|
NOTES: This release includes the ixgbe and ixgbevf Linux* Base Drivers for the Intel® Ethernet 10 Gigabit Family of Adapters. |
 |
Warning: The ixgbe driver compiles by default with the LRO (Large Receive Offload) feature enabled. This option offers the lowest CPU utilization for receives, but is completely incompatible with *routing/ip forwarding* and *bridging*. If enabling ip forwarding or bridging is a requirement, it is necessary to disable LRO using compile time options as noted in the LRO section later in this document. The result of not disabling LRO when combined with ip forwarding or bridging can be low throughput or even a kernel panic. |
The Linux* base driver supports the 2.6.x
and 3.x kernels, and includes support for any Linux supported system, including
Itanium(R)2, x86_64, i686, and PPC.
These drivers are only supported as a loadable module at this time. Intel is not
supplying patches against the kernel source to allow for static linking of the
driver. A version of the driver may already be included by your distribution
and/or the kernel.org kernel. For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the
documentation supplied with your Intel adapter. All hardware
requirements listed apply to use with Linux.
The following features are now available in supported kernels:
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
The driver information previously displayed in the /proc file system is not supported in this release. Alternatively, you can use ethtool (version 1.6 or later), lspci, and ifconfig to obtain the same information. Instructions on updating ethtool can be found in the section Additional Configurations later in this document.
The driver in this release is compatible with 82598, 82599 and X540-based Intel Ethernet Network Connections.
For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter & Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/proidguide.htm
For the latest Intel network drivers for Linux, refer to the following website. Select the link for your adapter.
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
|
|
NOTES:
|
| Supplier | Type | Part Numbers |
| SR Modules | ||
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ SR (bailed) | AFBR-703SDZ-IN2 |
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ SR (bailed) | FTLX8571D3BCV-IT |
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ SR (bailed) | AFBR-703SDDZ-IN1 |
| LR Modules | ||
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ LR (bailed) | FTLX1471D3BCV-IT |
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ LR (bailed) | AFCT-701SDZ-IN2 |
| Intel | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ LR (bailed) | AFCT-701SDDZ-IN1 |
The following is a list of 3rd party SFP+ modules and direct attach cables that have received some testing. Not all modules are applicable to all devices.
| Supplier | Type | Part Numbers |
| Finisar | SFP+ SR bailed, 10g single rate | FTLX8571D3BCL |
| Avago | SFP+ SR bailed, 10g single rate | AFBR-700SDZ |
| Finisar | SFP+ LR bailed, 10g single rate | FTLX1471D3BCL |
| Finisar | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ SR (No Bail) | FTLX8571D3QCV-IT |
| Avago | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ SR (No Bail) | AFBR-703SDZ-IN1 |
| Finisar | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ LR (No Bail) | FTLX1471D3QCV-IT |
| Avago | DUAL RATE 1G/10G SFP+ LR (No Bail) | AFCT-701SDZ-IN1 |
| Finisar | 1000BASE-T SFP | FCLF8522P2BTL |
| Avago | 1000BASE-T SFP | ABCU-5710RZ |
82599-based adapters support all passive and active limiting direct attach cables that comply with SFF-8431 v4.1 and SFF-8472 v10.4 specifications.
"ifconfig ethX down" turns off the laser for 82599-based SFP+ fiber adapters. "ifconfig ethX up" turns on the laser.
|
|
NOTES:
|
The following is a list of SFP+ modules and direct attach cables that have received some testing. Not all modules are applicable to all devices.
| Supplier | Type | Part Numbers |
| Finisar | SFP+ SR bailed, 10g single rate | FTLX8571D3BCL |
| Avago | SFP+ SR bailed, 10g single rate | AFBR-700SDZ |
| Finisar | SFP+ LR bailed, 10g single rate | FTLX1471D3BCL |
82598-based adapters support all passive direct attach cables that comply with SFF-8431 v4.1 and SFF-8472 v10.4 specifications. Active direct attach cables are not supported.
THIRD PARTY OPTIC MODULES AND CABLES REFERRED TO ABOVE ARE LISTED ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF HIGHLIGHTING THIRD PARTY SPECIFICATIONS AND POTENTIAL COMPATIBILITY, AND ARE NOT RECOMMENDATIONS OR ENDORSEMENT OR SPONSORSHIP OF ANY THIRD PARTY’S PRODUCT BY INTEL. INTEL IS NOT ENDORSING OR PROMOTING PRODUCTS MADE BY ANY THIRD PARTY AND THE THIRD PARTY REFERENCE IS PROVIDED ONLY TO SHARE INFORMATION REGARDING CERTAIN OPTIC MODULES AND CABLES WITH THE ABOVE SPECIFICATIONS. THERE MAY BE OTHER MANUFACTURERS OR SUPPLIERS, PRODUCING OR SUPPLYING OPTIC MODULES AND CABLES WITH SIMILAR OR MATCHING DESCRIPTIONS. CUSTOMERS MUST USE THEIR OWN DISCRETION AND DILIGENCE TO PURCHASE OPTIC MODULES AND CABLES FROM ANY THIRD PARTY OF THEIR CHOICE. CUSTOMERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSESSING THE SUITABILITY OF THE PRODUCT AND/OR DEVICES AND FOR THE SELECTION OF THE VENDOR FOR PURCHASING ANY PRODUCT. THE OPTIC MODULES AND CABLES REFERRED TO ABOVE ARE NOT WARRANTED OR SUPPORTED BY INTEL. INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF SUCH THIRD PARTY PRODUCTS OR SELECTION OF VENDOR BY CUSTOMERS.
To build a binary RPM* package of this driver, run 'rpmbuild -tb ixgbe.tar.gz'.
|
NOTE: For the build to work properly, the currently running kernel
MUST match the version and configuration of the installed kernel sources. If you have just
recompiled the kernel, reboot the system before building. RPM functionality has only been tested in Red Hat distributions. |
To manually build this driver:
Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use '/home/username/ixgbe' or '/usr/local/src/ixgbe'.
Untar/unzip the archive:
tar zxf ixgbe-x.x.x.tar.gz
Change to the driver src directory:
cd ixgbe-x.x.x/src/
Compile the driver module:
make install
The binary will be installed as:
/lib/modules/[KERNEL_VERSION]/kernel/drivers/net/ixgbe/ixgbe.[k]o
The install location listed above is the default location. This may differ for various Linux distributions.
Load the module:
For kernel 2.6.x, use the modprobe command -
modprobe ixgbe <parameter>=<value>
Note that for 2.6 kernels 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
Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the following, where x is the interface number:
ifconfig ethX <IP_address> netmask <netmask>
Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address> is the IP address of another machine on the same subnet as the interface that is being tested:
ping <IP_address>
If your kernel supports DCA, the driver will build by default with DCA enabled.
If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command using this syntax:
modprobe ixgbe [<option>=<VAL1>,<VAL2>,...]
For example:
modprobe ixgbe InterruptThrottleRate=16000,16000
The default value for each parameter is generally the recommended setting, unless otherwise noted.
Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is distribution dependent. Typically, the configuration process involves adding an alias line to /etc/modules.conf or etc/modprobe.conf, as well as editing other system startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many popular Linux distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you. To learn the proper way to configure a network device for your system, refer to your distribution documentation. If during this process you are asked for the driver or module name, the name for the Linux Base Driver for the 10 Gigabit Family of Adapters is ixgbe.
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. |
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, enter the following where <x> is the interface number:
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. This driver will attempt to
use multiple page sized buffers to receive each jumbo packet. This should help
to avoid buffer starvation issues when allocating receive packets.
The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. The latest ethtool version is required for this functionality.
The latest release of ethtool can be found at: http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool/.
NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the ixgbe driver. NAPI is enabled or disabled based on the configuration of the kernel. To override the default, use the following compile-time flags.
You can tell if NAPI is enabled in the driver by looking at the version number of the driver. It will contain the string -NAPI if NAPI is enabled.
To enable NAPI, compile the driver module, passing in a configuration option:
make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DIXGBE_NAPI install
|
|
NOTE: This will not do anything if NAPI is disabled in the kernel. |
To disable NAPI, compile the driver module, passing in a configuration
option:
make
CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DIXGBE_NO_NAPI install
See ftp://robur.slu.se/pub/Linux/net-development/NAPI/usenix-paper.tgz for more information on NAPI.
Large Receive Offload (LRO) is a technique for increasing inbound throughput of high-bandwidth network connections by reducing CPU overhead. It works by aggregating multiple incoming packets from a single stream into a larger buffer before they are passed higher up the networking stack, thus reducing the number of packets that have to be processed. LRO combines multiple Ethernet frames into a single receive in the stack, thereby potentially decreasing CPU utilization for receives.
IXGBE_NO_LRO is a compile time flag. The user can enable it
at compile time to remove support for LRO from the driver. The flag is used by
adding
CFLAGS_EXTRA="-DIXGBE_NO_LRO" to the make file when it's being compiled.
make CFLAGS_EXTRA="-DIXGBE_NO_LRO" install
You can verify that the driver is using LRO by looking at these counters in ethtool:
lro_flushed - the total number of receives using LRO.
lro_aggregated - counts the total number of Ethernet packets that were combined.
|
|
NOTE: IPv6 and UDP are not supported by LRO. |
82599 and X540-based adapters support HW based
receive side coalescing (RSC) which can merge multiple frames from the same IPv4
TCP/IP flow into a single structure that can span one or more descriptors. It
works similarly to SW Large receive offload technique. By default
HW RSC is enabled and SW LRO can not be used for 82599 and X540-based adapters unless HW RSC is disabled.
IXGBE_NO_HW_RSC is a compile time flag. The
user can enable it at compile time to remove support for HW RSC from the driver.
The flag is used by adding CFLAGS_EXTRA="-DIXGBE_NO_HW_RSC" to the make file
when it's being compiled.
make CFLAGS_EXTRA="-DIXGBE_NO_HW_RSC" install
You can verify that the driver is using HW RSC by looking at the counter in ethtool:
hw_rsc_count - counts the total number of Ethernet packets that were being combined.
When in a non-Napi (or Interrupt) mode, this counter indicates that the stack is dropping packets. There is an adjustable parameter in the stack that allows you to adjust the amount of backlog. We recommend increasing the netdev_max_backlog if the counter goes up.
# sysctl -a |grep netdev_max_backlog
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 1000
# sysctl -e net.core.netdev_max_backlog=10000
net.core.netdev_max_backlog = 10000
Flow control is enabled by default. If you want to disable a flow
control capable link partner, use ethtool:
ethtool -A eth? autoneg off rx off tx off
When a malicious driver attempts to send a spoofed packet, it is dropped
by the hardware and not transmitted. An interrupt is sent to the PF driver
notifying it of the spoof attempt.
When a spoofed packet is detected the PF driver will send the following
message to the system log (displayed by the "dmesg" command):
ixgbe ethX: ixgbe_spoof_check: n spoofed packets detected
Where x=the PF interface# n=the VF that attempted to do the spoofing.
You can set a MAC address of a Virtual Function (VF), a default VLAN and the rate limit using the IProute2 tool. Download the latest version of the iproute2 tool from Sourceforge if your version does not have all the features you require.
Some adapters do not support Wake on LAN. To determine if your adapter supports Wake on LAN, run
ethtool ethX
An excellent article on performance tuning can be found at:
http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2008/downloads/pdf/Thursday/Mark_Wagner.pdf
|
|
NOTE: After installing the driver, if your Intel Ethernet Network Connection is not working, verify that you have installed the correct driver. |
Kernel panics and instability may be observed on any MSI-X hardware if you use irqbalance with kernels between 2.6.19 and 2.6.21. If such problems are encountered, you may disable the irqbalance daemon or upgrade to a newer kernel.
When trying to compile the driver by running make install, the following error may occur: "Linux kernel source not configured - missing version.h"
To solve this issue, create the version.h file by going to the Linux source tree and entering:
make include/linux/version.h
Due to a known general compatibility issue with LRO and routing, do not use LRO when routing or bridging packets.
LRO is incompatible with iSCSI target or initiator traffic. A panic may occur when iSCSI traffic is received through the ixgbe driver with LRO enabled. To workaround this, the driver should be built and installed with:
# make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DIXGBE_NO_LRO install
Degradation in throughput performance may be observed in some Jumbo frames environments. If this is observed, increasing the application's socket buffer size and/or increasing the /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_*mem entry values may help. See the specific application manual and /usr/src/linux*/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt for more details.
Due to the ARP behavior on Linux, it is not possible to have one system on two IP networks in the same Ethernet broadcast domain (non-partitioned switch) behave as expected. All Ethernet interfaces will respond to IP traffic for any IP address assigned to the system. This results in unbalanced receive traffic.
If you have multiple interfaces in a server, either turn on ARP filtering by entering:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_filter
(this only works if your kernel's version is higher than 2.4.5), or install the interfaces in separate broadcast domains (either in different switches or in a switch partitioned to VLANs).
Under small packets UDP stress test with 10GbE driver, the Linux system may drop UDP packets due to the fullness of socket buffers. You may want to change the driver's Flow Control variables to the minimum value for controlling packet reception.
Or you can increase the kernel's default buffer sizes for UDP by changing the values in
/proc/sys/net/core/rmem_default and rmem_max
In kernel versions 2.5.50 and later (including 2.6 kernel), unplugging the network cable while ethtool -p is running will cause the system to become unresponsive to keyboard commands, except for control-alt-delete. Restarting the system appears to be the only remedy.
82598-based hardware can re-establish link quickly and when connected to some
switches, rapid resets within the driver may cause the switch port to become
isolated due to "link flap". This is typically indicated by a yellow instead of
a green link light. Several operations may cause this problem, such as
repeatedly running ethtool commands that cause a reset.
A potential workaround is to use the Cisco IOS command "no errdisable detect
cause all" from the Global Configuration prompt which enables the switch to keep
the interfaces up, regardless of errors.
A known issue may cause a kernel panic or hang after installing an 82598AT-based Intel(R) 10 Gigabit AT Server Adapter in a Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7, 5.1, or 5.2 system. The ixgbe driver for both the install kernel and the runtime kernel can create this panic if the 82598AT adapter is installed. Red Hat may release a security update that contains a fix for the panic that you can download using RHN (Red Hat Network) or Intel recommends that you install the ixgbe-1.3.31.5 driver or newer BEFORE installing the hardware.
Page allocation failure. order:0 errors may occur under stress with kernels 2.6.25 and above. This is caused by the way the Linux kernel reports this stressed condition.
In order for DCB to work correctly, GSO (Generic Segmentation Offload aka software TSO) must be disabled using ethtool. By default since the hardware supports TSO (hardware offload of segmentation) GSO will not be running. The GSO state can be queried with ethtool using ethtool -k ethX.
Due to known hardware limitations, RSS can only filter in a maximum of 16
receive queues.
82599 and X540-based network connections support up to 64 queues.
Due to a known kernel issue, GRO must be turned off when routing/bridging. GRO can be turned off via ethtool.
ethtool -K ethX gro off
where ethX is the ethernet interface you're trying to modify.
Some PCI-E x8 slots are actually configured as x4 slots. These slots have insufficient bandwidth for full 10Gbe line rate with dual port and quad port 10GbE devices. The driver can detect this situation and will write the following message in the system log: “PCI-Express bandwidth available for this card is not sufficient for optimal performance. For optimal performance a x8 PCI-Express slot is required.”
If this error occurs, moving your adapter to a true x8 slot will resolve the issue.
Due to kernel limitations, port type can only be correctly displayed on kernel 2.6.33 or greater.
Do not remove the ixgbe driver from Dom0 while Virtual Functions (VFs) are assigned to guests. VFs must first use the xm "pci-detach" command to hot-plug the VF device out of the VM it is assigned to or else shut down the VM.
Do not unload the PF driver (ixgbe) while VFs are assigned to guests.
When there are active VFs, "ethtool -t" will only run the link test. The driver will also log in syslog that VFs should be shut down to run a full diags test.
This is a known SLES-10 SP3 issue. After requesting interrupts for MSI-X vectors, system may panic.
Currently the only known workaround is to build the drivers with CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DDISABLE_PCI_MSI if the driver need to be loaded/unloaded. Otherwise the driver can be loaded once and will be safe, but unloading it will lead to the issue.
"-cpu qemu64,model=13"
Due to recent kernel changes, loading an out of tree driver will cause the kernel to be tainted.
For configurations where the auto-negotiation process takes more than 5 seconds, the boot script may fail with the following message:
“ethX: failed. No link present. Check cable?”
If this error appears even though the presence of a link can be confirmed using ethtool ethX, try setting
“LINKDELAY=5” in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX.
NOTE: Link time can take up to 30 seconds. Adjust LINKDELAY value accordingly.
Using kernel versions earlier than 3.2, do not unload the PF driver with active VFs. Doing this will cause your VFs to stop working until you reload the PF driver and may cause a spontaneous reboot of your system.
For general information, go to the Intel support website at:
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 linux.nics@intel.com.
This driver supports upstream kernel versions 2.6.30 (or higher) x86_64.
Supported Operating Systems: SLES 11 SP1 x86_64, RHEL 5.3/5.4 x86_64.
The ixgbevf driver supports 82599 and X540-based virtual function devices that can only be
activated on kernels that support SR-IOV. SR-IOV requires the correct
platform and OS support.
The ixgbevf driver requires the ixgbe driver, version 2.0 or later.
The ixgbevf driver supports virtual functions generated by the ixgbe driver with a max_vfs value of 1 or greater.
For more information on the max_vfs parameter refer to the section on the the ixgbe driver.
The guest OS loading the ixgbevf driver must support MSI-X interrupts.
This driver is only supported as a loadable module at this time.
Intel is not supplying patches against the kernel source to allow for static linking of the driver.
For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation supplied with your Intel Gigabit adapter.
All hardware requirements listed apply to use with Linux.
Instructions on updating ethtool can be found in the section Additional Configurations later in this document.
VLANs: There is a limit of a total of 64 shared VLANs to 1 or more VFs.
To build a binary RPM* package of this driver, run 'rpmbuild -tb <filename.tar.gz>'. Replace <filename.tar.gz> with the specific filename of the driver.
|
|
NOTE: For the build to work properly, the currently running kernel MUST match the version and configuration of the installed kernel sources. If you have just recompiled the kernel reboot the system now. |
RPM functionality has only been tested in Red Hat distributions.
Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use ' /home/username/ ixgbevf or /usr/local/src/ ixgbevf.'.
Untar/unzip the archive: tar zxf ixgbevf-x.x.x.tar.gz
Change to the driver src directory: cd ixgbevf-<x.x.x>/src/
Compile the driver module:
# make install
The binary will be installed as:
/lib/modules/<KERNEL VERSION>/kernel/drivers/net/ixgbevf/ixgbevf.[k]o
The install location listed above is the default location. This may differ for various Linux distributions.
Load the module using either the insmod or modprobe
command:
modprobe ixgbevf
insmod ixgbevf
Note that for 2.6 kernels 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/ixgbevf/ixgbevf.ko
With 2.6 based kernels also make sure that older e1000e drivers are removed from the kernel, before loading the new module:
rmmod ixgbevf; modprobe ixgbevf
Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the
following, where <x> is the interface number:
ifconfig eth<x> <IP_address>
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>
If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command using this syntax:
modprobe ixgbevf [<option>=<VAL1>,<VAL2>,...]
For example:
modprobe ixgbevf InterruptThrottleRate=16000,16000
The default value for each parameter is generally the recommended setting, unless otherwise noted.
|
|
NOTES:
|
| Parameter Name | Valid Range/Settings | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| InterruptThrottleRate | 0,1,956-488281 (0=off, 1=dynamic) |
8000 |
The driver can limit the amount of interrupts per second that the adapter
will generate for incoming packets. It does this by writing a value to
the adapter that is based on the maximum amount of interrupts that the
adapter will generate per second. Setting InterruptThrottleRate to a value greater or equal to 100 will program the adapter to send out a maximum of that many interrupts per second, even if more packets have come in. This reduces interrupt load on the system and can lower CPU utilization under heavy load, but will increase latency as packets are not processed as quickly. The default behaviour of the driver previously assumed a static InterruptThrottleRate value of 8000, providing a good fallback value for all traffic types, but lacking in small packet performance and latency. The hardware can handle many more small packets per second however, and for this reason an adaptive interrupt moderation algorithm was implemented. The driver has one adaptive mode (setting 1) in which it dynamically adjusts the InterruptThrottleRate value based on the traffic that it receives. After determining the type of incoming traffic in the last timeframe, it will adjust the InterruptThrottleRate to an appropriate value for that traffic. The algorithm classifies the incoming traffic every interval into classes. Once the class is determined, the InterruptThrottleRate value is adjusted to suit that traffic type the best. There are three classes defined: "Bulk traffic", for large amounts of packets of normal size; "Low latency", for small amounts of traffic and/or a significant percentage of small packets; and "Lowest latency", for almost completely small packets or minimal traffic. In dynamic conservative mode, the InterruptThrottleRate value is set to 4000 for traffic that falls in class "Bulk traffic". If traffic falls in the "Low latency" or "Lowest latency" class, the InterruptThrottleRate is increased stepwise to 20000. This default mode is suitable for most applications. For situations where low latency is vital such as cluster or grid computing, the algorithm can reduce latency even more when InterruptThrottleRate is set to mode 1. In this mode, the InterruptThrottleRate will be increased stepwise to 70000 for traffic in class "Lowest latency". Setting InterruptThrottleRate to 0 turns off any interrupt moderation and may improve small packet latency, but is generally not suitable for bulk throughput traffic
modprobe ixgbevf InterruptThrottleRate=3000,3000,3000 This sets the InterruptThrottleRate to 3000 interrupts/sec for the first, second, and third instances of the driver. The range of 2000 to 3000 interrupts per second works on a majority of systems and is a good starting point, but the optimal value will be platform-specific. If CPU utilization is not a concern, use default driver settings. |
Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is
distribution dependent. Typically, the configuration process involves adding an
alias line to /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf as well as editing other
system startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many popular Linux
distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you. To learn the proper
way to configure a network device for your system, refer to your distribution
documentation. If during this process you are asked for the driver or module
name, the name for the Linux Base Driver for the Gigabit Family of Adapters is
ixgbevf.
As an example, if you install the ixgbevf driver for two Gigabit adapters (eth0
and ethX) and want to set the interrupt mode to MSI-X and MSI respectively, add
the following to modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias eth0 ixgbevf
alias eth1 ixgbevf
options ixgbevf InterruptThrottleRate=3,1
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. |
MACVLAN
ixgbevf supports MACVLAN on those kernels that have the feature included. Kernel support for MACVLAN can be tested by checking if the MACVLAN driver is loaded. The user can run 'lsmod | grep macvlan' to see if the MACVLAN driver is loaded or run 'modprobe macvlan' to try to load the MACVLAN driver.
It may be necessary to update to a recent release of the iproute2 package to get support of MACVLAN via the 'ip' command.
|
|
NOTE: After installing the driver, if your Intel Network Connection is not working, verify that you have installed the correct driver. |
When trying to compile the driver by running make install, the following
error may occur:
"Linux kernel source not configured - missing version.h"
To solve this issue, create the version.h file by going to the Linux source tree
and entering:
make include/linux/version.h.
Due to the default ARP behavior on Linux, it is not possible to have one
system on two IP networks in the same Ethernet broadcast domain (non-partitioned
switch) behave as expected. All Ethernet interfaces will respond to IP traffic
for any IP address assigned to the system. This results in unbalanced receive
traffic.
If you have multiple interfaces in a server, either turn on ARP filtering by
entering:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_filter
(this only works if your kernel's version is higher than 2.4.5)
|
|
NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. The configuration change can be made permanent by adding the line: net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter = 1 to the file /etc/sysctl.conf or, |
Some systems may experience build issues due to redefinition of irq_handler_t. To resolve this issue build the driver (step 4 above) using the command:
make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DAX_RELEASE_CODE=1 install
Kernel panics and instability may be observed on any MSI-X hardware if you use irqbalance with kernels between 2.6.19 and 2.6.21. If such problems are encountered, you may disable the irqbalance daemon or upgrade to a newer kernel.
Page allocation failure. order:0 errors may occur under stress with kernels 2.6.25 and above. This is caused by the way the Linux kernel reports this stressed condition.
Using kernel versions earlier than 3.2, do not unload the PF driver with active VFs. Doing this will cause your VFs to stop working until you reload the PF driver and may cause a spontaneous reboot of your system.
For general information, go to the Intel support website at:
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 linux.nics@intel.com.
Last modified on 11/10/11 2:04p 10/22/04 9:45a