Using Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 4: Broadcom NetXtreme II™ Network Adapter User Guide

Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Overview

Starting Broadcom Advanced Control Suite

Configuring With the Command Line Interface Utility

Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Overview

Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) is an integrated utility that provides useful information about each network adapter that is installed in your system. BACS also enables you to perform detailed tests, diagnostics, and analyses on each adapter, as well as to view and modify property values and view traffic statistics for network objects.

Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP), which runs within Broadcom Advanced Control Suite, is used to configure teams for load balancing, fault tolerance, and virtual local area networks (VLANs). BASP functionality is available only on systems that use at least one Broadcom network adapter.

Starting Broadcom Advanced Control Suite

In Control Panel, click Broadcom Control Suite 4, or click the BACS icon in the taskbar located at the bottom of the Windows desktop.

BACS Interface

The BACS interface is comprised of the following regions:

Explorer View pane

Context View selector

Context View pane

Menu bar

Description pane

By default, the Explorer View pane is docked and pinned on the left side of the main window, the Context View pane on the right, the Context View selector below the menu bar, and the Description pane below the Context View pane. Drag the splitter between any two panes to vary the size of the panes.

Explorer View Pane

You can dock and pin the Explorer View pane on the left side, right side, top, or bottom of the main window.

The Explorer View pane lists the objects that can be viewed, analyzed, tested, or configured by BACS. When an item is selected in the Explorer View pane, the tabs showing the information and options that are available for the item appear in the Context View pane.

The organization of this panel is designed to present the manageable objects in the same hierarchical manner as drivers and its subcomponents. This simplifies the management of various elements of the converged network interface controller (C-NIC). The top level of the hierarchy is the Host container, which lists all hosts managed by BACS. Below the hosts are the installed network adapters, with the manageable elements, such as physical port, VBD, NDIS, FCoE, and iSCSI below the adapters.

The icon next to each device in the Explorer View pane shows its status. An icon next to a device name that appears normal means the device is connected and working.

X. A red "X" that appears on the device's icon indicates the device is currently not connected to the network.

Greyed out. A device icon that appears greyed out indicates the device is currently disabled.

Context View Selector

The Context View selector appears below the menu bar and includes the filter and tab categories. Although you can expand and collapse the categories that appear on tabs in the Context View pane, you can alternatively display a category by selecting the box next to the category name.

Filter View

In a multiple-host environment using several C-NICs, there can be a large number of manageable elements per adapter that can be difficult and cumbersome to view, configure, and manage all elements. Use the filter to select a particular device function. Possible filter views include:

All

Team view

NDIS view

iSCSI view

FCoE view

iSCSI Target view

FCoE Target view

Context View Pane

The Context View pane displays all the parameters that you can view for the object selected in the Explorer View pane. The parameters are grouped by tabs and categories, depending on the parameter type. The available tabs are Information, Configuration, Diagnostics, and Statistics. Because the BACS interface is context-sensitive, only the parameters that apply to the selected object can be viewed or configured in the Context View pane.

Menu Bar

The following appear on the menu bar, but because the menu items are context-sensitive, not all items will be available at all times:

File menu

Team Save As: Saves the current team configurations to a file.

Team Restore: Restores any saved team configuration from a file.

Action menu

Remove Host: Removes the selected host.

Refresh Host: Refreshes the selected host.

View menu

Explorer View: Displays/hides the Explorer View pane.

Tool Bar: Displays/hides the tool bar.

Status Bar: Displays/hides the status bar.

Broadcom Logo: Displays/hides the Broadcom Logo on BACS to optimize the maximum viewable space.

Tools menu

Options: Used for configuring BACS preferences.

Teams

Create Teams: Creates new teams with either the Teaming Wizard or in Advanced mode.

Manage Teams: Manages existing teams with either the Teaming Wizard or in Advanced mode.

iSCSI menu

Discovery Wizard: Locates targets and helps to configure the HBA.

Manage Targets Wizard: Manages targets.

Manage iSNS Servers: Manages Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) servers to allow discovery, management, and configuration of iSCSI devices.

Manage Discovery Portals: Manages iSCSI discovery portals.

Discovery Wizard

The Discovery Wizard is available from the iSCSI menu. Follow the prompts in the wizard to discover iSCSI targets via the SendTargets method or the Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) server.

Manage Targets Wizard

The Manage Targets Wizard is available from the iSCSI menu. Follow the prompts in the wizard to add and remove targets, and to login or logout of a target.

Manage iSNS Servers

The Manage iSNS Servers window is available from the iSCSI menu. From this window, you can add or remove Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) servers.

Manage Discovery Portals

The Manage Discovery Portals window is available from the iSCSI menu. From this window, you can add or remove iSCSI discovery portals.

Boot Configuration Wizard

The Boot Configuration Wizard is available by right-clicking a port. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure the iSCSI boot parameters.

Hardware and Resource Configuration Wizard

The Hardware and Resource Configuration Wizard is used to configure properties for hardware resources. Follow the prompts in the wizard to configure hardware resources. You can preview the configuration before committing the changes.

Description Pane

The Description pane provides information, configuration instructions, and options for the selected parameter in the Context View pane.

Configuring Preferences

To enable or disable the BACS tray icon

BACS places an icon in the Windows taskbar when the program is installed. Use the Options window to turn this icon on or off.

From the Tools menu, select Options.

Select or clear Enable BACSTray (the option is enabled by default).

Click OK.

Setting the teaming mode

From the Tools menu, select Options.

Select Expert Mode if you do not need the assistance of the teaming wizard to create teams; otherwise, select Wizard Mode.

Click OK.

Setting the Explorer View refresh time

From the Tools menu, select Options.

Select Auto to set the Explorer View refresh time to 5 seconds. Otherwise, select Custom and select a time, in seconds.

Click OK.

Connecting to a Host

You can add one or more Windows or Linux hosts to manage from BACS.

To add a local host

From the Active menu, click Add Host.

For both Windows and Linux hosts, do not change the default settings. The User name and Password are not required while connecting to the local host.

Select Persist if you want BACS to save the information for this host.

Click Ok. BACS can now be used to view information and manage the host.

To add a remote host

From the Active menu, click Add Host.

Type the remote host's name or IP address in the Host box.

Select the protocol from the Protocol list. The protocol options for Windows are WMI, WinRM, or Try All. The protocol options for Linux are CimXML, WinRM, or Try All. The Try All option forces the GUI client to try all options.

Select the HTTP scheme, or the HTTPS scheme for added security.

Type the Port Number value you used to configure the host, if it is different than the default value of 5985.

Type the User name and Password.

Select Persist if you want BACS to save the information for this host. The host will appear in the Explorer Pane whenever you reopen BACS, and you will not need to enter the host IP address or host name when connecting to the host. For security reasons, you must enter the User name and Password every time.

Click OK.

Managing the Host

At the host level, you can view host information and configure parameters from the following tabs:

Information

Configuration

To view host information

Select the host in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Information tab to view host-level information.

Information Tab: Host Information

Host Name

Displays the name of the host.

OS Version Info

Displays the operating system, including the version.

Platform

Displays the hardware architecture platform (for example, 32-bit or 64-bit)

Information Tab: iSCSI Initiator

The iSCSI Initiator section of the Information tab is available if iSCSI is enabled on the host.

Name

Displays the iSCSI initiator name in IQN format.

Portal List

Displays all iSCSI portal IP addresses configured on the selected host.

NOTE: Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

To configure the host

Select the host in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Configuration tab to configure host-level parameters.

Configuration Tab: System Management

Chimney Offload State

Enable or disable chimney offload at the host level, rather than at the device level, and then click Apply.

Configuration Tab: iSCSI Initiator

Name

The current IQN name is displayed. Click the IQN name to modify the host's iSCSI initiator name, and then click Apply.

Managing the Network Adapter

The installed network adapters appear one level below the host in the hierarchical tree in the Explorer View pane. At the adapter level, you can view information and configure parameters from the following tabs:

Information

Configuration

Viewing Adapter Information

Select the network adapter in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Information tab to view adapter-level information.

Viewing Resource Information

The Resources section of the Information tab displays information about connections and other essential functions for the selected network adapter.

NOTE: Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

Information Tab: Resources

Bus Type

The type of input/output (I/O) interconnect used by the adapter.

Bridge

The bridge type, which is the PCI-E to PCI-X bridge. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Bridge Lanes

The number of PCI-E lanes connected to the bridge. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Bridge Speed

The clock speed on PCI-E bus. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Slot Number

The slot number on the system board occupied by the adapter. This item is not available for PCI Express type adapters.

Bus Speed

The bus clock signal frequency used by the adapter. This item is not available for PCI Express type adapters.

Bus Width

The number of bits that the bus can transfer at a single time to and from the adapter. This item is not available for PCI Express type adapters.

Bus Number

Indicates the number of the bus where the adapter is installed.

Device Number

The number assigned to the adapter by the operating system.

Function Number

The port number of the adapter. For a single-port adapter, the function number is 0. For a two-port adapter, the function number for the first port is 0, and the function number for the second port is 1.

Interrupt Request

The interrupt line number that is associated with the adapter. Valid numbers range from 2 to 25.

Memory Address

The memory mapped address that is assigned to the adapter. This value can never be 0.

MSI Version

This is the Message Signaled Interrupts (MSI) version being used. The option MSI corresponds to the PCI 2.2 specification that supports 32 messages and a single MSI address value. The option MSI-X corresponds to the PCI 3.0 specification that supports 2,048 messages and an independent message address for each message.

Viewing Hardware Information

The Hardware section of the Information tab displays information about the hardware settings for the selected network adapter.

NOTE: Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

Information Tab: Hardware

ASIC Version

The chip version of the Broadcom adapter (this information is not available for adapters made by others).

Bootcode Version

The version of the boot code. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Family Firmware Version

The global firmware version that represents all firmware on the device.

Management Firmware

The firmware version installed on the system.

Vendor ID

The vendor ID.

Device ID

The adapter ID.

Subsystem Vendor ID

The subsystem vendor ID.

Subsystem ID

The subsystem ID.

External PHY Firmware Version

The external PHY firmware version.

Configuring Adapter Parameters

Select the network adapter in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Configuration tab to configure adapter-level parameters.

Configuration Tab: NIC Partition

Number of Partitions

Displays the number of partitions. The value is 4 and cannot be changed.

Flow Control

The possible values are Auto, Tx Pause, Rx Pause, Tx/Rx pause, and Disable. The configuration is done at the port level and applies to all functions under the port.The flow control value is a default value for the port. The effective configuration can be different based on the switch port configuration and whether or not DCB/DCBX is enabled.

Link Speed

Configure the link speed. The default speed is 1Gb for 1Gb adapters and 10Gb for 10Gb adapters.

Configuration Tab: NIC Partition: Function

The following are configurable at the function level. When NIC partitioning is enabled, four functions are created under each port. The functions are numbered 0 to 7. All odd function numbers (1, 3, 5, 7) are created on one port and all even functions (0, 2, 4, 6) are created on the remaining port.

Ethernet/NDIS

Ethernet/NDIS capability is enabled for the function when False is deselected.

iSCSI

iSCSI functionality is enabled for the function when False is deselected.

FCoE

FCoE functionality is enabled for the function when False is deselected.

Maximum Bandwidth

The possible values are from 0 to 100. The value is the percentage of the maximum link speed allowed for the function. For example, if 50 is configured, then the bandwidth usage of the function is restricted to 50% of the 10 Gbps, which is 5Gbps.

Minimum Bandwidth

The possible values are from 0 to 100. This parameter is only applicable when DCB is disabled on the adapter port. The value defines the weight assigned to the function when DCB is disabled and all functions try to transmit at the maximum link speed. During congestion, the weight value determines how much importance will be given by the transmit scheduler to the traffic emanating from this function.

Managing Ethernet Controller (Port)

From BACS, you can group various traffic classes in to priority group and allocate bandwidth to each priority group.

When the Ethernet controller is selected in the Object Explorer panel, following four tabs will be displayed in the context view panel:

Information Tab

Configuration tab

Statistics Tab

Diagnostic Tab

Viewing Port Level Information

Selecting Ethernet controller in the object explorer will allow user to view various types of information at the port level.

Select PortX (where X is either 0 or 1) below Adapter in the object explorer.

Various components of the port will be displayed below port in the object explorer. You can click on the "+" icon near Port to expand or collapse the tree below.

Select Information tab in the context view panel on the right side.

Viewing Vital Signs

The Vital Signs section of the Information tab has useful information about the network adapters that are installed in your system, such as the link status of the adapter and general network connectivity.

To view Vital Signs information for any installed network adapter, select the name of the adapter listed in the Explorer View pane, then click the Information tab.

NOTES:

Information about Broadcom network adapters may be more comprehensive than information about network adapters made by others.

Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

MAC Address

A physical MAC (media access control) address that is assigned to the adapter by the manufacturer. The physical address is never all 0s.

Permanent MAC Address

The unique hardware address assigned to the network adapter.

iSCSI MAC Address

If an iSCSI network adapter is loaded onto the system, this parameter will display the iSCSI MAC address.

IPv4 DHCP

The IP address is from a DHCP server if the value is Enable.

IP Address

The network address associated with the adapter. If the IP address is all 0s, the associated driver has not been bound with Internet Protocol (IP).

IPv6 DHCP

The IP address is from a DHCP server if the value is Enable.

IPv6 IP Address

The IPv6 network address associated with the adapter.

IPv6 Scope Id

Since local-use addresses can be reused, the Scope ID for link-local addresses specifies the link where the destination is located. The Scope ID for site-local addresses specifies the site where the destination is located. The Scope ID is relative to the sending host.

IPv6 Flow Info

The non-zero Flow Info is used to classify traffic flows. If Flow Info equals zero, then the packets are not a part of any flow.

Default Gateway

The default gateway value is the network address of the gateway that will be used by the management firmware for packets destined for hosts external to the local network segment.

Link Status

The status of the network link.

Up. A link is established.

Down. A link is not established.

Duplex

The adapter is operating in the indicated duplex mode.

Speed

The link speed of the adapter, in megabits per second.

Offload Capabilities

The offload capabilities supported by the adapter. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

TOE. TCP Offload Engine (TOE) allows simultaneous operation of up to 1024 fully offloaded TCP connections for 1-Gbps network adapters and 1880 fully offloaded TCP connections for 10-Gbps network adapters to the hardware.

iSCSI. iSCSI offload for block-level transfer of data.

LSO. Large Send Offload (LSO) prevents an upper level protocol such as TCP from breaking a large data packet into a series of smaller packets with headers appended to them.

CO. Checksum Offload (CO) allows the TCP/IP/UDP checksums for send and receive traffic to be calculated by the adapter hardware rather than by the host CPU.

LiveLink IP Address

The network address of the LiveLink enabled adapter.

Local Connection

Identifies the module to which the blade server is attached.

Chassis SW. Chassis switch module

Chassis PHY. Pass-through module

None. No modules attached

BASP State

Information about the status of the BASP application. This information is displayed only when there is a team (see Configuring Teaming).

Viewing NIC Partitioning Information

The NIC Partitioning section of the Information tab displays information about the partitions for the selected network adapter.

To view NIC Partitioning for any installed network adapter, click the name of the adapter listed in the Explorer View pane, then click the Information tab.

NOTE: Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

NIC partitioning divides a Broadcom NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet NIC into multiple virtual NICs by having multiple PCI physical functions per port. Each PCI function is associated with a different virtual NIC. To the OS and the network, each physical function appears as a separate NIC port. For more information on NIC partitioning, see NIC Partitioning: Broadcom NetXtreme II™ Network Adapter User Guide.

Number of Partitions

The number of partitions for the port. Each port can have from one to four partitions with each partition behaving as if it is an independent NIC port.

Network MAC Address

The MAC address of the port.

iSCSI MAC Address

If an iSCSI adapter is loaded onto the system, the iSCSI MAC address will appear.

Flow Control

The flow control setting of the port.

Physical Link Speed

The physical link speed of the port, either 1G or 10G.

Relative Bandwidth Weight (%)

The relative bandwidth setting represents a weight or importance of a particular function. There are four functions per port and the weight is being used in order to arbitrate between the functions in case of congestion.

The sum of all weights for the four functions on a single port are either 0 or 100.

A value of 0 for all functions means that each function will be able to transmit at 25% of the physical link speed, not to exceed the Maximum Bandwidth setting

A value for a function between 1 and 100 represent a percentage of the physical link speed and is used by an internal arbitration logic as a input value (weight). A higher value will cause this function to transmit relatively more data, compared to a function (on the same port) that has defined a lower value.

Maximum Bandwidth (%)

The maximum bandwidth setting defines an upper threshold value, ensuring that this limit will not be exceeded during transmission. The valid range for this value is between 1 and 100. The maximum bandwidth value is defined as a percentage of the physical link speed.

It is possible for the sum of all maximum bandwidth values across the four functions of a single port to exceed the physical link speed value of either 10 Gbps or 1 Gbps. This case is considered as oversubscription. In a case where oversubscription congestion occurs on transmit, the Relative Bandwidth Weight value comes into effect.

The Maximum Bandwidth setting is only valid in the context of Tx, but not Rx.

Testing the Network

The Network Test option on the Diagnostics tab lets you verify IP network connectivity. This test verifies if the driver is installed correctly and tests connectivity to a gateway or other specified IP address on the same subnet.

The network test uses TCP/IP to send ICMP packets to remote systems, then waits for a response. If a gateway is configured, the test automatically sends packets to that system. If a gateway is not configured or if the gateway is unreachable, the test prompts for a destination IP address.

NOTE: The network test option is not available on adapters that are grouped into a team (see Configuring Teaming).

To run the network test

Click the name of the adapter to test in the Explorer View pane.

From the Select a test to run list, select Network Test.

To change the destination IP address, select IP address to ping, then click the browse button (...). In the Network Test window, enter a Destination IP address, then click OK.

Click Run.

The results of the network test are displayed in the Status field.

Running Diagnostic Tests

The Diagnostic Tests option on the Diagnostics tab lets you check the state of the physical components on a Broadcom network adapter. You can trigger the tests manually, or choose to have BACS continuously perform them. If the test are performed continuously, then the number of passes and fails in the Result field for each test increments every time the tests are performed. For example, if a test is performed four times and there are no fails, the value in the Result field for that test is 4/0. However, if there were 3 passes and 1 fail, the value in the Result field is 3/1.

NOTES:

You must have administrator privileges to run diagnostic tests.

The network connection is temporarily lost while these tests are running.

Some tests are not supported on all Broadcom adapters.

To run the diagnostic tests once

Click the name of the adapter to test in the Explorer View pane and select the Diagnostics tab.

From the Select a test to run list, select Diagnostic Tests.

Select the diagnostic tests you want to run. Click Select All to select all tests or Clear All to clear all test selections.

Select the number of times to run the tests from Number of loops.

Click Run test(s).

In the error message window that warns of the network connection being temporarily interrupted, click Yes. The results are displayed in the Result field for each test.

Control Registers

This test verifies the read and write capabilities of the network adapter registers by writing various values to the registers and verifying the results. The adapter driver uses these registers to perform network functions such as sending and receiving information. A test failure indicates that the adapter may not be working properly.

MII Registers

This test verifies the read and write capabilities of the registers of the physical layer (PHY). The physical layer is used to control the electrical signals on the wire and to configure network speeds such as 1000 Mbit/s.

EEPROM

This test verifies the content of the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) by reading a portion of the EEPROM and computing the checksum. The test fails if the computed checksum is different from the checksum stored in the EEPROM. An EEPROM image upgrade does not require a code change for this test.

Internal Memory

This test verifies that the internal memory of the adapter is functioning properly. The test writes patterned values to the memory and reads back the results. The test fails if an erroneous value is read back. The adapter cannot function if its internal memory is not functioning properly.

On-Chip CPU

This test verifies the operation of the internal CPUs in the adapter.

Interrupt

This test verifies that the Network Device Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) driver is able to receive interrupts from the adapter.

Loopback MAC and Loopback PHY

These tests verify that the NDIS driver is able to send packets to and receive packets from the adapter.

Test LED

This test causes all of the port LEDs to blink 5 times for the purpose of identifying the adapter.

Analyzing Cables

The Cable Analysis option on the Diagnostics tab lets you monitor the conditions of each wire pair in an Ethernet Category 5 cable connection within an Ethernet network. The analysis measures the cable quality and compares it against the IEEE 802.3ab specification for compliance.

NOTES:

You must have administrator privileges to run the cable analysis test.

The network connection is temporarily lost during an analysis.

This option is not available for NetXtreme II 10 GbE network adapters.

This option is not available for all Broadcom network adapters.

This option is available for Broadcom NetXtreme II VBD drivers.

To run a cable analysis

Connect the cable to a port on a switch where the port is set to Auto and the Speed & Duplex driver settings are also set to Auto.

Click the name of the adapter to test in the Explorer View pane.

NOTE: For Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters, select a VBD driver; for other adapters, select an NDIS driver.

From the Select a test to run list, select Cable Analysis.

Click Run.

In the error message window that warns of the network connection being temporarily interrupted, click Yes.

Distance

The valid cable length in meters (except when the Noise result is returned).

Status

The result of the analysis for the indicated pair.

Good. Good cable/PCB signal paths, but no gigabit link.

Crossed. Pin short or crosstalk along two or more cable/PCB signal paths.

Open. One or both pins are open for a twisted pair.

Short. Two pins from the same twisted pair are shorted together.

Noise. Persistent noise present (most likely caused by Forced 10/100).

GB Link. Gigabit link is up and running.

N/A. Algorithm failed to reach a conclusion.

Link

The link connection speed and mode.

Status

The status after the test is run, either completed or failed.

There are several factors that could have an effect on the test results:

Link partner. Various switch and hub manufacturers implement different PHYs. Some PHYs are not IEEE compliant.

Cable quality. Category 3, 4, 5, and 6 may affect the test results.

Electrical interference. The testing environment may affect the test results.

Managing the LAN Device

The LAN function represents the Ethernet (NDIS) functionality available under the PCI Function. User can view current values of various NDIS driver parameters, configure NDIS driver parameters, view attached FCoE targets and LUN information by selecting FCoE object in object explorer panel.

The available tabs for the NDIS function are as follows:

At the NDIS level, you can view parameters, configure parameters, and run tests from the following tabs:

Information

Configuration

Diagnostics

Statistics

Viewing NDIS Information

Select the NDIS driver in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Information tab to view NDIS-level information.

NOTES:

Information about Broadcom network adapters may be more comprehensive than information about network adapters made by others.

Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

Viewing Driver Information

Information Tab: Driver Information

Driver Status

The status of the adapter driver.

Loaded. Normal operating mode. The adapter driver has been loaded by Windows and is functioning.

Not Loaded. The driver associated with the adapter has not been loaded by Windows.

Information Not Available. The value is not obtainable from the driver that is associated with the adapter.

Driver Name

The file name of the adapter driver.

Driver Version

The current version of the adapter driver.

Driver Date

The creation date of the adapter driver.

Information Tab: Vital Signs

IP Address

The network address associated with the adapter. If the IP address is all 0s, the associated driver has not been bound with Internet Protocol (IP).

IPv6 IP Address

The IPv6 network address associated with the adapter.

MAC Address

A physical MAC (media access control) address that is assigned to the adapter by the manufacturer. The physical address is never all 0s.

Permanent MAC Address

The unique hardware address assigned to the network adapter.

Offload Capabilities

The offload capabilities supported by the adapter. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

iSCSI. iSCSI offload for block-level transfer of data.

LSO. Large Send Offload (LSO) prevents an upper level protocol such as TCP from breaking a large data packet into a series of smaller packets with headers appended to them.

CO. Checksum Offload (CO) allows the TCP/IP/UDP checksums for send and receive traffic to be calculated by the adapter hardware rather than by the host CPU.

Configuring the NDIS Driver

Select the NDIS driver in the Explorer View pane, and then select the Configuration tab to configure NDIS-level parameters. After making changes, click Apply to confirm the changes to all properties. Click Reset to return the properties to their original values. Click Defaults to restore all settings to their default values.

NOTES:

Clicking Reset after clicking Defaults, but before clicking Apply, will purge all values.

Apply must be clicked to make changes go into effect.

Any changes to existing settings will be lost upon clicking Defaults.

NOTES:

You must have administrator privileges to change the values for a property.

The list of available properties for your particular adapter may be different.

Some properties may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

If an adapter is included as a member of a team and you change any advanced property, then you must rebuild the team to ensure that the team's advanced properties are properly set.

Configuration Tab: Advanced

Ethernet@Wirespeed

Enables a Gigabit Ethernet adapter to establish a link at a lower speed when only two pairs of wires are available in the cabling plant. The default setting for this property is Enabled.

Flow Control

Enables or disables the receipt or transmission of PAUSE frames. PAUSE frames allow the network adapter and a switch to control the transmit rate. The side that is receiving the PAUSE frame momentarily stops transmitting. By enabling TOE, network performance improves, but with the increased performance, TOE performance is more susceptible to packet loss when flow control is disabled. Enable flow control to reduce the number of packets lost.

NOTE: If Jumbo Packet is set to 5000 bytes or greater on network adapters that support 10 Gbps link speed, ensure that Flow Control is set to Auto to prevent the system performance from performing at less than optimal levels. This limitation exists on a per-port basis.

Auto (default). Receive and transmit PAUSE frame functionality are optimized. This option indicates that the adapter automatically adjusts the flow control settings for optimal performance, and its purpose is not enabling auto negotiation of the flow control parameters.

Disable. Receive and transmit PAUSE frame functionality are disabled.

Rx Enabled. Receive PAUSE frame is enabled.

Rx & Tx Enabled. Receive and transmit PAUSE frame are enabled.

Tx Enabled. Transmit PAUSE frame is enabled.

IPv4 Checksum Offload

Normally, the checksum function is computed by the protocol stack. When you select one of the Checksum Offload property values (other than None), the checksum can be computed by the network adapter.

Rx Enabled. Enables receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Tx Enabled. Enables transmit TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Tx/Rx Enabled (default). Enables transmit and receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

None. Disables checksum offload.

IPv4 Large Send Offload

Normally, the TCP segmentation is done by the protocol stack. When you enable the Large Send Offload property, the TCP segmentation can be done by the network adapter. The default setting for this property is Enabled. This property is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

IPv6 Checksum Offload

Normally, the checksum function is computed by the protocol stack. When you select one of the Checksum Offload property values (other than None), the checksum can be computed by the network adapter.

Rx Enabled. Enables receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Tx Enabled. Enables transmit TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Tx/Rx Enabled (default). Enables transmit and receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

None. Disables checksum offload.

IPv6 Large Send Offload

Jumbo Packet

Enables the network adapter to transmit and receive oversized Ethernet frames that are greater than 1514 bytes, but less than or equal to 9000 bytes in length (9600 bytes for network adapters that operate at 10 Gbps). This property requires the presence of a switch that is able to process jumbo frames. This property is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Frame size is set at 1500 bytes by default. To increase the size of the received frames, raise the byte quantity in 500-byte increments.

Locally Administered Address

The Locally Administered Address is a user-defined MAC address that is used in place of the MAC address originally assigned to the network adapter. Every adapter in the network must have its own unique MAC address. This locally administered address consists of a 12-digit hexadecimal number.

Value. Assigns a unique node address for the adapter.

Not Present (default). Uses the factory-assigned node address on the adapter.

The appropriate assigned ranges and exceptions for the locally administered address include the following:

The range is 00:00:00:00:00:01 to FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FD.

Do not use a multicast address (least significant bit of the high byte = 1).

Do not use all 0s or all Fs.

Receive Side Scaling

Allows configuring network load balancing across multiple CPUs. The default setting for this property is Enabled.

Switch Configuration.

Allows configuring of the connected switch for the network adapters.

NOTE: Switch Configuration only applies to blade configurations.

SW_Config_10G (default). Sets the switch speed to 10 Gbit/s.

SW_Config_1G. Sets the switch speed to 1 Gbit/s.

Speed & Duplex

The Speed & Duplex property sets the connection speed and mode to that of the network. Note that Full-Duplex mode allows the adapter to transmit and receive network data simultaneously.

10 Mb Full. Sets the speed at 10 Mbit/s and the mode to Full-Duplex.

10 Mb Half. Sets the speed at 10 Mbit/s and the mode to Half-Duplex.

100 Mb Full. Sets the speed at 100 Mbit/s and the mode to Full-Duplex.

100 Mb Half. Sets the speed at 100 Mbit/s and the mode to Half-Duplex.

1 Gb Full. Sets the speed at 1000 Mb Full-Duplex mode only. Not available for 1 Gb ports.

2.5 Gb Full. Sets the speed at 2.5

10 GB Full. Sets the speed to 10 Gbit/s and the mode to Full-Duplex. Not available for 1 Gb ports.

Auto (default). Sets the speed and mode for optimum network connection (recommended).

NOTES:

Auto is the recommended setting. This setting allows the network adapter to dynamically detect the line speed of the network. Whenever the network capability changes, the network adapter automatically detects and adjusts to the new line speed and duplex mode. A speed of 1 Gbit/s is enabled by selecting Auto, when that speed is supported.

1 Gb Full Auto must be attached to a link partner that is also capable of a 1 Gb connection. Since the connection is limited to a 1 Gb connection only, the Ethernet@Wirespeed feature will be disabled. If the link partner supports a 1 Gb connection only, the Wake on LAN feature may not work. Additionally, management traffic (IPMI or UMP) in the absence of an operating system may also be affected.

10 Mb Half and 100 Mb Half settings force the network adapter to connect to the network in Half-Duplex mode. Note that the network adapter may not function if the network is not configured to operate at the same mode.

10 Mb Full and 100 Mb Full settings force the network adapter to connect to the network in Full-Duplex mode. The network adapter may not function if the network is not configured to operate at the same mode.

Speed & Duplex (SerDes)

1 Gb Full. Forces the speed to 1 Gb Full based on a matching setting for its link partner.

Auto (default). Sets the speed to auto-negotiate with its link partner at the highest matching speed.

Auto with 1Gb Fallback Full. Sets the speed to auto-negotiate with its link partner, but if the attached link partner is forced at 1 Gbit/s, it will fall back to this mode.

Hardware Default. Sets the speed to negotiate according to the setting specified by the manufacturer (see manufacturer documentation for more information).

NOTE: The following properties pertain to Windows Vista operating systems.

TCP/UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)

Allows configuring checksum offload for the IPv4 protocol.

Disable. Disables checksum offload.

Rx Enabled. Enables receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Tx Enabled. Enables transmit TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

TX & Rx Enabled (default). Enables transmit and receive TCP/IP/UDP checksum offload.

Priority & VLAN

Allows enabling both the prioritization of network traffic and VLAN tagging. VLAN tagging only occurs when the VLAN ID setting is configured with a value other than 0 (zero).

Priority & VLAN Enabled (default). Allows for packet prioritization and VLAN tagging.

Priority & VLAN Disabled. Prevents packet prioritization and VLAN tagging.

Priority Enabled. Allows packet prioritization only.

VLAN Enabled. Allows VLAN tagging only.

NOTE: If an intermediate driver is managing the network adapter for VLAN tagging, the Priority & VLAN Disabled and Priority Enabled settings should not be used. Use the Priority & VLAN Enabled setting and change the VLAN ID to 0 (zero).

VLAN ID

Enables VLAN tagging and configures the VLAN ID when Priority & VLAN Enabled is selected as the Priority & VLAN setting. The range for the VLAN ID is 1 to 4094 and must match the VLAN tag value on the connected switch. A value of 0 (default) in this field disables VLAN tagging.

Risk Assessment of VLAN Tagging through the NDIS Miniport Driver

Broadcom's NDIS 6.0 miniport driver provides the means to allow a system containing a Broadcom adapter to connect to a tagged VLAN. On Windows XP systems, this support was only provided through the use of an intermediate driver (e.g., Broadcom Advanced Server Program - BASP). Unlike BASP, however, the NDIS 6 driver's support for VLAN participation is only for a single VLAN ID.

Also unlike BASP, the NDIS 6.0 driver only provides VLAN tagging of the outbound packet, but does not provide filtering of incoming packets based on VLAN ID membership. This is the default behavior of all miniport drivers. While the lack of filtering packets based on VLAN membership may present a security issue, the following provides a risk assessment based on this driver limitation for an IPv4 network:

A properly configured network that has multiple VLANs should maintain separate IP segments for each VLAN. This is necessary since outbound traffic relies on the routing table to identify which adapter (virtual or physical) to pass traffic through and does not determine which adapter based on VLAN membership.

Since support for VLAN tagging on Broadcom's NDIS 6.0 driver is limited to transmit (Tx) traffic only, there is a risk of inbound traffic (Rx) from a different VLAN being passed up to the operating system. However, based on the premise of a properly configured network above, the IP segmentation and/or the switch VLAN configuration may provide additional filtration to limit the risk.

In a back-to-back connection scenario, two computers on the same IP segment may be able to communicate regardless of their VLAN configuration since no filtration of VLAN membership is occurring. However, this scenario assumes that the security may already be breached since this connection type is not typical in a VLAN environment.

If the risk above is not desirable and filtering of VLAN ID membership is required, then support through an intermediate driver would be necessary.

iSCSI Crash Dump

Crash dump is used to collect information on adapters that were booted remotely using iSCSI. To enable crash dump, set to Enable and reboot the system. If you perform an upgrade of the device drivers, re-enable iSCSI Crash Dump. If iSCSI Boot is configured to boot in the HBA path, then this parameter cannot be changed.

Interrupt Moderation

Enables interrupt moderation, which limits the rate of interrupt to the CPU during packet transmission and packet reception. The disabled option allows one interrupt for every packet transmission and packet reception. Enable is the default option.

Number of RSS Queues

Allows configuring RSS queues. For 1 Gbps network adapters, the RSS queue options are Auto (default), 2, 4, and 8. For 10 Gbps network adapters, the RSS queue options are Auto (default), 2, 4, 8, and 16.

Receive Buffers

The number of receive buffers. Receive buffers are data segments that allow the network adapter to allocate receive packets to memory. For 1 Gbps adapters, the range of valid receive buffers is 50 to 5000 in increments of 1 with 750 receive buffers as the default value.

Receive Buffers (0=Auto)

The number of receive buffers. Receive buffers are data segments that allow the network adapter to allocate receive packets to memory. For 10 Gbps adapters, the range of valid receive buffers is 0 to 3000 in increments of 50 with 0 receive buffers as the default value.

Transmit Buffers (0=Auto)

The number of transmit buffers. Transmit buffers are data segments that allow the network adapter to monitor transmit packets in the system memory. The range of valid transmit buffers is 0 to 5000 in increments of 1 with 250 transmit buffers as the default value.

TCP Connection Offload (IPv4)

Enables and disables TOE offload when using the IPv4 protocol. The default is Enabled.

TCP Connection Offload (IPv6)

Enables and disables TOE offload when using the IPv6 protocol. The default is Enabled.

Pause on Exhausted Host Ring

For BCM57711 and BCM57712 network adapters, there are two possible scenarios that can trigger pause frames to be generated: a host ring buffer is exhausted or the on-chip buffers are depleted. With RSS enabled inside the system, it is possible to achieve better Ethernet throughput if no pause frames are being generated in a case where a host ring buffer (of multiple RSS rings) is exhausted. The default is Disabled.

Viewing Resource Information

The Resources section of the Information tab displays information about connections and other essential functions for the selected network adapter.

NOTE: Some information may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

Information Tab: Resources

Bus Type

The type of input/output (I/O) interconnect used by the adapter.

Configuring System Settings

System Management on the Configurations tab allow you to view and change the values of the available properties for the system. The potentially available properties and their respective settings are described below.

Chimney Offload State

Enables TCP Offload Engine (TOE) for the entire system. On Windows Server 2008 operating systems, the options are Enable (default) and Disable. For Windows Server 2008 R2, the options are Enable, Disable, and Auto (default). If Chimney Offload State is configured for Auto, then a 10 Gbps network adapter will have TOE enabled, but not for a 1 Gbps network adapter.

To enable TOE for individual network adapters, configure Chimney Offload State to Enable and also enable TCP Connection Offload (IPv4) or TCP Connection Offload (IPv6) from the Advanced area of the Configuration tab.

Viewing Statistics

The information provided on the Statistics tab allows you to view traffic statistics for both Broadcom network adapters and network adapters made by others. Statistical information and coverage are more comprehensive for Broadcom adapters.

To view Statistics information for any installed network adapter, click the name of the adapter listed in the Explorer View pane, then click the Statistics tab.

If any of the sections described below is not visible, then from the Context View tab on the right side of the window, select Statistics and then select the name of the missing section.

Click Refresh to get the most recent values for each statistic. Click Reset to change all values to zero for the current BACS session.

NOTES:

Team statistics are not compiled for a Broadcom network adapter if it is disabled.

Some statistics may not be available for all Broadcom network adapters.

General Statistics

General Statistics show the transmitted and received statistics to and from the adapter.

Frames Tx OK

A count of the frames that were successfully transmitted. This counter is incremented when the transmit status is reported as Transmit OK.

Frames Rx OK

A count of the frames that were successfully received. This does not include frames received with frame-too-long, frame check sequence (FCS), length, or alignment errors, nor frames lost due to internal MAC sublayer errors. This counter is incremented when the receive status is reported as Receive OK.

Directed Frames Tx

A count of directed data frames that were successfully transmitted.

Multicast Frames Tx

A count of frames that were successfully transmitted (as indicated by the status value Transmit OK) to a group destination address other than a broadcast address.

Broadcast Frames Tx

A count of frames that were successfully transmitted (as indicated by the transmit status Transmit OK) to the broadcast address. Frames transmitted to multicast addresses are not broadcast frames and are excluded.

Directed Frames Rx

A count of directed data frames that were successfully received.

Multicast Frames Rx

A count of frames that were successfully received and are directed to an active nonbroadcast group address. This does not include frames received with frame-too-long, FCS, length, or alignment errors, nor frames lost because of internal MAC sublayer errors. This counter is incremented as indicated by the Receive OK status.

Broadcast Frames Rx

A count of frames that were successfully received and are directed to a broadcast group address. This count does not include frames received with frame-too-long, FCS, length, or alignment errors, nor frames lost because of internal MAC sublayer errors. This counter is incremented as indicated by the Receive OK status.

Frames Rx with CRC Error

The number of frames received with CRC errors.

Initiator Login Statistics

iSCSI login enables a connection for iSCSI use between the initiator and the target and is used to authenticate parties, negotiate the session's parameters, open security association protocol, and mark the connection as belonging to an iSCSI session.

Login Accept Responses

The number of login requests accepted by the target.

Login other failed Responses

The number of login requests that were not accepted by the target.

Login Redirect Responses

The number of responses that required further action by the initiator.

Login Authentication Failed Responses

The number of login requests that failed due to party authentication failure.

Login target authentication failure

The number of instances where the login could not authenticate the target.

Login target negotiation failure

The number of instances where the login could not negotiate the sessions parameters.

Normal logout command PDU

The number of normal logout commands issued by the initiator to remove a connection from a session or to close a session.

Other logout command PDU

The number of logout commands issued by the initiator for reasons other than to remove a connection from a session or to close a session.

Local Initiator login failures

The number of login failures likely caused by the initiator.

Initiator Instance Statistics

The statistics in this area pertain to all sessions.

Session digest errors

The number of sessions with errors due to an invalid payload or header.

Session connection timeout error

The number of sessions that were terminated due to any of the many timeout errors.

Session format error

The number of sessions with errors due to inconsistent fields, reserved fields not 0, non-existent LUN, etc.

Sessions failed

The number of failed sessions.

Custom

Custom statistics.

Total Offload iSCSI Connections

The total number of offloaded iSCSI connections.

Session Statistics

The statistics in this area only pertain to the named session.

Session Name

The name used for the session between the initiator and the target.

Session Id

The identifier used for the session between the initiator and the target.

Bytes sent

The number of bytes sent for the named session.

Bytes received

The number of bytes received for the named session.

PDU sent

The number of iSCSI PDUs sent for the named session.

PDU received

The number of iSCSI PDUs received for the named session.

Digest errors

The number of errors due to an invalid payload or header for the named session.

Connection Timeout errors

The number of connection timeout errors for the named session.

Format errors

The number of errors due to inconsistent fields, reserved fields not 0, non-existent LUN, etc. for the named session.

IEEE 802.3 Statistics

Frames Rx with Alignment Error

A count of the frames that were not an integral number of octets in length and do not pass the FCS check. This counter is incremented when the receive status is reported as Alignment Error.

Frames Tx with one Collision

A count of the frames that were involved in a single collision and were subsequently transmitted successfully. This counter is incremented when the result of a transmission is reported as Transmit OK, and the attempt value is 2.

Frames Tx with more than one Collision

A count of the frames that were involved in more than one collision and were subsequently transmitted successfully. This counter is incremented when the transmit status is reported as Transmit OK, and the value of the attempts variable is greater than 2 and less than or equal to the attempt limit.

Frames Tx after Deferral

A count of the frames that were delayed being transmitted on the first attempt because the medium was busy. The frames involved in any collision are not counted.

Custom Statistics

NOTE: Custom statistics are available only for an enabled Broadcom network adapter.

Out of Recv. Buffer

The number of times the adapter ran out of Receive Buffer Descriptors. This information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters.

Frames size less than 64-byte with bad FCS

The number of frames with a size less than 64 bytes with bad FCS.

MAC Rx w/ Pause Command and Length = 0

MAC control frames with the pause command and a length equal to 0.

MAC Rx w/ Pause Command and Length greater than 0

MAC control frames with the pause command and a length greater than 0.

MAC Rx w/ no Pause Command

MAC control frames with no pause command.

MAC Sent X-on

MAC Transmit with X-on was on.

MAC Sent X-off

MAC Transmit with X-on was off.

Large Send Offload Transmit Requests

The number of times the adapter was requested to transmit a packet performing TCP segmentation.

Total Offload TCP Connections

The total number of offloaded TCP connections.

Viewing Resource Reservations

NOTES:

Resource Reservation information is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters and VBD drivers.

Not all offload technologies are available with all adapters.

The Resource Reservations section shows the number of connections allocated to an offload technology: TOE and iSCSI.

TCP Offload Engine (TOE) for accelerating TCP over 1 GbE, 2.5 GbE, and 10 GbE.

Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) offload for accelerating network storage access featuring centralized boot functionality (iSCSI boot).

You can also view the number of unlicensed resources and unallocated resources.

TOE and iSCSI can only be configured on certain adapters and require a license key. License keys are preprogrammed in the hardware.

To view resource reservations

Click the name of the Broadcom NetXtreme II system device in the Explorer View pane.

From the Resource Reservations section, select the property you want to set.

Click Apply to confirm the changes to all properties. Click Reset to return the properties to their original values.

Configuring the IP Address for iSCSI Offload

For iSCSI-booted adapters, the Configurations tab is not available and you will not be able to perform this procedure.

To set the IP address of the iSCSI HBA for iSCSI offload

The iSCSI Management section of the Configurations tab allows you to set the IP address of the iSCSI HBA when using iSCSI protocol to offload network processing from the CPU to the Broadcom network adapter.

Click the name of the Broadcom NetXtreme II iSCSI device in the SCSI controller section of the Explorer View pane.

Depending on the protocol you will be using, for IPv4 DHCP or IPv6 DHCP, select Enable (not available for iSCSI booted adapters) to set the IP address dynamically using a DHCP server. Or select Disable to set the IP address using a static IP address. Enter the IP Address, Subnet Mask, and Default Gateway.

Configure the VLAN ID for the iSCSI HBA by entering a number for VLAN ID. The value must be between 0 and 4094.

After the configurations are complete, click Apply to save the settings or click Reset to revert back to the previous settings.

Viewing Licenses

NOTES:

The Licenses section of the Configurations tab is only available for Broadcom NetXtreme II adapters and VBD drivers.

Not all offload technologies are available with all adapters.

The Licenses section shows the number of connections available for TOE and iSCSI offload technologies.

To view licenses

Click the name of the Broadcom NetXtreme II system device in the Explorer View pane.

Configuring Teaming

The teaming function allows you to group any available network adapters together to function as a team. Teaming is a method of creating a virtual NIC (a group of multiple adapters that functions as a single adapter). The benefit of this approach is that it enables load balancing and failover. Teaming is done through the Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) software. For a comprehensive description of the technology and implementation considerations of the teaming software, refer to the "Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet Teaming Services" section of your Broadcom network adapter user guide.

Teaming can be accomplished by either of the following methods:

Using the Broadcom Teaming Wizard

Using Expert Mode

NOTES:

For further information regarding teaming protocols, see "Teaming" in your Broadcom network adapter user guide.

If you do not enable LiveLink™ when configuring teams, disabling Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) at the switch is recommended. This minimizes the downtime due to spanning tree loop determination when failing over. LiveLink mitigates such issues.

BASP is available only if a system has one or more Broadcom network adapters installed.

The TCP Offload Engine (TOE), Large Send Offload (LSO), and Checksum Offload properties are enabled for a team only when all of the members support and are configured for the feature.

If an adapter is included as a member of a team and you change any advanced property, then you must rebuild the team to ensure that the team's advanced properties are properly set.

You must have administrator privileges to create or modify a team.

The load balance algorithm in a team environment in which members are connected at different speeds favors members connected with a Gigabit Ethernet link over members connected at lower speed links (100 Mbps or 10 Mbps) until a threshold is met. This is normal behavior.

Team Types

You can create four types of load balance teams:

Smart Load Balance and Failover

Link Aggregation (802.3ad) (TOE is not applicable)

Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static (TOE is not applicable)

SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) – The Auto-Fallback Disable feature is configured for Smart Load Balance and Failover type teams in the Teaming Wizard.

NOTE: NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is supported only in an SLB team type.

Smart Load Balance and Failover

In this type of team, a standby member handles the traffic if all of the load balance members fail (a failover event). All load balance members have to fail before the standby member takes over. When one or more of the load balance members is restored (fallback), the restored team member(s) resumes the handling of the traffic. The LiveLink feature is supported for this type of team.

Link Aggregation (802.3ad)

In this type of team, you can dynamically configure the network adapters that have been selected to participate in a given team. If the link partner is not correctly configured for IEEE 802.3ad link configuration, errors are detected and noted. All adapters in the team are configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. The outbound load balancing scheme is determined by the BASP driver. The link partner of the team determines the load balancing scheme for inbound packets. In this mode, at least one of the link partners must be in active mode.

NOTE: TOE is not applicable for Link Aggregation team type. NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is not supported for Link Aggregation team type.

Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static

This type of team is very similar to the link aggregation type, in that all adapters in the team must be configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. This mode does not provide link aggregation control protocol (LACP) or marker protocol support. This mode supports a variety of environments where the link partners are statically configured to support a proprietary trunking mechanism. Trunking supports load balancing and failover for both outbound and inbound traffic.

NOTE: TOE is not applicable for Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static team type. NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is not supported for Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC)/802.3ad-Draft Static team type.

SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable)

This team is identical to Smart Load Balance and Failover, with the following exception: when the standby member is active, if a primary member comes back online, the team continues using the standby member rather than switching back to the primary member. This type of team is supported only for situations in which the network cable is disconnected and reconnected to the network adapter. It is not supported for situations in which the adapter is removed/installed through Device Manager or Hot-Plug PCI. If any primary adapter assigned to a team is disabled, the team functions as a Smart Load Balancing and Failover type of team in which auto-fallback occurs. The LiveLink feature is supported for this type of team.

Standby Team Member and Auto-Fallback Disable Mode

You can designate one team member in an SLB type of team to be the standby member. The standby member does not actively send and receive normal network traffic while other adapters on the team are active. If all of the active adapters on the team fail or are disconnected, the standby member takes over the handling of the network activities.

In Auto-Fallback Disable mode, if a load balance member returns on line, the team continues using the standby member rather than switching back to using the load balance member. Consequently, the adapter that was initially designated a load balance member remains in an inactive state and becomes the new standby member.

LiveLink

LiveLink is a feature of BASP that is available for the Smart Load Balancing (SLB) and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) type of teaming. The purpose of LiveLink is to detect link loss beyond the switch and to route traffic only through team members that have a live link.

Using the Broadcom Teaming Wizard

You can use the Broadcom Teaming Wizard to create a team, configure an existing team if a team has already been created, or create a VLAN.

Create or edit a team:

To create a new team, select Create a Team from the Team menu, or right-click one of the devices in the "Unassigned Adapters" section and select Create a Team. This option is not available if there are no devices listed in the "Unassigned Adapters" sections, which means all adapters are already assigned to teams.

To configure an existing team, right-click one of the teams in the list and select Edit Team. This option is only available if a team has already been created and is listed in the Team Management pane.

NOTE: If you prefer to work without the wizard for now, click Expert Mode. If you want to always use Expert Mode to create a team, select Default to Expert Mode on next start. See Using Expert Mode.

To continue using the wizard, click Next.

Type the team name and then click Next. If you want to review or change any of your settings, click Back. Click Cancel to discard your settings and exit the wizard.

NOTE: The team name cannot exceed 39 characters, cannot begin with spaces, and cannot contain any of the following characters: & \ / : * ? < > |

Select the type of team you want to create. If the team type is an SLB type team, click Next. If the team type is not an SLB type team, then a dialog box appears. Verify that the network switch connected to the team members is configured correctly for the team type, click OK, and continue.

NOTE: NetXtreme II network adapters with iSCSI enabled is supported only in an SLB team type. To continue with the creation of non-SLB team types, first disable iSCSI by deselecting iSCSI Offload Engine from the Resource Reservations area of the Configurations tab.

From the Available Adapters list, click the adapter you want to add to the team and then click Add. Remove team members from the Team Members list by clicking the adapter and then clicking Remove. Click Next.

NOTE: There must be at least one Broadcom network adapter assigned to the team.

The TCP Offload Engine (TOE), Large Send Offload (LSO) and Checksum Offload (CO) columns indicate if the TOE, LSO, Jumbo MTU, and/or the CO properties are supported for the adapter. The TOE, LSO, Jumbo MTU, and CO properties are enabled for a team only when all of the members support and are configured for the feature. If this is the case, then the team offload capabilities appear on the bottom of the screen.

NOTES:

Adding a network adapter to a team where its driver is disabled may negatively affect the offloading capabilities of the team. This may have an impact on the team's performance. Therefore, it is recommended that only driver-enabled network adapters be added as members to a team.

If you want to designate one of the adapters as a standby member (optional), select Use the following member as a standby member, then choose the standby member from the list of adapters.

The Auto-Fallback Disable mode feature allows the team to continue using the standby member rather than switching back to the primary member if the primary member comes back online. To enable this feature, select Enable Auto-Fallback Disable mode. Click Next.

If you want to configure LiveLink, select Yes, otherwise select No, then click Next.

Select the probe interval (the number of seconds between each retransmission of a link packet to the probe target) and the maximum number of probe retries (the number of consecutively missed responses from a probe target before a failover is triggered).

Set the Probe VLAN ID to allow for connectivity with probe targets residing on a tagged VLAN. The number set must match the VLAN ID of the probe targets as well as the port(s) on the switch to which the team is connected.

NOTE: Each LiveLink enabled team can only communicate with Probe Targets on a single VLAN. Also, VLAN ID 0 is equivalent to an untagged network. If the Probe VLAN ID is set to a value other than 0, then a VLAN must be created with an identical VLAN tag value (see Step 16.).

Click the probe target at the top of the list, click Edit Target IP Address, type the target IP address in the IP Address box for one or all probe targets, and then click OK. Click Next.

NOTE: Only the first probe target is required. You can specify up to three additional probe targets to serve as backups by assigning IP addresses to the other probe targets.

Select a listed team member, click Edit Member IP Address, and then type the member IP address in the IP Address box. Repeat for all listed team members and then click OK. Click Next.

NOTE: All of the member IP addresses must be in the same subnet as the subnet of the probe targets.

If you want to create a VLAN on the team, select Add VLAN, or if you want to change the settings of an existing VLAN, select Edit VLAN, then click Next. If you do not want to create or edit a VLAN, select Skip Manage VLAN, then click Next, and continue with the wizard from the Finish screen (see Step 18. of this procedure).

VLANs enable you to add multiple virtual adapters that are on different subnets. The benefit of this is that your system can have one network adapter that can belong to multiple subnets.

NOTE: VLANs can only be created when all team members are Broadcom adapters.

Type the VLAN name and then click Next.

NOTE: The team name cannot exceed 39 characters, cannot begin with spaces, and cannot contain any of the following characters: & \ / : * ? < > |

To tag the VLAN, select Tagged and then click Next. Otherwise, click Untagged, click Next, and continue with the wizard to add additional VLANs (see Step 17. of this procedure).

Type the VLAN tag value and then click Next. The value must be between 1 and 4094.

Select Yes to add or manage another VLAN and then click Next. Repeat until you do not want to add or manage any additional VLANs.

NOTE: You can define up to 64 VLANs per team (63 VLANs that are tagged and 1 VLAN that is not tagged). Adding several VLANS may slow down the reaction time of the Windows interface due to memory and processor time usage for each VLAN. The degree to which Windows performance may suffer depends on system configuration.

To apply and commit the changes to the team, select Commit changes to system and Exit the wizard. To apply your changes but continue using the wizard, select Save changes and continue to manage more teams. Click Finish.

NOTE: At any point in the Broadcom Teaming Wizard procedure, click Preview to get a visual representation of what the team will look like before committing any changes.

Click the team name in the Team Management pane to view the team's properties in the Information tab, transfer and receive data in the Statistics tab, and team customization options in the Configurations tab.

Using Expert Mode

Use Expert Mode to create a team, modify a team, add a VLAN, and configure LiveLink for a Smart Load Balance and Failover and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) team. To create a team using the wizard, see Using the Broadcom Teaming Wizard.

To set the default Teaming Mode, select Options from the Tools menu. In the Options window, click the General tab, then select Expert Mode or Wizard Mode (the default is Wizard Mode).

Creating a Team

NOTE: Enabling Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is not recommended for members of an SLB type of team.

From the Teams menu, select Create a Team, or right-click one of the devices in the "Unassigned Adapters" section and select Create a Team. This option is not available if there are no devices listed in the "Unassigned Adapters" sections, which means all adapters are already assigned to teams.

Click Expert Mode.

NOTE: If you want to always use Expert Mode to create a team, click Default to Expert Mode on next start.

Click the Create Team tab.

NOTE: The Create Team tab appears only if there are teamable adapters available.

Click the Team Name field to enter a team name.

Click the Team Type field to select a team type.

Assign any available adapter or adapters to the team by moving the adapter from the Available Adapters list to the Load Balance Members list. There must be at least one adapter in the Load Balance Members list.

You can assign any other available adapter to be a standby member by selecting it from the Standby Member list.

NOTE: There must be at least one Broadcom network adapter assigned to the team.

The TCP Offload Engine (TOE), Large Send Offload (LSO), and Checksum Offload (CO) columns indicate if the TOE, LSO, and/or the CO properties are supported for the adapter. The TOE, LSO, and CO properties are enabled for a team only when all of the members support and are configured for the feature. If this is the case, then the team offload capabilities appear on the bottom of the screen.

NOTES:

Type the value for Team MTU.

Click Create to save the team information.

Repeat steps 4. through 9. to define additional teams. As teams are defined, they can be selected from the team list, but they have not yet been created. Click the Preview tab to view the team structure before applying the changes.

Click Apply/Exit to create all the teams you have defined and exit the Manage Teams window.

Click Yes when the message is displayed indicating that the network connection will be temporarily interrupted.

NOTES:

The team name cannot exceed 39 characters, cannot begin with spaces, and cannot contain any of the following characters: & \ / : * ? < > |

Team names must be unique. If you attempt to use a team name more than once, an error message is displayed indicating that the name already exists.

The maximum number of team members is 8.

When team configuration has been correctly performed, a virtual team adapter driver is created for each configured team.

If you disable a virtual team and later want to reenable it, you must first disable and reenable all team members before you reenable the virtual team.

When you create Generic Trunking and Link Aggregation teams, you cannot designate a standby member. Standby members work only with Smart Load Balancing and Failover and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) types of teams.

For an SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) team, to restore traffic to the load balance members from the standby member, click the Fallback button on the Team Properties tab.

When configuring an SLB team, although connecting team members to a hub is supported for testing, it is recommended to connect team members to a switch.

Not all network adapters made by others are supported or fully certified for teaming.

Configure the team IP address.

From Control Panel, double-click Network Connections.

Right-click the name of the team to be configured, and then click Properties.

On the General tab, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click Properties.

Configure the IP address and any other necessary TCP/IP configuration for the team, and then click OK when finished.

Modifying a Team

After you have created a team, you can modify the team in the following ways:

Change the type of team

Change the members assigned to the team

Add a VLAN

Modify a VLAN (using Expert Mode)

Remove a team or a VLAN (using Expert Mode)

To modify a team

From the Team menu, click Edit Team, or right-click one of the teams in the list and select Edit Team. This option is only available if a team has already been created and is listed in the Team Management pane.

The wizard Welcome screen appears. Click Next to continue modifying a team using the wizard or click Expert Mode to work in Expert Mode.

NOTE: The Edit Team tab in Expert Mode appears only if there are teams configured on the system.

Click the Edit Team tab.

Make the desired changes, and then click Update. The changes have not yet been applied; click the Preview tab to view the updated team structure before applying the changes.

Click Apply/Exit to apply the updates and exit the Manage Teams window.

Click Yes when the message is displayed indicating that the network connection will be temporarily interrupted.

Adding a VLAN

You can add virtual LANs (VLANs) to a team. This enables you to add multiple virtual adapters that are on different subnets. The benefit of this is that your system can have one network adapter that can belong to multiple subnets. With a VLAN, you can couple the functionality of load balancing for the load balance members, and you can employ a failover adapter.

You can define up to 64 VLANs per team (63 VLANs that are tagged and 1 VLAN that is not tagged). VLANs can only be created when all teams members are Broadcom adapters. If you try to create a VLAN with a non-Broadcom adapter, an error message is displayed.

To configure a team with a VLAN

From the Teams menu, select Add VLAN.

The Welcome screen appears.

Click Expert Mode.

On the Create Team tab of the Manage Teams window, click Manage VLAN(s).

Type the VLAN name, then select the type and ID.

Click Create to save the VLAN information. As VLANs are defined, they can be selected from the Team Name list, but they have not yet been created.

Continue this process until all VLANs are defined, then click OK to create them.

Click Yes when the message is displayed indicating that the network connection will be temporarily interrupted.

NOTE: To maintain optimum adapter performance, your system should have 64 MB of system memory for each of the eight VLANs created per adapter.

Viewing VLAN Properties and Statistics and Running VLAN Tests

To view VLAN properties and statistics and to run VLAN tests

Select one of the listed VLANs.

Click the Information tab to view the properties of the VLAN adapter.

Click the Statistics tab to view the statistics for the VLAN adapter.

Click the Diagnostics tab to run a network test on the VLAN adapter.

Deleting a VLAN

The procedure below applies when you are in Expert Mode.

To delete a VLAN

Select the VLAN to delete.

From the Teams menu, select Remove VLAN.

Click Apply.

Click Yes when the message is displayed indicating that the network connection will be temporarily interrupted.

NOTE: If you delete a team, any VLANs configured for that team are also deleted.

Configuring LiveLink for a Smart Load Balancing and Failover and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) Team

Read the following notes before you attempt to configure LiveLink.

NOTES:

Before you begin configuring LiveLink™, review the description of LiveLink. Also verify that each probe target you plan to specify is available and working. If the IP address of the probe target changes for any reason, LiveLink must be reconfigured. If the MAC address of the probe target changes for any reason, you must restart the team (see "Troubleshooting").

A probe target must be on the same subnet as the team, have a valid (not a broadcast, multicast, or unicast), statically-assigned IP address, and be highly available (always on).

To ensure network connectivity to the probe target, ping the probe target from the team.

You can specify up to four probe targets.

The IP address assigned to either a probe target or team member cannot have a zero as the first or last octet.

To configure LiveLink

From the Teams menu, select Edit Team.

Click Expert Mode (to configure LiveLink using the Teaming Wizard, see Using the Broadcom Teaming Wizard).

In the Manage Teams window, click the Edit Team tab.

Select Enable LiveLink. The LiveLink Configuration options appear below.

It is recommended to accept the default values for Probe interval (the number of seconds between each retransmission of a link packet to the probe target) and Probe maximum retries (the number of consecutively missed responses from a probe target before a failover is triggered). To specify different values, click the desired probe interval in the Probe interval (seconds) list and click the desired maximum number of probe retries in the Probe maximum retries list.

Set the Probe VLAN ID to correspond with the VLAN where the probe target(s) resides. This will apply the appropriate VLAN tag to the link packet based on the shared configuration of the attached switch port(s).

NOTE: Each LiveLink enabled team can only communicate with Probe Targets on a single VLAN. Also, VLAN ID 0 is equivalent to an untagged network.

Select Probe Target 1 and type the target IP address for one or all probe targets.

NOTE: Only the first probe target is required. You can specify up to 3 additional probe targets to serve as backups by assigning IP addresses to the other probe targets.

Select one of the listed team members and type the member IP address.

NOTE: All of the member IP addresses must be in the same subnet as the probe targets.

Click Update. Repeat these steps for each of the other listed team members.

Click Apply/Exit.

Saving and Restoring a Team Configuration

To save a configuration

From the File menu, select Team Save As.

Type the path and file name of the new configuration file, and then click Save.

The configuration file is a text file that can be viewed by any text editor. The file contains information about both the adapter and the team configuration.

To restore a configuration

From the File menu, select Team Restore.

Click the name of the file to be restored, and then click Open.

NOTE: If necessary, go to the folder where the file is located.

Click Apply.

Click Yes when the message is displayed indicating that the network connection will be temporarily interrupted.

If a configuration is already loaded, a message is displayed that asks if you want to save your current configuration. Click Yes to save the current configuration. Otherwise, the configuration data that is currently loaded is lost.

Note: The team may take a very long time to restore if the team is configured with multiple VLANs and each VLAN is configured with one or more static IP addresses.

Viewing BASP Statistics

The Statistics section shows performance information about the network adapters that are on a team.

To view BASP Statistics information for any team member adapter or the team as a whole, click the name of the adapter or team listed in the Team Management pane, then click the Statistics tab.

Click Refresh to get the most recent values for each statistic. Click Reset to change all values to zero.

Configuring With the Command Line Interface Utility

An alternate method to BACS for configuring Broadcom network adapters is with BACSCLI, which is a Broadcom utility that allows you to view information and configure network adapters using a console in either a non-interactive command line interface (CLI) mode or an interactive mode. As with BACS, BACSCLI provides information about each network adapter, and enables you to perform detailed tests, run diagnostics, view statistics, and modify property values. BACSCLI also allows you the ability to team network adapters together for load balancing and failover.

For a complete list of available commands and examples, see the BACSCLI ReadMe text file on the installation CD.

Supported Operating Systems

BACSCLI is supported on the following operating systems:

Windows Vista

Windows Server 2008 (including Server Core)

Windows Server 2008 R2 (including Server Core)

Installation

On a system with Broadcom NetXtreme I and NetXtreme II network adapters, BACSCLI is installed when BACS is installed with the installer.

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