ixgbevf Linux* Virtual Function (VF) Driver for Intel(R) Ethernet Network Connection ================================================================= ================================================================================ August 7, 2019 ================================================================================ Contents -------- - Overview - Building and Installation - Additional Configurations - Known Issues - Support - License Overview ======== This virtual function driver supports kernel versions 2.6.x and newer. The associated Physical Function (PF) driver for this driver is ixgbe. SR-IOV requires the correct platform and OS support. The guest OS loading this driver must support MSI-X interrupts. This driver is only supported as a loadable module at this time. Intel is not supplying patches against the kernel source to allow for static linking of the drivers. For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation supplied with your Intel adapter. All hardware requirements listed apply to use with Linux. Driver information can be obtained using ethtool, lspci, and ifconfig. Instructions on updating ethtool can be found in the section Additional Configurations later in this document. VLANs: There is a limit of a total of 64 shared VLANs to 1 or more VFs. A version of the driver may already be included by your distribution and/or the kernel.org kernel. Identifying Your Adapter ======================== For information on how to identify your adapter, and for the latest Intel network drivers, refer to the Intel Support website: http://www.intel.com/support Building and Installation ========================= To build a binary RPM* package of this driver, run 'rpmbuild -tb ixgbevf-.tar.gz', where is the version number for the driver tar file. Note: For the build to work properly, the currently running kernel MUST match the version and configuration of the installed kernel sources. If you have just recompiled the kernel reboot the system before building. - To compile the driver on some kernel/arch combinations, a package with the development version of libelf (e.g. libelf-dev, libelf-devel, elfutilsl-libelf-devel) may need to be installed. Note: RPM functionality has only been tested in Red Hat distributions. 1. Move the virtual function driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use '/home/username/ixgbevf' or '/usr/local/src/ixgbevf'. 2. Untar/unzip the archive, where is the version number for the driver tar file: # tar zxf ixgbevf-.tar.gz 3. Change to the driver src directory, where is the version number for the driver tar: # cd ixgbevf-/src/ 4. Compile the driver module: # make install The binary will be installed as: /lib/modules//updates/drivers/net/ethernet/intel/ixgbevf/ixgbevf.ko The install location listed above is the default location. This may differ for various Linux distributions. 5. Load the module using the modprobe command: # modprobe Make sure that any older ixgbevf drivers are removed from the kernel before loading the new module: # rmmod ixgbevf; modprobe ixgbevf 6. Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the following, where ethX is the interface name that was shown in dmesg after modprobe: # ip address add / dev ethX 7. 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 Note: For certain distributions like (but not limited to) RedHat Enterprise Linux 7 and Ubuntu, once the driver is installed the initrd/initramfs file may need to be updated to prevent the OS loading old versions of the ixgbevf driver. The dracut utility may be used on RedHat distributions: # dracut --force For Ubuntu: # update-initramfs -u InterruptThrottleRate --------------------- Valid Range: 0=off 1=dynamic - Use ethtool to control InterruptThrottleRate, as shown below: # ethtool -C ethX rx-usecs N where N is the time in microseconds between each interrupt. Interrupt Throttle Rate controls the number of interrupts each interrupt vector can generate per second. Increasing ITR lowers latency at the cost of increased CPU utilization, though it may help throughput in some circumstances. 0 = Setting InterruptThrottleRate to 0 turns off any interrupt moderation and may improve small packet latency. However, this is generally not suitable for bulk throughput traffic due to the increased CPU utilization of the higher interrupt rate. NOTES: - On 82599, and X540, and X550-based adapters, disabling InterruptThrottleRate will also result in the driver disabling HW RSC. - On 82598-based adapters, disabling InterruptThrottleRate will also result in disabling LRO (Large Receive Offloads). 1 = Setting InterruptThrottleRate to Dynamic mode attempts to moderate interrupts per vector while maintaining very low latency. This can sometimes cause extra CPU utilization. If planning on deploying ixgbevf in a latency sensitive environment, this parameter should be considered. - = 956-488281 Setting InterruptThrottleRate to a value greater or equal to will program the adapter to send at most that many interrupts per second, even if more packets have come in. This reduces interrupt load on the system and can lower CPU utilization under heavy load, but will increase latency as packets are not processed as quickly. Additional Features and Configurations ====================================== Configuring the Driver on Different Distributions ------------------------------------------------- Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is distribution dependent. Typically, the configuration process involves adding an alias line to /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf as well as editing other system startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many popular Linux distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you. To learn the proper way to configure a network device for your system, refer to your distribution documentation. If during this process you are asked for the driver or module name, the name for the Base Driver is ixgbevf. For example, if you install the ixgbevf driver for two adapters (eth0 and eth1) and want to set the interrupt mode to MSI-X and MSI, respectively, add the following to modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf: alias eth0 ixgbevf alias eth1 ixgbevf options ixgbevf InterruptThrottleRate=3,1 Viewing Link Messages --------------------- Link messages will not be displayed to the console if the distribution is restricting system messages. In order to see network driver link messages on your console, set dmesg to eight by entering the following: # dmesg -n 8 NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. 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. Download it at: https://kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool/ MACVLAN ------- This driver supports MACVLAN. Kernel support for MACVLAN can be tested by checking if the MACVLAN driver is loaded. You can run 'lsmod | grep macvlan' to see if the MACVLAN driver is loaded or run 'modprobe macvlan' to try to load the MACVLAN driver. NOTES: - In passthru mode, you can only set up one MACVLAN device. It will inherit the MAC address of the underlying PF (Physical Function) device. NAPI ---- NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the ixgbevf driver. For more information on NAPI, see https://www.linuxfoundation.org/collaborate/workgroups/networking/napi Known Issues/Troubleshooting ============================ MAC address of Virtual Function changes unexpectedly ---------------------------------------------------- If a Virtual Function's MAC address is not assigned in the host, then the VF (virtual function) driver will use a random MAC address. This random MAC address may change each time the VF driver is reloaded. You can assign a static MAC address in the host machine. This static MAC address will survive a VF driver reload. Hardware Issues --------------- For known hardware and troubleshooting issues, either refer to the "Release Notes" in your User Guide, or for more detailed information, go to http://www.intel.com. In the search box enter your devices controller ID followed by "spec update" (i.e., 82599 spec update). The specification update file has complete information on known hardware issues. Software Issues --------------- NOTE: After installing the driver, if your Intel Ethernet Network Connection is not working, verify that you have installed the correct driver. Compiling the Driver -------------------- When trying to compile the driver by running make install, the following error may occur: "Linux kernel source not configured - missing version.h" To solve this issue, create the version.h file by going to the Linux source tree and entering: # make include/linux/version.h Multiple Interfaces on Same Ethernet Broadcast Network ------------------------------------------------------ Due to the default ARP behavior on Linux, it is not possible to have one system on two IP networks in the same Ethernet broadcast domain (non-partitioned switch) behave as expected. All Ethernet interfaces will respond to IP traffic for any IP address assigned to the system. This results in unbalanced receive traffic. If you have multiple interfaces in a server, either turn on ARP filtering by entering the following: # echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_filter This only works if your kernel's version is higher than 2.4.5. NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. The configuration change can be made permanent by adding the following line to the file /etc/sysctl.conf: net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter = 1 Another alternative is to install the interfaces in separate broadcast domains (either in different switches or in a switch partitioned to VLANs). Build Error with Asianux 3.0 - Redefinition of typedef 'irq_handler_t' ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Some systems may experience build issues due to the redefinition of irq_handler_t. To resolve this issue, build the driver (step 4 above) using the command: # make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DAX_RELEASE_CODE=1 install MSI-X Issues with Kernels Between 2.6.19 - 2.6.21 (inclusive) ------------------------------------------------------------- Kernel panics and instability may be observed on any MSI-X hardware if you use irqbalance with kernels between 2.6.19 and 2.6.21. If such problems are encountered, you may disable the irqbalance daemon or upgrade to a newer kernel. Rx Page Allocation Errors ------------------------- 'Page allocation failure. order:0' errors may occur under stress with kernels 2.6.25 and newer. This is caused by the way the Linux kernel reports this stressed condition. Host May Reboot after Removing PF when VF is Active in Guest ------------------------------------------------------------ Using kernel versions earlier than 3.2, do not unload the PF driver with active VFs. Doing this will cause your VFs to stop working until you reload the PF driver and may cause a spontaneous reboot of your system. Prior to unloading the PF driver, you must first ensure that all VFs are no longer active. Do this by shutting down all VMs and unloading the VF driver. Support ======= For general information, go to the Intel support website at: http://www.intel.com/support/ or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at: http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000 If an issue is identified with the released source code on a supported kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related to the issue to e1000-devel@lists.sf.net. License ======= This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License, version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation. This program is distributed in the hope it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St - Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in the file called "COPYING". Copyright(c) 1999 - 2019 Intel Corporation. Trademarks ========== Intel and Itanium are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.