Linux Driver for the Intel(R) PRO/1000 Family of Server Adapters ================================================================ This file describes the software driver for the Intel(R) PRO/1000 gigabit server adapter in the Linux operating system. This package includes the source code for a Linux driver for the PRO/1000 Server Adapters. This driver is known to build properly on 2.2.x kernels through 2.2.18 and on the 2.4.0 kernel. Intel performed testing on PCs with Intel processors with kernels 2.2.16, 2.2.18 and 2.4.0. Intel(R) Itanium(TM) use is beta only. The Intel PRO/1000 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. Please refer to the documentation supplied with your Intel PRO/1000 adapter to answer any questions related to hardware requirements. All hardware requirements listed apply to use with Linux. Supported Adapters ================== This driver supports the following Intel network adapters: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter 700262-xxx 717037-xxx Intel(R) PRO/1000 F Server Adapter 738640-xxx A38888-xxx A06512-xxx Intel(R) PRO/1000 T Server Adapter A19845-xxx A33948-xxx To verify your Intel adapter is supported, find the board ID number on the adapter. Look for a label that has a barcode and a number in the format of 123456-001 (six digits hyphen 3 digits). Match this to the list of numbers above. For more information on how to identify your adapter go to the Adapter & Driver ID Guide at: http://support.intel.com/support/network/adapter/pro100/21397.htm Building and Installation ========================= Note: For the build to work properly it is important that the currently running kernel match the version and configuration of the installed kernel sources. Also if you have just recompiled your kernel, please reboot. 1. Move the base driver tarball to the directory of your choice. Example is using /home/username/e1000 or /usr/local/src/e1000 2. untar/unzip archive tar xfz e1000-x.x.x.tar.gz 3. Change to the driver src directory cd e1000-x.x.x/src/ 4. Compile the driver module make install The binary will be installed as: /lib/modules/[KERNEL_VERSION]/net/e1000.o 5. Install the module insmod e1000 6. ifconfig eth# where # is interface number 7. Verify interface works ping To build a binary RPM* package of this driver run 'rpm -tb '. Replace with the specific file name of driver. Basic Configuration =================== Once the driver has been installed it can be loaded by running 'modprobe e1000'. This will create a new Ethernet interface. For example, if no other Ethernet drivers are loaded the PRO/1000 will be called eth0. The interface can be activated and assigned an IP address by running: `ifconfig eth# ' where # is interface number Command Line Configuration ========================== The following parameters are used by entering them on the command line with the modprobe (or insmod) command. For example, with two PRO/1000 PCI cards, entering: modprobe e1000 TxDescriptors=80,128 will load the e1000 driver with 80 TX resources for the first card and 128 TX resources for the second card. Speed (Intel(R) PRO/1000 T server adapter only) Valid Range: 0, 10, 100, 1000 Default Value: 0 Forces the line speed to the specified value in megabits per second. If this parameter is not specified, or is set to 0, the board will auto-detect the correct speed IF link partner is also set to auto- negotiate. See the section "Speed and Duplex Configuration" in this document. Duplex (Intel(R) PRO/1000 T server adapter only) Valid Range: 0-2 Default Value: 0 Forces the duplex mode. A setting of 1 indicates half duplex. A setting of 2 indicates full duplex. If this parameter is not specified, or is set to 0, the board will auto-detect the correct duplex IF link partner is also set to auto- negotiate. If link partner is forced (either full or half), it will default to half-duplex. See the section "Speed and Duplex Configuration" in this document. AutoNeg (Intel(R) PRO/1000 T server adapter Only) Valid Range: 0-0x0F, 0x20-0x2F Default Value: 0x2F When this parameter is used, the Speed and Duplex parameters must not be specified. This parameter is a bitmap that specifies which speed and duplex settings the board will advertise. See the section "Speed and Duplex Configuration" in this document. FlowControl Valid Range: 0-3 Default Value: 3 This value controls the automatic generation and response to ethernet PAUSE frames. A setting of 0 disables all flow control A setting of 1 enables receive flow control only, the adapter will react to PAUSE frames but will never generate them. A setting of 2 enables transmit flow control only, the adapter will generate PAUSE frames but will ignore them from it's link partner. A setting of 3 enables full flow control in the adapter. TxDescriptors Valid Range: 80-256 Default Value: 255 This value is the number of transmit descriptors allocated by the driver. Increasing this value will allow the driver to queue more transmits. Each descriptor is 16 bytes. RxDescriptors Valid Range: 80-256 Default Value: 255 This value is the number of receive descriptors allocated by the driver. Increasing this value will allow the driver to buffer more incoming packets. Each descriptor is 16 bytes. A receive buffer is also allocated for each descriptor, and is either 2048, 4096, 8192, or 16384 bytes depending on the MTU setting. TxIntDelay Valid Range: 1-65535 Default Value: 64 This value delays the generation of transmit interrupts in units of 1.024 microseconds. Transmit interrupt reduction can improve CPU efficiency if properly tuned for specific network traffic. If the system is reporting dropped transmits, this value may be set too high causing the driver to run out of available transmit descriptors. RxIntDelay Valid Range: 0-65535 Default Value: 64 This value delays the generation of receive interrupts in units of 1.024 microseconds. Receive interrupt reduction can improve CPU efficiency if properly tuned for specific network traffic. Increasing this value will add extra latency to frame reception, and can end up decreasing the throughput of TCP traffic. If the system is reporting dropped receives, this value may be set too high causing the driver to run out of available receive descriptors. Jumbo (Intel(R) PRO/1000 F and PRO/1000 T server adapters only) Valid Range: 0-1 Default Value: 1 A value of '1' indicates that the driver should allow the use of Jumbo frames. The actual frame size is controlled by the device MTU setting, set from ifconfig. Please set the switch packet size 18 units higher than the adapter size (to include the MAC header and CRC). XsumRX (Intel(R) PRO/1000 F and PRO/1000 T server adapters only) Valid Range: 0-1 Default Value: 1 A value of '1' indicates that the driver should enable IP checksum offload for received packets (both UDP and TCP) to the adapter hardware. WaitForLink Valid Range: 0-1 Default Value: 1 Controls whether or not the driver will wait for link before finishing initialization. The default value causes the driver to wait until auto-negotiation is complete (or failed) before finishing initialization and returning to the command prompt. Setting this value to '0' may cause the driver to initialize faster, but may also cause it to display incorrect link information when it loads. This is not related to speed/duplex or autoneogtiation settings. Speed and Duplex Configuration ============================== Three keywords are used to control the speed and duplex configuration of the PRO/1000 T. These keywords are Speed, Duplex, and AutoNeg. If the board uses a fiber interface, these keywords are ignored. The fiber interface board will only link at 1000 Mbps full-duplex. For copper-based boards, the keywords interact as follows: Default operation is to auto-negotiate. The board advertises all supported speed and duplex combinations, and links at the highest common speed and duplex mode IF the link partner is also set to auto-negotiate. If Speed = 1000, limited auto-negotiation is enabled and only 1000Mbps is advertised. (The 1000BaseT spec requires auto-negotiation.) If Speed = 10 or 100, then both Speed and Duplex must be set, and auto-negotiation is disabled. The AutoNeg parameter is ignored. The AutoNeg parameter is used when more control is required over the auto- negotiation process. When this parameter is used the Speed and Duplex parameters must not be specified. This parameter is a bitmap that specifies which speed and duplex settings are advertised to the link partner. Bit 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Speed (Mbps) N/A N/A 1000 N/A 100 100 10 10 Duplex Full Full Half Full Half Note that setting AutoNeg does not guarantee that the board will link at the highest specified speed or duplex mode, but will link at the highest possible speed/duplex of the link partner IF the link partner is also set to auto-negotiate. If the link partner is forced speed/duplex, the adapter MUST be forced to same speed/duplex. Additional Configuration ======================== Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is distribution dependent. Typically it involves adding an alias line to /etc/conf.modules 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. Refer to your distribution documentation to learn the proper way to configure a network device for your system. If during this process you are asked for the driver or module name, the driver name for the PRO/1000 is 'e1000'. Support ======= For general information and peer to peer support go to the forum at: http://support.intel.com/newsgroups/netwadap.htm Read the forum charter, legal information, and posting guidelines before entering the forum. This forum will post new information regarding the driver as it becomes available. 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. License ======= Copyright(C) 1999 - 2001, Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 3. Neither the name of Intel Corporation nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.