Initializing Vivado IDE hw_server - 2021.2 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Programming and Debugging

Document ID
UG908
Release Date
2021-10-22
Version
2021.2 English

When Vivado IDE hw_server is initialized with an XVC connection Vivado IDE discovers the XVC cable just like any USB cable. To do that, start the Vivado IDE hw_server with these arguments

hw_server -e "set auto-open-servers xilinx-xvc:localhost:10200"

The auto-open-servers option enables the XVC cable to be initialized by hw_server at start up. You can initialize the hardware server to force a connection to an existing XVC cable. The server will automatically discover the XVC cables in future connections.

The argument to auto-open-servers is as follows

xilinx-xvc:<xvc_host_name>:<xvc_port>

Multiple servers can be specified using comma separated strings. When the hardware server starts, it attempts to establish connections to the specified XVC servers. Alternatively you can provide the XVC server details when connecting to the target using the Vivado Hardware Manager Open New Hardware Target wizard as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1. Open New Hardware Target Dialog

Click the Add Xilinx Virtual Cable button. This brings up the Add Virtual Cable dialog box as shown in the following figure.

Figure 2. Add Virtual Cable Dialog

You will then provide the XVC Hostname and Port number to connect to.

Refer to Xilinx Virtual Cable Running on Zynq-7000 Using the PetaLinux Tools (XAPP1251) for an example of this.

This application note shows how to get a Xilinx Virtual Cable (XVC) server running on a Zynq®-7000 device with a Linux operating system generated with the PetaLinux Tools. A reference design is provided for the Avnet MicroZed board. The target device in this application note is on an AC701 board and will be programmed and debugged by the MicroZed board running XVC on Linux.

Note: For an example XVC server implementation over TCP/IP, refer to the following github repository: https://github.com/Xilinx/XilinxVirtualCable.