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1 | Linux Base Driver for 10 Gigabit PCI Express Intel(R) Network Connection | ||
2 | ======================================================================== | ||
3 | |||
4 | March 10, 2009 | ||
5 | |||
6 | |||
7 | Contents | ||
8 | ======== | ||
9 | |||
10 | - In This Release | ||
11 | - Identifying Your Adapter | ||
12 | - Building and Installation | ||
13 | - Additional Configurations | ||
14 | - Support | ||
15 | |||
16 | |||
17 | |||
18 | In This Release | ||
19 | =============== | ||
20 | |||
21 | This file describes the ixgbe Linux Base Driver for the 10 Gigabit PCI | ||
22 | Express Intel(R) Network Connection. This driver includes support for | ||
23 | Itanium(R)2-based systems. | ||
24 | |||
25 | For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation | ||
26 | supplied with your 10 Gigabit adapter. All hardware requirements listed apply | ||
27 | to use with Linux. | ||
28 | |||
29 | The following features are available in this kernel: | ||
30 | - Native VLANs | ||
31 | - Channel Bonding (teaming) | ||
32 | - SNMP | ||
33 | - Generic Receive Offload | ||
34 | - Data Center Bridging | ||
35 | |||
36 | Channel Bonding documentation can be found in the Linux kernel source: | ||
37 | /Documentation/networking/bonding.txt | ||
38 | |||
39 | Ethtool, lspci, and ifconfig can be used to display device and driver | ||
40 | specific information. | ||
41 | |||
42 | |||
43 | Identifying Your Adapter | ||
44 | ======================== | ||
45 | |||
46 | This driver supports devices based on the 82598 controller and the 82599 | ||
47 | controller. | ||
48 | |||
49 | For specific information on identifying which adapter you have, please visit: | ||
50 | |||
51 | http://support.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-008441.htm | ||
52 | |||
53 | |||
54 | Building and Installation | ||
55 | ========================= | ||
56 | |||
57 | select m for "Intel(R) 10GbE PCI Express adapters support" located at: | ||
58 | Location: | ||
59 | -> Device Drivers | ||
60 | -> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y]) | ||
61 | -> Ethernet (10000 Mbit) (NETDEV_10000 [=y]) | ||
62 | |||
63 | 1. make modules & make modules_install | ||
64 | |||
65 | 2. Load the module: | ||
66 | |||
67 | # modprobe ixgbe | ||
68 | |||
69 | The insmod command can be used if the full | ||
70 | path to the driver module is specified. For example: | ||
71 | |||
72 | insmod /lib/modules/<KERNEL VERSION>/kernel/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe.ko | ||
73 | |||
74 | With 2.6 based kernels also make sure that older ixgbe drivers are | ||
75 | removed from the kernel, before loading the new module: | ||
76 | |||
77 | rmmod ixgbe; modprobe ixgbe | ||
78 | |||
79 | 3. Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the following, where | ||
80 | x is the interface number: | ||
81 | |||
82 | ifconfig ethx <IP_address> | ||
83 | |||
84 | 4. Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address> | ||
85 | is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the interface | ||
86 | that is being tested: | ||
87 | |||
88 | ping <IP_address> | ||
89 | |||
90 | |||
91 | Additional Configurations | ||
92 | ========================= | ||
93 | |||
94 | Viewing Link Messages | ||
95 | --------------------- | ||
96 | Link messages will not be displayed to the console if the distribution is | ||
97 | restricting system messages. In order to see network driver link messages on | ||
98 | your console, set dmesg to eight by entering the following: | ||
99 | |||
100 | dmesg -n 8 | ||
101 | |||
102 | NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. | ||
103 | |||
104 | |||
105 | Jumbo Frames | ||
106 | ------------ | ||
107 | The driver supports Jumbo Frames for all adapters. Jumbo Frames support is | ||
108 | enabled by changing the MTU to a value larger than the default of 1500. | ||
109 | The maximum value for the MTU is 16110. Use the ifconfig command to | ||
110 | increase the MTU size. For example: | ||
111 | |||
112 | ifconfig ethx mtu 9000 up | ||
113 | |||
114 | The maximum MTU setting for Jumbo Frames is 16110. This value coincides | ||
115 | with the maximum Jumbo Frames size of 16128. | ||
116 | |||
117 | Generic Receive Offload, aka GRO | ||
118 | -------------------------------- | ||
119 | The driver supports the in-kernel software implementation of GRO. GRO has | ||
120 | shown that by coalescing Rx traffic into larger chunks of data, CPU | ||
121 | utilization can be significantly reduced when under large Rx load. GRO is an | ||
122 | evolution of the previously-used LRO interface. GRO is able to coalesce | ||
123 | other protocols besides TCP. It's also safe to use with configurations that | ||
124 | are problematic for LRO, namely bridging and iSCSI. | ||
125 | |||
126 | GRO is enabled by default in the driver. Future versions of ethtool will | ||
127 | support disabling and re-enabling GRO on the fly. | ||
128 | |||
129 | |||
130 | Data Center Bridging, aka DCB | ||
131 | ----------------------------- | ||
132 | |||
133 | DCB is a configuration Quality of Service implementation in hardware. | ||
134 | It uses the VLAN priority tag (802.1p) to filter traffic. That means | ||
135 | that there are 8 different priorities that traffic can be filtered into. | ||
136 | It also enables priority flow control which can limit or eliminate the | ||
137 | number of dropped packets during network stress. Bandwidth can be | ||
138 | allocated to each of these priorities, which is enforced at the hardware | ||
139 | level. | ||
140 | |||
141 | To enable DCB support in ixgbe, you must enable the DCB netlink layer to | ||
142 | allow the userspace tools (see below) to communicate with the driver. | ||
143 | This can be found in the kernel configuration here: | ||
144 | |||
145 | -> Networking support | ||
146 | -> Networking options | ||
147 | -> Data Center Bridging support | ||
148 | |||
149 | Once this is selected, DCB support must be selected for ixgbe. This can | ||
150 | be found here: | ||
151 | |||
152 | -> Device Drivers | ||
153 | -> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y]) | ||
154 | -> Ethernet (10000 Mbit) (NETDEV_10000 [=y]) | ||
155 | -> Intel(R) 10GbE PCI Express adapters support | ||
156 | -> Data Center Bridging (DCB) Support | ||
157 | |||
158 | After these options are selected, you must rebuild your kernel and your | ||
159 | modules. | ||
160 | |||
161 | In order to use DCB, userspace tools must be downloaded and installed. | ||
162 | The dcbd tools can be found at: | ||
163 | |||
164 | http://e1000.sf.net | ||
165 | |||
166 | |||
167 | Ethtool | ||
168 | ------- | ||
169 | The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and | ||
170 | diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. Ethtool | ||
171 | version 3.0 or later is required for this functionality. | ||
172 | |||
173 | The latest release of ethtool can be found from | ||
174 | http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel. | ||
175 | |||
176 | |||
177 | NAPI | ||
178 | ---- | ||
179 | |||
180 | NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the ixgbe driver. NAPI is enabled | ||
181 | by default in the driver. | ||
182 | |||
183 | See www.cyberus.ca/~hadi/usenix-paper.tgz for more information on NAPI. | ||
184 | |||
185 | |||
186 | Support | ||
187 | ======= | ||
188 | |||
189 | For general information, go to the Intel support website at: | ||
190 | |||
191 | http://support.intel.com | ||
192 | |||
193 | or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at: | ||
194 | |||
195 | http://e1000.sourceforge.net | ||
196 | |||
197 | If an issue is identified with the released source code on the supported | ||
198 | kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related | ||
199 | to the issue to e1000-devel@lists.sf.net | ||