1Linux* Base Driver for the Intel(R) PRO/100 Family of Adapters 2============================================================== 3 4November 15, 2005 5 6Contents 7======== 8 9- In This Release 10- Identifying Your Adapter 11- Building and Installation 12- Driver Configuration Parameters 13- Additional Configurations 14- Known Issues 15- Support 16 17 18In This Release 19=============== 20 21This file describes the Linux* Base Driver for the Intel(R) PRO/100 Family of 22Adapters. This driver includes support for Itanium(R)2-based systems. 23 24For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation 25supplied with your Intel PRO/100 adapter. 26 27The following features are now available in supported kernels: 28 - Native VLANs 29 - Channel Bonding (teaming) 30 - SNMP 31 32Channel Bonding documentation can be found in the Linux kernel source: 33/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt 34 35 36Identifying Your Adapter 37======================== 38 39For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter & 40Driver ID Guide at: 41 42 http://support.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/21397.htm 43 44For the latest Intel network drivers for Linux, refer to the following 45website. In the search field, enter your adapter name or type, or use the 46networking link on the left to search for your adapter: 47 48 http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-df/support_intel.asp 49 50Driver Configuration Parameters 51=============================== 52 53The default value for each parameter is generally the recommended setting, 54unless otherwise noted. 55 56Rx Descriptors: Number of receive descriptors. A receive descriptor is a data 57 structure that describes a receive buffer and its attributes to the network 58 controller. The data in the descriptor is used by the controller to write 59 data from the controller to host memory. In the 3.x.x driver the valid range 60 for this parameter is 64-256. The default value is 64. This parameter can be 61 changed using the command: 62 63 ethtool -G eth? rx n, where n is the number of desired rx descriptors. 64 65Tx Descriptors: Number of transmit descriptors. A transmit descriptor is a data 66 structure that describes a transmit buffer and its attributes to the network 67 controller. The data in the descriptor is used by the controller to read 68 data from the host memory to the controller. In the 3.x.x driver the valid 69 range for this parameter is 64-256. The default value is 64. This parameter 70 can be changed using the command: 71 72 ethtool -G eth? tx n, where n is the number of desired tx descriptors. 73 74Speed/Duplex: The driver auto-negotiates the link speed and duplex settings by 75 default. Ethtool can be used as follows to force speed/duplex. 76 77 ethtool -s eth? autoneg off speed {10|100} duplex {full|half} 78 79 NOTE: setting the speed/duplex to incorrect values will cause the link to 80 fail. 81 82Event Log Message Level: The driver uses the message level flag to log events 83 to syslog. The message level can be set at driver load time. It can also be 84 set using the command: 85 86 ethtool -s eth? msglvl n 87 88 89Additional Configurations 90========================= 91 92 Configuring the Driver on Different Distributions 93 ------------------------------------------------- 94 95 Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is 96 distribution dependent. Typically, the configuration process involves adding 97 an alias line to /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf as well as editing 98 other system startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many popular Linux 99 distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you. To learn the 100 proper way to configure a network device for your system, refer to your 101 distribution documentation. If during this process you are asked for the 102 driver or module name, the name for the Linux Base Driver for the Intel 103 PRO/100 Family of Adapters is e100. 104 105 As an example, if you install the e100 driver for two PRO/100 adapters 106 (eth0 and eth1), add the following to modules.conf or modprobe.conf: 107 108 alias eth0 e100 109 alias eth1 e100 110 111 Viewing Link Messages 112 --------------------- 113 In order to see link messages and other Intel driver information on your 114 console, you must set the dmesg level up to six. This can be done by 115 entering the following on the command line before loading the e100 driver: 116 117 dmesg -n 8 118 119 If you wish to see all messages issued by the driver, including debug 120 messages, set the dmesg level to eight. 121 122 NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. 123 124 125 Ethtool 126 ------- 127 128 The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and 129 diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. Ethtool 130 version 1.6 or later is required for this functionality. 131 132 The latest release of ethtool can be found from 133 http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel. 134 135 NOTE: Ethtool 1.6 only supports a limited set of ethtool options. Support 136 for a more complete ethtool feature set can be enabled by upgrading 137 ethtool to ethtool-1.8.1. 138 139 140 Enabling Wake on LAN* (WoL) 141 --------------------------- 142 WoL is provided through the Ethtool* utility. Ethtool is included with Red 143 Hat* 8.0. For other Linux distributions, download and install Ethtool from 144 the following website: http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel. 145 146 For instructions on enabling WoL with Ethtool, refer to the Ethtool man page. 147 148 WoL will be enabled on the system during the next shut down or reboot. For 149 this driver version, in order to enable WoL, the e100 driver must be 150 loaded when shutting down or rebooting the system. 151 152 153 NAPI 154 ---- 155 156 NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the e100 driver. 157 158 See www.cyberus.ca/~hadi/usenix-paper.tgz for more information on NAPI. 159 160 Multiple Interfaces on Same Ethernet Broadcast Network 161 ------------------------------------------------------ 162 163 Due to the default ARP behavior on Linux, it is not possible to have 164 one system on two IP networks in the same Ethernet broadcast domain 165 (non-partitioned switch) behave as expected. All Ethernet interfaces 166 will respond to IP traffic for any IP address assigned to the system. 167 This results in unbalanced receive traffic. 168 169 If you have multiple interfaces in a server, either turn on ARP 170 filtering by 171 172 (1) entering: echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_filter 173 (this only works if your kernel's version is higher than 2.4.5), or 174 175 (2) installing the interfaces in separate broadcast domains (either 176 in different switches or in a switch partitioned to VLANs). 177 178 179Support 180======= 181 182For general information, go to the Intel support website at: 183 184 http://support.intel.com 185 186 or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at: 187 188 http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000 189 190If an issue is identified with the released source code on the supported 191kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related to the 192issue to e1000-devel@lists.sourceforge.net. 193 194 195License 196======= 197 198This software program is released under the terms of a license agreement 199between you ('Licensee') and Intel. Do not use or load this software or any 200associated materials (collectively, the 'Software') until you have carefully 201read the full terms and conditions of the file COPYING located in this software 202package. By loading or using the Software, you agree to the terms of this 203Agreement. If you do not agree with the terms of this Agreement, do not install 204or use the Software. 205 206* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 207