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1 cdc_mbim - Driver for CDC MBIM Mobile Broadband modems
2 ========================================================
3
4The cdc_mbim driver supports USB devices conforming to the "Universal
5Serial Bus Communications Class Subclass Specification for Mobile
6Broadband Interface Model" [1], which is a further development of
7"Universal Serial Bus Communications Class Subclass Specifications for
8Network Control Model Devices" [2] optimized for Mobile Broadband
9devices, aka "3G/LTE modems".
10
11
12Command Line Parameters
13=======================
14
15The cdc_mbim driver has no parameters of its own. But the probing
16behaviour for NCM 1.0 backwards compatible MBIM functions (an
17"NCM/MBIM function" as defined in section 3.2 of [1]) is affected
18by a cdc_ncm driver parameter:
19
20prefer_mbim
21-----------
22Type: Boolean
23Valid Range: N/Y (0-1)
24Default Value: Y (MBIM is preferred)
25
26This parameter sets the system policy for NCM/MBIM functions. Such
27functions will be handled by either the cdc_ncm driver or the cdc_mbim
28driver depending on the prefer_mbim setting. Setting prefer_mbim=N
29makes the cdc_mbim driver ignore these functions and lets the cdc_ncm
30driver handle them instead.
31
32The parameter is writable, and can be changed at any time. A manual
33unbind/bind is required to make the change effective for NCM/MBIM
34functions bound to the "wrong" driver
35
36
37Basic usage
38===========
39
40MBIM functions are inactive when unmanaged. The cdc_mbim driver only
41provides an userspace interface to the MBIM control channel, and will
42not participate in the management of the function. This implies that a
43userspace MBIM management application always is required to enable a
44MBIM function.
45
46Such userspace applications includes, but are not limited to:
47 - mbimcli (included with the libmbim [3] library), and
48 - ModemManager [4]
49
50Establishing a MBIM IP session reequires at least these actions by the
51management application:
52 - open the control channel
53 - configure network connection settings
54 - connect to network
55 - configure IP interface
56
57Management application development
58----------------------------------
59The driver <-> userspace interfaces are described below. The MBIM
60control channel protocol is described in [1].
61
62
63MBIM control channel userspace ABI
64==================================
65
66/dev/cdc-wdmX character device
67------------------------------
68The driver creates a two-way pipe to the MBIM function control channel
69using the cdc-wdm driver as a subdriver. The userspace end of the
70control channel pipe is a /dev/cdc-wdmX character device.
71
72The cdc_mbim driver does not process or police messages on the control
73channel. The channel is fully delegated to the userspace management
74application. It is therefore up to this application to ensure that it
75complies with all the control channel requirements in [1].
76
77The cdc-wdmX device is created as a child of the MBIM control
78interface USB device. The character device associated with a specific
79MBIM function can be looked up using sysfs. For example:
80
81 bjorn@nemi:~$ ls /sys/bus/usb/drivers/cdc_mbim/2-4:2.12/usbmisc
82 cdc-wdm0
83
84 bjorn@nemi:~$ grep . /sys/bus/usb/drivers/cdc_mbim/2-4:2.12/usbmisc/cdc-wdm0/dev
85 180:0
86
87
88USB configuration descriptors
89-----------------------------
90The wMaxControlMessage field of the CDC MBIM functional descriptor
91limits the maximum control message size. The managament application is
92responsible for negotiating a control message size complying with the
93requirements in section 9.3.1 of [1], taking this descriptor field
94into consideration.
95
96The userspace application can access the CDC MBIM functional
97descriptor of a MBIM function using either of the two USB
98configuration descriptor kernel interfaces described in [6] or [7].
99
100See also the ioctl documentation below.
101
102
103Fragmentation
104-------------
105The userspace application is responsible for all control message
106fragmentation and defragmentaion, as described in section 9.5 of [1].
107
108
109/dev/cdc-wdmX write()
110---------------------
111The MBIM control messages from the management application *must not*
112exceed the negotiated control message size.
113
114
115/dev/cdc-wdmX read()
116--------------------
117The management application *must* accept control messages of up the
118negotiated control message size.
119
120
121/dev/cdc-wdmX ioctl()
122--------------------
123IOCTL_WDM_MAX_COMMAND: Get Maximum Command Size
124This ioctl returns the wMaxControlMessage field of the CDC MBIM
125functional descriptor for MBIM devices. This is intended as a
126convenience, eliminating the need to parse the USB descriptors from
127userspace.
128
129 #include <stdio.h>
130 #include <fcntl.h>
131 #include <sys/ioctl.h>
132 #include <linux/types.h>
133 #include <linux/usb/cdc-wdm.h>
134 int main()
135 {
136 __u16 max;
137 int fd = open("/dev/cdc-wdm0", O_RDWR);
138 if (!ioctl(fd, IOCTL_WDM_MAX_COMMAND, &max))
139 printf("wMaxControlMessage is %d\n", max);
140 }
141
142
143Custom device services
144----------------------
145The MBIM specification allows vendors to freely define additional
146services. This is fully supported by the cdc_mbim driver.
147
148Support for new MBIM services, including vendor specified services, is
149implemented entirely in userspace, like the rest of the MBIM control
150protocol
151
152New services should be registered in the MBIM Registry [5].
153
154
155
156MBIM data channel userspace ABI
157===============================
158
159wwanY network device
160--------------------
161The cdc_mbim driver represents the MBIM data channel as a single
162network device of the "wwan" type. This network device is initially
163mapped to MBIM IP session 0.
164
165
166Multiplexed IP sessions (IPS)
167-----------------------------
168MBIM allows multiplexing up to 256 IP sessions over a single USB data
169channel. The cdc_mbim driver models such IP sessions as 802.1q VLAN
170subdevices of the master wwanY device, mapping MBIM IP session Z to
171VLAN ID Z for all values of Z greater than 0.
172
173The device maximum Z is given in the MBIM_DEVICE_CAPS_INFO structure
174described in section 10.5.1 of [1].
175
176The userspace management application is responsible for adding new
177VLAN links prior to establishing MBIM IP sessions where the SessionId
178is greater than 0. These links can be added by using the normal VLAN
179kernel interfaces, either ioctl or netlink.
180
181For example, adding a link for a MBIM IP session with SessionId 3:
182
183 ip link add link wwan0 name wwan0.3 type vlan id 3
184
185The driver will automatically map the "wwan0.3" network device to MBIM
186IP session 3.
187
188
189Device Service Streams (DSS)
190----------------------------
191MBIM also allows up to 256 non-IP data streams to be multiplexed over
192the same shared USB data channel. The cdc_mbim driver models these
193sessions as another set of 802.1q VLAN subdevices of the master wwanY
194device, mapping MBIM DSS session A to VLAN ID (256 + A) for all values
195of A.
</