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diff --git a/Documentation/networking/ixgbe.txt b/Documentation/networking/ixgbe.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..eeb68685c788 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/networking/ixgbe.txt @@ -0,0 +1,199 @@ +Linux Base Driver for 10 Gigabit PCI Express Intel(R) Network Connection +======================================================================== + +March 10, 2009 + + +Contents +======== + +- In This Release +- Identifying Your Adapter +- Building and Installation +- Additional Configurations +- Support + + + +In This Release +=============== + +This file describes the ixgbe Linux Base Driver for the 10 Gigabit PCI +Express Intel(R) Network Connection. This driver includes support for +Itanium(R)2-based systems. + +For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation +supplied with your 10 Gigabit adapter. All hardware requirements listed apply +to use with Linux. + +The following features are available in this kernel: + - Native VLANs + - Channel Bonding (teaming) + - SNMP + - Generic Receive Offload + - Data Center Bridging + +Channel Bonding documentation can be found in the Linux kernel source: +/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt + +Ethtool, lspci, and ifconfig can be used to display device and driver +specific information. + + +Identifying Your Adapter +======================== + +This driver supports devices based on the 82598 controller and the 82599 +controller. + +For specific information on identifying which adapter you have, please visit: + + http://support.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-008441.htm + + +Building and Installation +========================= + +select m for "Intel(R) 10GbE PCI Express adapters support" located at: + Location: + -> Device Drivers + -> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y]) + -> Ethernet (10000 Mbit) (NETDEV_10000 [=y]) + +1. make modules & make modules_install + +2. Load the module: + +# modprobe ixgbe + + The insmod command can be used if the full + path to the driver module is specified. For example: + + insmod /lib/modules/<KERNEL VERSION>/kernel/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe.ko + + With 2.6 based kernels also make sure that older ixgbe drivers are + removed from the kernel, before loading the new module: + + rmmod ixgbe; modprobe ixgbe + +3. Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the following, where + x is the interface number: + + ifconfig ethx <IP_address> + +4. Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address> + is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the interface + that is being tested: + + ping <IP_address> + + +Additional Configurations +========================= + + Viewing Link Messages + --------------------- + Link messages will not be displayed to the console if the distribution is + restricting system messages. In order to see network driver link messages on + your console, set dmesg to eight by entering the following: + + dmesg -n 8 + + NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. + + + Jumbo Frames + ------------ + The driver supports Jumbo Frames for all adapters. Jumbo Frames support is + enabled by changing the MTU to a value larger than the default of 1500. + The maximum value for the MTU is 16110. Use the ifconfig command to + increase the MTU size. For example: + + ifconfig ethx mtu 9000 up + + The maximum MTU setting for Jumbo Frames is 16110. This value coincides + with the maximum Jumbo Frames size of 16128. + + Generic Receive Offload, aka GRO + -------------------------------- + The driver supports the in-kernel software implementation of GRO. GRO has + shown that by coalescing Rx traffic into larger chunks of data, CPU + utilization can be significantly reduced when under large Rx load. GRO is an + evolution of the previously-used LRO interface. GRO is able to coalesce + other protocols besides TCP. It's also safe to use with configurations that + are problematic for LRO, namely bridging and iSCSI. + + GRO is enabled by default in the driver. Future versions of ethtool will + support disabling and re-enabling GRO on the fly. + + + Data Center Bridging, aka DCB + ----------------------------- + + DCB is a configuration Quality of Service implementation in hardware. + It uses the VLAN priority tag (802.1p) to filter traffic. That means + that there are 8 different priorities that traffic can be filtered into. + It also enables priority flow control which can limit or eliminate the + number of dropped packets during network stress. Bandwidth can be + allocated to each of these priorities, which is enforced at the hardware + level. + + To enable DCB support in ixgbe, you must enable the DCB netlink layer to + allow the userspace tools (see below) to communicate with the driver. + This can be found in the kernel configuration here: + + -> Networking support + -> Networking options + -> Data Center Bridging support + + Once this is selected, DCB support must be selected for ixgbe. This can + be found here: + + -> Device Drivers + -> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y]) + -> Ethernet (10000 Mbit) (NETDEV_10000 [=y]) + -> Intel(R) 10GbE PCI Express adapters support + -> Data Center Bridging (DCB) Support + + After these options are selected, you must rebuild your kernel and your + modules. + + In order to use DCB, userspace tools must be downloaded and installed. + The dcbd tools can be found at: + + http://e1000.sf.net + + + Ethtool + ------- + The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and + diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. Ethtool + version 3.0 or later is required for this functionality. + + The latest release of ethtool can be found from + http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel. + + + NAPI + ---- + + NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the ixgbe driver. NAPI is enabled + by default in the driver. + + See www.cyberus.ca/~hadi/usenix-paper.tgz for more information on NAPI. + + +Support +======= + +For general information, go to the Intel support website at: + + http://support.intel.com + +or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at: + + http://e1000.sourceforge.net + +If an issue is identified with the released source code on the supported +kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related +to the issue to e1000-devel@lists.sf.net |
