Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Release Notes

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Chapter 1 Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Release Notes

This document contains the following important information about the Sun(TM) Quad FastEthernet(TM) PCI Adapter and the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 driver software:

Note -

If your system is running the Solaris(TM) 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 operating environment, or subsequent compatible versions, do not use the driver on the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM. The software on the Solaris CD-ROM is more current and replaces previous versions of the driver. For information on this version of the driver, refer to the Platform Notes: The Sun Quad FastEthernet Device Driver, which is shipped with the Solaris documentation. For information on patches, see "Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.2 Software Patches".

Caution -

To avoid a system panic, you must follow the hardware and software installation procedures in the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Installation and User's Guide (805-1797-10) and these release notes.

Required Software Patches

To achieve the best performance from the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver software, you must install a patch. Before installing a patch or the software from the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM, check to see if there is already another version of the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver on your system.

Checking for Installed Sun Quad FastEthernet Software

Previous versions of the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver have been included with other Sun products. Before installing the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 software, check your system for other versions of the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver.

Bundled Sun Quad FastEthernet Drivers

Beginning with the Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 release, the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver is bundled with the Solaris operating environment. This version of the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver is more current than the one shipped on the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM.

Note -

If your system is running the Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 environment, or future compatible Solaris releases, do not install the software from the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM.

If your system is running the Solaris 2.6 operating environment, and you are unsure if it is running the Hardware: 5/98 release, check the contents of the /etc/release file.

% cat /etc/release
          Solaris 2.6 5/98 build_id_name SPARC
   Copyright 1998 Sun Microsystems, Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
                   Assembled on 24 April 1998

If this file exists, and it contains Solaris 2.6 5/98, your system is running the Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 release. See "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches" for patch information.

Checking for Quad FastEthernet Software Shipped With Other Products

Other versions of the Sun Quad FastEthernet software have been shipped with an earlier release of the adapter and with the Sun Trunking(TM) software.

To check your system for installed Sun Quad FastEthernet software, type the following at a command prompt:

% pkginfo -x SUNWqfed
SUNWqfed        Sun Quad FastEthernet Adapter Driver
                (sparc) 3.0

Use the table below to translate the pkginfo output.

Table 1-1 pkginfo Output Description


`pkginfo -x` Output	Description and Action
No output	Your system does not have the Sun Quad FastEthernet software installed. Follow the installation instructions in the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD Insert, and then install the patch listed in "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches".
`1.0`	Your system has the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.0 software installed. You must remove this 2.0 version of the software and install the 2.1 software as described in the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD Insert. After installing the software, install the patch listed in "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches".
`1.1`	Your system already has the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 software installed. Install the patch listed in "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches".
`3.0`	Your system has the Sun Quad FastEthernet software installed with the Sun Trunking 1.0 software. Do not install the software from the CD-ROM and do not install any patch listed in these release notes. Note: If you remove this version of the software, you will not be able to use the Trunking 1.0 software.
`3.1`	Your system has the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.2 software installed. This version was shipped with the Sun Trunking 1.0.1 software and the Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 software. Do not install the software from the CD-ROM, but do install the patch listed in "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches".

Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches

Install the patch, listed below, that is appropriate for the version of the Sun Quad FastEthernet software and the Solaris environment installed on your system. These patches correct panics during dynamic reconfiguration, difficulties with certain FastEthernet switches, and problems with general network performance (refer to these patches' README files for more information).

Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 Software Patches

This version of the Sun Quad FastEthernet software is shipped with the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM. Install the software from this CD before installing the patch.

Table 1-2 Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 Patches


Operating Environment	Patch Identification Number
Solaris 2.5.1 Hardware: 4/97, 8/97, and 11/97	105532-x
Solaris 2.6 (prior to Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98)	105541-x

Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.2 Software Patches

This version of the Sun Quad FastEthernet software is shipped with the Sun Trunking 1.0.1 software and the Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98 environment.

Table 1-3 Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.2 Patches


Operating Environment	Patch Identification Number
Solaris 2.5.1 Hardware: 4/97, 8/97, and 11/97	106531-x
Solaris 2.6 Solaris 2.6 Hardware: 5/98	106532-x

The patches listed above are current as of the printing of this document. Future revisions of these patches will also correct problems with this software. These patches may also be included in future jumbo kernel patches.

Note -

For information on how to get the latest patches and patch revisions, visit the SunSolve(TM) website at http://sunsolve.sun.com. Otherwise, contact your local SunService^SM representative for assistance or your local SunService authorized service provider for more information.

Conflicts With FastEthernet Switches (100BASE-T)

There are two FastEthernet (100BASE-T) switches that may present difficulties when working with the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI adapter:

Bay Networks model 28115/ADV
SynOptics model 28115

If you use the adapter with these switches, you will encounter difficulties (refer to bug ID 4071199 for more information). Installing the Quad FastEthernet 2.1 driver patch, as described in "Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches", will fix these difficulties.

Increasing Performance on Enterprise Servers with Four Quad FastEthernet Adapters

If you have four Sun Quad FastEthernet adapters in an Enterprise server, you may experience slow performance and response times during periods of high network traffic. This poor performance is usually caused by applications that use data buffer and socket buffer sizes greater than 8 Kbytes.

You can achieve better network performance by adjusting your application's data buffer size and socket buffer size to be less than or equal to 8 Kbytes. Refer to the application's documentation for instructions on how to set these buffer sizes.

Increasing Synchronized Queues to Improve Network Performance

To increase the size of STREAMS synchronized queues, thereby increasing network performance, add the sq_max_size variable to the /etc/system file.

set sq_max_size=n

Set the sq_max_size variable to n, where n is the maximum number of messages that are allowed for each IP queue. A safe value to set this variable is 25 for each 64 Mbytes of RAM in the system. For example, if your system has 64 Mbytes of RAM, you would set the variable to 25 (50 if the system has 128 Mbytes of RAM, 100 if your system has 256 Mbytes of RAM, and so on).

You can be more aggressive if you choose, but you may overrun STREAMS resources.

Refer to the Solaris documentation for more information.

Disabling IP Forwarding Routing Protocols on Application Servers

By default, the Solaris operating environment will configure systems using more than one network interface to be an IP forwarding router. Application servers are typically multihomed, which mean that they contain more than one network interface but do not run IP routing protocols or forward IP packets. If you do not disable the IP forwarding and routing protocols on multihomed application servers, the servers may experience poor performance.

NFS servers and database servers are a couple of examples of multihomed application servers. The purpose of these application servers is to provide a presence on multiple networks. These networks usually contain dedicated routing devices (routers, layer-3 switches, or dedicated Sun systems) in the network infrastructure that provide the IP forwarding routing services.

To maximize the performance of your multihomed desktop or application server, we recommend disabling the IP forwarding and routing protocols. One method of disabling IP forwarding is to create an /etc/notrouter file and then reboot your system.

As superuser, type:
```
# /usr/bin/touch /etc/notrouter
```

Shut down and reboot the system.

After rebooting your system, verify that IP forwarding has been disabled in the kernel.
```
# /usr/sbin/ndd /dev/ip ip_forwarding
```
If you receive a 0 result, your system will never forward IP packets. If you receive non-zero result, your system may still forward IP packets.

If you received non-zero result, your system may contain an /etc/defaultrouter file. The existence of this file may prevent the /etc/init.d/inetinit boot script from detecting the /etc/notrouter file. You may want to remove the /etc/defaultrouter file or, alternatively, force the ndd parameter, ip_forwarding, to equal 0.

For more information, refer to the TCP/IP and Data Communications Administration Guide shipped with the Solaris documentation.

Increasing TCP/IP Performance on Solaris 2.6 Systems

If you are running your Solaris 2.6 system with a large TCP window, and you experience slowdowns during periods of high network traffic, you should decrease the TCP default maximum retransmission timeout interval variable (tcp_rexmit_interval_max) to 60000.

As superuser type:

# ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_rexmit_interval_max 60000

The changes are immediate, and they affect all the TCP connections in the system. However, the changes will be lost when you reboot your machine.

Note -

You may not need to perform this workaround if you use a smaller TCP window (for example, an 8 Kbyte or a 16 Kbyte window).

To avoid losing the TCP/IP setting, you can put the parameter change in a run control script in the /etc/rc2.d directory, similar to the following example.

#!/sbin/sh
# Local kernel modifications
#
case "$1" in
'start')
	echo "Setting local kernel parameters...\c"
	ndd -set /dev/tcp tcp_rexmit_interval_max 60000
	echo ""
	;;
'stop')
	echo "No kernel parameters changed."
	;;
*)
	echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop}"
	;;
esac
exit 0

Editing the `driver_aliases` File on Solaris 2.5.1 Systems

If your system is running the Solaris 2.5.1 operating environment, versions: Hardware: 4/97, Hardware: 8/97, or Hardware: 11/97, you must add the pci_pci "pci1011,25" line to your /etc/driver_aliases file before installing the adapter. Refer to page 5 of the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Installation and User's Guide for instructions on editing the driver_aliases file.

Avoiding a System Panic While Detaching a PCI Networking Device

Unloading or detaching a PCI networking device may cause a Solaris 2.5.1 system to crash because of a problem with the PCI (4) nexus driver. Refer to bug ID 4058070 for more information.

Install the 105004-10 patch to fix this bug. This patch is current as of the printing of this document. Future revisions of this patch will also correct the problems described in the 4058070 bug report. This patch may also be included in future jumbo kernel patches.

Note -

For information on how to get the latest patches and patch revisions, visit the SunSolve website at http://sunsolve.sun.com. Otherwise, contact your local SunService representative for assistance or your local SunService authorized service provider for more information.

Known Problems With the Installation and User's Guide

Configuring the Host Files

Note -

"Configuring the Host Files" on page 11 of the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Installation and User's Guide contains inaccurate qfe interface numbers and hostname.qfe<num> file names. The corrected section is shown below.

After installing the Sun Quad FastEthernet driver software, you must create a hostname.qfe<num> file for the adapter's Ethernet interfaces. You must also create both an IP address and a host name for its Ethernet interfaces in the /etc/hosts file.

At the command line, use the grep command to search the /etc/path_to_inst file for qfe devices.
```
# grep qfe /etc/path_to_inst
"/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/SUNW,qfe@0,1" 0 "qfe"
"/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/SUNW,qfe@1,1" 1 "qfe"
"/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/SUNW,qfe@2,1" 2 "qfe"
"/pci@1f,2000/pci@2/SUNW,qfe@3,1" 3 "qfe"
```
In the example above, the four SUNW,qfe@x,1 instances are from a Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter installed in slot 2. For clarity, the instance numbers are bold.

Create an /etc/hostname.qfe<num> file, where <num> corresponds to the instance number of each interface you plan to use.

If you wanted to use all of the adapter interfaces in Step 1, you would need to create four files:

Table 1-4 /etc/hostname.qfe<num> Files


Filename	Instance Number	Adapter Ethernet Channel
`/etc/hostname.qfe0`	0	0
`/etc/hostname.qfe1`	1	1
`/etc/hostname.qfe2`	2	2
`/etc/hostname.qfe3`	3	3

Guidelines for hostname.qfe<num> Files:

Do not create /etc/hostname.qfe<num> files for Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter channels you plan to leave unused.
The /etc/hostname.qfe<num> file must contain the host name for the appropriate network interface.
The host name should have an IP address and should be entered in the /etc/hosts file.
The host name should be different from any other host name of any other interface, for example: /etc/hostname.hme0 and /etc/hostname.qfe2 cannot share the same host name.

Using the instance examples in Step 1, the following example shows the four /etc/hostname.qfe<num> files required for a system called zardoz that has a Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter (zardoz-11, zardoz-12, zardoz-13, and zardoz-14).

# cat /etc/hostname.hme0
zardoz
# cat /etc/hostname.qfe0
zardoz-11
# cat /etc/hostname.qfe1
zardoz-12
# cat /etc/hostname.qfe2
zardoz-13
# cat /etc/hostname.qfe3
zardoz-14

Create an appropriate entry in the /etc/hosts file for each active qfe channel.

Using the example in Step 1, you will have:

# cat /etc/hosts
#
# Internet host table
#
127.0.0.1     localhost
129.144.10.57 zardoz    loghost
129.144.11.83 zardoz-11
129.144.12.41 zardoz-12
129.144.13.67 zardoz-13
129.144.14.30 zardoz-14

Reboot your system.

Booting a Diskless Client System

Note -

This section should be appended to Chapter 3 of the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Installation and User's Guide.

In order to boot a diskless client with a local Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter interface (qfe), the following tasks must be performed on the boot server.

Go to your client's root partition by typing the following:
```
# cd /export/root/<client name>/etc
```

Search the name_to_major file for Quad FastEthernet (qfe) entries.
```
# grep qfe name_to_major
```
If this file already has a Quad FastEthernet (qfe) entry, skip to Step 4.

If the name_to_major file does not contain a Quad FastEthernet (qfe) entry, use a text editor to add an entry for the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter device (qfe).

If the major device number for the last file entry is n, use n+1 for the qfe channel major device number. As shown in the example below, if the last entry for the major device number is 108, use 109 for the qfe device.
```
. . .
llcl 107
audiocs 108
qfe 109
```

Check the driver_aliases file for the pci_pci line required by the adapter.
```
# grep 'pci_pci "pci1011,25"' driver_aliases
```
If this line already exists in the driver_aliases file, you can skip to Step 6. Otherwise, you will need to add this line to the file before installing the adapter.

Using a text editor, add the following line to the end of the driver_aliases file.
```
pci_pci "pci1011,25"
```

Check the driver_aliases file for the qfe line required by the adapter.
```
# grep 'qfe SUNW,qfe' driver_aliases
```
If this line already exists in the driver_aliases file, you can skip to Step 8. Otherwise, you will need to add this line to the file before installing the adapter.

Using a text editor, add the following line to the end of the driver_aliases file.
```
qfe SUNW,qfe
```

Create the following symbolic link.

# ln -s <archive_of_arch>/devices/pseudo/clone@0:qfe <archive_of_arch>/dev/qfe

Insert and mount the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM.
- If your system is running Volume Manager, it should automatically mount the CD-ROM to the /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1 directory.
- If your system is not running Volume Manager, mount the CD-ROM as follows:
```
# mkdir -p /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1
# mount -F hsfs -r /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s2 /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1
```

Copy the qfe driver from the CD-ROM to the client's root partition.

In the steps below, replace DIR with the directory where the Solaris software is located on the client system.
1. For Solaris 2.5.1 operating systems, type:
```
# cp /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1/Sol_2.5.1+/SUNWqfed/reloc/kernel/drv/qfe \ 
DIR/export/exec/kvm/<archive_of_arch>/kernel/drv
```
2. For the Solaris 2.6 operating system, type:
```
# cp /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1/Sol_2.6/SUNWqfed/reloc/kernel/drv/qfe \ 
DIR/export/exec/kvm/<archive_of_arch>/kernel/drv
```

Unmount and eject the CD-ROM as follows:
```
# cd /
# umount /cdrom
# eject cdrom
```

Create a hostname.qfe<num> file for the client in the /etc directory of the client's root partition.

See "Configuring the Host Files" for more information.

Reboot your system.

Updating the Solaris Archive to Use the `qfe` Interface

Note -

This section should be appended to Chapter 3 of the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Installation and User's Guide.

This section is only applicable if you are installing the Solaris operating environment on a net-install client system over the Quad FastEthernet (qfe) interface.

Note -

The Solaris CD-ROM cannot be used to perform a net-install since it is a read-only medium. Therefore, the Solaris CD image archive is required so you can update certain software files.

Determine the directory where the CD image is located on the boot server.

For example, if the Solaris software is located within a directory named DIR, change to the /etc directory of the client's root partition by typing:
```
# cd DIR/export/exec/kvm/<archive_of_arch>/etc
```

Search the name_to_major file for Quad FastEthernet (qfe) entries.
```
# grep qfe name_to_major
qfe 119
```
If this file already has a Quad FastEthernet (qfe) entry, skip to Step 4.

If the name_to_major file does not contain a FastEthernet (qfe) entry, use a text editor to add an entry for the Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter device (qfe).

If the major device number for the last file entry is n then use n+1 for the qfe channel major device number. As shown in the example below, if the last entry for the major device number is 108, use 109 for the qfe device.
```
. . .
audiocs 108
qfe 109
```

Check the driver_aliases file for the pci_pci line required by the adapter.
```
# grep 'pci_pci "pci1011,25"' driver_aliases
```
If this line already exists in the driver_aliases file, you can skip to Step 6. Otherwise, you will need to add this line to the file before installing the adapter.

Using a text editor, add the following line to the end of the driver_aliases file.
```
pci_pci "pci1011,25"
```

Check the driver_aliases file for the qfe line required by the adapter.
```
# grep 'qfe SUNW,qfe' driver_aliases
```
If this line already exists in the driver_aliases file, you can skip to Step 8. Otherwise, you will need to add this line to the file before installing the adapter.

Using a text editor, add the following line to the end of the driver_aliases file.
```
qfe SUNW,qfe
```

Create the following symbolic link.

# ln -s <archive_of_arch>/devices/pseudo/clone@0:qfe <archive_of_arch>/dev/qfe

Insert and mount the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM.
- If your system is running Volume Manager, it should automatically mount the CD-ROM to the /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1 directory.
- If your system is not running Volume Manager, mount the CD-ROM as follows:
```
# mkdir -p /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1
# mount -F hsfs -r /dev/dsk/c0t6d0s2 /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1
```

Copy the qfe driver from the CD-ROM to the client's root partition.

In the steps below, replace DIR with the directory where the Solaris CD image is located on the boot server system.
1. For Solaris 2.5.1 operating systems, type:
```
# cp /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1/Sol_2.5.1+/SUNWqfed/reloc/kernel/drv/qfe \ 
DIR/export/exec/kvm/<archive_of_arch>/kernel/drv
```
2. For the Solaris 2.6 operating system, type:
```
# cp /cdrom/sun_quadfast_2_1/Sol_2.6/SUNWqfed/reloc/kernel/drv/qfe \ 
DIR/export/exec/kvm/<archive_of_arch>/kernel/drv
```

Unmount and eject the CD-ROM as follows:
```
# cd /
# umount /cdrom
# eject cdrom
```

On the client system, perform the tasks listed in the section "Booting a Diskless Client System".

Complete the Solaris client installation.

Refer to your Solaris documentation for detailed instructions.

Install the software drivers from the Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 CD-ROM.

See the cd insert for more information.

Reboot the system.

Previous: Book Information

Chapter 1 Sun Quad FastEthernet PCI Adapter Release Notes

Required Software Patches

Checking for Installed Sun Quad FastEthernet Software

Bundled Sun Quad FastEthernet Drivers

Checking for Quad FastEthernet Software Shipped With Other Products

Installing the Required Quad FastEthernet Software Patches

Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.1 Software Patches

Sun Quad FastEthernet 2.2 Software Patches

Conflicts With FastEthernet Switches (100BASE-T)

Increasing Performance on Enterprise Servers with Four Quad FastEthernet Adapters

Increasing Synchronized Queues to Improve Network Performance

Disabling IP Forwarding Routing Protocols on Application Servers

Increasing TCP/IP Performance on Solaris 2.6 Systems

Editing the driver_aliases File on Solaris 2.5.1 Systems

Avoiding a System Panic While Detaching a PCI Networking Device

Known Problems With the Installation and User's Guide

Configuring the Host Files

Booting a Diskless Client System

Updating the Solaris Archive to Use the qfe Interface

Editing the `driver_aliases` File on Solaris 2.5.1 Systems

Updating the Solaris Archive to Use the `qfe` Interface