FreeBSD* Driver for Intel® Ethernet =================================== April 11, 2011 Contents ======== - Overview - Identifying Your Adapter - Building and Installation - Speed and Duplex Configuration - Additional Configurations - Known Limitations - Support - License Overview ======== This file describes the FreeBSD* driver for Intel® Ethernet. This driver has been developed for use with FreeBSD, Release 7.x. For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation supplied with your Gigabit adapter. All hardware requirements listed apply to use with FreeBSD. Identifying Your Adapter ======================== For 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 FreeBSD, see: http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm NOTE: Mobile adapters are not fully supported. NOTE: The Intel(R) 82562v 10/100 Network Connection only provides 10/100 support. Building and Installation ========================= NOTE: This driver is only supported as a loadable module at this time. In the instructions below, x.x.x is the driver version as indicated in the name of the driver tar file. 1. Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use /home/username/em or /usr/local/src/em. 2. Untar/unzip the archive: tar xzvf em-x.x.x.tar.gz This will create an em-x.x.x directory. 3. To create a loadable module, perform the following steps. a. To compile the module cd em-x.x.x make b. To install the compiled module to the system directory: make install c. If you want the driver to load automatically when the system is booted: 1. Edit /boot/loader.conf, and add the following line: if_em_load="YES" 4. To assign an IP address to the interface, enter the following: ifconfig emX 5. Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the interface that is being tested: ping 6. To configure the IP address to remain after reboot, edit /etc/rc.conf, and create the appropriate ifconfig_em entry: ifconfig_em="" Example usage: ifconfig_em0="inet 192.168.10.1 netmask 255.255.255.0" NOTE: For assistance, see the ifconfig man page. Speed and Duplex Configuration ============================== By default, the adapter auto-negotiates the speed and duplex of the connection. If there is a specific need, the ifconfig utility can be used to configure the speed and duplex settings on the adapter. Example usage: ifconfig emX media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex NOTE: Only use mediaopt to set the driver to full-duplex. If mediaopt is not specified and you are not running at gigabit speed, the driver defaults to half-duplex. If the interface is currently forced to 100 full duplex, in order to change to half duplex you must use this command: ifconfig emX media 100baseTX -mediaopt full-duplex This driver supports the following media type options: autoselect - Enables auto-negotiation for speed and duplex. 10baseT/UTP - Sets speed to 10 Mbps. Use the ifconfig mediaopt option to select full-duplex mode. 100baseTX - Sets speed to 100 Mbps. Use the ifconfig mediaopt option to select full-duplex mode. 1000baseTX - Sets speed to 1000 Mbps. In this case, the driver supports only full-duplex mode. 1000baseSX - Sets speed to 1000 Mbps. In this case, the driver supports only full-duplex mode. For more information on the ifconfig utility, see the ifconfig man page. Additional Configurations ========================= The driver supports Transmit/Receive Checksum Offload and Jumbo Frames on all but the 82542-based adapters. For specific adapters, refer to the Identifying Your Adapter section. Jumbo Frames ------------ To enable Jumbo Frames, use the ifconfig utility to set the Maximum Transport Unit (MTU) frame size above its default of 1500 bytes. The Jumbo Frames MTU range for Intel Adapters is 1500 to 16110. To modify the setting, enter the following: ifconfig emX mtu 9000 To confirm the MTU used between two specific devices, use: route get Notes: - Only enable Jumbo Frames if your network infrastructure supports them. - To enable Jumbo Frames, increase the MTU size on the interface beyond 1500. - The Jumbo Frames setting on the switch must be set to at least 22 bytes larger than that of the MTU. - The maximum MTU setting for Jumbo Frames is 16110. This value coincides with the maximum Jumbo Frames size of 16128. - Some Intel gigabit adapters that support Jumbo Frames have a frame size limit of 9238 bytes, with a corresponding MTU size limit of 9216 bytes. The adapters with this limitation are based on the Intel(R) 82571EB, 82572EI, 82573L, 82566, 82562, and 80003ES2LAN controller. These correspond to the following product names: Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Desktop Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Network Connection Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Network Connection Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Quad Port Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PF Quad Port Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PF Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PF Network Connection Intel(R) PRO/1000 PF Dual Port Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PB Server Connection Intel(R) PRO/1000 PL Network Connection Intel(R) PRO/1000 EB Network Connection with I/O Acceleration Intel(R) PRO/1000 EB Backplane Connection with I/O Acceleration Intel(R) 82566DM-2 Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82574L Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter Intel(R) 82567LM-4 Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82567LM-3 Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82567LF-3 Gigabit Network Connection - Using Jumbo Frames at 10 or 100 Mbps may result in poor performance or loss of link. - The following adapters limit Jumbo Frames sized packets to a maximum of 4088 bytes: Intel(R) 82578DM Gigabit Network Connection - The following adapters do not support Jumbo Frames: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter Intel(R) PRO/1000 PM Network Connection Intel(R) 82562V 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82566DM Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82566MC Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82562GT 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82562G 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82562V-2 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82562G-2 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82562GT-2 10/100 Network Connection Intel(R) 82578DC Gigabit Network Connection Intel(R) 82567V-3 Gigabit Network Connection VLANs ----- To create a new VLAN interface: ifconfig create To associate the VLAN interface with a physical interface and assign a VLAN ID, IP address, and netmask: ifconfig netmask vlan vlandev Example: ifconfig vlan10 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 vlan 10 vlandev em0 In this example, all packets will be marked on egress with 802.1Q VLAN tags, specifying a VLAN ID of 10. To remove a VLAN interface: Intel® Network Connection ifconfig destroy Polling ------- To enable polling in the driver, add the following options to the kernel configuration, and then recompile the kernel: options DEVICE_POLLING options HZ=1000 At runtime use: ifconfig emX polling (to turn polling on) and: ifconfig emX -polling (to turn it off) Checksum Offload ---------------- Checksum offloading is not supported on 82542 Gigabit adapters. Checksum offloading supports both TCP and UDP packets and is supported for both transmit and receive. Checksum offloading can be enabled or disabled using ifconfig. Both transmit and receive offloading will be either enabled or disabled together. You cannot enable/disable one without the other. To enable checksum offloading: ifconfig emX rxcsum To disable checksum offloading: ifconfig emX -rxcsum To confirm the current setting: ifconfig emX Look for the presence or absence of the following line: options=3 See the ifconfig man page for further information. TSO --- The FreeBSD driver offers support for TSO (TCP Segmentation Offload). You can enable/disable it in two ways/places: - sysctl net.inet.tcp.tso=0 (or 1 to enable it) Doing this disables TSO in the stack and will affect all adapters. - ifconfig emX -tso Doing this will disable TSO only for this adapter. To enable: - ifconfig emX tso NOTES: By default only PCI-Express adapters are ENABLED to do TSO. Others can be enabled by the user at their own risk TSO is not supported on 82547 and 82544-based adapters, as well as older adapters. Timesync -------- The FreeBSD driver offers support for Timesync with 82574L, 82567LM, and 82567LF-based network connections. Timesync is used to keep applications in sync by adding very precise timestamps to both outbound and inbound packets. Timesync is off by default. To enable, edit the makefile by uncommenting the line: #CFLAGS +=-DEM_TIMESYNC This will compile support into the driver. When the driver loads on supported hardware the feature will initialize. MSI-X ----- The FreeBSD driver offers MSIX support with 82574L-based network connections. 82574L-based network connections will use MSI-X by default. MSI or MSI-X can be turned off by an entry in /etc/sysctl.conf hw.em.enable_msi=0 Unload and reload the driver. Known Limitations ================= For known hardware and troubleshooting issues, refer to the following website. http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm Either select the link for your adapter or perform a search for the adapter number. The adapter's page lists many issues. For a complete list of hardware issues download your adapter's user guide and read the Release Notes. Detected Tx Unit Hang in Quad Port Adapters ------------------------------------------- In some cases ports 3 and 4 won’t pass traffic. Ports 1 and 2 don't show any errors and will pass traffic. This issue MAY be resolved by updating to the latest BIOS. You can check your system's BIOS by downloading the Linux Firmware Developer Kit that can be obtained at http://www.linuxfirmwarekit.org/ There are known performance issues with this driver when running UDP traffic with Jumbo Frames. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 82541/82547 can't link or is slow to link with some link partners ----------------------------------------------------------------- There is a known compatibility issue where time to link is slow or link is not established between 82541/82547 controllers and some switches. Known switches include: Planex FXG-08TE I-O Data ETG-SH8 The driver can be compiled with the following changes: Edit ./em.x.x.x/src/if_em.h to change the #define EM_MASTER_SLAVE For example, change from: #define EM_MASTER_SLAVE e1000_ms_hw_default to: #define EM_MASTER_SLAVE 2 Use one of the following options: 1 = Master mode 2 = Slave mode 3 = Auto master/slave Setting 2 is recommended. Recompile the module: a. To compile the module cd em-x.x.x make clean make b. To install the compiled module in system directory: make install Support ======= For general information and support, go to the Intel support website at: www.intel.com/support/ If an issue is identified, support is through email only at: freebsd@intel.com License ======= This software program is released under the terms of a license agreement between you ('Licensee') and Intel. Do not use or load this software or any associated materials (collectively, the 'Software') until you have carefully read the full terms and conditions of the LICENSE located in this software package. By loading or using the Software, you agree to the terms of this Agreement. If you do not agree with the terms of this Agreement, do not install or use the Software. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.