diff --git a/.gitmodules b/.gitmodules
index 71bbde722..5a8520b0b 100644
--- a/.gitmodules
+++ b/.gitmodules
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
 [submodule "dpdk-1.8.0"]
-	path = dpdk
-	url = ../../sdnfv/onvm-dpdk.git
-    branch = onvm
+        path = dpdk
+        url = https://dpdk.org/git/dpdk
+        branch = master
+        commit = 0da7f445df445630c794897347ee360d6fe6348b
 [submodule "tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk"]
-	path = tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk
-	url = ../../sdnfv/onvm-pktgen.git
-	branch = onvm
+        path = tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk
+        url = ../../sdnfv/onvm-pktgen.git
+        branch = onvm
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d594f97f5..bfa6e1ceb 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -9,9 +9,10 @@ _Want to get started quickly?_ Try using our NSF CloudLab profile: https://www.c
 Notes
 --
 
-We have updated our DPDK submodule to point to a new version, v17.08.  If you have already cloned this repository, please update your DPDK submodule by running:
+We have updated our DPDK submodule to point to a new version, v18.11.  If you have already cloned this repository, please update your DPDK submodule by running:
 
 ```
+git submodule sync
 git submodule update --init
 ```
 
diff --git a/dpdk b/dpdk
index 3bb1035c2..0da7f445d 160000
--- a/dpdk
+++ b/dpdk
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 3bb1035c274c7ee7a98148787a3949c6d42f08d3
+Subproject commit 0da7f445df445630c794897347ee360d6fe6348b
diff --git a/examples/load_balancer/README.md b/examples/load_balancer/README.md
index bea1290d3..68a4ffdde 100644
--- a/examples/load_balancer/README.md
+++ b/examples/load_balancer/README.md
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ This NF acts as a layer 3, round-robin load balancer. When a packet arrives the
 App Specific Instuctions
 --
 **Setting up dpdk interfaces**  
-This NF requires 2 DPDK interfaces to work, both can be setup using the `openNetVM/dpdk/tools/dpdk-setup-iface.sh` script.  
+This NF requires 2 DPDK interfaces to work, both can be setup using the mTCP submodule iface setup, which can be found at the [mTCP onvm module install guide][mTCP repo]. 
 
 **Server Config**  
 The server config needs to have the total number of backend servers with their ip and mac address combination, an example config file `server.conf` is provided.  
@@ -58,3 +58,5 @@ This NF supports the NF generating arguments from a config file. For
 additional reading, see [Examples.md](../../docs/Examples.md)
 
 See `../example_config.json` for all possible options that can be set.
+
+[mTCP repo]: https://github.com/mtcp-stack/mtcp/tree/devel#onvm-version
diff --git a/onvm/onvm_mgr/onvm_init.c b/onvm/onvm_mgr/onvm_init.c
index c98c29858..6ab43b7b4 100644
--- a/onvm/onvm_mgr/onvm_init.c
+++ b/onvm/onvm_mgr/onvm_init.c
@@ -105,43 +105,22 @@ static const struct rte_eth_conf port_conf = {
                 .mq_mode        = ETH_MQ_RX_RSS,
                 .max_rx_pkt_len = ETHER_MAX_LEN,
                 .split_hdr_size = 0,
-                .header_split   = 0,                    /* header split disabled */
-                .hw_ip_checksum = 1,                    /* IP checksum offload enabled */
-                .hw_vlan_filter = 0,                    /* VLAN filtering disabled */
-                .jumbo_frame    = 0,                    /* jumbo frame support disabled */
-                .hw_strip_crc   = 1,                    /* CRC stripped by hardware */
+                .offloads       = DEV_RX_OFFLOAD_CHECKSUM,
         },
         .rx_adv_conf = {
                 .rss_conf = {
                         .rss_key = rss_symmetric_key,
-                        .rss_hf  = ETH_RSS_IP | ETH_RSS_UDP | ETH_RSS_TCP,
+                        .rss_hf  = ETH_RSS_IP | ETH_RSS_UDP | ETH_RSS_TCP | ETH_RSS_L2_PAYLOAD,
                 },
         },
         .txmode = {
-                .mq_mode = ETH_MQ_TX_NONE,
+                .mq_mode  = ETH_MQ_TX_NONE,
+                .offloads = (DEV_TX_OFFLOAD_IPV4_CKSUM |
+                             DEV_TX_OFFLOAD_UDP_CKSUM  |
+                             DEV_TX_OFFLOAD_TCP_CKSUM)
         },
 };
 
-static const struct rte_eth_rxconf rx_conf = {
-        .rx_thresh = {
-                .pthresh = RX_PTHRESH,
-                .hthresh = RX_HTHRESH,
-                .wthresh = RX_WTHRESH,
-        },
-        .rx_free_thresh = 32,
-};
-
-static const struct rte_eth_txconf tx_conf = {
-        .tx_thresh = {
-                .pthresh = TX_PTHRESH,
-                .hthresh = TX_HTHRESH,
-                .wthresh = TX_WTHRESH,
-        },
-        .tx_free_thresh = 0,
-        .tx_rs_thresh   = 0,
-        .txq_flags      = 0,
-};
-
 
 /*********************************Interfaces**********************************/
 
@@ -168,7 +147,7 @@ init(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 #endif
 
         /* get total number of ports */
-        total_ports = rte_eth_dev_count();
+        total_ports = rte_eth_dev_count_avail();
 
         /* set up array for NF tx data */
         mz_nf = rte_memzone_reserve(MZ_NF_INFO, sizeof(*nfs) * MAX_NFS,
@@ -330,10 +309,15 @@ init_nf_info_pool(void)
 static int
 init_port(uint8_t port_num) {
         const uint16_t rx_rings = ONVM_NUM_RX_THREADS;
-        const uint16_t rx_ring_size = RTE_MP_RX_DESC_DEFAULT;
+        uint16_t rx_ring_size = RTE_MP_RX_DESC_DEFAULT;
         /* Set the number of tx_rings equal to the tx threads. This mimics the onvm_mgr tx thread calculation. */
         const uint16_t tx_rings = rte_lcore_count() - rx_rings - ONVM_NUM_MGR_AUX_THREADS;
-        const uint16_t tx_ring_size = RTE_MP_TX_DESC_DEFAULT;
+        uint16_t tx_ring_size = RTE_MP_TX_DESC_DEFAULT;
+
+        struct rte_eth_rxconf rxq_conf;
+        struct rte_eth_txconf txq_conf;
+        struct rte_eth_dev_info dev_info;
+        struct rte_eth_conf local_port_conf = port_conf;
 
         uint16_t q;
         int retval;
@@ -346,27 +330,54 @@ init_port(uint8_t port_num) {
 
         /* Standard DPDK port initialisation - config port, then set up
          * rx and tx rings */
+        rte_eth_dev_info_get(port_num, &dev_info);
+        if (dev_info.tx_offload_capa & DEV_TX_OFFLOAD_MBUF_FAST_FREE)
+                local_port_conf.txmode.offloads |= DEV_TX_OFFLOAD_MBUF_FAST_FREE;
+        local_port_conf.rx_adv_conf.rss_conf.rss_hf &=
+                dev_info.flow_type_rss_offloads;
+        if (local_port_conf.rx_adv_conf.rss_conf.rss_hf !=
+                        port_conf.rx_adv_conf.rss_conf.rss_hf) {
+                printf("Port %u modified RSS hash function based on hardware support,"
+                        "requested:%#"PRIx64" configured:%#"PRIx64"\n",
+                        port_num,
+                        port_conf.rx_adv_conf.rss_conf.rss_hf,
+                        local_port_conf.rx_adv_conf.rss_conf.rss_hf);
+        }
+
         if ((retval = rte_eth_dev_configure(port_num, rx_rings, tx_rings,
-                &port_conf)) != 0)
+                &local_port_conf)) != 0)
                 return retval;
 
+        /* Adjust rx,tx ring sizes if not allowed by ethernet device 
+         * TODO if this is ajusted store the new values for future reference */
+        retval = rte_eth_dev_adjust_nb_rx_tx_desc(
+                port_num, &rx_ring_size, &tx_ring_size);
+        if (retval < 0) {
+                rte_panic("Cannot adjust number of descriptors for port %u (%d)\n",
+                          port_num, retval);
+        }
+
+        rxq_conf = dev_info.default_rxconf;
+        rxq_conf.offloads = local_port_conf.rxmode.offloads;
         for (q = 0; q < rx_rings; q++) {
                 retval = rte_eth_rx_queue_setup(port_num, q, rx_ring_size,
                                 rte_eth_dev_socket_id(port_num),
-                                &rx_conf, pktmbuf_pool);
+                                &rxq_conf, pktmbuf_pool);
                 if (retval < 0) return retval;
         }
 
+        txq_conf = dev_info.default_txconf;
+        txq_conf.offloads = port_conf.txmode.offloads;
         for (q = 0; q < tx_rings; q++) {
                 retval = rte_eth_tx_queue_setup(port_num, q, tx_ring_size,
                                 rte_eth_dev_socket_id(port_num),
-                                &tx_conf);
+                                &txq_conf);
                 if (retval < 0) return retval;
         }
 
         rte_eth_promiscuous_enable(port_num);
 
-        retval  = rte_eth_dev_start(port_num);
+        retval = rte_eth_dev_start(port_num);
         if (retval < 0) return retval;
 
         printf("done: \n");
@@ -392,7 +403,7 @@ init_shm_rings(void) {
         // use calloc since we allocate for all possible NFs
         // ensure that all fields are init to 0 to avoid reading garbage
         // TODO plopreiato, move to creation when a NF starts
-	for (i = 0; i < MAX_NFS; i++) {
+        for (i = 0; i < MAX_NFS; i++) {
                 /* Create an RX queue for each NF */
                 socket_id = rte_socket_id();
                 rq_name = get_rx_queue_name(i);
diff --git a/scripts/install.sh b/scripts/install.sh
index 937c1e2e2..81ffa732e 100755
--- a/scripts/install.sh
+++ b/scripts/install.sh
@@ -80,6 +80,15 @@ start_dir=$(pwd)
 # Compile dpdk
 cd $RTE_SDK
 echo "Compiling and installing dpdk in $RTE_SDK"
+
+# Adding ldflags.txt output for mTCP compatibility
+if grep "ldflags.txt" $RTE_SDK/mk/rte.app.mk > /dev/null
+then
+    :
+else
+    sed -i -e 's/O_TO_EXE_STR =/\$(shell if [ \! -d \${RTE_SDK}\/\${RTE_TARGET}\/lib ]\; then mkdir \${RTE_SDK}\/\${RTE_TARGET}\/lib\; fi)\nLINKER_FLAGS = \$(call linkerprefix,\$(LDLIBS))\n\$(shell echo \${LINKER_FLAGS} \> \${RTE_SDK}\/\${RTE_TARGET}\/lib\/ldflags\.txt)\nO_TO_EXE_STR =/g' $RTE_SDK/mk/rte.app.mk
+fi
+
 sleep 1
 make config T=$RTE_TARGET
 make T=$RTE_TARGET -j 8
diff --git a/tools/Pktgen/README.md b/tools/Pktgen/README.md
index 2ad2d86bf..3514ef9f6 100644
--- a/tools/Pktgen/README.md
+++ b/tools/Pktgen/README.md
@@ -64,6 +64,10 @@ Install pcap dependency
 
 `sudo apt-get install libpcap-dev`
 
+Download Lua, can be found [here](https://www.lua.org/download.html)  
+Navigate into the downloaded Lua directory and run  
+`sudo make install`
+
 2.2 Build Pktgen Application
 ------------- 
 
diff --git a/tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk b/tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk
index cfc2e8571..ad3733ab8 160000
--- a/tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk
+++ b/tools/Pktgen/pktgen-dpdk
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit cfc2e8571d79647a15cf115dbe28cb93fedddb7c
+Subproject commit ad3733ab8f7608f01df47fafd0ea01cf6960072a