--- name: nvidia/doca-comm-channel-admin source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/nvidia-doca-comm-channel-admin@1/SKILL.md source_sha256: d324c53842e8 --- # DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool > **Actual binary contract.** `doca_comm_channel_admin` is one > zero-application-argument, read-only scan-and-print operation. > It scans every comch-capable `doca_dev` on the current side via > `resourcedump` (MFT) and prints SERVERS and CONNECTIONS tables. > It has no list, inspect, device-scope, drain, restart, or other > application operation. This skill does not retain conceptual > workflows under invented command names. **Where to start:** This is a tool skill for invoking the DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool — the **read-only inventory** CLI counterpart to the [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md) library. The shipped `doca_comm_channel_admin` binary takes **no arguments beyond ARGP defaults** (`--help`, `--version`, `--log-level`, `--sdk-log-level`, `--json`) and performs **one inventory pass** per invocation: it walks every `doca_dev` on this side, filters to comch-capable devices, shells out to `resourcedump` (MFT) on each, and prints two ASCII tables (SERVERS and CONNECTIONS). There is no `list` subcommand, no `inspect` subcommand, no `drain` flag, and no `restart` flag — those are not part of the tool's surface. Open [`TASKS.md`](TASKS.md) and start at [`## run`](TASKS.md#run) for the single-shot invocation, or [`## debug`](TASKS.md#debug) when the user reports the tool sees a different channel set than the program. Open [`CAPABILITIES.md`](CAPABILITIES.md) when the question is *what the printed tables actually mean* and *what is not in this tool's scope*. If the user has not installed DOCA yet, route to [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md) first; if the user needs MFT (`resourcedump` on `PATH` with the privilege documented for the installed release), `doca-setup` + `doca-public-knowledge-map` cover that. If the user is holding pre-2.5 docs that mention "Comm Channel", route to [`doca-comch CAPABILITIES.md ## Version compatibility`](../../libs/doca-comch/CAPABILITIES.md#version-compatibility) for the rename rule. If the user wants to *change* channel state, route to the program-side reconnect lifecycle in [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md) or to BlueField mode / driver reload in [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md) + [`doca-hardware-safety`](../../doca-hardware-safety/SKILL.md) — **not** to this tool. ## Example questions this skill answers well The CLASSES of admin-tool 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. - **"Which comch servers and connections are currently visible?"** — worked example: *"print every server and connection row visible on this side"*. Answered by the scan-and-print surface in [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes`](CAPABILITIES.md#capabilities-and-modes) + the single invocation in [`TASKS.md ## run`](TASKS.md#run). - **"What does the tool report for this server or connection?"** — locate the matching row in the SERVERS or CONNECTIONS table; there is no second per-channel query. Answered by [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Capabilities and modes`](CAPABILITIES.md#capabilities-and-modes) + [`TASKS.md ## run`](TASKS.md#run). - **"How do I know the admin tool's view matches what my Comch program sees?"** — worked example: *"the program reports CONNECTED but the admin tool lists zero channels"*. Answered by the cross-checking pattern in [`TASKS.md ## test`](TASKS.md#test) and the representor-binding layer in [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Error taxonomy`](CAPABILITIES.md#error-taxonomy). - **"Is this admin tool on my installed DOCA version, and does it match the comch library version?"** — worked example: *"is the tool available on DOCA 2.4"*. Answered by the overlay in [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Version compatibility`](CAPABILITIES.md#version-compatibility), which redirects to the canonical [`doca-version`](../../doca-version/SKILL.md) rules and adds the Comm Channel Admin Tool specifics. - **"The tool prints nothing — is the install broken or is there genuinely no channel?"** — worked example: *"`list` returned an empty result on a host with a known-good Comch client"*. Answered by the empty-output interpretation rules in [`TASKS.md ## debug`](TASKS.md#debug) + [`CAPABILITIES.md ## Error taxonomy`](CAPABILITIES.md#error-taxonomy). ## Audience This skill serves **external operators and AI agents who need to inventory a host-DPU comch channel from the outside** — after the [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md) library has been used to create the channel from a program. Concretely: - A platform operator who runs a Comch-using service on BlueField and needs to confirm the channel is healthy before declaring the service ready. - A developer of a Comch consumer who sees `DOCA_ERROR_AGAIN` or a silent stall on the program side and wants to read the channel's state from outside the program rather than guessing. - An AI agent capturing the external server/connection rows before recommending a program-side code or lifecycle change. It is **not** for users debugging the admin tool itself, **not** a substitute for the live public DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool guide, and **not** the right place for users learning the comch API — that audience belongs in [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md). The tool is shipped as a CLI binary under `/opt/mellanox/doca/tools/`, not a library you link against. The skill uses the same `kind: tool` three-file shape as the rest of the bundle so the agent's task-verb contract (`configure / build / modify / run / test / debug`) is uniform across libraries, services, and tools. ## When to load this skill Load this skill when the user is — or the agent needs to — invoke the DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool on a real host or BlueField Arm with DOCA installed (or inside the public NGC DOCA container with the right device passthrough). Concretely: - Listing currently active comch channels on a host or DPU. - Reading the row for one named server or connection from the complete zero-argument scan. - Cross-checking the admin tool's view against the program-side connection callback state when the two appear to disagree. - Capturing a side-effect-free channel snapshot as prerequisite evidence for a later debug session that crosses program / channel / driver layers. Do **not** load this skill for general DOCA orientation, the comch programming API, library install, or comch protocol design. For those, route to [`doca-public-knowledge-map`](../../doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md), [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md), or [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md). ## What this skill provides This is a **thin loader**. Substantive material lives in two companion files: - `CAPABILITIES.md` — what the Comm Channel Admin Tool reports: the two read-only tables, the version-availability overlay that redirects to [`doca-version`](../../doca-version/SKILL.md), the layered error taxonomy (tool-not-installed / device-binding / channel-discovery / channel-state-stuck / permission / version / cross-cutting), the tool's role as an observability primitive for [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md) debug sessions, and the read-only safety policy. - `TASKS.md` — step-by-step workflows for the in-scope task verbs: `configure` (route to install), `build` (route to install), `modify` (refuse), `run` (one scan-and-print), `test` (cross-check the printed rows), `debug` (the layered diagnosis ladder), plus a `Deferred task verbs` block and a `Command appendix` that honors the bundle's [`doca-structured-tools-contract`](../../doca-structured-tools-contract/SKILL.md) preamble. The skill assumes a host or BlueField where DOCA is already installed (or the public NGC DOCA container is running with the right device passthrough) and the operator has whatever privileges the public DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool guide requires. ## What this skill deliberately does not ship This skill is **agent guidance**, not a samples or scripts bundle. To keep the boundary clean, it deliberately does not contain — and pull requests should not add: - **Verbatim flag inventories, subcommand names, or output column names.** The public DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool guide on `docs.nvidia.com` and the installed `--help` on the user's version are the joint source of truth; copying them here pins the skill to one release and silently rots when the tool evolves. The skill routes the agent at those sources instead. - **Pre-baked example output.** Output is install-, version-, and channel-state-specific. A captured example will mislead an operator on a different platform / state. - **Wrappers, parsers, or scripts** in any language that consume the admin tool's output. The output format is documented; users who want to script against it should read the live guide and write the parser against their installed version. - **A `samples/` or `reference/` subtree.** This is a thin loader for a documented CLI; substantive material lives on the public page and in `--help`. ## Loading order 1. Read this `SKILL.md` first to confirm the user's question is in scope (the user wants to inventory a comch channel from the outside, not learn the comch API). 2. **For what the tool reports, version availability, the layered error surface, observability, and safety posture, see [CAPABILITIES.md](CAPABILITIES.md).** 3. **For the single invocation and cross-check workflow — `configure`, `build`, `modify`, `run`, `test`, `debug`, plus the `Command appendix` — see [TASKS.md](TASKS.md).** ## Related skills - [`doca-comch`](../../libs/doca-comch/SKILL.md) — the library whose channels this tool inventories. Pair them in every triage session: the program-side connection callback and the admin tool's channel state are the two halves of the same picture. - [`doca-public-knowledge-map`](../../doca-public-knowledge-map/SKILL.md) — routing to the public DOCA Comm Channel Admin Tool guide and the rest of the public DOCA documentation set. - [`doca-version`](../../doca-version/SKILL.md) — canonical DOCA version-handling rules. The `## Version compatibility` section in [`CAPABILITIES.md`](CAPABILITIES.md) is a concise overlay that redirects here for the body. - [`doca-structured-tools-contract`](../../doca-structured-tools-contract/SKILL.md) — the bundle's detect → prefer → fall back → report contract for structured helper tools. The Command appendix in [`TASKS.md`](TASKS.md) honors this contract. - [`doca-setup`](../../doca-setup/SKILL.md) — env preparation, install verification, representor visibility checks, and the *I have no install yet* path with the public NGC DOCA container. This skill assumes its preconditions are satisfied. - [`doca-debug`](../../doca-debug/SKILL.md) — the cross-cutting debug ladder. The Comm Channel Admin Tool slots in at the *runtime* layer as the read-only inventory surface before any code change is recommended.