1 (C)Copyright 1999-2001 SysKonnect GmbH.
3 ===========================================================================
5 sk98lin.txt created 28-May-2001
7 Readme File for sk98lin v4.06
8 SK-NET Gigabit Ethernet PCI driver for LINUX
14 (4) INCLUSION OF ADAPTER AT SYSTEM START
16 (6) LARGE FRAME SUPPORT
20 ===========================================================================
26 The sk98lin driver supports the SysKonnect SK-NET Gigabit Ethernet
27 Adapter SK-98xx family on Linux 2.2.x and above.
28 It has been tested with Linux on Intel/x86 machines.
29 From v3.02 on, the driver is integrated in the linux kernel source.
36 The linux kernel source.
37 No additional files required.
44 The following steps describe the actions that are required to install
45 the driver and to start it manually. These steps should be carried
46 out for the initial driver setup. Once confirmed to be ok, they can
47 be included in the system start which is described in the next
50 NOTE 1: You must have 'root' access to the system to perform
52 NOTE 2: IMPORTANT: In case of problems, please read the section
53 "Troubleshooting" below.
55 1) The driver can either be integrated into the kernel or it can
56 be compiled as a module.
57 Select the appropriate option during the kernel configuration.
58 For use as a module, your kernel must have
59 'loadable module support' enabled.
60 For automatic driver start, you also need 'Kernel module loader'
62 Configure those options, build and install the new kernel. If you
63 choose to use the driver as a module, do "make modules" and
64 "make modules_install".
67 2) Load the module manually by entering:
69 If the SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter is installed in your
70 computer and you have a /proc filesystem, running the command
71 'more /proc/net/dev' should produce an output containing a
72 line with the following format:
74 which means that your adapter has been found and initialized.
76 NOTE 1: If you have more than one SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter, the
77 adapters will be listed as 'eth0', 'eth1', 'eth2', etc.
78 For each adapter, repeat the steps 3) and 4).
79 NOTE 2: If you have other Ethernet adapters installed,
80 your SysKonnect SK-98xx adapter can be mapped to 'eth1' or
82 The module installation message (in system logfile or
83 on console, depending on /etc/syslog.conf) prints a line
84 for each adapter that is found, containing the
87 3) Select an IP address and assign it to the respective adapter by
89 ifconfig eth0 <ip-address>
90 This causes the adapter to connect to the ethernet. The solitary
91 yellow LED at the adapter is now active, the link status LED of
92 the primary port is on and the link status LED of the secondary
93 port (on dual port adapters) is blinking (only if the laters are
94 connected to a switch or hub).
95 You will also get a status message on the console saying
96 "ethX: network connection up using port Y" and indicating
97 the selected connection parameters.
99 NOTE: If you are in doubt about IP addresses, ask your network
100 administrator for assistance.
102 4) Your adapter should now be fully operational.
103 Use 'ping <otherstation>' to verify the connection to other
104 computers on your network.
105 By viewing /proc/net/sk98lin/[devicename], you can check some
106 information regarding to the adapter configuration.
109 5) The driver module can be stopped and unloaded using the following
116 (4) INCLUSION OF ADAPTER AT SYSTEM START
117 ========================================
119 Since a large number of different Linux distributions are
120 available, we are unable to describe a general installation procedure
121 for the driver module.
122 Because the driver is now integrated in the kernel, installation should
123 be easy, using the standard mechanism of your distribution.
124 Refer to the distribution's manual for installation of ethernet adapters.
128 (5) DRIVER PARAMETERS
129 =====================
131 Parameters can be set at the command line while loading the
132 module with 'modprobe'. The configuration tools of some distributions
133 can also give parameters to the driver module.
134 If you use the kernel module loader, you can set driver parameters
135 in the file /etc/modules.conf (or old name: /etc/conf.modules).
136 Insert a line of the form:
140 For "...", use the same syntax as described below for the command
141 line paramaters of modprobe.
142 You either have to reboot your computer or unload and reload
143 the driver to activate the new parameters.
144 The syntax of the driver parameters is:
146 modprobe sk98lin parameter=value1[,value2[,value3...]]
148 value1 is for the first adapter, value2 for the second one etc.
149 All Parameters are case sensitive, so write them exactly as
152 Sample: Suppose you have two adapters. You want to set AutoNegotiation
153 on Port A of the first adapter to ON and on Port A of the
154 second adapter to OFF.
155 You also want to set DuplexCapabilities on Port A of the first
156 adapter to FULL and on Port A of the second adapter to HALF.
159 modprobe sk98lin AutoNeg_A=On,Off DupCap_A=Full,Half
161 NOTE: The number of adapters that can be configured this way is
162 limited in the driver (file skge.c, constant SK_MAX_CARD_PARAM).
163 The current limit is 16. If you happen to install
164 more adapters, adjust this and recompile.
167 5.1 Per-Port Parameters
168 -----------------------
169 Those setting are available for each port on the adapter.
170 In the following description, '?' stands for the port for
171 which you set the parameter (A or B).
175 Values: On, Off, Sense
178 The "Sense"-mode finds out automatically whether the link
179 partner supports autonegotiation or not.
181 - Duplex Capabilities
183 Values: Half, Full, Both
186 This parameters is relevant only if autonegotiation for
187 this port is not "Sense". If autonegotiation is "On", all
188 three values are possible. If it is "Off", only "Full" and
190 It is usefull if your link partner does not support all
191 possible combinations.
194 Parameter: FlowCtrl_?
195 Values: Sym, SymOrRem, LocSend, None
198 This parameter can be used to set the flow control capabilities
199 that the port reports during autonegotiation.
200 The meaning of the different modes is:
201 -- Sym = Symetric: both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE frames
202 -- SymOrRem = SymetricOrRemote: both or only remote partner are allowed
204 -- LocSend = LocalSend: only local link partner is allowed to send
206 -- None: no link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames
208 NOTE: This parameter is ignored if autonegotiation is set to "Off".
210 - Role in Master-Slave-Negotiation (1000Base-T only).
212 Values: Auto, Master, Slave
215 This parameter is only valid for the SK-9821 and SK-9822 adapters.
216 For two 1000Base-T ports to communicate, one must take the role as
217 master (providing timing information), while the other must be slave.
218 Normally, this is negotiated between the two ports during link
219 establishment. If this should ever fail, you can force a port to a
220 specific setting with this parameter.
223 5.2 Per-Adapter Parameters
224 --------------------------
231 This is used to force the preferred port to A or B (on two-port NICs).
232 The preferred port is the one that is used if both are detected as
235 - RLMT (Redundant Link Management Technology) Mode
237 Values: CheckLinkState,CheckLocalPort, CheckSeg, DualNet
238 Default: CheckLinkState
240 RLMT (the driver part that decides which port to use) knows three
241 ways of checking if a port is available for use:
243 -- CheckLinkState = Check link state only: RLMT uses the link state
244 reported by the adapter hardware for each individual port to determine
245 whether a port can be used for all network traffic or not.
247 -- CheckLocalPort - Check other port on adapter: RLMT sends test frames
248 from each port to each other port and checks if they are received by
249 the other port, respectively. Thus, the ports must be connected to the
250 network such that LLC test frames can be exchanged between them
251 (i.e. there must be no routers between the ports).
253 -- CheckSeg - Check other port and segmentation: RLMT checks the other port
254 and in addition requests information from the Gigabit Ethernet
255 switch next to each port to see if the network is segmented between
256 the ports. Thus, this mode is only to be used if you have Gigabit
257 Ethernet switches installed in your network that have been configured
258 to use the Spanning Tree protocol.
260 -- DualNet - Both ports A and B are used as separate devices at the same
261 time. So if you have a dual port adapter, port A will show up as eth0
262 and port B as eth1. Both ports can be used independend with distinct
264 The preferred port setting is not used. Rlmt is turned off.
267 NOTE: The modes CheckLocalPort and CheckSeg are meant to operate in
268 configurations where a network path between the ports on one
269 adapter exists. Especially, they are not designed to work where
270 adapters are connected back-to-back.
274 (6) LARGE FRAME SUPPORT
275 =======================
277 Large frames (also called jumbo frames) are now supported by the
278 driver. This can result in a greatly improved throughput if
279 transfering large amounts of data.
280 To enable large frames, set the MTU (maximum transfer unit)
281 of the interface to the value you wish (up to 9000). The command
283 ifconfig eth0 mtu 9000
284 This will only work if you have two adapters connected back-to-back
285 or if you use a switch that supports large frames. When using a
286 switch, it should be configured to allow large frames, without
287 autonegotiating for them.
288 The setting must be done on all adapters that can be reached by
289 the large frames. If one adapter is not set to receive large frames,
290 it will simply drop them.
292 You can switch back to the standard ethernet frame size with:
293 ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500
295 To make this setting persitent, add a script with the 'ifconfig'
296 line to the system startup sequence (named something like "S99sk98lin"
304 If you run into problems during installation, check those items:
306 Problem: The SK-98xx adapter can not be found by the driver.
307 Reason: Look in /proc/pci for the following entry:
308 'Ethernet controller: SysKonnect SK-98xx ...'
309 If this entry exists, then the SK-98xx adapter has been
310 found by the system and should be able to be used.
311 If this entry does not exist or if the file '/proc/pci'
312 is not there, then you may have a hardware problem or PCI
313 support may not be enabled in your kernel.
314 The adapter can be checked using the diagnostic program
315 which is available from the SysKonnect web site:
317 Some COMPAQ machines have a problem with PCI under
318 Linux. This is described in the 'PCI howto' document
319 (included in some distributions or available from the
320 www, e.g. at 'www.linux.org'). This might be fixed in the
321 2.2.x kernel series (I've not tested it).
323 Problem: Programs such as 'ifconfig' or 'route' can not be found or
324 you get an error message 'Operation not permitted'.
325 Reason: You are not logged in as user 'root'. Logout and
326 login as root or change to root via 'su'.
328 Problem: Using the command 'ping <address>', you get a message
329 "ping: sendto: Network is unreachable".
330 Reason: Your route is not set up correct.
331 If you are using RedHat, you probably forgot
332 to set up the route in 'network configuration'.
333 Check the existing routes with the 'route' command
334 and check if there is an entry for 'eth0' and if
337 Problem: The driver can be started, the adapter is connected
338 to the network, but you can not receive or transmit
339 any packet; e.g. 'ping' does not work.
340 Reason: You have an incorrect route in your routing table.
341 Check the routing table with the command 'route' and
342 read the manual pages about route ('man route').
343 NOTE: Although the 2.2.x kernel versions generate the routing
344 entry automatically, you may have problems of this kind
345 here, too. We found a case where the driver started correct
346 at system boot, but after removing and reloading the driver,
347 the route of the adapter's network pointed to the 'dummy0'
348 device and had to be corrected manually.
350 Problem: You want to use your computer as a router between
351 multiple IP subnetworks (using multiple adapters), but
352 you can not reach computers in other subnetworks.
353 Reason: Either the router's kernel is not configured for IP
354 forwarding or there is a problem with the routing table
355 and gateway configuration in at least one of the
358 Problem: At the start of the driver, you get an error message:
360 Class: internal Software error
362 Msg: SkGeInitPort() cannot init running ports"
363 Reason: You are using a driver compiled for single processor
364 machines on an multiprocessor machine with SMP (Symetric
365 MultiProcessor) kernel.
366 Configure your kernel appropriate and recompile the kernel or
369 If your problem is not listed here, please contact SysKonnect's technical
370 support for help (linux@syskonnect.de).
371 When contacting our technical support, please ensure that the
372 following information is available:
373 - System Manufacturer and Model
374 - Boards in your system
383 VERSION 4.02 (In-Kernel version)
385 - Add Kernel 2.4 changes
389 VERSION 4.01 (In-Kernel version)
391 - Full statistics support for DualNet mode
395 VERSION 4.00 (In-Kernel version)
399 - Proc filesystem integration
400 - DualNet functionality integrated
401 - Rlmt networks added
403 - statistics partially incorrect in DualNet mode
405 VERSION 3.04 (In-Kernel version)
407 - Driver start failed on UltraSPARC
408 - Rx checksum calculation for big endian machines did not work
409 - Jumbo frames were counted as input-errors in netstat
411 VERSION 3.03 (Standalone version)
413 - Compilation did not find script "printver.sh" if "." not in PATH
417 VERSION 3.02 (In-Kernel version)
421 - Integration in Linux kernel source (2.2.14 and 2.3.29)
429 - Full source release
437 - Support for 1000Base-T adapters (SK-9821 and SK-9822)
443 - RlmtMode parameter value strings were wrong (#10437)
444 - Driver sent too many RLMT frames (#10439)
445 - Driver did not recognize network segmentation (#10440)
446 - RLMT switched too often on segmented network (#10441)
452 - System panic'ed after some time when running with
453 RlmtMode=CheckOtherLink or RlmtMode=CheckSeg (#10421)
454 Panic message: "Kernel panic: skput: over ... dev: eth0"
455 - Driver did not switch back to default port when connected
456 back-to-back (#10422).
458 - RlmtMode parameter names have changed
460 - There is now a version for ALPHA processors
466 - Driver failed to load on kernels with version information
467 for module symbols enabled
473 - Large frame support does work now (no autonegotiation
474 support for large frames, just manually selectable)
476 - Receive checksumming in hardware
477 - Performance optimizations
478 Some numbers (on two PII-400 machines, back-to-back):
479 netpipe: 300 MBit/sec, with large frames: 470 MBit/sec
480 ttcp: 38 MByte/sec, with large frames: 60 MByte/sec
481 ttcp (UDP send): 66 MByte/sec, with large frames: 106 MByte/sec
487 - Unloading with "rmmod" caused segmentation fault (#10415)
488 - The link LED flickered from time to time, if no link was
490 - Installation problems with RedHat 6.0 (#10409)
492 - Connection state ouput at "network connection up"
498 - Failed with multiple adapters
499 - Failed with Single Port adapters
500 - Startup string was only displayed if adapter found
501 - No link could be established on certain switches when the switches were
504 - Segmentation fault at "rmmod" with kernel 2.2.3 on some machines
508 - Sensor status was not set back to 'ok' after 'warning/error'. (#10386)
510 - improved parallelism in driver
514 - not tested with all kernel versions (I don't have that much time :-)
515 - only x86 version available (if you need others, ask for it)
516 - source code not completely available
518 ***End of Readme File***