Checking if Current Drivers are Loaded
Microsoft Virtualization with Hyper-V
Removing the Broadcom NetXtreme II Device Drivers
Upgrading Windows Operating Systems
Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP)
Loopback diagnostic tests are available for testing the adapter hardware. These tests provide access to the adapter internal/external diagnostics, where packet information is transmitted across the physical link (for instructions and information on running tests in an MS-DOS environment, see User Diagnostics; for Windows environments, see Running Diagnostic Tests).
See Network Link and Activity Indication to check the state of the network link and activity.
CAUTION! Before you open the cabinet of your server to add or remove the adapter, review Safety Precautions.
The following checklist provides recommended actions to take to resolve problems installing the Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter or running it in your system.
See Viewing Vital Signs to view vital information about the adapter, link status, and network connectivity.
To verify that the driver is loaded properly, type
LOAD BX2.LAN FRAME_ETHERNET_II NAME=BX2_1_EII
This command automatically verifies if the link is active. If the link is active, the command returns Link is up.
From the command line, type config
then press ENTER. The following status information is displayed:
Broadcom NetXtreme II Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Version:
Hardware Setting:
Node Address:
Frame Type:
Board Name:
LAN Protocol: ARP (see note)
LAN Protocol: IP Addr: (see note)
NOTE: The LAN protocol status is displayed after an IP address is assigned to the adapter.
To verify that the bnx2.o driver is loaded properly, run:
lsmod
If the driver is loaded, a line similar to the one below is displayed, where size is the size of the driver in bytes, and n is the number of adapters configured.
For Windows operating systems, see Analyzing Cables for information on running a cable length test. Cable analysis is not available for NetXtreme II 10 GbE network adapters.
NOTE: When using forced link speeds, verify that both the adapter and the switch are forced to the same speed, or that at least one link partner is configured for auto-negotiation.
Network connectivity can be tested using the Testing the Network feature in Broadcom Advanced Control Suite.
An alternate method is to use the ping command to determine if the network connection is working.
The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether the network connection is working or not.
Ping an IP host on the network to verify connection has been established.
From the command line, type ping IP address
, and then press ENTER.
The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether or not the network connection is working.
To verify that the Ethernet interface is up and running, run ifconfig to check the status of the Ethernet interface. It is possible to use netstat -i to check the statistics on the Ethernet interface. See Linux Driver Software for information on ifconfig and netstat.
Ping an IP host on the network to verify connection has been established.
From the command line, type ping IP address
, and then press ENTER.
The ping statistics that are displayed indicate whether or not the network connection is working.
Microsoft Virtualization is a hypervisor virtualization system for Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2. This section is intended for those who are familiar with Hyper-V, and it addresses issues that affect the configuration of NetXtreme II network adapters and teamed network adapters when Hyper-V is used. For more information on Hyper-V, see http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv.aspx.
Table 1 identifies Hyper-V supported features that are configurable for NetXtreme II network adapters. This table is not an all-inclusive list of Hyper-V features.
NOTE: Ensure that Integrated Services, which is a component of Hyper-V, is installed in the guest operating system (child partition) for full functionality.
NOTE: If you encounter problems while using VM Chimney, Broadcom recommends that VM Chimney be disabled due to OS stability issues.
When configuring a NetXtreme II network adapter on a Hyper-V system, be aware of the following:
When configuring a NetXtreme II network adapter on a Hyper-V system, be aware of the following:
Table 2 identifies Hyper-V supported features that are configurable for NetXtreme II teamed network adapters. This table is not an all-inclusive list of Hyper-V features.
Feature
|
Supported in Windows Server 2008
|
Supported in Windows Server 2008 R2
|
Comments/Limitation
|
---|---|---|---|
Smart Load Balancing and Failover (SLB) team type
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Multi-member SLB team allowed with latest BASP6 version.
Note: VM MAC is not presented to external switches.
|
Link Aggregation (IEEE 802.3ad LACP) team type
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Generic Trunking (FEC/GEC) 802.3ad Draft Static team type
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Failover
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
LiveLink
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Large Send Offload (LSO)
|
Limited*
|
Yes
|
*Conforms to miniport limitations outlines in Table 1.
|
Checksum Offload (CO)
|
Limited*
|
Yes
|
*Conforms to miniport limitations outlines in Table 1.
|
TCP Offload Engine (TOE)
|
Limited*
|
Yes
|
*Conforms to miniport limitations outlines in Table 1.
|
Hyper-V VLAN over an adapter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Hyper-V VLAN over a teamed adapter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Hyper-V VLAN over a VLAN
|
Limited*
|
Limited*
|
Only an untagged VLAN.
|
Hyper-V virtual switch over an adapter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Hyper-V virtual switch over a teamed adapter
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
Hyper-V virtual switch over a VLAN
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
iSCSI boot
|
No
|
No*
|
*Remote boot to SAN is supported.
|
When configuring a team of NetXtreme II network adapters on a Hyper-V system, be aware of the following:
When configuring a team of NetXtreme II network adapters on a Hyper-V system, be aware of the following:
Uninstall the Broadcom NetXtreme II device drivers from your system only through the InstallShield wizard. Uninstalling the device drivers with Device Manager or any other means may not provide a clean uninstall and may cause the system to become unstable. For information on uninstalling Broadcom NetXtreme II device drivers, see Removing the Device Drivers.
This section covers Windows upgrades for the following:
Prior to performing an OS upgrade when a Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter is installed on your system, Broadcom recommends the procedure below.
Problem: Unable to obtain network settings through DHCP using PXE.
Solution: For proper operation make sure that the Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) is disabled or that portfast mode (for Cisco) is enabled on the port to which the PXE client is connected. For instance, set spantree portfast 4/12 enable.
Problem: After deleting a team that uses IPv6 addresses and then re-creating the team, the IPv6 addresses from the old team are used for the re-created team.
Solution: This is a third-party issue. To remove the old team's IPv6 addresses, locate the General tab for the team's TCP/IP properties from your system's Network Connections. Either delete the old addresses and type in new IPv6 addresses or select the option to automatically obtain IP addresses.
Problem: Adding an NLB-enabled NetXtreme II adapter to a team may cause unpredictable results.
Solution: Prior to creating the team, unbind NLB from the NetXtreme II adapter, create the team, and then bind NLB to the team.
Problem: A system containing an 802.3ad team causes a Netlogon service failure in the system event log and prevents it from communicating with the domain controller during boot up.
Solution: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 326152 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326152/en-us) indicates that Gigabit Ethernet adapters may experience problems with connectivity to a domain controller due to link fluctuation while the driver initializes and negotiates link with the network infrastructure. The link negotiation is further affected when the Gigabit adapters are participating in an 802.3ad team due to the additional negotiation with a switch required for this team type. As suggested in the Knowledge Base Article above, disabling media sense as described in a separate Knowledge Base Article 938449 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938449) has shown to be a valid workaround when this problem occurs.
Problem: The 802.3ad team member links disconnect and reconnect continuously (applies to all operating systems).
Solution: This is a third-party issue. It is seen only when configuring an 802.3ad team with greater than two members on the server and connecting an HP2524 switch, with LACP enabled as passive or active. The HP switch shows an LACP channel being brought up successfully with only two team members. All other team member links disconnect and reconnect. This does not occur with a Cisco Catalyst 6500.
Problem: A Generic Trunking (GEC/FEC) 802.3ad-Draft Static type of team may lose some network connectivity if the driver to a team member is disabled.
Solution: If a team member supports underlying management software (ASF/IPMI/UMP) or Wake-On-LAN, the link may be maintained on the switch for the adapter despite its driver being disabled. This may result in the switch continuing to pass traffic to the attached port rather than route the traffic to an active team member port. Disconnecting the disabled adapter from the switch will allow traffic to resume to the other active team members.
Problem: Large Send Offload (LSO) and Checksum Offload are not working on my team.
Solution: If one of the adapters on a team does not support LSO, LSO does not function for the team. Remove the adapter that does not support LSO from the team, or replace it with one that does. The same applies to Checksum Offload.
Problem: The advanced properties of a team do not change after changing the advanced properties of an adapter that is a member of the team.
Solution: 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.
Problem: On kernels older than 2.6.16 when 16 partitions are created on a server containing two BCM57711 network adapters, not all partitions would come up and an error indicating a shortage of space would display.
Solution: On architectures where the default vmalloc size is relatively small and not sufficient to load many interfaces, use vmalloc=<size>
during boot to increase the size.
Problem: Routing does not work for NetXtreme II 10 GbE network adapters installed in Linux systems.
Solution: For NetXtreme II 10 GbE network adapters installed in systems with Linux kernels older than 2.6.26, disable TPA with either ethtool (if available) or with the driver parameter (see disable_tpa). Use ethtool to disable TPA (LRO) for a specific NetXtreme II 10 GbE network adapter.
Problem: On a NetXtreme II 1 GbE network adapter in a CNIC environment, flow control does not work.
Solution: Flow control is working, but in a CNIC environment, it has the appearance that it is not. The network adapter is capable of sending pause frames when the on-chip buffers are depleted, but the adapter also prevents the head-of-line blocking of other receive queues. Since the head-of-line blocking causes the on-chip firmware to discard packets inside the on-chip receive buffers, in the case a particular host queue is depleted, the on-chip receive buffers will rarely be depleted, therefore, it may appear that flow control is not functioning.
Problem: Errors appear when compiling driver source code.
Solution: Some installations of Linux distributions do not install the development tools by default. Ensure the development tools for the Linux distribution you are using are installed before compiling driver source code.
Problem: When setting the Jumbo MTU property to 5000 bytes or greater and forcing Flow Control on network adapters that support a link speed of 10 Gbps, the system performance performs at less than optimal levels.
Solution: If Jumbo MTU is set to 5000 bytes or greater, ensure that Flow Control is set to Auto.
Problem: iSCSI Crash Dump is not working.
Solution: After upgrading the device drivers using the installer, the iSCSI crash dump driver is also upgraded, and iSCSI Crash Dump must be re-enabled from the Advanced section of the BACS Configuration tab.
Problem: In Windows 2008 R2, if the OS is running as an iSCSI boot OS, the VolMgr error, "The system could not successfully load the crash dump driver," appears in the event log.
Solution: Enable iSCSI Crash Dump from the Advanced section of the BACS Configuration tab.
Problem: The Broadcom NetXtreme II adapter may not perform at optimal level on some systems if it is added after the system has booted.
Solution: The system BIOS in some systems does not set the cache line size and the latency timer if the adapter is added after the system has booted. Reboot the system after the adapter has been added.
Problem: Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) is not functioning properly.
Solution: IPMI works only when LiveLink™ is disabled. See Configuring LiveLink for a Smart Load Balancing and Failover and SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable) Team.
Problem: Although the Broadcom 5708S SerDes adapter is capable of connecting at speeds up to 2.5 Gbps when licensed and configured, Windows Task Manager incorrectly reports the speed at 2 Gbps.
Solution: This reporting error is a known Microsoft issue. Locate the actual link speed from Viewing Vital Signs in BACS.
Problem: Cannot configure Resource Reservations in BACS after SNP is uninstalled.
Solution: Reinstall SNP. Prior to uninstalling SNP from the system, ensure that NDIS is enabled via the checkbox on the Resource Configuration screen, available from the Resource Reservations section of the Configurations tab (see Viewing Resource Reservations). If NDIS is disabled and SNP is removed, there is no access to re-enable the device.
Problem: TOE performance is more susceptible to packet loss when flow control is disabled.
Solution: Enable flow control to reduce the number of packets lost.
Problem: A DCOM error message (event ID 10016) appears in the System Even Log during the installation of the Broadcom adapter drivers.
Solution: This is a Microsoft issue. For more information, see Microsoft knowledge base KB913119 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/913119.
Problem: Performance is degraded when multiple BCM57710 network adapters are used in a system.
Solution: Ensure that the system has at least 2 GB of main memory when using up to four network adapters and 4 GB of main memory when using four or more network adapters.
Problem: Remote installation of Windows Server 2008 to an iSCSI target via iSCSI offload fails to complete, and the computer restarts, repeatedly.
Solution: This is a Microsoft issue. For more information on applying the Microsoft hotfix, see Microsoft knowledge base article KB952942 at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/952942.
Problem: Performance drops when a BCM5709C network adapter is connected back-to-back to a switch, MTU = 9000, and Tx and Rx Flow Control are enabled.
Solution: When enable_cu_rate_limiter is enabled, the device performs flow control in the catchup path to prevent catchup frames from dropping. The catchup path is used in processing iSCSI out-of-order PDUs. When enable_cu_rate_limiter is disabled, there is a potential for some drops of iSCSI out-of-order PDUs, which reduces performance. This feature does not work well when jumbo frame is enabled on any of the client devices. Enable_cu_rate_limiter should be set to disabled when jumbo frame is enabled.