The ixgb driver can be downloaded at: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/ixgb/
|
NOTES: This release includes the 10 gigabit FreeBSD Base Driver
for Intel® Network Connection. All 82598EB-based network connections
require the ixgbe driver. All other network connections require the
ixgb driver.
First identify
your adapter. Then follow the appropriate steps for building,
installing, and configuring the appropriate driver. The ixgb driver can be downloaded at: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/dev/ixgb/ |
First identify your adapter. Then select the name of the specified base driver: ixgbe or ixgb
The following Intel network adapters are compatible with the drivers in this release:
| Controller | Adapter Name | Physical Layer |
| 82598EB | Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Dual Port Server Adapter | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR/LR Server Adapter | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AF Dual Port Network Connection | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AF Network Connection | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AT CX4 Network Connection | |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE SR Server Adapter | 10GBase-SR (850 nm optical fiber) |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE LR Server Adapter | 10GBase-LR (1310 nm optical fiber) |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE CX4 Server Adapter | 10GBase-CX4 (twin-axial copper cabling) |
To verify that 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 three digits). For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter & Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
For the latest Intel network drivers for FreeBSD, see:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Support_Intel.aspx
The following Intel network adapters are compatible with the drivers in this release:
| Controller | Adapter Name | Physical Layer |
| 82598EB | Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR Dual Port Server Adapter | 10G Base -LR (850 nm optical fiber) |
| 82598EB | Intel® 10 Gigabit XF SR/LR Server Adapter | 10G Base -SR (1310 nm optical fiber) |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AF Dual Port Network Connection | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AF Network Connection | |
| 82598EB | Intel® 82598EB 10 Gigabit AT CX4 Network Connection |
To verify that 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 three digits). For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter & Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
For the latest Intel network drivers for FreeBSD, see:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Support_Intel.aspx
|
NOTE: You must have kernel sources installed in order to compile the driver module. |
In the instructions below, x.x.x is the driver version as indicated in the name of the driver tar file.
tar xfz ixgbe-x.x.x.tar.gz
cd
ixgbe-x.x.x
gzip -c ixgbe.4 > /usr/share/man/man4/ixgbee.4.gz
cd ixgbe-x.x.x/src
make load
ifconfig ix<interface_num> <IP_address>
ping <IP_address>
cd ixgbe-x.x.x/src
make
make install
Edit /boot/loader.conf, and add the following line:
ixgbe_load="YES"
OR
compile the driver into the kernel (see item 8).
Edit /etc/rc.conf, and create the appropriate ifconfig_ixgbe<interface_num>
entry:
ifconfig_ix<interface_num>
Example usage:
ifconfig_ix0="inet 192.168.10.1
netmask 255.255.255.0"
NOTE: For assistance, see the ifconfig man page.
The driver supports Transmit/Receive Checksum Offload and Jumbo Frames on all 10GbE adapters.
To enable Jumbo Frames, use the ifconfig utility to increase the MTU beyond 1500 bytes.
|
NOTES: The Jumbo Frames setting on the switch must be
set to at least 22 bytes larger than that of the MTU.
There are known performance issues with this driver when running UDP traffic with Jumbo Frames. |
The Jumbo Frames MTU range for Intel Adapters is 1500 to 16114. The default MTU range is 1500. To modify the setting, enter the following:
ifconfig ix<interface_num> <hostname or IP address> mtu 9000
To confirm an interface's MTU value, use the ifconfig command. To confirm the MTU used between two specific devices, use:
route get <destination_IP_address>
To create a new VLAN interface:
ifconfig <vlan_name> create
To associate the VLAN interface with a physical interface and assign an IP address, netmask, and VLAN ID:
ifconfig <vlan_name> <ip_address> netmask <subnet_mask> vlan <vlan_id> vlandev <physical_interface>
Example:
ifconfig vlan10 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 vlan 10 vlandev ixgb0
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:
ifconfig <vlan_name> destroy
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 <interface_num> rxcsum
To disable checksum offloading:
ifconfig <interface_num> -rxcsum
To confirm the current setting:
ifconfig <interface_num>
TSO is enabled by default.
To disable:
ifconfig <interface_num> -tso
To re-enable:
ifconfig <interface_num> tso
Large Receive Offload is available in version 1.4.4, it is off by default. It can be toggled on and off by using:
sysctl dev.ix.X.enable_lro=[0,1]
|
|
NOTE: When changing this feature you MUST be sure the interface is reinitialized, it is easy to do this with ifconfig down/up. The LRO code will ultimately move into the kernel stack code, but for this first release it was included with the driver. |
When there is a choice, run on a 64bit OS rather than 32, it makes a
significant difference in improvement.
The default scheduler SCHED_4BSD is not smart about SMP locality issues.
Significant improvement can be achieved by switching to the ULE scheduler.
This is done by changing the entry in the config file from SCHED_4BSD to
SCHED_ULE. Note that this is only advisable on FreeBSD 7, on 6.X there have
been stability problems with ULE.
The interface can generate high number of interrupts. To avoid running into the
limit set by the kernel, adjust hw.intr_storm_threshold setting using sysctl:
sysctl hw.intr_storm_threshold=9000 (the default is 1000)
For this change to take effect on boot, edit /etc/sysctl.conf and add the line:
hw.intr_storm_threshold=9000
If you still see Interrupt Storm detected messages, increase the limit to a
higher number.
Best throughput results are seen with a large MTU; use 9000 if possible.
The default number of descriptors is 256, increasing this to 1024 or even 2048
may improve performance.
Under small packets UDP stress test with the 10GbE driver, the FreeBSD system will drop UDP packets, due to socket buffers being full. You may want to change the driver's Flow Control variables to the minimum value for controlling packet reception.
The following Intel network adapters are compatible with the drivers in this release:
| Controller | Adapter Name | Physical Layer |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE SR Server Adapter | 10GBase-SR (850 nm optical fiber) |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE LR Server Adapter | 10GBase-LR (1310 nm optical fiber) |
| 82597EX | Intel® PRO/10GbE CX4 Server Adapter | 10GBase-CX4 (twin-axial copper cabling) |
To verify that 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 three digits). For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter & Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
For the latest Intel network drivers for FreeBSD, see:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/scripts-df-external/Support_Intel.aspx
|
NOTE: You must have kernel sources installed in order to compile the driver module. |
In the instructions below, x.x.x is the driver version as indicated in the name of the driver tar file.
Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use /home/username/ixgb or /usr/local/src/ixgb.
Untar/unzip the archive:
tar xfz ixgb-x.x.x.tar.gz
This will create an ixgb-x.x.x directory.
To install man page:
cd ixgb-x.x.x
gzip -c ixgb.4 > /usr/share/man/man4/ixgb.4.gz
To load the driver onto a running system, perform the following steps:
cd ixgb-x.x.x/src
make load
To assign an IP address to the interface, enter the following:
ifconfig ixgb<interface_num>
<IP_address>
Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address>
is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the interface
that is being tested:
ping <IP_address>
If you want the driver to load automatically when the system is booted:
cd ixgb-x.x.x/src
make
make install
Edit /boot/loader.conf, and add the following line:
if_ixgb_load="YES"
OR
compile the driver into the kernel (see item 8).
Edit /etc/rc.conf, and create the appropriate
ifconfig_ixgb<interface_num>
entry:
ifconfig_ixgb<interface_num>="<ifconfig_settings>"
Example usage:
ifconfig_ixgb0="inet 192.168.10.1 netmask 255.255.255.0"
NOTE: For assistance, see the ifconfig man page.
The driver supports Transmit/Receive Checksum Offload and Jumbo Frames on all 10GbE adapters.
To enable Jumbo Frames, use the ifconfig utility to increase the MTU beyond 1500 bytes.
|
NOTES: Only enable Jumbo Frames if your network infrastructure, including switches, supports them. |
| The Jumbo Frames setting on the switch must be
set to at least 22 bytes larger than that of the MTU.
There are known performance issues with this driver when running UDP traffic with Jumbo Frames. |
The Jumbo Frames MTU range for Intel Adapters is 1500 to 16114. The default MTU range is 1500. To modify the setting, enter the following:
ifconfig ixgb<interface_num> <hostname or IP address> mtu 9000
To confirm an interface's MTU value, use the ifconfig command. To confirm the MTU used between two specific devices, use:
route get <destination_IP_address>
To create a new VLAN interface:
ifconfig <vlan_name> create
To associate the VLAN interface with a physical interface and assign an IP address, netmask, and VLAN ID:
ifconfig <vlan_name> <ip_address> netmask <subnet_mask> vlan <vlan_id> vlandev <physical_interface>
Example:
ifconfig vlan10 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 vlan 10 vlandev ixgb0
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:
ifconfig <vlan_name> destroy
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
To turn on polling::
ifconfig <interface_num> polling
To turn off polling:
ifconfig <interface_num> -polling
|
NOTES: DEVICE POLLING is only
valid for non-SMP kernels. The driver has to be built into the kernel for DEVICE POLLING to be enabled in the driver. |
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 <interface_num> rxcsum
To disable checksum offloading:
ifconfig <interface_num> -rxcsum
To confirm the current setting:
ifconfig <interface_num>
Look for the presence or absence of the following line:
options=3 <RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
See the ifconfig man page for further information.
Under small packets UDP stress test with the 10GbE driver, the FreeBSD system will drop UDP packets, due to socket buffers being full. You may want to change the driver's Flow Control variables to the minimum value for controlling packet reception.
For general information and support, go to the support website
If an issue is identified, support is through email only at: freebsdnic@mailbox.intel.com.
Last modified on 6/13/08 10:18a Revision 38