sk98lin — Marvell/SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet driver v6.21
insmod
sk98lin.o
[Speed_A=
]
[i,j,...
Speed_B=
]
[i,j,...
AutoNeg_A=
]
[i,j,...
AutoNeg_B=
]
[i,j,...
DupCap_A=
]
[i,j,...
DupCap_B=
]
[i,j,...
FlowCtrl_A=
]
[i,j,...
FlowCtrl_B=
]
[i,j,...
Role_A=
]
[i,j,...
Role_B=
]
[i,j,...
ConType=
]
[i,j,...
Moderation=
]
[i,j,...
IntsPerSec=
]
[i,j,...
PrefPort=
]
[i,j,...
RlmtMode=
]i,j,...
sk98lin
is the
Gigabit Ethernet driver for Marvell and SysKonnect network
adapter cards. It supports SysKonnect SK-98xx/SK-95xx
compliant Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and any Yukon compliant
chipset.
When loading the driver using insmod, parameters for the network adapter cards might be stated as a sequence of comma separated commands. If for instance two network adapters are installed and AutoNegotiation on Port A of the first adapter should be ON, but on the Port A of the second adapter switched OFF, one must enter:
insmod sk98lin.o AutoNeg_A=On,Off
After sk98lin
is
bound to one or more adapter cards and the /proc
filesystem is mounted on your system,
a dedicated statistics file will be created in folder
/proc/net/sk98lin
for all ports
of the installed network adapter cards. Those files are named
eth[x]
whereas
x
is the number of
the interface that has been assigned to a dedicated port by
the system.
If loading is finished, any desired IP address can be
assigned to the respective eth[x]
interface using the
ifconfig(8) command. This
causes the adapter to connect to the Ethernet and to display
a status message on the console saying "ethx: network
connection up using port y" followed by the configured or
detected connection parameters.
The sk98lin
also
supports large frames (also called jumbo frames). Using jumbo
frames can improve throughput tremendously when transferring
large amounts of data. To enable large frames, the MTU
(maximum transfer unit) size for an interface is to be set to
a high value. The default MTU size is 1500 and can be changed
up to 9000 (bytes). Setting the MTU size can be done when
assigning the IP address to the interface or later by using
the ifconfig(8) command with the
mtu parameter. If for instance eth0 needs an IP address and a
large frame MTU size, the following two commands might be
used:
ifconfig eth0 10.1.1.1 ifconfig eth0 mtu 9000
Those two commands might even be combined into one:
ifconfig eth0 10.1.1.1 mtu 9000
Note that large frames can only be used if your network infrastructure allows to do so. This means, that any switch being used in your Ethernet must also support large frames. Quite some switches support large frames, but need to be configured to do so. Most of the times, their default setting is to support only standard frames with an MTU size of 1500 (bytes). In addition to the switches inside the network, all network adapters that are to be used must also be enabled regarding jumbo frames. If an adapter is not set to receive large frames it will simply drop them.
Switching back to the standard Ethernet frame size can be done by using the ifconfig(8) command again:
ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500
The Marvell/SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet driver for Linux is able to support VLAN and Link Aggregation according to IEEE standards 802.1, 802.1q, and 802.3ad. Those features are only available after installation of open source modules which can be found on the Internet:
VLAN
:
http://www.candelatech.com/~greear/vlan.html
Link
Aggregation
:
http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~yumo
Note that Marvell/SysKonnect does not offer any support for these open source modules and does not take the responsibility for any kind of failures or problems arising when using these modules.
Speed_A
=i,j,...
This parameter is used to set the speed
capabilities of port A of an adapter card. It is only
valid for Yukon copper adapters. Possible values are:
10
, 100
, 1000
or Auto
whereas
Auto
is the
default. Usually, the speed is negotiated between the
two ports during link establishment. If this fails, a
port can be forced to a specific setting with this
parameter.
Speed_B
=i,j,...
This parameter is used to set the speed
capabilities of port B of an adapter card. It is only
valid for Yukon copper adapters. Possible values are:
10
, 100
, 1000
or Auto
whereas
Auto
is the
default. Usually, the speed is negotiated between the
two ports during link establishment. If this fails, a
port can be forced to a specific setting with this
parameter.
AutoNeg_A
=i,j,...
Enables or disables the use of autonegotiation of
port A of an adapter card. Possible values are:
On
,
Off
or
Sense
whereas On
is the default. The Sense
mode
automatically detects whether the link partner
supports auto-negotiation or not.
AutoNeg_B
=i,j,...
Enables or disables the use of autonegotiation of
port B of an adapter card. Possible values are:
On
,
Off
or
Sense
whereas On
is the default. The Sense
mode
automatically detects whether the link partner
supports auto-negotiation or not.
DupCap_A
=i,j,...
This parameter indicates the duplex mode to be
used for port A of an adapter card. Possible values
are: Half
,
Full
or
Both
whereas Both
is the default.
This parameter is only relevant if AutoNeg_A of port
A is not set to Sense
. If AutoNeg_A
is set to On
, all three values
of DupCap_A ( Half
, Full
or Both
) might be
stated. If AutoNeg_A is set to Off
, only DupCap_A
values Full
and Half
are allowed. This DupCap_A parameter is useful if
your link partner does not support all possible
duplex combinations.
DupCap_B
=i,j,...
This parameter indicates the duplex mode to be
used for port B of an adapter card. Possible values
are: Half
,
Full
or
Both
whereas Both
is the default.
This parameter is only relevant if AutoNeg_B of port
B is not set to Sense
. If AutoNeg_B
is set to On
, all three values
of DupCap_B ( Half
, Full
or Both
) might be
stated. If AutoNeg_B is set to Off
, only DupCap_B
values Full
and Half
are allowed. This DupCap_B parameter is useful if
your link partner does not support all possible
duplex combinations.
FlowCtrl_A
=i,j,...
This parameter can be used to set the flow control
capabilities the port reports during
auto-negotiation. Possible values are: Sym
, SymOrRem
, LocSend
or None
whereas
SymOrRem
is
the default. The different modes have the following
meaning:
Sym
=
Symmetric both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE
frames
SymOrRem
=
SymmetricOrRemote both or only remote partner are allowed
to send PAUSE frames
LocSend
=
LocalSend only local link partner is allowed to send PAUSE
frames
None
= None no
link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames
Note that this parameter is ignored if AutoNeg_A is set
to Off
.
FlowCtrl_B
=i,j,...
This parameter can be used to set the flow control
capabilities the port reports during
auto-negotiation. Possible values are: Sym
, SymOrRem
, LocSend
or None
whereas
SymOrRem
is
the default. The different modes have the following
meaning:
Sym
=
Symmetric both link partners are allowed to send
PAUSE frames
SymOrRem
=
SymmetricOrRemote both or only remote partner are allowed
to send PAUSE frames
LocSend
=
LocalSend only local link partner is allowed to send PAUSE
frames
None
= None no
link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames
Note that this parameter is ignored if AutoNeg_B is set
to Off
.
Role_A
=i,j,...
This parameter is only valid for 1000Base-T
adapter cards. For two 1000Base-T ports to
communicate, one must take the role of the master
(providing timing information), while the other must
be the slave. Possible values are: Auto
, Master
or Slave
whereas
Auto
is the
default. Usually, the role of a port is negotiated
between two ports during link establishment, but if
that fails the port A of an adapter card can be
forced to a specific setting with this parameter.
Role_B
=i,j,...
This parameter is only valid for 1000Base-T
adapter cards. For two 1000Base-T ports to
communicate, one must take the role of the master
(providing timing information), while the other must
be the slave. Possible values are: Auto
, Master
or Slave
whereas
Auto
is the
default. Usually, the role of a port is negotiated
between two ports during link establishment, but if
that fails the port B of an adapter card can be
forced to a specific setting with this parameter.
ConType
=i,j,...
This parameter is a combination of all five per-port parameters within one single parameter. This simplifies the configuration of both ports of an adapter card. The different values of this variable reflect the most meaningful combinations of port parameters. Possible values and their corresponding combination of per-port parameters:
ConType | DupCap | AutoNeg | FlowCtrl | Role | Speed |
Auto |
Both | On | SymOrRem | Auto | Auto |
100FD |
Full | Off | None | Auto | 100 |
100HD |
Half | Off | None | Auto | 100 |
10FD |
Full | Off | None | Auto | 10 |
10HD |
Half | Off | None | Auto | 10 |
Stating any other port parameter together with this
ConType
parameter will result
in a merged configuration of those settings. This is due to
the fact, that the per-port parameters (e.g. Speed_A
) have a higher priority than the
combined variable ConType
.
Moderation
=i,j,...
Interrupt moderation is employed to limit the
maximum number of interrupts the driver has to serve.
That is, one or more interrupts (which indicate any
transmit or receive packet to be processed) are
queued until the driver processes them. When queued
interrupts are to be served, is determined by the
IntsPerSec
parameter,
which is explained later below. Possible moderation
modes are: None
, Static
or Dynamic
whereas
None
is the
default. The different modes have the following
meaning:
None
No
interrupt moderation is applied on the adapter card.
Therefore, each transmit or receive interrupt is
served immediately as soon as it appears on the
interrupt line of the adapter card.
Static
Interrupt moderation is applied on the adapter card. All
transmit and receive interrupts are queued until a complete
moderation interval ends. If such a moderation interval
ends, all queued interrupts are processed in one big bunch
without any delay. The term Static
reflects the fact,
that interrupt moderation is always enabled, regardless how
much network load is currently passing via a particular
interface. In addition, the duration of the moderation
interval has a fixed length that never changes while the
driver is operational.
Dynamic
Interrupt moderation might be applied on the adapter card,
depending on the load of the system. If the driver detects
that the system load is too high, the driver tries to
shield the system against too much network load by enabling
interrupt moderation. If — at a later time —
the CPU utilization decreases again (or if the network load
is negligible) the interrupt moderation will automatically
be disabled.
Interrupt moderation should be used when the driver has to handle one or more interfaces with a high network load, which — as a consequence — leads also to a high CPU utilization. When moderation is applied in such high network load situations, CPU load might be reduced by 20-30% on slow computers.
Note that the drawback of using interrupt moderation is an increase of the round-trip-time (RTT), due to the queuing and serving of interrupts at dedicated moderation times.
IntsPerSec
=i,j,...
This parameter determines the length of any
interrupt moderation interval. Assuming that static
interrupt moderation is to be used, an IntsPerSec
parameter value of 2000
will lead to an interrupt moderation interval of 500
microseconds. Possible values for this parameter are
in the range of 30...40000 (interrupts per second).
The default value is 2000.
This parameter is only used, if either static or dynamic interrupt moderation is enabled on a network adapter card. This parameter is ignored if no moderation is applied.
Note that the duration of the moderation interval is to be chosen with care. At first glance, selecting a very long duration (e.g., only 100 interrupts per second) seems to be meaningful, but the increase of packet-processing delay is tremendous. On the other hand, selecting a very short moderation time might compensate the use of any moderation being applied.
PrefPort
=i,j,...
This parameter is used to force the preferred port
to A or B (on dual-port network adapters). The
preferred port is the one that is used if both ports
A and B are detected as fully functional. Possible
values are: A
or
B
whereas A
is the default.
RlmtMode
=i,j,...
RLMT monitors the status of the port. If the link
of the active port fails, RLMT switches immediately
to the standby link. The virtual link is maintained
as long as at least one 'physical' link is up. This
parameters states how RLMT should monitor both ports.
Possible values are: CheckLinkState
,
CheckLocalPort
,
CheckSeg
or
DualNet
whereas CheckLinkState
is the
default. The different modes have the following
meaning:
CheckLinkState
Check
link state only: RLMT uses the link state reported by
the adapter hardware for each individual port to
determine whether a port can be used for all network
traffic or not.
CheckLocalPort
In this mode, RLMT monitors the network path between the
two ports of an adapter by regularly exchanging packets
between them. This mode requires a network configuration in
which the two ports are able to "see" each other (i.e.,
there must not be any router between the ports).
CheckSeg
Check
local port and segmentation: This mode supports the same
functions as the CheckLocalPort mode and additionally
checks network segmentation between the ports. Therefore,
this mode is only to be used if Gigabit Ethernet switches
are installed on the network that have been configured to
use the Spanning Tree protocol.
DualNet
In
this mode, ports A and B are used as separate devices. If
you have a dual port adapter, port A will be configured as
eth[x]
andport
Bas
eth[x+1]
. Both ports can be
used independently with distinct IP addresses. The
preferred port setting is not used. RLMT is turned off.
Note that RLMT modes CheckLocalPort
and
CheckLinkState
are designed to operate in configurations where a network
path between the ports on one adapter exists. Moreover,
they are not designed to work where adapters are connected
back-to-back.
/proc/net/sk98lin/eth[x]
The statistics file of a particular interface of an adapter card. It contains generic information about the adapter card plus a detailed summary of all transmit and receive counters.
/usr/src/linux/Documentation/network/sk98lin.txt
This is the README
file of
the sk98lin
driver.
It contains a detailed installation HOWTO and describes all
parameters of the driver. It denotes also common problems and
provides the solution to them.
modprobe(8), insmod(8), ifconfig(8)
(C)Copyright 1999-2003 Marvell(R) -- linux@syskonnect.de sk98lin.4 1.1 2003/12/17 10:03:18 This manpage can be viewed using `groff -Tascii -man sk98lin.4 | less` This is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. The GNU General Public License's references to "object code" and "executables" are to be interpreted as the output of any document formatting or typesetting system, including intermediate and printed output. This manual is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this manual; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA. |