Linux Driver: Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Adapter User's Guide

Broadcom NetXtreme

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Linux Driver Software: Broadcom NetXtreme™ Gigabit Ethernet Adapter User's Guide

This document describes the installation and configuration of the Linux driver and BASP driver software for the Broadcom NetXtreme™ Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and includes the following sections:

Linux Driver Software

BASP Driver for Linux


Linux Driver Software

This section contains the following information:

Introduction

Limitations

Packaging

Installing Source RPM Package

Building Driver From TAR File

Notes

Patching PCI Files

Patching Driver Into Kernel

Network Installation

Unloading and Removing the Driver

Module Parameters

Driver Messages

Statistics


Introduction

This section describes the Linux driver for the Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5700 series 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet Network Controllers.


Limitations

The current version of the Linux driver has been thoroughly tested on Red Hat 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and SuSE 7.2 & 7.3 Linux distributions for i386 and ia64, and other similar Linux distributions using 2.4.x kernels.

The driver should also work on other big-endian and little-endian CPU platforms. The Makefile may have to be modified to include platform-specific compile switches, and some minor changes in the source files may also be required. Only very limited testing has been done on some CPU platforms other than i386 and ia64.

 

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Packaging

The Linux driver is released in two packaging formats: source RPM and compressed tar formats. The file names for the two packages are bcm5700-<version>.src.rpm and bcm5700-<version>.tar.gz, respectively. Identical source files to build the driver are included in both packages. The tar file contains additional utilities such as patches and driver diskette images for network installation.


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Installing Source RPM Package

  1. Install the source RPM package:

    rpm -ivh bcm5700-<version>.src.rpm

    NOTE � If installing the driver on SuSE 7.x distributions, refer to the Notes section below before continuing.

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

    cd /usr/src/{redhat,OpenLinux,turbo,packages,rpm ..}
    rpm -bb SPECS/bcm5700.spec

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

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

    rpm -ivh RPMS/i386/bcm5700-<version>.i386.rpm

    Note that the --force option is needed if installing on Red Hat 7.1, 7.2, and others that already contain an older version of the driver.

    The driver will be installed in the following paths:

    • 2.2.x kernels:

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/net/bcm5700.o

    • 2.4.x kernels:

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/kernel/drivers/net/bcm5700.o

    • 2.4.x kernels with bcm5700 driver patched in (e.g. Red Hat 7.1, 7.2):

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/kernel/drivers/net/bcm/bcm5700.o

    or

    /lib/modules/<kernel_version>/kernel/drivers/addon/bcm5700/bcm5700.o

  4. Load the driver:

    insmod bcm5700

  5. To configure the network protocol and address, refer to Linux-specific documentation.

 

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Building Driver From TAR File

  1. Create a directory and extract the TAR files:

tar xvzf bcm5700-<version>.tar.gz

NOTE � If installing the driver on SuSE 7.x distributions, refer to the Notes section below before continuing.
  1. Build the driver bcm5700.o as a loadable module for the running kernel:

    cd src
    make

  2. Test the driver by loading it:

    insmod bcm5700.o

  3. Install the driver and man page:

    make install

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

  4. To configure network protocol and address, refer to Linux-specific documentations.

Notes

NOTE � If compiling the driver under SuSE's 7.x kernel and errors are reported, follow the general guidelines below to rebuild the kernel source tree.

Kernal Source Tree Guidelines

cd /usr/src/linux-<kernel_version>.SuSE
cp /boot/vmlinuz.config .config
cp /boot/vmlinuz.version.h include/linux/version.h
cp /boot/vmlinuz.autoconf.h include/linux/autoconf.h
make oldconfig
make dep

where <kernel_version> is the actual kernel version used in the SuSE distribution.
Example: /usr/src/linux-2.4.4.SuSE

 

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Patching PCI Files (Optional)

To use the Red Hat kudzu hardware detection utility, a number of files containing PCI vendor and device information need to be patched with information on the BCM570x series NICs. Patch files for Red Hat 7.x are included. Apply the appropriate patch by running the patch command. For example, on Red Hat 7.2 for i386, apply the patch by doing the following:

patch -N -p1 -d /usr < pci-rh72-i386.patch

Run kudzu:

kudzu

 

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Patching Driver Into Kernel (Optional)

Patch files are included for patching the driver into some of the latest 2.4.x kernel source trees. This step is optional and should only be done by users familiar with configuring and building the kernel. The patch will modify the orginal kernel's source code.

Follow the following steps to patch the driver into kernel:

1. Select the patch file that matches your kernel and apply the patch:

patch -p1 -d <kernel_src_root> < bcm5700-<version>-2.4.<x>.patch

where <version> is the version of the bcm570x driver and 2.4.<x> is the version of the kernel to patch (e.g., 2.4.10).

NOTE � <kernel_src_root> is usually /usr/src/linux or /usr/src/linux-2.4.<x>
  1. Configure the kernel to include the bcm570x driver. It can be found under Network Device Support > Ethernet (1000 Mbit) > Broadcom BCM5700 support when make menuconfig is run. Select built-in or module for the driver:
  2. cd <kernel_src_root>
    make menuconfig

  3. Compile the kernel:

    make dep
    make clean
    ....
    ....

 

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Network Installation

For network installations through NFS, FTP, or HTTP (using a network boot disk or PXE), a driver diskette that contains the bcm570x driver is needed for Red Hat 7.x. The driver diskette images for the most recent Red Hat versions are included. Boot drivers for other Linux versions can be compiled by modifying the Makefile and the make environment. Further information is available from Red Hat's website.

To create the driver diskette, select the appropriate image file and do the following:

dd if=dd.img of=/dev/fd0H1440.

 

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Unloading and Removing the Driver

Removing the Driver from an RPM Installation

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

rmmod bcm5700


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

rpm -e bcm5700

Removing the Driver from a TAR Installation

If the driver was installed using make install from the tar file, the driver bcm5700.o has to be manually deleted from the system. Refer to the section "Building Driver From TAR File" for the location of the installed driver.

 

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Module Parameters

Optional parameters for the driver can be supplied as command line arguments to the insmod command. Typically, these parameters are set in the file /etc/modules.conf (see the man page for modules.conf). These parameters take the form

<parameter>=value[,value,...]

where the multiple values for the same parameter are for multiple NICs installed in the system.

NOTE � The default or other meaningful values will be used when invalid values are selected. Some combinations of parameter values may conflict and lead to failures. The driver cannot detect all such conflicting combinations.

All the module parameters are listed below.

  • line_speed

    Selects the line speed of the link. This parameter is used together with full_duplex and auto_speed to select the speed and duplex operation of the link and the setting of autonegotiation. The valid values are:

    • 0 - Autonegotiate for highest speed supported by link partner (default)
    • 10 - 10 Mbps
    • 100 - 100 Mbps
    • 1000 - 1000 Mbps

If line_speed is set to 10, 100, or 1000, the NIC will autonegotiate for the selected speed (and selected duplexity) if auto_speed is set to 1. If auto_speed is set to 0, the selected speed and duplexity will be set without autonegotiation. Note that 1000 Mbps must be negotiated for copper twisted pair links.

  • auto_speed

    Enables or disables autonegotiation. The valid values are:

    • 0 - Autonegotiation disabled
    • 1 - Autonegotiation enabled (default)

Note that this parameter is ignored and assumed 1 if line_speed is set to 0.

  • full_duplex

    Selects the duplexity of the link. This paramter is used together with line_speed to select the speed and duplexity of the link. Note that this parameter is ignored if line_speed is 0. The valid values are:

    • 0 - half duplex
    • 1 - full duplex (default)

  • rx_flow_control

    Enables or disables receiving flow control (pause) frames. This parameter is used together with auto_flow_control. The valid values are:

    • 0 - pause receive disabled (default)
    • 1 - pause receive enabled if auto_flow_control is set to 0, or pause receive advertised if auto_flow_control is set to 1

  • tx_flow_control

    Enables or disables transmitting flow control (pause) frames. This parameter is used together with auto_flow_control. The valid values are:

    • 0 - pause transmit disabled (default)
    • 1 - pause transmit enabled if auto_flow_control is set to 0, or pause transmit advertised if auto_flow_control is set to 1

  • auto_flow_control

    Enables or disables autonegotiation of flow control. This parameter is used together with rx_flow_control and tx_flow_control to determine the advertised flow control capability. The valid values are:

    • 0 - flow control autonegotiation disabled (default)
    • 1 - flow control autonegotiation enabled with capability specified in rx_flow_control and tx_flow_control (only valid if line_speed is set to 0 or auto_speed is set to 1)

  • mtu

    Enables jumbo frames up to the specified MTU size. The valid range is from 1500 to 9000. Default is 1500. Note that the MTU size excludes the ethernet header size of 14 bytes. Actual frame size is MTU size + 14 bytes.

  • tx_checksum

    Enables or disables hardware transmit TCP/UDP checksum. The valid values are:

    • 0 - checksum disabled
    • 1 - checksum enabled (default)

  • rx_checksum

    Enables or disables hardware receive TCP/UDP checksum validation. The valid values are:

    • 0 - checksum disabled
    • 1 - checksum enabled (default)

  • scatter_gather

    Enables or disables scatter-gather and 64-bit DMA on x86. This option is only useful when running on TUX-enabled kernels or newer kernels with zero-copy TCP. The valid values are:

    • 0 - scatter-gather and 64-bit DMA on x86 disabled
    • 1 - scatter-gather and 64-bit DMA on x86 enabled (default)

  • tx_pkt_desc_cnt

    Configures the number of transmit descriptors. Default is 100. The valid range is from 1 to 600. Note that the driver may not be able to allocate the required amount of memory if this parameter is set too high.

  • rx_std_desc_cnt

    Configures the number of receive descriptors for frames up to 1528 bytes.Default is 200. The valid range is from 1 to 800. This parameter should not be set less than 80 on systems with high network traffic. Setting this parameter higher allows the NIC to buffer larger bursts of network traffic without dropping frames, especially on slower systems. Note that the driver may not be able to allocate the required amount of memory if this parameter is set too high.

  • rx_jumbo_desc_cnt

    Configures the number of receive descriptors for jumbo frames larger than 1528 bytes. Default is 128 and valid range is from 1 to 255. When jumbo frames larger than 1528 bytes are used, this parameter should not be set lower than 60 on systems with high network traffic. Setting this parameter higher allows the NIC to buffer larger bursts of jumbo traffic without dropping frames, especially on slower systems. Note that each descriptor requires a buffer the size of a maximum jumbo frame. On systems with insufficient memory, it may be necessary to reduce this parameter. When the maximum frame size is less than 1528 (MTU size less than 1514), this parameter is not used and is always 0.

  • rx_adaptive_coalesce

    Enables or disables adaptive adjustments to the receive interrupt coalescing parameters. Enabling it allows the driver to dynamically adjust the receive coalescing parameters to achieve high throughput during heavy traffic and low latency during light traffic. rx_std_desc_cnt (and rx_jumbo_desc_cnt if using jumbo frames) should not be set much lower than the default value when this parameter is enabled. The valid values are:

    • 0 - disabled
    • 1 - enabled (default)

  • rx_coalesce_ticks

    Configures the number of 1 usec ticks before the NIC generates receive interrupt after receiving a frame. This parameter works in conjunction with the rx_max_coalesce_frames parameter. Interrupt will be generated when either of these thresholds is exceeded. 0 means this parameter is ignored and interrupt will be generated when the rx_max_coalesce_frames threshold is reached. The valid range is from 0 to 500, and default is 100. This parameter is not used and will be adjusted automatically if rx_adaptive_coalesce is set to 1.

  • rx_max_coalesce_frames

    Configures the number of received frames before the NIC generates receive interrupt. The valid range is from 0 to 100, and default is 10. This parameter and rx_coalesce_ticks cannot be both 0, otherwise no receive interrupts will be generated. It should also be set significantly lower than rx_std_desc_cnt (and rx_jumbo_desc_cnt if using jumbo frames). This parameter is not used and will be adjusted automatically if rx_adaptive_coalesce is set to 1.

  • tx_coalesce_ticks

    Configures the number of 1 usec ticks before the NIC generates transmit interrupt after transmitting a frame. This parameter works in conjunction with the tx_max_coalesce_frames parameter. Interrupt will be generated when either of these thresholds is exceeded. 0 means this parameter is ignored and interrupt will be generated when the tx_max_coalesce_frames threshold is reached. The valid range is from 0 to 500, and default is 300.

  • tx_max_coalesce_frames

    Configures the number of transmitted frames before the NIC generates transmit interrupt. The valid range is from 0 to 100, and default is 42. This parameter and tx_coalesce_ticks cannot be both 0, otherwise no transmit completion interrupt will be generated. This parameter should always be set lower than tx_pkt_desc_cnt.

  • stats_coalesce_ticks

    Configures the number of 1 usec ticks between periodic statistics block DMAs. The valid range is from 0 to 3600000000, and default is 1000000 (1 sec.). Set to 0 to disable statistics updates. This parameter is not used and will be set to default if rx_adaptive_coalesce is set to 1.

  • enable_wol

    Enables or disables magic packet Wake-On-LAN when the system is shutdown. Note that not all systems support Wake-On-LAN. The valid values are:

    • 0 magic packet Wake-On-LAN disabled (default)
    • 1 magic packet Wake-On-LAN enabled

 

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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.

Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet Driver bcm5700 with Broadcom NIC Extension (NICE) ver. 2.2.4 (02/26/02)

Driver signon

eth#: Broadcom BCM5701 1000Base-T found at mem faff0000, IRQ 16, node addr 0010180402d8
eth#: Broadcom BCM5701 Integrated Copper transceiver found
eth#: Scatter-gather ON, 64-bit DMA ON, Tx Checksum ON, Rx Checksum ON

NIC detected

bcm5700: eth# NIC Link is Up, 1000 Mbps full duplex

Link up and speed indication

bcm5700: eth# NIC Link is Down

Link down indication

 

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Statistics

Detailed statistics and configuration information can be viewed in the file /proc/net/nicinfo/eth#.info.

 

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BASP Driver for Linux

This section contains the following information:

BASP Overview

BASP Limitations

Installating BASP

Installing BASP RPM Package

Installing BASP TAR Archive

BASP Files

BASP Configuration for Red Hat Distribution

BASP Configuration for Suse Distribution

BASP Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution

BASP Startup Scripts for Red Hat distributions

BASP Configuration Scripts for Redhat Distributions

Broadcom NICE patches

Uninstalling the RPM Package

Removal of Physical Interface in Generic Trunking and 802.3ad Mode

BASP SNMP Agent for Linux

Known Problems


BASP Overview

BASP is a kernel module designed for 2.4.x kernels that provides load-balancing, fault-tolerance, and VLAN features. These features are provided by creating teams that consist of multiple NIC interfaces. A team can consist of 1 to 8 NIC interfaces and each interface can be designated primary, or hot-standby (SLB team only). All primary NIC interfaces in a team will participate in Load-balancing operations by sending and receiving a portion of the total traffic. Hot-standby interfaces will take over in the event that all primary interfaces have lost their links. VLANs can be added to a team to allow multiple VLANs with different VLAN IDs. A virtual device is created for each VLAN added.

BASP supports Smart Load-balance (SLB™), Generic trunking and IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation. In SLB and 802.3ad mode, all the NIC drivers must support Broadcom NIC Extension (NICE). In this release, several NIC drivers patched with NICE are included.

  • SLB mode works with all Ethernet switches without configuring the switch ports to any special trunking mode. Only IP traffic will be load-balanced in both inbound and outbound directions.

  • Generic trunking mode does not require NICE and can work with any NIC, however, it requires the Ethernet switch to support the technology and be properly configured. This mode is protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-balanced and fault-tolerant.

  • 802.3ad mode requires NICE drivers and Ethernet switches supporting IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation. This mode is protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-balanced and fault-tolerant. All the physical interfaces in the 802.3ad teams are defaulted to be LACP active. A 802.3ad team requires all the member NICs supporting NICE. All the member NICs, once in the 802.3ad team, will be set with the same MAC address.

BASP also provides remote management through the SNMP protocol, and this package is installed separately (see "BASP SNMP Agent for Linux").

 

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BASP Limitations

BASP supports Red Hat 7.1, 7.2, and 7.3. The following installation procedures work with these distributions. BASP has also
been tested on SuSE 7.2 and 7.3, Caldera 3.1, Turbo Linux 7.0, and Mandrake 8.1. Minor modification to the makefile may be required if problems are experienced when compiling BASP on other i386 Linux distributions.

BASP also supports Red Hat Linux 7.1 and 7.2 for IA-64.

VLANs are only supported by Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet. As opposed to VLANs support in other platforms, e.g. Windows and Netware, VLANs are not supported by Alteon Acenic driver (acenic.c).

 

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Installing BASP

For users of Redhat 7.1 and 7.2 (i386 and IA-64), follow instructions in "Installing BASP RPM Package" section.

For users of other Linux i386 and IA-64 distribution, follow instructions in "Installing BASP TAR Archive" section.

 

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Installing BASP RPM Package

  1. To install the RPM source package, run

    % rpm -i basplnx-{version}.src.{arch}.rpm

  2. Change directory to the RPM path and build the binary driver for
    the kernel

    % cd /usr/src/redhat
    % rpm -bb SPECS/basplnx.spec

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

  1. Install the newly built package

    % rpm -i RPMS/i386/basplnx-{version}.{arch}.rpm

    The driver and other required files will be automatically installed.

  2. To load the driver

    % insmod basp

  3. Refer to "BASP Configuration for Red Hat Distribution" to set up the teams.

 

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Installing BASP TAR Archive

BASP for Linux is shipped in mixed forms, where the platform and kernel specific files are in source code, and the core file is in object form. Three packages are shipped in this release: two tar archives and two RPM packages.

basplnx-{version}.i386.tgz is the tar archive for i386 platform, and basplnx-{version}.ia64.tgz is the tar archive for IA-64 platform.

To uncompress and expand the tar archive, run

% tar xvfz basplnx-{version}.{arch}.tgz

The installation process involves the following steps:

  1. To build kernel module, "basp.o":

    % make

    NOTE � The Make process will automatically build the correct module for different kernel options, e.g. symbol versioning and SMP support. There is NO need to define -DMODVERSIONS in the Makefile.

  2. To create device file and to copy files:

    % make install

  3. To update the module reference:

    % depmod -a

  4. To load the driver:

    % insmod basp

  5. Refer to "BASP Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution" to set up the teams.

 

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BASP Files

Makefile makefile
baspcfg precompiled configuration utility
bcmtype.h commonly used type header file
blf.c BASP module entry points
blf.h ioctl interface
blfcore.h core interface
blfcore.o precompiled core object
blfopt.h automatically generated header file from Make
blfver.h version header file
nicext.h NICE header file
pal.c platform abstraction implementation
pal.h header for platform abstraction
release.txt this file
nice-2.2.16 NICE enabled driver for 2.2 kernel
nice-2.4.16 NICE enabled driver for 2.4 kernel
scripts contains sample scripts
scripts/basp init script, goes to /etc/rc.d/init.d
scripts/baspteam start/stop script, goes to /etc/basp
scripts/baspif start/stop network, i/f, goes to /etc/basp
scripts/team-sample sample script of SLB team with three NICs
scripts/team-gec sample script of GEC team with three NICs
scripts/team-vlan sample script of SLB team with 2 VLANs
basp.4
man page
baspcfg.8 man page for baspcfg utility

 

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BASP Configuration for Red Hat Distribution

NOTE � To avoid failover problems when using BASP, make sure that the spanning tree is disabled on the switch to which the network adapter is connected.



NOTE � When adding 64 VLANs, the 64th VLAN must have a VLAN ID of 0 (63 VLANs are tagged and 1 VLAN is untagged).

The BASP distribution includes a utility program and several scripts for team configuration. Following steps for Red Hat Linux distributions only. Most of the steps are only required to be performed after the first time installation. Step 2 "Modify the configuration script" should be performed whenever there is any change to the team configuration.

Since Red Hat distributions do not automatically load drivers for network devices unless the device is configured with an IP address, users must manually configure a network-script file for all physical adapters that will be team members. Network script files are located under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. The file name must be prefixed with "ifcfg-" then the physical adapter alias. For interface eth0, you would create a file with the name ifcfg-eth0, then add the below content.

Example:

DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=static
ONBOOT=yes

For users of other Linux distributions, follow instructions in the "baspcfg" section.

The configuration process involves the following steps:

  1. Copy a configuration script from the "/etc/basp/samples" directory to the "/etc/basp" directory. Note that the configuration script name must be prefixed with "team-".

  2. Modify the configuration script to:
    (a) change the team type
    (b) add/delete the physical network interfaces
    (c) add/delete the virtual network interfaces
    (d) assign IP address to each virtual network interface.

    The syntax of the configuration script can be found below. Note that when configuring Teaming, at least one Primary Adapter is required.

  1. Manually start the team for the first time:

    % /etc/init.d/basp start

NOTE � This step is only required for the first time installation. The team configuration will be automatically started on subsequent reboots.

Note that if not all the virtual network interfaces are configured with an IP address, there will be an error message in starting the BASP team. When this happens, repeat Step (2) to configure an IP address for all the virtual network interfaces.

NOTE 1 � Forming multiple teams is possible by copying the sample files into "/etc/basp/team-<name>" and modifying this file as described in the sample file.

NOTE 2 � To create more that one virtual interface (VLAN) for each team, refer to the respective description section in the sample files.

 

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BASP Configuration for Suse Distribution

The BASP distribution includes an utility program and several scripts for team configuration. Following steps for Suse Linux distributions only. Most of the steps are only required to be performed after the first time installation. Step (2) "Modify the configuration script" should be performed whenever there is any change to the team configuration.

Since SuSE distributions do not automatically load drivers for network devices unless the device is configured with an IP address, users must manually configure /etc/rc.config to ensure the proper network drivers are loaded during init time. To do this, find the network configuration section in your /etc/rc.config file. Manually enter an IP address of 0.0.0.0 and other NIC alias information for all physical adapters that will be team members.

Example:

# IP Adresses
#
IPADDR_0="0.0.0.0"
IPADDR_1="0.0.0.0"
IPADDR_2="0.0.0.0"
IPADDR_3=""
IPADDR_4=""
IPADDR_5=""

#
# Network device names (e.g. "eth0")
#
NETDEV_0="eth0"
NETDEV_1="eth1"
NETDEV_2="eth2"
NETDEV_3=""
NETDEV_5=""

#
# Parameters for ifconfig, simply enter "bootp" or "dhcpclient" to use the
# respective service for configuration.
# Sample entry for ethernet:
# IFCONFIG_0="192.168.81.38 broadcast 192.168.81.63 netmask 255.255.255.224"
#
IFCONFIG_0="0.0.0.0"
IFCONFIG_1="0.0.0.0"
IFCONFIG_2="0.0.0.0"
IFCONFIG_3=""
IFCONFIG_4=""
IFCONFIG_5=""

NOTE � It may also be necessary to add an alias entry in /etc/modules.conf mapping an alias name such as eth0 to the appropriate driver module.


For users of other Linux distributions, follow instructions in the "baspcfg" section.

The configuration process involves the following steps:

  1. Copy a configuration script from the "/etc/basp/samples" directory to the "/etc/basp" directory. Note that the configuration script name must be prefixed with "team-".

  2. Modify the configuration script to:
    (a) change the team type
    (b) add/delete the physical network interfaces
    (c) add/delete the virtual network interfaces
    (d) assign IP address to each virtual network interface.

    The syntax of the configuration script can be found below. Note that when configuring Teaming, at least one Primary Adapter is required.

  1. Manually start the team for the first time:

    % /etc/init.d/basp start

NOTE � This step is only required for the first time installation. The team configuration will be automatically started on subsequent reboots.

Note that if not all the virtual network interfaces are configured with IP address, there will be an error message in starting the BASP team. When this happens, repeat Step (2) to configure IP address for all the virtual network interfaces.


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BASP Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution

BASP Configuration (baspcfg) is a command line tool to configure the BASP teams, add/remove NICs, and add/remove virtual devices. This tool can be used in custom initialization scripts. Please read your distribution-specific documentation for more information on your distributors startup procedures.

Following is the usage of this tool:

baspcfg v3.0.8 - Broadcom Advanced Server Program Configuration Utility Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Broadcom Corporation. All rights reserved.

usage: baspcfg <commands>

commands:

addteam <tid> <type> <tname> create a team
delteam <tid> delete a team
addva <tid> <vlan_id> <vname> [macaddr] add a virtual adapter to a team
delva <tid> <vlan_id> del a virtual adapter from a team
bind <tid> <role> <device> bind a physical adapter to a team
unbind <tid> <device> unbind a physical adapter from a team
show [tid] display team configurations

where:

tid An unique ID for each team, starting from 0
type Team type: 0=SLB, 1=FEC/GEC, 2=802.3ad
tname ASCII string of the team
vlan_id VLAN ID: from 1 to 4094, 0=untagged or no VLAN
vname ASCII string of the virtual device
macaddr MAC address (optional), e.g. 00:10:18:00:11:44
role Role of the physical device: 0=primary, 1=hot-standby
device ASCII string of the physical device, e.g. eth0

The following sample startup script should be used to start the BASP after the first time installation and configuration, or in the subsequent reboots.

#!/bin/bash
# load basp module
insmod basp

# create new team
baspcfg addteam 0 0 team-one

# bind physical interfaces / two primary one backup
baspcfg bind 0 0 eth0
baspcfg bind 0 0 eth1
baspcfg bind 0 1 eth2

# create the virtual interface
baspcfg addva 0 0 sw0

# bind ip address to virtual interface and initialize
ifconfig sw0 192.168.0.1 up

NOTE � Baspcfg can only be executed in Super User mode. Attempting to use baspcfg as a standard user will yield the error message, "Error in communicating to BASP Module. Is it loaded?".

When configuring Teaming, at lease one Primary Adapter is required.

 

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BASP Startup Scripts for Red Hat distributions

  • basp

    This script is intended to be installed in /etc/rc.d/init.d directory. After copying the script, run "chkconfig --add basp". This script will be executed at runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5. When "basp" is run, it will search the /etc/basp directory to list all the files with "team-" prefix, and then it will invoke the "baspteam" script to add or delete the teams. It is normal that each "team-*" file in /etc/basp represents 1 team.

  • baspteam

    This script is called by "basp" script to add or delete a team. To install, create "/etc/basp" directory and copy this script over.

To manually add a team:

% baspteam team-sample add

To delete a team:

% baspteam team-sample del

Note that "team-sample" is the configuration script.

  • team-sample

    This script contains a SLB team configuration with 3 NICs: eth0, eth1 and eth2. The team name is "TeamSample". All 3 NICs are primary. One virtual interface is also created for this team and the name of the virtual interface is "sw0". "sw0" is the device that "ifconfig" should be run against to set up the IP address. VLANs are not enabled in this script.

This script and "team-gec" are intended to be customized. Refer to the configuration scripts section for details. This script should be copiedto /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.

  • team-gec

    This configuration script creates a GEC team with 3 network interfaces, eth0, eth1 and eth2. The team name is "TeamGEC". All 3 NICs are primary. One virtual interface is added to the team with the name "sw0" and VLANs are not enabled.

This script and "team-sample" are intended to be customized. Refer to the configuration scripts section for details. This script should be copied to /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.

 

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BASP Configuration Scripts for Redhat Distributions

Both team-sample and team-gec are configuration scripts that follow the same syntax, as follows:

TEAM_ID: this number uniquely identifies a team
TEAM_TYPE: 0 = SLB, 1 = Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC, 2 = 802.3ad
TEAM_NAME: ascii name of the team
TEAM_PAx_NAME: ascii name of the physical interface x, where x can be 0 to 7
TEAM_PAx_ROLE: role of the physical interface x 0 = Primary, 1 = Hot-standby.
This field must be 0 for Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC team.
TEAM_VAx_NAME: ascii name of the virtual interface x, where x can be 0 to 63
TEAM_VAx_VLAN: 802.1Q VLAN ID of the virtual interface x.
For untagged virtual interface, i.e., without VLAN enable, set it to 0. The valid VLAN ID can be 0 to 4094.
NOTE � Teaming scripts are intended for Red Hat distributions ONLY. Use with other Linux distribution will cause an error.

 

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Broadcom NICE Patches

Also included in this release are network device drivers patched with Broadcom NICE support. These drivers are originally taken from the Linux 2.4.16 kernel distribution. To install patched drivers:

  1. Copy the Broadcom NICE header file, "nicext.h", to the appropriateLinux kernel include directory, e.g.

% cp /usr/src/nice-2.4.16/nicext.h /usr/src/linux/include/linux

  1. Rename the original network device driver under the Linux kernel source tree, "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".

  2. Copy the patched drivers to the Linux kernel network driver sourcedirectory, i.e. "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".

  3. Follow the kernel rebuild instructions to configure kernel support for these drivers.

% cd /usr/src/linux
% make config

  1. If the patched drivers are configured into the kernel, goto step (7). If the patched drivers are configured as modules, goto step (6).

  2. In the case of supporting only the module version of these drivers, it is possible to simply run the following to compile patched
    drivers and to install them into the proper module directory:

% make modules
% make modules_install

There is no need to compile the complete kernel. Goto step (8).

  1. Rebuild the kernel to compile these patched drivers

% make clean
% make dep
% make

  1. Either reboot the system or unload/load the patched modules. Run configuration scripts to test the patch.

 

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Uninstalling the RPM Package

To uninstall RPM package,

% rpm -e basplnx

and to reboot the system,

% reboot

 

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Removal of Physical Interface in Generic Trunking and 802.3ad Mode

In Generic Trunking and 802.3ad mode, all the physical and virtual interfaces belonging to a team have the same MAC address. This MAC address is the same address as that of the first physical interface bounded to the team. In the case that this first physical interface is removed dynamically from the team using "baspcfg" tool and bounded to the protocol directly, this could lead to a duplicate MAC address problem on the network. Note that if the removed physical interface does not participate in any traffic, there will not be any problem.

To properly remove a physical interface, follow the steps listed below:

  1. Backup the original team configuration script

% cp /etc/basp/team-gec /etc/basp/backup-gec

NOTE 1 � "team-gec" is the name of the configuration script.

NOTE 2 � "backup-gec" is the name of the backup script. The name of the backup script must NOT be prefixed with "team-".

  1. Modify the team configuration script to remove the physical interface

  2. Stop the running team

% /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/backup-gec stop
% /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/backup-gec del

  1. Restart the team

    % /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/team-gec add
    % /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/team-gec start

 

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BASP SNMP Agent for Linux

This SNMP agent is designed to support the configuration and statistics information pertaining to the Broadcom BASP driver. The BASP SNMP agent is available in two packaging formats: TAR archive and RPM. Both packages include the exact same script and MIB files.

Installing the TAR Archive

To uncompress and expand the tar archive, run

% tar xvfz baspsnmp-{version}.tar

The installation process involves the following steps:

  1. Copy the getBaspInfo and genBaspTraps script files into /usr/bin directory.

  2. Copy the BASP-Config-MIB.txt, BASP-Statistics-MIB.txt and Brcm-BSAPTrap-MIB.txt into the /usr/share/snmp/mibs directory.

  3. Locate the snmpd.conf file. It is normally located at: /etc/snmp or /usr/lib/snmp or $HOME/.snmp and add the following lines to the snmpd.conf.

    pass .1.3.6.1.4.1.4413.1.2.1 /usr/bin/getBaspInfo
    pass .1.3.6.1.4.1.4413.1.2.2.1 /usr/bin/getBaspInfo
    pass .1.3.6.1.4.1.4413.1.2.2.2 /usr/bin/getBaspInfo
    pass .1.3.6.1.4.1.4413.1.2.2.3 /usr/bin/getBaspInfo

  4. Stop the snmpd daemon and restart it again.

% /etc/init.d/snmpd stop
% /etc/init.d/snmpd start

  1. Run the genBaspTraps script to allow monitoring of the BASP trap
    events:

    % genBaspTraps

    This script can be terminated by hitting Ctrl-C keys if BASP trap event
    monitoring is no longer needed.

  2. The snmpget and snmpgetnext commands can be used to receive the BASP snmp objects such as:

    % snmpget localhost public BASP-Config-MIB::btTeamNumber
    % snmpgetnext localhost public BASP-Config-MIB::btTeamNumber

    BASP SNMP objects are provided in the following text files:

    • BASP-Config-MIB.txt
    • BASP-Statistics-MIB.txt
    • Brcm-BSAPTrap-MIB.txt


Installing the RPM Package

Complete the following steps to install BASP SNMP agent from the RPM package.

  1. To install the RPM package, run

    % rpm -i baspsnmp-{version}.i386.rpm

    The BASP script and MIB files will be installed. The snmpd.conf configuration file will me modified to add support for the BASP SNMP agent.

  2. Follow steps 4 - 6 in the "Installing the TAR Archive" section.
NOTE � The current RPM installation fails to append the additional directives needed to the snmpd.conf file to support Basp objects. Thus please follow the instruction (3) in the Install - TAR archive to modify the snmpd.conf file.

SNMP Files

genBaspTrap script monitoring the BASP trap events
getBaspInfo script to process SNMP get/getnext inquiries
BASP-Config-MIB.txt SNMP MIB file for BASP configuration objects
BASP-Statistics-MIB.txt SNMP MIB file for BASP statistics objects
Brcm-BSAPTrap-MIB.txt SNMP MIB file for BASP trap objects
release.txt this file


Uninstalling the RPM package

To uninstall RPM package, run:

% rpm -e baspsnmp-{version}.i386.rpm

and to reboot the system,

% reboot

 

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Known Problems

  1. 802.3ad team member links disconnect and reconnect continuously when connected to the HP2524 switch. This is a 3rd party issue. It is seen only when configuring an 802.3ad team with greater than 2 members on the server and connecting an HP2524 switch, with lacp enabled as passive or active. The HP switch will show an lacp channel being brought up successfully with only 2 members. All other member's links will disconnect and reconnect. This does not occur with a Cisco Catalyst 6500.

 

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