# Install the EFA software in a container
<a name="efa-installer-containers"></a>

This section covers how to use the EFA installer in a containerized environment. You can install the EFA software either by adding commands to a Dockerfile or by running them directly in the shell of a running container.

**To install EFA software in a container using shell commands**

1. Update the operating system packages. This step ensures that you have the latest packages.
   + For Debian-based operating systems:

     ```
     apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y
     ```
   + For RHEL-based operating systems:

     ```
     yum update -y
     ```

1. Download the EFA installer. We recommend that you use the latest EFA installer. For information about the latest version, see [Elastic Fabric Adapter release notes](efa-changelog.md).

   ```
   mkdir /tmp/efa \
   && cd /tmp/efa \
   && curl -O https://efa-installer.amazonaws.com/aws-efa-installer-{{version}}.tar.gz
   ```

   (Optional) Verify the signature of the EFA installer package.

   ```
   wget https://efa-installer.amazonaws.com/aws-efa-installer.key \
   && gpg --import aws-efa-installer.key \
   && cat aws-efa-installer.key | gpg --fingerprint \
   && wget https://efa-installer.amazonaws.com/aws-efa-installer-{{version}}.tar.gz.sig \
   && gpg --verify ./aws-efa-installer-{{version}}.tar.gz.sig
   ```

1. Install the EFA software. The following command uses these arguments:
   + `--skip-kmod` — Skips kernel module installation. The container environment can't modify kernel modules.
   + `--skip-limit-conf` — Skips the limits configuration. You can't set `ulimit` inside a container. Configure this as part of the container creation instead.
   + `--no-verify` — Skips EFA device detection. The device detection uses `lspci`, which doesn't work in a containerized environment.

   ```
   tar -xf aws-efa-installer-{{version}}.tar.gz \
   && cd aws-efa-installer \
   && ./efa_installer.sh -y --skip-kmod --skip-limit-conf --no-verify
   ```
**Note**  
For NGC containers, with EFA installer version 1.49.0 or later you can use the `--enable-ngc` flag instead of the three flags above. This flag handles all container-specific configuration automatically:  

   ```
   ./efa_installer.sh -y --enable-ngc
   ```

1. Clean up the temporary installation files.

   ```
   rm -rf /tmp/efa
   ```