Set ixgbe Driver Parameters in the Solaris OS

1. Obtain the hardware path names for the ixgbe devices in the device tree.

   Check the /etc/driver_aliases file to identify the name associated with a particular device. For example:

   # grep ixgbe /etc/driver_aliases
   ixgbe "pciex8086,10f7"

2. Locate the path names and the associated instance numbers in the /etc/path_to_inst file.

   For example:

   # grep ixgbe /etc/path_to_inst
   "/pci@0,0/pci8086,3410@9/pci108e,7b12@0" 0 "ixgbe"
   "/pci@0,0/pci8086,3410@9/pci108e,7b12@0,1" 1 "ixgbe"

   In the preceding example:

   • The first part within the double quotes specifies the hardware node name in the device tree.

   • The number not enclosed in quotes is the instance number (shown in bold for emphasis).

   • The last part in double quotes is the driver name.

   ---

   Note - To identify a PCIe device unambiguously in the ixgbe.conf file, use the name, parent name, and the unit address for the device. In the example, the name is pciex8086,10f7, the parent is /pci@0,0/pci8086,3410@9, and the unit address is 0. Refer to the pci(4) man page for more information about the PCIe device specification.

   ---

3. Set the parameters for the ixgbe devices in the /kernel/drv/ixgbe.conf file.

   For example, to set the flow_control parameter to 3 for ixgbe0:

   name = "pciex8086,10f7"
   parent = "/pci@0,0/pci8086,3410@9"
   unit-address = "0"
   flow_control = 3; 

4. Save the ixgbe.conf file.

5. Reboot the system.

Related Information

• Driver Parameters for the Solaris OS

• Solaris OS Performance Variables

• Improve Performance in the Solaris OS

• pci(4) man page