Linux Base Driver for the Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XL710 Family
===================================================================
Intel i40e Linux driver.
Copyright(c) 2013 Intel Corporation.
Contents
========
- Identifying Your Adapter
- Additional Configurations
- Performance Tuning
- Known Issues
- Support
Identifying Your Adapter
========================
The driver in this release is compatible with the Intel Ethernet
Controller XL710 Family.
For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter &
Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/network/sb/CS-012904.htm
Enabling the driver
===================
The driver is enabled via the standard kernel configuration system,
using the make command:
Make oldconfig/silentoldconfig/menuconfig/etc.
The driver is located in the menu structure at:
-> Device Drivers
-> Network device support (NETDEVICES [=y])
-> Ethernet driver support
-> Intel devices
-> Intel(R) Ethernet Controller XL710 Family
Additional Configurations
=========================
Generic Receive Offload (GRO)
-----------------------------
The driver supports the in-kernel software implementation of GRO. GRO has
shown that by coalescing Rx traffic into larger chunks of data, CPU
utilization can be significantly reduced when under large Rx load. GRO is
an evolution of the previously-used LRO interface. GRO is able to coalesce
other protocols besides TCP. It's also safe to use with configurations that
are problematic for LRO, namely bridging and iSCSI.
Ethtool
-------
The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and
diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. The latest
ethtool version is required for this functionality.
The latest release of ethtool can be found from
https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool
Data Center Bridging (DCB)
--------------------------
DCB configuration is not currently supported.
FCoE
----
Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) hardware offload is not currently
supported.
MAC and VLAN anti-spoofing feature
----------------------------------
When a malicious driver attempts to send a spoofed packet, it is dropped by
the hardware and not transmitted. An interrupt is sent to the PF driver
notifying it of the spoof attempt.
When a spoofed packet is detected the PF driver will send the following
message to the system log (displayed by the "dmesg" command):
Spoof event(s) detected on VF (n)
Where n=the VF that attempted to do the spoofing.
Performance Tuning
==================
An excellent article on performance tuning can be found at:
http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2008/downloads/pdf/Thursday/Mark_Wagner.pdf
Known Issues
============
Support
=======
For general information, go to the Intel support website at:
http://support.intel.com
or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at:
http://e1000.sourceforge.net
If an issue is identified with the released source code on the supported
kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related
to the issue to e1000-devel@lists.sourceforge.net and copy
netdev@vger.kernel.org.