "I want a sidecar that forwards my socket to the BlueField". Refuse and route elsewhere for the comch programming API, line-rate raw packet I/O via doca-eth, and DOCA install/bring-up — those belong to other skills.
metadata	{"kind":"tool"}
compatibility	Requires DOCA SDK installed at /opt/mellanox/doca on Linux (Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 or RHEL/SLES) with a BlueField DPU attached, plus the socket-oriented host application that will be migrated onto the fabric. Container-shape deployment additionally relies on the BlueField kubelet-standalone runtime per doca-container-deployment.

DOCA Socket Relay

Where to start: This is a tool skill for invoking the DOCA Socket Relay — the host ↔ BlueField bridge that lets a socket-oriented host application terminate its sockets locally while the relay forwards the traffic to a DPU-side terminator across the DOCA fabric. Open TASKS.md and start at ## configure for the deployment-shape × socket-type × forwarding-endpoint decision, then ## run for the bind → connect → round-trip flow. Open CAPABILITIES.md when the question is what state can the relay carry, what does it report, and what does its data-path posture imply. If the user has not installed DOCA yet, route to doca-setup first. If the user is asking about the host ↔ DPU control plane rather than the data plane the relay carries, route to doca-comch — the relay is the data-plane counterpart to comch.

Example questions this skill answers well

The CLASSES of socket-relay questions this skill is built to answer, each with one worked example. The class is the load-bearing piece; the worked example is one instance.

• "Can I move my existing socket-based application onto a DOCA fabric without rewriting it?" — worked example: "a host service speaks a socket protocol to a peer; I want the peer to live on the BlueField DPU instead, but I do not want to port the application to the comch programming surface". Answered by the use-case framing in CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes
  • the deployment-shape decision in TASKS.md ## configure.
• "Where does the relay sit, and what runs on the host vs the DPU?" — worked example: "do I run one relay process on the host, a sidecar next to my app, or a relay container on the BlueField — and what is on the DPU side that actually terminates the connection?". Answered by the three-axis configuration model (deployment shape × socket type × forwarding endpoint) in CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes
  • TASKS.md ## configure step 2.
• "My relay is up but the host application cannot connect." — worked example: . Answered by the layered error taxonomy in layers 1-3 + the bind / accept ladder in .