(C)Copyright 1999 SysKonnect.
===========================================================================
sk98lin.txt created 11-Nov-1999
Readme File for sk98lin.o v3.04
SK-NET Gigabit Ethernet Adapter SK-98xx Driver for Linux
This file contains
(1) OVERVIEW
(2) REQUIRED FILES
(3) INSTALLATION
(4) INCLUSION OF THE ADAPTER AT SYSTEM START
(5) DRIVER PARAMETERS
(6) LARGE FRAME SUPPORT
(7) TROUBLESHOOTING
(8) HISTORY
===========================================================================
(1) OVERVIEW
============
The sk98lin driver supports the SysKonnect SK-NET Gigabit Ethernet
Adapter SK-98xx family on Linux 2.2.x and above.
It has been tested with Linux on Intel/x86, ALPHA and UltraSPARC machines.
From v3.02 on, the driver is integrated in the linux kernel source.
***
(2) REQUIRED FILES
==================
The linux kernel source.
No additional files required.
***
(3) INSTALLATION
================
The following steps describe the actions that are required to install
the driver and to start it manually. These steps should be carried
out for the initial driver setup. Once confirmed to be ok, they can
be included in the system start which is described in the next
chapter.
NOTE 1: You must have 'root' access to the system to perform
the following tasks.
NOTE 2: IMPORTANT: In case of problems, please read the section
"Troubleshooting" below.
1) The driver can either be integrated into the kernel or it can
be compiled as a module.
Select the appropriate option during the kernel configuration.
For use as a module, your kernel must have
'loadable module support' enabled.
For automatic driver start, you also need 'Kernel module loader'
enabled.
Configure those options, build and install the new kernel. If you
choose to use the driver as a module, do "make modules" and
"make modules_install".
Reboot your system.
4) Load the module manually by entering:
insmod sk98lin.o
If the SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter is installed in your
computer and you have a /proc filesystem, running the command
'more /proc/net/dev' should produce an output containing a
line with the following format:
eth0: 0 0 ...
which means that your adapter has been found and initialized.
NOTE 1: If you have more than one SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter, the
adapters will be listed as 'eth0', 'eth1', 'eth2', etc.
For each adapter, repeat the steps 5) and 6).
NOTE 2: If you have other Ethernet adapters installed,
your SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter can be mapped to 'eth1' or
'eth2' ...
The module installation message (in system logfile or
on console, depending on /etc/syslog.conf) prints a line
for each adapter that is found, containing the
corresponding 'ethX'.
5) Select an IP address and assign it to the respective adapter by
entering:
ifconfig eth0 <ip-address>
This causes the adapter to connect to the ethernet. The solitary
yellow LED at the adapter is now active, the link status LED of
the primary port is on and the link status LED of the secondary
port (on dual port adapters) is blinking (only if the laters are
connected to a switch or hub).
You will also get a status message on the console saying
"ethX: network connection up using port Y" and indicating
the selected connection parameters.
NOTE: If you are in doubt about IP addresses, ask your network
administrator for assistance.
6) Your adapter should now be fully operational.
Use 'ping <otherstation>' to verify the connection to other
computers on your network.
By entering 'ifconfig', you can check the number of packets sent
and received by your adapter and additional some other information
regarding the adapter configuration.
7) The driver module can be stopped and unloaded using the following
commands:
ifconfig eth0 down
rmmod sk98lin
***
(4) INCLUSION OF THE ADAPTER AT SYSTEM START
============================================
Since a large number of different Linux distributions are
available, we are unable to describe a general installation procedure
for the driver module.
Because the driver is now integrated in the kernel, installation should
be easy, using the standard mechanism of your distribution.
Refer to the distribution's manual for installation of ethernet adapters.
***
(5) DRIVER PARAMETERS
=====================
Parameters can be set at the command line while loading the
module with 'insmod'. The configuration tools of some distributions
can also give parameters to the driver module.
If you use the kernel module loader, you can set driver parameters
in the file /etc/modules.conf (or old name: /etc/conf.modules).
Insert a line of the form:
options sk98lin ...
For "...", use the same syntax as described below for the command
line paramaters of insmod.
You either have to reboot your computer or unload and reload
the driver to activate the new parameters.
The syntax of the driver parameters is:
insmod sk98lin parameter=value1[,value2[,value3...]]
value1 is for the first adapter, value2 for the second one etc.
All Parameters are case sensitive, so write them exactly as
shown below.
Sample: Suppose you have two adapters. You want to set AutoNegotiation
on Port A of the first adapter to ON and on Port A of the
second adapter to OFF.
You also want to set DuplexCapabilities on Port A of the first
adapter to FULL and on Port A of the second adapter to HALF.
You must enter:
insmod sk98lin.o AutoNeg_A=On,Off DupCap_A=Full,Half
NOTE: The number of adapters that can be configured this way is
limited in the driver (file skge.c, constant SK_MAX_CARD_PARAM).
The current limit is 16. If you happen to install
more adapters, adjust this and recompile.
5.1 Per-Port Parameters
-----------------------
Those setting are available for each port on the adapter.
In the following description, '?' stands for the port for
which you set the parameter (A or B).
- Auto Negotiation
Parameter: AutoNeg_?
Values: On, Off, Sense
Default: Sense
The "Sense"-mode finds out automatically whether the link
partner supports autonegotiation or not.
- Duplex Capabilities
Parameter: DupCap_?
Values: Half, Full, Both
Default: Both
This parameters is relevant only if autonegotiation for
this port is not "Sense". If autonegotiation is "On", all
three values are possible. If it is "Off", only "Full" and
"Half" are allowed.
It is usefull if your link partner does not support all
possible combinations.
- Flow Control
Parameter: FlowCtrl_?
Values: Sym, SymOrRem, LocSend, None
Default: SymOrRem
This parameter can be used to set the flow control capabilities
that the port reports during autonegotiation.
The meaning of the different modes is:
-- Sym = Symetric: both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE frames
-- SymOrRem = SymetricOrRemote: both or only remote partner are allowed
to send PAUSE frames
-- LocSend = LocalSend: only local link partner is allowed to send
PAUSE frames
-- None: no link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames
NOTE: This parameter is ignored if autonegotiation is set to "Off".
- Role in Master-Slave-Negotiation (1000Base-T only).
Parameter: Role_?
Values: Auto, Master, Slave
Default: Auto
This parameter is only valid for the SK-9821 and SK-9822 adapters.
For two 1000Base-T ports to communicate, one must take the role as
master (providing timing information), while the other must be slave.
Normally, this is negotiated between the two ports during link
establishment. If this should ever fail, you can force a port to a
specific setting with this parameter.
5.2 Per-Adapter Parameters
--------------------------
- Preferred Port
Parameter: PrefPort
Values: A, B
Default: A
This is used to force the preferred port to A or B (on two-port NICs).
The preferred port is the one that is used if both are detected as
fully functional.
- RLMT (Redundant Link Management Technology) Mode
Parameter: RlmtMode
Values: CheckLinkState,CheckLocalPort, CheckSeg
Default: CheckLinkState
RLMT (the driver part that decides which port to use) knows three
ways of checking if a port is available for use:
-- 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 - Check other port on adapter: RLMT sends test frames
from each port to each other port and checks if they are received by
the other port, respectively. Thus, the ports must be connected to the
network such that LLC test frames can be exchanged between them
(i.e. there must be no routers between the ports).
-- CheckSeg - Check other port and segmentation: RLMT checks the other port
and in addition requests information from the Gigabit Ethernet
switch next to each port to see if the network is segmented between
the ports. Thus, this mode is only to be used if you have Gigabit
Ethernet switches installed in your network that have been configured
to use the Spanning Tree protocol.
NOTE: The modes CheckLocalPort and CheckSeg are meant to operate in
configurations where a network path between the ports on one
adapter exists. Especially, they are not designed to work where
adapters are connected back-to-back.
***
(6) LARGE FRAME SUPPORT
=======================
Large frames (also called jumbo frames) are now supported by the
driver. This can result in a greatly improved throughput if
transfering large amounts of data.
To enable large frames, set the MTU (maximum transfer unit)
of the interface to the value you wish (up to 9000). The command
for this is:
ifconfig eth0 mtu 9000
This will only work if you have two adapters connected back-to-back
or if you use a switch that supports large frames. When using a
switch, it should be configured to allow large frames, without
autonegotiating for them.
The setting must be done on all adapters that can be reached by
the large frames. If one adapter is not set to receive large frames,
it will simply drop them.
You can switch back to the standard ethernet frame size with:
ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500
To make this setting persitent, add a script with the 'ifconfig'
line to the system startup sequence (named something like "S99sk98lin"
in /etc/rc.d/rc2.d).
***
(7) TROUBLESHOOTING
===================
If you run into problems during installation, check those items:
Problem: The SK-98xx adapter can not be found by the driver.
Reason: Look in /proc/pci for the following entry:
'Ethernet controller: SysKonnect SK-98xx ...'
If this entry exists, then the SK-98xx adapter has been
found by the system and should be able to be used.
If this entry does not exist or if the file '/proc/pci'
is not there, then you may have a hardware problem or PCI
support may not be enabled in your kernel.
The adapter can be checked using the diagnostic program
which is available from the SysKonnect web site:
www.syskonnect.de
Some COMPAQ machines have a problem with PCI under
Linux. This is described in the 'PCI howto' document
(included in some distributions or available from the
www, e.g. at 'www.linux.org'). This might be fixed in the
2.2.x kernel series (I've not tested it).
Problem: Programs such as 'ifconfig' or 'route' can not be found or
you get an error message 'Operation not permitted'.
Reason: You are not logged in as user 'root'. Logout and
login as root or change to root via 'su'.
Problem: Using the command 'ping <address>', you get a message
"ping: sendto: Network is unreachable".
Reason: Your route is not set up correct.
If you are using RedHat, you probably forgot
to set up the route in 'network configuration'.
Check the existing routes with the 'route' command
and check if there is an entry for 'eth0' and if
it is correct.
Problem: The driver can be started, the adapter is connected
to the network, but you can not receive or transmit
any packet; e.g. 'ping' does not work.
Reason: You have an incorrect route in your routing table.
Check the routing table with the command 'route' and
read the manual pages about route ('man route').
NOTE: Although the 2.2.x kernel versions generate the routing
entry automatically, you may have problems of this kind
here, too. We found a case where the driver started correct
at system boot, but after removing and reloading the driver,
the route of the adapter's network pointed to the 'dummy0'
device and had to be corrected manually.
Problem: You want to use your computer as a router between
multiple IP subnetworks (using multiple adapters), but
you can not reach computers in other subnetworks.
Reason: Either the router's kernel is not configured for IP
forwarding or there is a problem with the routing table
and gateway configuration in at least one of the
computers.
Problem: At the start of the driver, you get an error message:
"eth0: -- ERROR --
Class: internal Software error
Nr: 0xcc
Msg: SkGeInitPort() cannot init running ports"
Reason: You are using a driver compiled for single processor
machines on an multiprocessor machine with SMP (Symetric
MultiProcessor) kernel.
Configure your kernel appropriate and recompile the kernel or
the modules.
If your problem is not listed here, please contact SysKonnect's technical
support for help (linux@syskonnect.de).
When contacting our technical support, please ensure that the
following information is available:
- System Manufacturer and Model
- Boards in your system
- Distribution
- Kernel version
***
(8) HISTORY
===========
VERSION 3.04 (In-Kernel version)
Problems fixed:
- Driver start failed on UltraSPARC
- Rx checksum calculation for big endian machines did not work
- Jumbo frames were counted as input-errors in netstat
VERSION 3.03 (Standalone version)
Problems fixed:
- Compilation did not find script "printver.sh" if "." not in PATH
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 3.02 (In-Kernel version)
Problems fixed:
- None
New Features:
- Integration in Linux kernel source (2.2.14 and 2.3.29)
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 3.01
Problems fixed:
- None
New Features:
- Full source release
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 3.00
Problems fixed:
- None
New Features:
- Support for 1000Base-T adapters (SK-9821 and SK-9822)
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.07
Problems fixed:
- RlmtMode parameter value strings were wrong (#10437)
- Driver sent too many RLMT frames (#10439)
- Driver did not recognize network segmentation (#10440)
- RLMT switched too often on segmented network (#10441)
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.06
Problems fixed:
- System panic'ed after some time when running with
RlmtMode=CheckOtherLink or RlmtMode=CheckSeg (#10421)
Panic message: "Kernel panic: skput: over ... dev: eth0"
- Driver did not switch back to default port when connected
back-to-back (#10422).
Changes:
- RlmtMode parameter names have changed
New features:
- There is now a version for ALPHA processors
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.05
Problems fixed:
- Driver failed to load on kernels with version information
for module symbols enabled
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.04
Problems fixed:
- Large frame support does work now (no autonegotiation
support for large frames, just manually selectable)
New Features:
- Receive checksumming in hardware
- Performance optimizations
Some numbers (on two PII-400 machines, back-to-back):
netpipe: 300 MBit/sec, with large frames: 470 MBit/sec
ttcp: 38 MByte/sec, with large frames: 60 MByte/sec
ttcp (UDP send): 66 MByte/sec, with large frames: 106 MByte/sec
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.03
Problems fixed:
- Unloading with "rmmod" caused segmentation fault (#10415)
- The link LED flickered from time to time, if no link was
established (#10402)
- Installation problems with RedHat 6.0 (#10409)
New Features:
- Connection state ouput at "network connection up"
Known limitations:
- None
VERSION 1.02
Problems fixed:
- Failed with multiple adapters
- Failed with Single Port adapters
- Startup string was only displayed if adapter found
- No link could be established on certain switches when the switches were
rebooted. (#10377)
Known limitations:
- Segmentation fault at "rmmod" with kernel 2.2.3 on some machines
VERSION 1.01
Problems fixed:
- Sensor status was not set back to 'ok' after 'warning/error'. (#10386)
Changes:
- improved parallelism in driver
VERSION 1.00
Known limitations:
- not tested with all kernel versions (I don't have that much time :-)
- only x86 version available (if you need others, ask for it)
- source code not completely available
***End of Readme File***