---
layout: page
title: fi_endpoint(3)
tagline: Libfabric Programmer's Manual
---
{% include JB/setup %}

# NAME

fi_endpoint \- Fabric endpoint operations

fi_endpoint / fi_scalable_ep / fi_passive_ep / fi_close
:   Allocate or close an endpoint.

fi_ep_bind
:   Associate an endpoint with hardware resources, such as event queues,
    completion queues, counters, address vectors, or shared transmit/receive
    contexts.

fi_scalable_ep_bind
:   Associate a scalable endpoint with an address vector

fi_pep_bind
:   Associate a passive endpoint with an event queue

fi_enable
:   Transitions an active endpoint into an enabled state.

fi_cancel
:   Cancel a pending asynchronous data transfer

fi_ep_alias
:   Create an alias to the endpoint

fi_control
:   Control endpoint operation.

fi_getopt / fi_setopt
:   Get or set endpoint options.

fi_rx_context / fi_tx_context / fi_srx_context  / fi_stx_context
:   Open a transmit or receive context.

fi_rx_size_left / fi_tx_size_left (DEPRECATED)
:   Query the lower bound on how many RX/TX operations may be posted without
    an operation returning -FI_EAGAIN.  This functions have been deprecated
    and will be removed in a future version of the library.

# SYNOPSIS

```c
#include <rdma/fabric.h>

#include <rdma/fi_endpoint.h>

int fi_endpoint(struct fid_domain *domain, struct fi_info *info,
    struct fid_ep **ep, void *context);

int fi_scalable_ep(struct fid_domain *domain, struct fi_info *info,
    struct fid_ep **sep, void *context);

int fi_passive_ep(struct fi_fabric *fabric, struct fi_info *info,
    struct fid_pep **pep, void *context);

int fi_tx_context(struct fid_ep *sep, int index,
    struct fi_tx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **tx_ep,
    void *context);

int fi_rx_context(struct fid_ep *sep, int index,
    struct fi_rx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **rx_ep,
    void *context);

int fi_stx_context(struct fid_domain *domain,
    struct fi_tx_attr *attr, struct fid_stx **stx,
    void *context);

int fi_srx_context(struct fid_domain *domain,
    struct fi_rx_attr *attr, struct fid_ep **rx_ep,
    void *context);

int fi_close(struct fid *ep);

int fi_ep_bind(struct fid_ep *ep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);

int fi_scalable_ep_bind(struct fid_ep *sep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);

int fi_pep_bind(struct fid_pep *pep, struct fid *fid, uint64_t flags);

int fi_enable(struct fid_ep *ep);

int fi_cancel(struct fid_ep *ep, void *context);

int fi_ep_alias(struct fid_ep *ep, struct fid_ep **alias_ep, uint64_t flags);

int fi_control(struct fid *ep, int command, void *arg);

int fi_getopt(struct fid *ep, int level, int optname,
    void *optval, size_t *optlen);

int fi_setopt(struct fid *ep, int level, int optname,
    const void *optval, size_t optlen);

DEPRECATED ssize_t fi_rx_size_left(struct fid_ep *ep);

DEPRECATED ssize_t fi_tx_size_left(struct fid_ep *ep);
```

# ARGUMENTS

*fid*
: On creation, specifies a fabric or access domain.  On bind,
  identifies the event queue, completion queue, counter, or address vector to
  bind to the endpoint. In other cases, it's a fabric identifier of an
  associated resource.

*info*
: Details about the fabric interface endpoint to be opened, obtained
  from fi_getinfo.

*ep*
: A fabric endpoint.

*sep*
: A scalable fabric endpoint.

*pep*
: A passive fabric endpoint.

*context*
: Context associated with the endpoint or asynchronous operation.

*index*
: Index to retrieve a specific transmit/receive context.

*attr*
: Transmit or receive context attributes.

*flags*
: Additional flags to apply to the operation.

*command*
: Command of control operation to perform on endpoint.

*arg*
: Optional control argument.

*level*
: Protocol level at which the desired option resides.

*optname*
: The protocol option to read or set.

*optval*
: The option value that was read or to set.

*optlen*
: The size of the optval buffer.

# DESCRIPTION

Endpoints are transport level communication portals.  There are two
types of endpoints: active and passive.  Passive endpoints belong to a
fabric domain and are most often used to listen for incoming connection
requests.  However, a passive endpoint may be used to reserve a fabric address
that can be granted to an active endpoint.  Active endpoints belong to access
domains and can perform data transfers.

Active endpoints may be connection-oriented or connectionless, and may
provide data reliability.  The data transfer interfaces -- messages (fi_msg),
tagged messages (fi_tagged), RMA (fi_rma), and atomics (fi_atomic) --
are associated with active endpoints.  In basic configurations, an
active endpoint has transmit and receive queues.  In general, operations
that generate traffic on the fabric are posted to the transmit queue.
This includes all RMA and atomic operations, along with sent messages and
sent tagged messages.  Operations that post buffers for receiving incoming
data are submitted to the receive queue.

Active endpoints are created in the disabled state.  They must
transition into an enabled state before accepting data transfer
operations, including posting of receive buffers.  The fi_enable call
is used to transition an active endpoint into an enabled state.  The
fi_connect and fi_accept calls will also transition an endpoint into
the enabled state, if it is not already active.

In order to transition an endpoint into an enabled state, it must be
bound to one or more fabric resources.  An endpoint that will generate
asynchronous completions, either through data transfer operations or
communication establishment events, must be bound to the appropriate
completion queues or event queues, respectively, before being enabled.
Additionally, endpoints that use manual progress must be associated
with relevant completion queues or event queues in order to drive
progress.  For endpoints that are only used as the target of RMA or
atomic operations, this means binding the endpoint to a completion
queue associated with receive processing.  Unconnected endpoints must
be bound to an address vector.

Once an endpoint has been activated, it may be associated with an address
vector.  Receive buffers may be posted to it and
calls may be made to connection establishment routines.
Connectionless endpoints may also perform data transfers.

The behavior of an endpoint may be adjusted by setting its control
data and protocol options.  This allows the underlying provider to
redirect function calls to implementations optimized to meet the
desired application behavior.

If an endpoint experiences a critical error, it will transition back
into a disabled state.  Critical errors are reported through the
event queue associated with the EP.  In certain cases, a disabled endpoint may
be re-enabled.  The ability to transition back into an enabled
state is provider specific and depends on the type of error that
the endpoint experienced.  When an endpoint is disabled as a result
of a critical error, all pending operations are discarded.

## fi_endpoint / fi_passive_ep / fi_scalable_ep

fi_endpoint allocates a new active endpoint.  fi_passive_ep allocates a
new passive endpoint.  fi_scalable_ep allocates a scalable endpoint.
The properties and behavior of the endpoint are defined based on the
provided struct fi_info.  See fi_getinfo for additional details on
fi_info.  fi_info flags that control the operation of an endpoint are
defined below. See section SCALABLE ENDPOINTS.

If an active endpoint is allocated in order to accept a connection request,
the fi_info parameter must be the same as the fi_info structure provided with
the connection request (FI_CONNREQ) event.

An active endpoint may acquire the properties of a passive endpoint by setting
the fi_info handle field to the passive endpoint fabric descriptor.  This is
useful for applications that need to reserve the fabric address of an
endpoint prior to knowing if the endpoint will be used on the active or passive
side of a connection.  For example, this feature is useful for simulating
socket semantics.  Once an active endpoint acquires the properties of a passive
endpoint, the passive endpoint is no longer bound to any fabric resources and
must no longer be used. The user is expected to close the passive endpoint
after opening the active endpoint in order to free up any lingering resources
that had been used.

## fi_close

Closes an endpoint and release all resources associated with it.

When closing a scalable endpoint, there must be no opened transmit contexts, or
receive contexts associated with the scalable endpoint.  If resources are still
associated with the scalable endpoint when attempting to close, the call will
return -FI_EBUSY.

Outstanding operations posted to the endpoint when fi_close is
called will be discarded.  Discarded operations will silently be dropped,
with no completions reported.  Additionally, a provider may discard previously
completed operations from the associated completion queue(s).  The
behavior to discard completed operations is provider specific.

## fi_ep_bind

fi_ep_bind is used to associate an endpoint with hardware resources.
The common use of fi_ep_bind is to direct asynchronous operations
associated with an endpoint to a completion queue.  An endpoint must
be bound with CQs capable of reporting completions for any
asynchronous operation initiated on the endpoint.  This is true even
for endpoints which are configured to suppress successful completions,
in order that operations that complete in error may be reported to the
user.  For passive endpoints, this requires binding the endpoint with
an EQ that supports the communication management (CM) domain.

An active endpoint may direct asynchronous completions to different
CQs, based on the type of operation.  This is specified using
fi_ep_bind flags.  The following flags may be used separately or OR'ed
together when binding an endpoint to a completion domain CQ.

*FI_TRANSMIT*
: Directs the completion of outbound data transfer requests to the
  specified completion queue.  This includes send message, RMA, and
  atomic operations.

*FI_RECV*
: Directs the notification of inbound data transfers to the specified
  completion queue.  This includes received messages.  This binding
  automatically includes FI_REMOTE_WRITE, if applicable to the
  endpoint.

*FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION*
: By default, data transfer operations generate completion entries
  into a completion queue after they have successfully completed.
  Applications can use this bind flag to selectively enable when
  completions are generated.  If FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is specified,
  data transfer operations will not generate entries for successful
  completions unless FI_COMPLETION is set as an operational flag for the
  given operation.  FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION must be OR'ed with FI_TRANSMIT
  and/or FI_RECV flags.

  When FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is set, the user must determine when a
  request that does NOT have FI_COMPLETION set has completed indirectly,
  usually based on the completion of a subsequent operation.  Use of
  this flag may improve performance by allowing the provider to avoid
  writing a completion entry for every operation.

  Example: An application can selectively generate send completions by
  using the following general approach:

```c
  fi_tx_attr::op_flags = 0; // default - no completion
  fi_ep_bind(ep, cq, FI_TRANSMIT | FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION);
  fi_send(ep, ...);                   // no completion
  fi_sendv(ep, ...);                  // no completion
  fi_sendmsg(ep, ..., FI_COMPLETION); // completion!
  fi_inject(ep, ...);                 // no completion
```

  Example: An application can selectively disable send completions by
  modifying the operational flags:

```c
  fi_tx_attr::op_flags = FI_COMPLETION; // default - completion
  fi_ep_bind(ep, cq, FI_TRANSMIT | FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION);
  fi_send(ep, ...);       // completion
  fi_sendv(ep, ...);      // completion
  fi_sendmsg(ep, ..., 0); // no completion!
  fi_inject(ep, ...);     // no completion!
```

  Example: Omitting FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION when binding will generate
  completions for all non-fi_inject calls:

```c
  fi_tx_attr::op_flags = 0;
  fi_ep_bind(ep, cq, FI_TRANSMIT);    // default - completion
  fi_send(ep, ...);                   // completion
  fi_sendv(ep, ...);                  // completion
  fi_sendmsg(ep, ..., 0);             // completion!
  fi_sendmsg(ep, ..., FI_COMPLETION); // completion
  fi_sendmsg(ep, ..., FI_INJECT|FI_COMPLETION); // completion!
  fi_inject(ep, ...);                 // no completion!
```

An endpoint may also be bound to a fabric counter.  When
binding an endpoint to a counter, the following flags may be specified.

*FI_SEND*
: Increments the specified counter whenever a message transfer initiated
  over the endpoint has completed successfully or in error.  Sent messages
  include both tagged and normal message operations.

*FI_RECV*
: Increments the specified counter whenever a message is
  received over the endpoint.  Received messages include both tagged
  and normal message operations.

*FI_READ*
: Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA read or atomic fetch
  operation initiated from the endpoint has completed successfully or
  in error.

*FI_WRITE*
: Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA write or atomic operation
  initiated from the endpoint has completed successfully or in error.

*FI_REMOTE_READ*
: Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA read or
  atomic fetch operation is initiated from a remote endpoint that
  targets the given endpoint.  Use of this flag requires that the
  endpoint be created using FI_RMA_EVENT.

*FI_REMOTE_WRITE*
: Increments the specified counter whenever an RMA write or
  atomic operation is initiated from a remote endpoint that targets
  the given endpoint.  Use of this flag requires that the
  endpoint be created using FI_RMA_EVENT.

An endpoint may only be bound to a single CQ or counter for a given
type of operation.  For example, a EP may not bind to two counters
both using FI_WRITE.  Furthermore, providers may limit CQ and counter
bindings to endpoints of the same endpoint type (DGRAM, MSG, RDM, etc.).

Connectionless endpoints must be bound to a single address vector.

If an endpoint is using a shared transmit and/or receive context, the
shared contexts must be bound to the endpoint.  CQs, counters, AV, and
shared contexts must be bound to endpoints before they are enabled.

## fi_scalable_ep_bind

fi_scalable_ep_bind is used to associate a scalable endpoint with an
address vector. See section on SCALABLE ENDPOINTS.  A scalable
endpoint has a single transport level address and can support multiple
transmit and receive contexts. The transmit and receive contexts share
the transport-level address. Address vectors that are bound to
scalable endpoints are implicitly bound to any transmit or receive
contexts created using the scalable endpoint.

## fi_enable

This call transitions the endpoint into an enabled state.  An endpoint
must be enabled before it may be used to perform data transfers.
Enabling an endpoint typically results in hardware resources being
assigned to it.  Endpoints making use of completion queues, counters,
event queues, and/or address vectors must be bound to them before being
enabled.

Calling connect or accept on an endpoint will implicitly enable an
endpoint if it has not already been enabled.

fi_enable may also be used to re-enable an endpoint that has been
disabled as a result of experiencing a critical error.  Applications
should check the return value from fi_enable to see if a disabled
endpoint has successfully be re-enabled.

## fi_cancel

fi_cancel attempts to cancel an outstanding asynchronous operation.
Canceling an operation causes the fabric provider to search for the
operation and, if it is still pending, complete it as having been
canceled. An error queue entry will be available in the
associated error queue with error code FI_ECANCELED. On the other hand,
if the operation completed before the call to fi_cancel, then the
completion status of that operation will be available in the associated
completion queue.  No specific entry related to fi_cancel itself will be posted.

Cancel uses the context parameter associated with an operation to identify
the request to cancel.  Operations posted without a valid context parameter --
either no context parameter is specified or the context value was ignored
by the provider -- cannot be canceled.  If multiple outstanding operations
match the context parameter, only one will be canceled. In this case, the
operation which is canceled is provider specific.
The cancel operation is asynchronous, but will complete within a bounded
period of time.

## fi_ep_alias

This call creates an alias to the specified endpoint.  Conceptually,
an endpoint alias provides an alternate software path from the
application to the underlying provider hardware.  An alias EP differs
from its parent endpoint only by its default data transfer flags.  For
example, an alias EP may be configured to use a different completion
mode.  By default, an alias EP inherits the same data transfer flags
as the parent endpoint.  An application can use fi_control to modify
the alias EP operational flags.

When allocating an alias, an application may configure either the transmit
or receive operational flags.  This avoids needing a separate call to
fi_control to set those flags.  The flags passed to fi_ep_alias must
include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both) with other operational flags OR'ed
in.  This will override the transmit or receive flags,
respectively, for operations posted through the alias endpoint.
All allocated aliases must be closed for the underlying endpoint to be
released.

## fi_control

The control operation is used to adjust the default behavior of an
endpoint.  It allows the underlying provider to redirect function
calls to implementations optimized to meet the desired application
behavior.  As a result, calls to fi_ep_control must be serialized
against all other calls to an endpoint.

The base operation of an endpoint is selected during creation using
struct fi_info.  The following control commands and arguments may be
assigned to an endpoint.

**FI_GETOPSFLAG -- uint64_t *flags**
: Used to retrieve the current value of flags associated with the data
  transfer operations initiated on the endpoint. The control argument must
  include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both) flags to indicate the type of
  data transfer flags to be returned.
  See below for a list of control flags.

**FI_SETOPSFLAG -- uint64_t *flags**
: Used to change the data transfer operation flags associated with an
  endpoint. The control argument must include FI_TRANSMIT or FI_RECV (not both)
  to indicate the type of data transfer that the flags should apply to, with other
  flags OR'ed in. The given flags will override the previous transmit and receive
  attributes that were set when the endpoint was created.
  Valid control flags are defined below.

**FI_BACKLOG - int *value**
: This option only applies to passive endpoints.  It is used to set the
  connection request backlog for listening endpoints.

*FI_GETWAIT (void \*\*)*
: This command allows the user to retrieve the file descriptor associated
  with a socket endpoint.  The fi_control arg parameter should be an address
  where a pointer to the returned file descriptor will be written.  See fi_eq.3
  for addition details using fi_control with FI_GETWAIT.  The file descriptor
  may be used for notification that the endpoint is ready to send or receive
  data.

## fi_getopt / fi_setopt

Endpoint protocol operations may be retrieved using fi_getopt or set
using fi_setopt.  Applications specify the level that a desired option
exists, identify the option, and provide input/output buffers to get
or set the option.  fi_setopt provides an application a way to adjust
low-level protocol and implementation specific details of an endpoint.

The following option levels and option names and parameters are defined.

*FI_OPT_ENDPOINT*

- *FI_OPT_MIN_MULTI_RECV - size_t*
: Defines the minimum receive buffer space available when the receive
  buffer is released by the provider (see FI_MULTI_RECV).  Modifying this
  value is only guaranteed to set the minimum buffer space needed on
  receives posted after the value has been changed.  It is recommended
  that applications that want to override the default MIN_MULTI_RECV
  value set this option before enabling the corresponding endpoint.

- *FI_OPT_CM_DATA_SIZE - size_t*
: Defines the size of available space in CM messages for user-defined
  data.  This value limits the amount of data that applications can exchange
  between peer endpoints using the fi_connect, fi_accept, and fi_reject
  operations.  The size returned is dependent upon the properties of the
  endpoint, except in the case of passive endpoints, in which the size reflects
  the maximum size of the data that may be present as part of a connection
  request event. This option is read only.

## fi_rx_size_left (DEPRECATED)

This function has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version
of the library.  It may not be supported by all providers.

The fi_rx_size_left call returns a lower bound on the number of receive
operations that may be posted to the given endpoint without that operation
returning -FI_EAGAIN.  Depending on the specific details of the subsequently
posted receive operations (e.g., number of iov entries, which receive function
is called, etc.), it may be possible to post more receive operations than
originally indicated by fi_rx_size_left.

## fi_tx_size_left (DEPRECATED)

This function has been deprecated and will be removed in a future version
of the library.  It may not be supported by all providers.

The fi_tx_size_left call returns a lower bound on the number of transmit
operations that may be posted to the given endpoint without that operation
returning -FI_EAGAIN.  Depending on the specific details of the subsequently
posted transmit operations (e.g., number of iov entries, which transmit
function is called, etc.), it may be possible to post more transmit operations
than originally indicated by fi_tx_size_left.

# ENDPOINT ATTRIBUTES

The fi_ep_attr structure defines the set of attributes associated with
an endpoint.  Endpoint attributes may be further refined using the transmit
and receive context attributes as shown below.

{% highlight c %}
struct fi_ep_attr {
	enum fi_ep_type type;
	uint32_t        protocol;
	uint32_t        protocol_version;
	size_t          max_msg_size;
	size_t          msg_prefix_size;
	size_t          max_order_raw_size;
	size_t          max_order_war_size;
	size_t          max_order_waw_size;
	uint64_t        mem_tag_format;
	size_t          tx_ctx_cnt;
	size_t          rx_ctx_cnt;
	size_t          auth_key_size;
	uint8_t         *auth_key;
};
{% endhighlight %}

## type - Endpoint Type

If specified, indicates the type of fabric interface communication
desired.  Supported types are:

*FI_EP_UNSPEC*
: The type of endpoint is not specified.  This is usually provided as
  input, with other attributes of the endpoint or the provider
  selecting the type.

*FI_EP_MSG*
: Provides a reliable, connection-oriented data transfer service with
  flow control that maintains message boundaries.

*FI_EP_DGRAM*
: Supports a connectionless, unreliable datagram communication.
  Message boundaries are maintained, but the maximum message size may
  be limited to the fabric MTU.  Flow control is not guaranteed.

*FI_EP_RDM*
: Reliable datagram message.  Provides a reliable, unconnected data
  transfer service with flow control that maintains message
  boundaries.

*FI_EP_SOCK_STREAM*
: Data streaming endpoint with TCP socket-like semantics.  Provides
  a reliable, connection-oriented data transfer service that does
  not maintain message boundaries.  FI_EP_SOCK_STREAM is most useful for
  applications designed around using TCP sockets.  See the SOCKET
  ENDPOINT section for additional details and restrictions that apply
  to stream endpoints.

*FI_EP_SOCK_DGRAM*
: A connectionless, unreliable datagram endpoint with UDP socket-like
  semantics.  FI_EP_SOCK_DGRAM is most useful for applications designed
  around using UDP sockets.  See the SOCKET ENDPOINT section for additional
  details and restrictions that apply to datagram socket endpoints.

## Protocol

Specifies the low-level end to end protocol employed by the provider.
A matching protocol must be used by communicating endpoints to ensure
interoperability.  The following protocol values are defined.
Provider specific protocols are also allowed.  Provider specific
protocols will be indicated by having the upper bit of the
protocol value set to one.

*FI_PROTO_UNSPEC*
: The protocol is not specified.  This is usually provided as input,
  with other attributes of the socket or the provider selecting the
  actual protocol.

*FI_PROTO_RDMA_CM_IB_RC*
: The protocol runs over Infiniband reliable-connected queue pairs,
  using the RDMA CM protocol for connection establishment.

*FI_PROTO_IWARP*
: The protocol runs over the Internet wide area RDMA protocol transport.

*FI_PROTO_IB_UD*
: The protocol runs over Infiniband unreliable datagram queue pairs.

*FI_PROTO_PSMX*
: The protocol is based on an Intel proprietary protocol known as PSM,
  performance scaled messaging.  PSMX is an extended version of the
  PSM protocol to support the libfabric interfaces.

*FI_PROTO_UDP*
: The protocol sends and receives UDP datagrams.  For example, an
  endpoint using *FI_PROTO_UDP* will be able to communicate with a
  remote peer that is using Berkeley *SOCK_DGRAM* sockets using
  *IPPROTO_UDP*.

*FI_PROTO_SOCK_TCP*
: The protocol is layered over TCP packets.

*FI_PROTO_IWARP_RDM*
: Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over iWarp reliable-connected
  queue pairs.

*FI_PROTO_IB_RDM*
: Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over InfiniBand reliable-connected
  queue pairs.

*FI_PROTO_GNI*
: Protocol runs over Cray GNI low-level interface.

*FI_PROTO_RXM*
: Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over message endpoints.  RXM is
  a libfabric utility component that adds RDM endpoint semantics over
  MSG endpoint semantics.

*FI_PROTO_RXD*
: Reliable-datagram protocol implemented over datagram endpoints.  RXD is
  a libfabric utility component that adds RDM endpoint semantics over
  DGRAM endpoint semantics.

*FI_PROTO_NETWORKDIRECT*
: Protocol runs over Microsoft NetworkDirect service provider interface.
  This adds reliable-datagram semantics over the NetworkDirect connection-
  oriented endpoint semantics.

*FI_PROTO_PSMX2*
: The protocol is based on an Intel proprietary protocol known as PSM2,
  performance scaled messaging version 2.  PSMX2 is an extended version of the
  PSM2 protocol to support the libfabric interfaces.

## protocol_version - Protocol Version

Identifies which version of the protocol is employed by the provider.
The protocol version allows providers to extend an existing protocol,
by adding support for additional features or functionality for example,
in a backward compatible manner.  Providers that support different versions
of the same protocol should inter-operate, but only when using the
capabilities defined for the lesser version. 

## max_msg_size - Max Message Size

Defines the maximum size for an application data transfer as a single
operation.

## msg_prefix_size - Message Prefix Size

Specifies the size of any required message prefix buffer space.  This
field will be 0 unless the FI_MSG_PREFIX mode is enabled.  If
msg_prefix_size is > 0 the specified value will be a multiple of
8-bytes.

## Max RMA Ordered Size

The maximum ordered size specifies the delivery order of transport
data into target memory for RMA and atomic operations.  Data ordering
is separate, but dependent on message ordering (defined below).  Data
ordering is unspecified where message order is not defined.

Data ordering refers to the access of target memory by subsequent
operations.  When back to back RMA read or write operations access the
same registered memory location, data ordering indicates whether the
second operation reads or writes the target memory after the first
operation has completed.  Because RMA ordering applies between two
operations, and not within a single data transfer, ordering is defined
per byte-addressable memory location.  I.e.  ordering specifies
whether location X is accessed by the second operation after the first
operation.  Nothing is implied about the completion of the first
operation before the second operation is initiated.

In order to support large data transfers being broken into multiple packets
and sent using multiple paths through the fabric, data ordering may be
limited to transfers of a specific size or less.  Providers specify when
data ordering is maintained through the following values.  Note that even
if data ordering is not maintained, message ordering may be.

*max_order_raw_size*
: Read after write size.  If set, an RMA or atomic read operation
  issued after an RMA or atomic write operation, both of which are
  smaller than the size, will be ordered. Where the target memory
  locations overlap, the RMA or atomic read operation will see the
  results of the previous RMA or atomic write.

*max_order_war_size*
: Write after read size.  If set, an RMA or atomic write operation
  issued after an RMA or atomic read operation, both of which are
  smaller than the size, will be ordered.  The RMA or atomic read
  operation will see the initial value of the target memory location
  before a subsequent RMA or atomic write updates the value.

*max_order_waw_size*
: Write after write size.  If set, an RMA or atomic write operation
  issued after an RMA or atomic write operation, both of which are
  smaller than the size, will be ordered.  The target memory location
  will reflect the results of the second RMA or atomic write.

An order size value of 0 indicates that ordering is not guaranteed.
A value of -1 guarantees ordering for any data size.

## mem_tag_format - Memory Tag Format

The memory tag format is a bit array used to convey the number of
tagged bits supported by a provider.  Additionally, it may be used to
divide the bit array into separate fields.  The mem_tag_format
optionally begins with a series of bits set to 0, to signify bits
which are ignored by the provider.  Following the initial prefix of
ignored bits, the array will consist of alternating groups of bits set
to all 1's or all 0's.  Each group of bits corresponds to a tagged
field.  The implication of defining a tagged field is that when a mask
is applied to the tagged bit array, all bits belonging to a single
field will either be set to 1 or 0, collectively.

For example, a mem_tag_format of 0x30FF indicates support for 14
tagged bits, separated into 3 fields.  The first field consists of
2-bits, the second field 4-bits, and the final field 8-bits.  Valid
masks for such a tagged field would be a bitwise OR'ing of zero or
more of the following values: 0x3000, 0x0F00, and 0x00FF.

By identifying fields within a tag, a provider may be able to optimize
their search routines.  An application which requests tag fields must
provide tag masks that either set all mask bits corresponding to a
field to all 0 or all 1.  When negotiating tag fields, an application
can request a specific number of fields of a given size.  A provider
must return a tag format that supports the requested number of fields,
with each field being at least the size requested, or fail the
request.  A provider may increase the size of the fields. When reporting
completions (see FI_CQ_FORMAT_TAGGED), the provider must provide the 
exact value of the received tag, clearing out any unsupported tag bits.

It is recommended that field sizes be ordered from smallest to
largest.  A generic, unstructured tag and mask can be achieved by
requesting a bit array consisting of alternating 1's and 0's.

## tx_ctx_cnt - Transmit Context Count

Number of transmit contexts to associate with the endpoint.  If not
specified (0), 1 context will be assigned if the endpoint supports
outbound transfers.  Transmit contexts are independent transmit queues
that may be separately configured.  Each transmit context may be bound
to a separate CQ, and no ordering is defined between contexts.
Additionally, no synchronization is needed when accessing contexts in
parallel.

If the count is set to the value FI_SHARED_CONTEXT, the endpoint will
be configured to use a shared transmit context, if supported by the
provider.  Providers that do not support shared transmit contexts will
fail the request.

See the scalable endpoint and shared contexts sections for additional
details.

## rx_ctx_cnt - Receive Context Count

Number of receive contexts to associate with the endpoint.  If not
specified, 1 context will be assigned if the endpoint supports inbound
transfers.  Receive contexts are independent processing queues that
may be separately configured.  Each receive context may be bound to a
separate CQ, and no ordering is defined between contexts.
Additionally, no synchronization is needed when accessing contexts in
parallel.

If the count is set to the value FI_SHARED_CONTEXT, the endpoint will
be configured to use a shared receive context, if supported by the
provider.  Providers that do not support shared receive contexts will
fail the request.

See the scalable endpoint and shared contexts sections for additional
details.

## auth_key_size - Authorization Key Length

The length of the authorization key in bytes.  This field will be 0 if
authorization keys are not available or used.  This field is ignored 
unless the fabric is opened with API version 1.5 or greater.

## auth_key - Authorization Key

If supported by the fabric, an authorization key (a.k.a. job
key) to associate with the endpoint.  An authorization key is used
to limit communication between endpoints.  Only peer endpoints that are
programmed to use the same authorization key may communicate.
Authorization keys are often used to implement job keys, to ensure
that processes running in different jobs do not accidentally
cross traffic.  The domain authorization key will be used if auth_key_size 
is set to 0.  This field is ignored unless the fabric is opened with API
version 1.5 or greater. 

# TRANSMIT CONTEXT ATTRIBUTES

Attributes specific to the transmit capabilities of an endpoint are
specified using struct fi_tx_attr.

{% highlight c %}
struct fi_tx_attr {
	uint64_t  caps;
	uint64_t  mode;
	uint64_t  op_flags;
	uint64_t  msg_order;
	uint64_t  comp_order;
	size_t    inject_size;
	size_t    size;
	size_t    iov_limit;
	size_t    rma_iov_limit;
};
{% endhighlight %}

## caps - Capabilities

The requested capabilities of the context.  The capabilities must be
a subset of those requested of the associated endpoint.  See the
CAPABILITIES section of fi_getinfo(3) for capability details.  If
the caps field is 0 on input to fi_getinfo(3), the caps value from the
fi_info structure will be used.

## mode

The operational mode bits of the context.  The mode bits will be a
subset of those associated with the endpoint.  See the MODE section
of fi_getinfo(3) for details.  A mode value of 0 will be ignored on
input to fi_getinfo(3), with the mode value of the fi_info structure
used instead.  On return from fi_getinfo(3), the mode will be set
only to those constraints specific to transmit operations.

## op_flags - Default transmit operation flags

Flags that control the operation of operations submitted against the
context.  Applicable flags are listed in the Operation Flags
section.

## msg_order - Message Ordering

Message ordering refers to the order in which transport layer headers
(as viewed by the application) are processed.  Relaxed message order
enables data transfers to be sent and received out of order, which may
improve performance by utilizing multiple paths through the fabric
from the initiating endpoint to a target endpoint.  Message order
applies only between a single source and destination endpoint pair.
Ordering between different target endpoints is not defined.

Message order is determined using a set of ordering bits.  Each set
bit indicates that ordering is maintained between data transfers of
the specified type.  Message order is defined for [read | write |
send] operations submitted by an application after [read | write |
send] operations.

Message ordering only applies to the end to end transmission of transport
headers.  Message ordering is necessary, but does not guarantee, the order in
which message data is sent or received by the transport layer.  Message
ordering requires matching ordering semantics on the receiving side of a data
transfer operation in order to guarantee that ordering is met.

*FI_ORDER_NONE*
: No ordering is specified.  This value may be used as input in order
  to obtain the default message order supported by the provider. FI_ORDER_NONE
  is an alias for the value 0.

*FI_ORDER_RAR*
: Read after read.  If set, RMA and atomic read operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to other
  RMA and atomic read operations.  If not set, RMA and atomic reads
  may be transmitted out of order from their submission.

*FI_ORDER_RAW*
: Read after write.  If set, RMA and atomic read operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to RMA and atomic write
  operations.  If not set, RMA and atomic reads may be transmitted ahead
  of RMA and atomic writes.

*FI_ORDER_RAS*
: Read after send.  If set, RMA and atomic read operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to message send
  operations, including tagged sends.  If not set, RMA and atomic
  reads may be transmitted ahead of sends.

*FI_ORDER_WAR*
: Write after read.  If set, RMA and atomic write operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to RMA and atomic read
  operations.  If not set, RMA and atomic writes may be transmitted
  ahead of RMA and atomic reads.

*FI_ORDER_WAW*
: Write after write.  If set, RMA and atomic write operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to other RMA and atomic
  write operations.  If not set, RMA and atomic writes may be
  transmitted out of order from their submission.

*FI_ORDER_WAS*
: Write after send.  If set, RMA and atomic write operations are
  transmitted in the order submitted relative to message send
  operations, including tagged sends.  If not set, RMA and atomic
  writes may be transmitted ahead of sends.

*FI_ORDER_SAR*
: Send after read.  If set, message send operations, including tagged
  sends, are transmitted in order submitted relative to RMA and atomic
  read operations.  If not set, message sends may be transmitted ahead
  of RMA and atomic reads.

*FI_ORDER_SAW*
: Send after write.  If set, message send operations, including tagged
  sends, are transmitted in order submitted relative to RMA and atomic
  write operations.  If not set, message sends may be transmitted ahead
  of RMA and atomic writes.

*FI_ORDER_SAS*
: Send after send.  If set, message send operations, including tagged
  sends, are transmitted in the order submitted relative to other
  message send.  If not set, message sends may be transmitted out of
  order from their submission.

## comp_order - Completion Ordering

Completion ordering refers to the order in which completed requests are
written into the completion queue.  Completion ordering is similar to
message order.  Relaxed completion order may enable faster reporting of
completed transfers, allow acknowledgments to be sent over different
fabric paths, and support more sophisticated retry mechanisms.
This can result in lower-latency completions, particularly when
using unconnected endpoints.  Strict completion ordering may require
that providers queue completed operations or limit available optimizations.

For transmit requests, completion ordering depends on the endpoint
communication type.  For unreliable communication, completion ordering
applies to all data transfer requests submitted to an endpoint.
For reliable communication, completion ordering only applies to requests
that target a single destination endpoint.  Completion ordering of
requests that target different endpoints over a reliable transport
is not defined.

Applications should specify the completion ordering that they support
or require.  Providers should return the completion order that they
actually provide, with the constraint that the returned ordering is
stricter than that specified by the application.  Supported completion
order values are:

*FI_ORDER_NONE*
: No ordering is defined for completed operations.  Requests submitted
  to the transmit context may complete in any order.

*FI_ORDER_STRICT*
: Requests complete in the order in which they are submitted to the
  transmit context.

## inject_size

The requested inject operation size (see the FI_INJECT flag) that
the context will support.  This is the maximum size data transfer that
can be associated with an inject operation (such as fi_inject) or may
be used with the FI_INJECT data transfer flag.

## size

The size of the context.  The size is specified as the minimum number
of transmit operations that may be posted to the endpoint without the
operation returning -FI_EAGAIN.

## iov_limit

This is the maximum number of IO vectors (scatter-gather elements)
that a single posted operation may reference.

## rma_iov_limit

This is the maximum number of RMA IO vectors (scatter-gather elements)
that an RMA or atomic operation may reference.  The rma_iov_limit
corresponds to the rma_iov_count values in RMA and atomic operations.
See struct fi_msg_rma and struct fi_msg_atomic in fi_rma.3 and
fi_atomic.3, for additional details.  This limit applies to both the
number of RMA IO vectors that may be specified when initiating an
operation from the local endpoint, as well as the maximum number of
IO vectors that may be carried in a single request from a remote endpoint.

# RECEIVE CONTEXT ATTRIBUTES

Attributes specific to the receive capabilities of an endpoint are
specified using struct fi_rx_attr.

{% highlight c %}
struct fi_rx_attr {
	uint64_t  caps;
	uint64_t  mode;
	uint64_t  op_flags;
	uint64_t  msg_order;
	uint64_t  comp_order;
	size_t    total_buffered_recv;
	size_t    size;
	size_t    iov_limit;
};
{% endhighlight %}

## caps - Capabilities

The requested capabilities of the context.  The capabilities must be
a subset of those requested of the associated endpoint.  See the
CAPABILITIES section if fi_getinfo(3) for capability details.  If
the caps field is 0 on input to fi_getinfo(3), the caps value from the
fi_info structure will be used.

## mode

The operational mode bits of the context.  The mode bits will be a
subset of those associated with the endpoint.  See the MODE section
of fi_getinfo(3) for details.  A mode value of 0 will be ignored on
input to fi_getinfo(3), with the mode value of the fi_info structure
used instead.  On return from fi_getinfo(3), the mode will be set
only to those constraints specific to receive operations.

## op_flags - Default receive operation flags

Flags that control the operation of operations submitted against the
context.  Applicable flags are listed in the Operation Flags
section.

## msg_order - Message Ordering

For a description of message ordering, see the msg_order field in
the _Transmit Context Attribute_ section.  Receive context message
ordering defines the order in which received transport message headers
are processed when received by an endpoint.

The following ordering flags, as defined for transmit ordering, also
apply to the processing of received operations: FI_ORDER_NONE,
FI_ORDER_RAR, FI_ORDER_RAW, FI_ORDER_RAS, FI_ORDER_WAR, FI_ORDER_WAW,
FI_ORDER_WAS, FI_ORDER_SAR, FI_ORDER_SAW, and FI_ORDER_SAS.

## comp_order - Completion Ordering

For a description of completion ordering, see the comp_order field in
the _Transmit Context Attribute_ section.

*FI_ORDER_NONE*
: No ordering is defined for completed operations.  Receive operations may
  complete in any order, regardless of their submission order.

*FI_ORDER_STRICT*
: Receive operations complete in the order in which they are processed by
  the receive context, based on the receive side msg_order attribute.

*FI_ORDER_DATA*
: When set, this bit indicates that received data is written into memory
  in order.  Data ordering applies to memory accessed as part of a single
  operation and between operations if message ordering is guaranteed.

## total_buffered_recv

This field is supported for backwards compatibility purposes.
It is a hint to the provider of the total available space
that may be needed to buffer messages that are received for which there
is no matching receive operation.  The provider may adjust or ignore
this value.  The allocation of internal network buffering among received
message is provider specific.  For instance, a provider may limit the size
of messages which can be buffered or the amount of buffering allocated to
a single message.

If receive side buffering is disabled (total_buffered_recv = 0)
and a message is received by an endpoint, then the behavior is dependent on
whether resource management has been enabled (FI_RM_ENABLED has be set or not).
See the Resource Management section of fi_domain.3 for further clarification.
It is recommended that applications enable resource management if they
anticipate receiving unexpected messages, rather than modifying this value.

## size

The size of the context.  The size is specified as the minimum number
of receive operations that may be posted to the endpoint without the
operation returning -FI_EAGAIN.

## iov_limit

This is the maximum number of IO vectors (scatter-gather elements)
that a single posted operating may reference.

# SCALABLE ENDPOINTS

A scalable endpoint is a communication portal that supports multiple
transmit and receive contexts.  Scalable endpoints are loosely modeled
after the networking concept of transmit/receive side scaling, also
known as multi-queue.  Support for scalable endpoints is domain
specific.  Scalable endpoints may improve the performance of
multi-threaded and parallel applications, by allowing threads to
access independent transmit and receive queues.  A scalable endpoint
has a single transport level address, which can reduce the memory
requirements needed to store remote addressing data, versus using
standard endpoints. Scalable endpoints cannot be used directly for
communication operations, and require the application to explicitly
create transmit and receive contexts as described below.

## fi_tx_context

Transmit contexts are independent transmit queues.  Ordering and
synchronization between contexts are not defined.  Conceptually a
transmit context behaves similar to a send-only endpoint.  A transmit
context may be configured with fewer capabilities than the base
endpoint and with different attributes (such as ordering requirements
and inject size) than other contexts associated with the same scalable
endpoint.  Each transmit context has its own completion queue.  The
number of transmit contexts associated with an endpoint is specified
during endpoint creation.

The fi_tx_context call is used to retrieve a specific context,
identified by an index (see above for details on transmit context
attributes).  Providers may dynamically allocate contexts when
fi_tx_context is called, or may statically create all contexts when
fi_endpoint is invoked.  By default, a transmit context inherits the
properties of its associated endpoint.  However, applications may
request context specific attributes through the attr parameter.
Support for per transmit context attributes is provider specific and
not guaranteed.  Providers will return the actual attributes assigned
to the context through the attr parameter, if provided.

## fi_rx_context

Receive contexts are independent receive queues for receiving incoming
data.  Ordering and synchronization between contexts are not
guaranteed.  Conceptually a receive context behaves similar to a
receive-only endpoint.  A receive context may be configured with fewer
capabilities than the base endpoint and with different attributes
(such as ordering requirements and inject size) than other contexts
associated with the same scalable endpoint.  Each receive context has
its own completion queue.  The number of receive contexts associated
with an endpoint is specified during endpoint creation.

Receive contexts are often associated with steering flows, that
specify which incoming packets targeting a scalable endpoint to
process.  However, receive contexts may be targeted directly by the
initiator, if supported by the underlying protocol.  Such contexts are
referred to as 'named'.  Support for named contexts must be indicated
by setting the caps FI_NAMED_RX_CTX capability when the corresponding
endpoint is created.  Support for named receive contexts is
coordinated with address vectors.  See fi_av(3) and fi_rx_addr(3).

The fi_rx_context call is used to retrieve a specific context,
identified by an index (see above for details on receive context
attributes).  Providers may dynamically allocate contexts when
fi_rx_context is called, or may statically create all contexts when
fi_endpoint is invoked.  By default, a receive context inherits the
properties of its associated endpoint.  However, applications may
request context specific attributes through the attr parameter.
Support for per receive context attributes is provider specific and
not guaranteed.  Providers will return the actual attributes assigned
to the context through the attr parameter, if provided.

# SHARED CONTEXTS

Shared contexts are transmit and receive contexts explicitly shared
among one or more endpoints.  A shareable context allows an application
to use a single dedicated provider resource among multiple transport
addressable endpoints.  This can greatly reduce the resources needed
to manage communication over multiple endpoints by multiplexing
transmit and/or receive processing, with the potential cost of
serializing access across multiple endpoints.  Support for shareable
contexts is domain specific.

Conceptually, shareable transmit contexts are transmit queues that may be
accessed by many endpoints.  The use of a shared transmit context is
mostly opaque to an application.  Applications must allocate and bind
shared transmit contexts to endpoints, but operations are posted
directly to the endpoint.  Shared transmit contexts are not associated
with completion queues or counters.  Completed operations are posted
to the CQs bound to the endpoint.  An endpoint may only
be associated with a single shared transmit context.

Unlike shared transmit contexts, applications interact directly with
shared receive contexts.  Users post receive buffers directly to a
shared receive context, with the buffers usable by any endpoint bound
to the shared receive context.  Shared receive contexts are not
associated with completion queues or counters.  Completed receive
operations are posted to the CQs bound to the endpoint.  An endpoint
may only be associated with a single receive context, and all
connectionless endpoints associated with a shared receive context must
also share the same address vector. 

Endpoints associated with a shared transmit context may use dedicated
receive contexts, and vice-versa.  Or an endpoint may use shared
transmit and receive contexts.  And there is no requirement that the
same group of endpoints sharing a context of one type also share the
context of an alternate type.  Furthermore, an endpoint may use a
shared context of one type, but a scalable set of contexts of the
alternate type.

## fi_stx_context

This call is used to open a shareable transmit context (see above for
details on the transmit context attributes).  Endpoints associated
with a shared transmit context must use a subset of the transmit
context's attributes.  Note that this is the reverse of the
requirement for transmit contexts for scalable endpoints.

## fi_srx_context

This allocates a shareable receive context (see above for details on
the receive context attributes).  Endpoints associated with a shared
receive context must use a subset of the receive context's attributes.
Note that this is the reverse of the requirement for receive contexts
for scalable endpoints.

# SOCKET ENDPOINTS

The following feature and description should be considered experimental.
Until the experimental tag is removed, the interfaces, semantics, and data
structures associated with socket endpoints may change between library
versions.

This section applies to endpoints of type FI_EP_SOCK_STREAM and
FI_EP_SOCK_DGRAM, commonly referred to as socket endpoints.

Socket endpoints are defined with semantics that allow them to more
easily be adopted by developers familiar with the UNIX socket API, or
by middleware that exposes the socket API, while still taking advantage
of high-performance hardware features.

The key difference between socket endpoints and other active endpoints
are socket endpoints use synchronous data transfers.  Buffers passed
into send and receive operations revert to the control of the application
upon returning from the function call.  As a result, no data transfer
completions are reported to the application, and socket endpoints are not
associated with completion queues or counters.

Socket endpoints support a subset of message operations: fi_send,
fi_sendv, fi_sendmsg, fi_recv, fi_recvv, fi_recvmsg, and fi_inject.
Because data transfers are synchronous, the return value from send and receive
operations indicate the number of bytes transferred on success, or a negative
value on error, including -FI_EAGAIN if the endpoint cannot send or
receive any data because of full or empty queues, respectively.

Socket endpoints are associated with event queues and address vectors, and
process connection management events asynchronously, similar to other endpoints.
Unlike UNIX sockets, socket endpoint must still be declared as either active
or passive.

Socket endpoints behave like non-blocking sockets.  In order to support
select and poll semantics, active socket endpoints are associated with a
file descriptor that is signaled whenever the endpoint is ready to send
and/or receive data.  The file descriptor may be retrieved using fi_control.

# OPERATION FLAGS

Operation flags are obtained by OR-ing the following flags together.
Operation flags define the default flags applied to an endpoint's data
transfer operations, where a flags parameter is not available.  Data
transfer operations that take flags as input override the op_flags
value of transmit or receive context attributes of an endpoint.

*FI_INJECT*
: Indicates that all outbound data buffers should be returned to the
  user's control immediately after a data transfer call returns, even
  if the operation is handled asynchronously.  This may require that
  the provider copy the data into a local buffer and transfer out of
  that buffer.  A provider can limit the total amount of send data
  that may be buffered and/or the size of a single send that can use
  this flag. This limit is indicated using inject_size (see inject_size
  above).

*FI_MULTI_RECV*
: Applies to posted receive operations.  This flag allows the user to
  post a single buffer that will receive multiple incoming messages.
  Received messages will be packed into the receive buffer until the
  buffer has been consumed.  Use of this flag may cause a single
  posted receive operation to generate multiple completions as
  messages are placed into the buffer.  The placement of received data
  into the buffer may be subjected to provider specific alignment
  restrictions.  The buffer will be released by the provider when the
  available buffer space falls below the specified minimum (see
  FI_OPT_MIN_MULTI_RECV).

*FI_COMPLETION*
: Indicates that a completion entry should be generated for data
  transfer operations. This flag only applies to operations issued on
  endpoints that were bound to a CQ or counter with the 
  FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION flag. See the fi_ep_bind section above for more
  detail.

*FI_INJECT_COMPLETE*
: Indicates that a completion should be generated when the
  source buffer(s) may be reused.  A completion guarantees that
  the buffers will not be read from again and the application may
  reclaim them.  No other guarantees are made with respect to the
  state of the operation.

  Note: This flag is used to control when a completion entry is inserted
  into a completion queue.  It does not apply to operations that do not
  generate a completion queue entry, such as the fi_inject operation, and
  is not subject to the inject_size message limit restriction.

*FI_TRANSMIT_COMPLETE*
: Indicates that a completion should be generated when the transmit
  operation has completed relative to the local provider.  The exact
  behavior is dependent on the endpoint type.

  For reliable endpoints:

  Indicates that a completion should be generated when the operation has
  been delivered to the peer endpoint.  A completion guarantees that the
  operation is no longer dependent on the fabric or local resources.  The
  state of the operation at the peer endpoint is not defined.

  For unreliable endpoints:

  Indicates that a completion should be generated when the operation has
  been delivered to the fabric.  A completion guarantees that the
  operation is no longer dependent on local resources.  The state of the
  operation within the fabric is not defined.

*FI_DELIVERY_COMPLETE*
: Indicates that a completion should not be generated until an operation
  has been processed by the destination endpoint(s).  A completion
  guarantees that the result of the operation is available.

  This completion mode applies only to reliable endpoints.  For operations
  that return data to the initiator, such as RMA read or atomic-fetch,
  the source endpoint is also considered a destination endpoint.  This is the
  default completion mode for such operations.

*FI_COMMIT_COMPLETE*
: Indicates that a completion should not be generated (locally or at the
  peer) until the result of an operation have been made persistent.
  A completion guarantees that the result is both available and durable,
  in the case of power failure.

  This completion mode applies only to operations that target persistent
  memory regions over reliable endpoints.  This completion mode is
  experimental.

*FI_MULTICAST*
: Indicates that data transfers will target multicast addresses by default.
  Any fi_addr_t passed into a data transfer operation will be treated as a
  multicast address.

# NOTES

Users should call fi_close to release all resources allocated to the
fabric endpoint.

Endpoints allocated with the FI_CONTEXT mode set must typically
provide struct fi_context as their per operation context parameter.
(See fi_getinfo.3 for details.)  However, when FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION is
enabled to suppress completion entries, and an operation is initiated
without FI_COMPLETION flag set, then the context parameter is ignored.
An application does not need to pass in a valid struct fi_context into
such data transfers.

Operations that complete in error that are not associated with valid
operational context will use the endpoint context in any error
reporting structures.

Although applications typically associate individual completions with
either completion queues or counters, an endpoint can be attached to
both a counter and completion queue.  When combined with using
selective completions, this allows an application to use counters to
track successful completions, with a CQ used to report errors.
Operations that complete with an error increment the error counter
and generate a completion event.  The generation of entries going to
the CQ can then be controlled using FI_SELECTIVE_COMPLETION.

As mentioned in fi_getinfo(3), the ep_attr structure can be used to
query providers that support various endpoint attributes. fi_getinfo
can return provider info structures that can support the minimal set
of requirements (such that the application maintains correctness).
However, it can also return provider info structures that exceed
application requirements. As an example, consider an application
requesting msg_order as FI_ORDER_NONE. The resulting output from
fi_getinfo may have all the ordering bits set. The application can reset
the ordering bits it does not require before creating the endpoint.
The provider is free to implement a stricter ordering than is
required by the application.

# RETURN VALUES

Returns 0 on success.  On error, a negative value corresponding to
fabric errno is returned.  For fi_cancel, a return value of 0
indicates that the cancel request was submitted for processing.

Fabric errno values are defined in `rdma/fi_errno.h`.

# ERRORS

*-FI_EDOMAIN*
: A resource domain was not bound to the endpoint or an attempt was
  made to bind multiple domains.

*-FI_ENOCQ*
: The endpoint has not been configured with necessary event queue.

*-FI_EOPBADSTATE*
: The endpoint's state does not permit the requested operation.

# SEE ALSO

[`fi_getinfo`(3)](fi_getinfo.3.html),
[`fi_domain`(3)](fi_domain.3.html),
[`fi_msg`(3)](fi_msg.3.html),
[`fi_tagged`(3)](fi_tagged.3.html),
[`fi_rma`(3)](fi_rma.3.html)
