When all the ovn-k8s components are offloaded to BlueField, there is no ovn process on the host to program iptable rules (needed for certain ovn-k8s flows). With latest design, ovnkube-node would also run on host, but with different mode (smart-nic-host).

ovnkube-node with smart-nic-host mode takes care of:

1) necessary host network configuration (iptables) for certain ovn flows

2) cni functions such as plugging VF device to pod, annotate pod with pf/vf device info.