                           Installation Notes
                        Broadcom bnx2 Linux Driver
                              Version 1.5.10b
                                05/01/2007

                          Broadcom Corporation
                          16215 Alton Parkway,
                          Irvine, CA 92619-7013

           Copyright (c) 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Broadcom Corporation
                           All rights reserved


Table of Contents
=================

  Introduction
  Limitations
  Packaging
  Installing Source RPM Package
  Building Driver From TAR File
  Driver Dependencies
  Driver Settings
  Driver Parameters
  Driver Defaults
  Unloading and Removing Driver
  Driver Messages
  

Introduction
============

This file describes the bnx2 Linux driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme II
BCM5706/BCM5708/5709 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps PCI/PCI-X/PCIE Ethernet Network
Controller.


Limitations
===========

The current version of the driver has been tested on 2.4.x kernels starting
from 2.4.24 and all 2.6.x kernels. The driver may not compile on kernels
older than 2.4.24. Testing is concentrated on i386 and x86_64 architectures.
Only limited testing has been done on some other architectures.

Minor changes to some source files and Makefile may be needed on some
kernels.


Packaging
=========

The driver is released in two packaging formats: source RPM and compressed tar
formats. The file names for the two packages are bnx2-<version>.src.rpm and
bnx2-<version>.tar.gz respectively. Identical source files to build the
driver are included in both packages.


Installing Source RPM Package
=============================

The following are general guidelines for installing the driver.

1. Install the source RPM package:

   rpm -ivh bnx2-<version>.src.rpm

2. CD to the RPM path and build the binary driver for your kernel:

   cd /usr/src/{redhat,OpenLinux,turbo,packages,rpm ..}

   rpm -bb SPECS/bnx2.spec

or

   rpmbuild -bb SPECS/bnx2.spec (for RPM version 4.x.x)

Note that the RPM path is different for different Linux distributions.

The driver will be compiled for the running kernel by default. To build
the driver for a kernel different than the running one, specify the
kernel by defining it in KVER:

   rpmbuild -bb SPECS/bnx2.spec --define "KVER <kernel version>"

where <kernel version> in the form of 2.x.y-z is the version of another
kernel that is installed on the system.

3. Install the newly built package (driver and man page):

   rpm -ivh RPMS/<arch>/bnx2-<version>.<arch>.rpm

where <arch> is the machine architecture such as i386:

   rpm -ivh RPMS/i386/bnx2-<version>.i386.rpm

Note that the --force option may be needed on some Linux distributions
if conflicts are reported.

The driver will be installed in the following path:

2.4.x kernels:

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/kernel/drivers/net/bnx2.o

2.6.0 kernels:

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/kernel/drivers/net/bnx2.ko

4. Load the driver:

   insmod bnx2.o
or
   insmod bnx2.ko (on 2.6.x kernels)
or
   modprobe bnx2

5. To configure network protocol and address, refer to various Linux
documentations.


Building Driver From TAR File
=============================

The following are general guidelines for installing the driver.

1. Create a directory and extract the files:

   tar xvzf bnx2-<version>.tar.gz

2. Build the driver bnx2.o (or bnx2.ko) as a loadable module for the
running kernel:

   cd src
   make

The driver will be compiled for the running kernel by default. To build
the driver for a kernel different than the running one, specify the
kernel by defining it in KVER:

  make KVER=<kernel version>

where <kernel version> in the form of 2.x.y-z is the version of another
kernel that is installed on the system.

3. Test the driver by loading it: 

   insmod bnx2.o
or
   insmod bnx2.ko (on 2.6.x kernels)
or
   insmod bnx2

4. Install the driver and man page:

   make install

See RPM instructions above for the location of the installed driver.

5. To configure network protocol and address, refer to various Linux
documentations.


Driver Dependencies
===================

The driver uses library functions in the crc32 and zlib_inflate libraries.
On most kernels, these libraries are already built into the kernel. In
some cases, it may be necessary to load these library modules before the
driver or unresolved symbol errors will appear. Using modprobe will
resolve the dependencies automatically.

In rare cases where the crc32 and zlib_inflate libraries are not enabled
in the kernel, it will be necessary to compile the kernel again with the
libraries enabled.


Driver Settings
===============

Driver settings can be queried and changed using ethtool. The latest ethtool
can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel if it is not
already installed. The following are some common examples on how to use
ethtool. See the ethtool man page for more information. ethtool settings do
not persist across reboot or module reload. The ethtool commands can be put
in a startup script such as /etc/rc.local to preserve the settings across a
reboot. On Red Hat distributions, "ethtool -s" parameters can be specified
in the ifcfg-ethx scripts using the ETHTOOL_OPTS keyword. The specified
ethtool parameters will be set during ifup. Example:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0:

ETHTOOL_OPTS="wol g speed 100 duplex half autoneg off"

Some ethtool examples:

1. Show current speed, duplex, and link status:

   ethtool eth0

2. Change speed, duplex, autoneg:

Example: 100Mbps half duplex, no autonegotiation:

   ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex half autoneg off

Example: Autonegotiation with full advertisement:

   ethtool -s eth0 autoneg on

Example: Autonegotiation with 100Mbps full duplex advertisement only:

   ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg on

3. Show flow control settings:

   ethtool -a eth0

4. Change flow control settings:

Example: Turn off flow control

   ethtool -A eth0 autoneg off rx off tx off

Example: Turn flow control autonegotiation on with tx and rx advertisement:

   ethtool -A eth0 autoneg on rx on tx on

   Note that this is only valid if speed is set to autonegotiation.

5. Show offload settings:

   ethtool -k eth0

6. Change offload settings:

Example: Turn off TSO (TCP segmentation offload)

   ethtool -K eth0 tso off

7. Get statistics:

   ethtool -S eth0

8. Perform self-test:

   ethtool -t eth0

   Note that the interface (eth0) must be up to do all tests.

9. See ethtool man page for more options.


Module Parameters
=================

One optional parameter "disable_msi" can be supplied as a command line
argument to the insmod or modprobe command. This parameter is used
to disable Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI) and the parameter is only
valid on 2.6 kernels that support MSI. On 2.4 kernels, this parameter
cannot be used. By default, the driver will enable MSI if it is supported
by the kernel. It will run an interrupt test during initialization to
determine if MSI is working. If the test passes, the driver will enable
MSI. Otherwise, it will use legacy INTx mode.

Set the "disable_msi" parameter to 1 as shown below to always disable
MSI on all NetXtreme II NICs in the system.

insmod bnx2.ko disable_msi=1

or

modprobe bnx2 disable_msi=1

The parameter can also be set in modprobe.conf. See the man page
for more information.


Driver Defaults
===============

Speed :                    Autonegotiation with all speeds advertised

Flow control :             Autonegotiation with rx and tx advertised

MTU :                      1500 (range 46 - 9000)

Rx Ring Size :              255 (range 0 - 4080)

Tx Ring Size :              255 (range (MAX_SKB_FRAGS+1) - 255)

                            MAX_SKB_FRAGS varies on different kernels and
                            different architectures. On a 2.6 kernel for
                            x86, MAX_SKB_FRAGS is 18.

Coalesce rx usecs :          18 (range 0 - 1023)

Coalesce rx usecs irq :      18 (range 0 - 1023)
	
Coalesce rx frames :          6 (range 0 - 255)

Coalesce rx frames irq :      6 (range 0 - 255)

Coalesce tx usecs :          80 (range 0 - 1023)

Coalesce tx usecs irq :      80 (range 0 - 1023)

Coalesce tx frames :         20 (range 0 - 255)

Coalesce tx frames irq :     20 (range 0 - 255)

Coalesce stats usecs   : 999936 (aprox. 1 sec.)
                                (range 0 - 16776960 in 256 increments)

MSI :                      Enabled (if supported by 2.6 kernel and interrupt
                                    test passes)

TSO :                      Enabled on 2.6 kernels

WoL :                      Disabled


Unloading and Removing Driver
=============================

To unload the driver, use ifconfig to bring down all eth# interfaces opened
by the driver, then do the following:

rmmod bnx2

Note that on 2.6 kernels, it is not necessary to bring down the eth#
interfaces before unloading the driver module.


If the driver was installed using rpm, do the following to remove it:

rpm -e bnx2


If the driver was installed using make install from the tar file, the driver
bnx2.o (or bnx2.ko) has to be manually deleted from the system. Refer
to the section "Installing Source RPM Package" for the location of the
installed driver.


Driver Messages
===============

The following are the most common sample messages that may be logged in the file
/var/log/messages. Use dmesg -n <level> to control the level at which messages
will appear on the console. Most systems are set to level 6 by default. To see
all messages, set the level higher.

Driver signon:
-------------

Broadcom NetXtreme II Gigabit Ethernet Driver bnx2 v1.1.3 (Jan. 13, 2005)


NIC detected:
------------

eth0: Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5706 1000Base-T (A2) PCI 64-bit 66MHz found at mem f6000000, IRQ 16, node addr 0010180476ae


MSI enabled successfully:
------------------------

bnx2: eth0: using MSI


Link up and speed indication:
----------------------------

bnx2: eth0 NIC Copper Link is Up, 1000 Mbps full duplex, receive & transmit flow control ON
 

Link down indication:
--------------------

bnx2: eth0 NIC Copper Link is Down



