Driver Enhancements

The following driver enhancements have been added to the Oracle Solaris 10 9/10 release.

x86: HP Smart Array HBA Driver

This project integrates HP's x64 Smart Array RAID Controller HBA driver, cpqary3, into the Oracle Solaris OS. With this driver, you can install the Oracle Solaris OS on systems that are connected to HP Smart Array HBA controllers.

For more information about this driver, see http://h18006.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantstorage/arraycontrollers/index.html.

x86: Support for Broadcom NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC Driver

bnxe is a GLDv3 based driver for Broadcom NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers. This driver supports Broadcom BCM57710/57711/57711E devices on x86 based systems.

For more information, see System Administration Guide: Network Services.

x86: New SATA HBA Driver, bcm_sata, for Broadcom HT1000 SATA Controllers

bcm_sata is a new SATA HBA driver for Broadcom HT1000 SATA controllers. This driver provides basic functionality and hot–pluggable capabilities for the following devices:

• SATA disks

• SATA ATAPI devices such as CDs and DVDs

• Removable device called RD1000 from DELL

SATA controllers and devices connected to this driver on systems equipped with Broadcom HT1000 chipset will be able to work in QDMA mode instead of the traditional PATA mode. This capability results in improved performance in data access to the connected devices.

Support for SATA/AHCI Port Multiplier

The SATA/AHCI port multiplier has been enhanced to support new devices including the SATA Port Multiplier and SATA-to-CF adapter. This driver now also supports AMD SB700/750 chipsets and nVidia nForce 780a chipsets.

For more information, see the ahci(7D) man page.

Support for Netlogic NLP2020 PHY in the nxge Driver

This feature provides 10G QSFP support for the nxge driver using Netlogic PHY on RF platforms, T3–2 and T3–4. With QSFP, you can get 40G from 4 10G NIU ports, using just one QSFP connector and cable, instead of 4 10G SFP+/XFP connectors and cables.