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NIC Partitioning: Broadcom NetXtreme II™ Network Adapter User Guide

Overview

Configuring for NIC Partitioning


Overview

NIC partitioning (NPAR) 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.

NOTE: Link speed cannot be configured for 1 Gbps when NPAR is enabled.

The number of partitions for each port is from one to four; thus, making a dual-port NIC capable of a maximum of eight partitions. Each partition behaves as if it is an independent NIC port.

NOTE: On quad-port adapters with two 1G ports and two 10G ports, the 1G ports do not support NPAR.

Benefits of a partitioned 10G NIC include:

Supported Operating Systems for NIC Partitioning

The Broadcom NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapters support NIC partitioning on the following operating systems:

Configuring for NIC Partitioning

NIC partitioning can be configured using Broadcom's Comprehensive Configuration Management (CCM) utility.

To configure a NIC for partitioning using the CCM utility

  1. Select the NIC from Device List.
  2. From the Main Menu, select Device Hardware Configuration.
  3. Change the Multi-Function Mode to NPAR.
  4. Configure the NIC parameters for your configuration based on the options shown in Table 1.

Table 1 lists the configuration parameters available from the NIC Partitioning Configuration screen.

Table 1: Configuration Options
Parameter
Description
Options
Flow Control
Configures the Flow Control mode for this port.
  • Auto
  • TX Flow Control
  • RX Flow Control
  • TX/RX Flow Control
  • None
PF#0, PF#2, PF#4, PF#6
Displays the physical function (PF) information regarding the partition(s) on port 0. Select to configure.
See Table 2 for configuration options.
PF#1, PF#3, PF#5, PF#7
Displays the physical function (PF) information regarding the partition(s) on port 1. Select to configure.
See Table 2 for configuration options.
Reset Configuration to Default
Resets the NIC partition configuration to the factory default settings.
 

Table 2 describes the functions available from the PF# X screen.

Table 2: Function Description
Function
Description
Option
Ethernet Protocol
Enables/disables Ethernet protocol.
  • Enable
  • Disable
iSCSI Offload Protocol
Enables/disables iSCSI protocol.
  • Enable
  • Disable
FCoE Offload protocol
Enables/disables FCoE protocol.
  • Enable
  • Disable
Bandwidth Weight
Configures the weight or importance of a particular function. There are four functions per port and the weight is used to arbitrate between the functions in case of congestion.
The sum of all weights for the four functions are either 0 or 100.
Maximum Bandwidth
Configures the maximum bandwidth (in percentage) of the physical port link.
 
Network MAC Address
Displays the network MAC address.
 
iSCSI MAC Address
Displays the iSCSI MAC address.
 
FCoE FIP MAC Address
Displays the FCoE MAC address.
 
FCoE WWPN
FCoE World Wide Port Name.
 
FCoE WWNN
FCoE World Wide Node Name.
 
Note: Ensure that the Network MAC Address and the iSCSI MAC Address are not the same.


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