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Name

ie - Intel 82586 Ethernet device driver

Synopsis

/dev/ie

Description

The Intel 82586 ethernet driver is a multithreaded, loadable, clonable, STREAMS hardware driver supporting the connectionless Data Link Provider Interface, dlpi(7P) , over Intel 82586 ethernet controller. Two device implementations are supported by this driver -- the onboard 82586 for those systems which include this chip on the motherboard and the 3/E VME Ethernet/SCSI card. The older Multibus I Ethernet card in a Multibus-to-VME adaptor is not supported.

The ie driver provides basic support for the 82586 hardware. Functions include chip initialization, frame transmit and receive, multicast and promiscuous support, and error recovery and reporting. Multiple 82586 controllers installed within the system are supported by the driver.

Application Programming Interface

The cloning character-special device /dev/ie is used to access all 82586 controllers installed within the system.

ie and DLPI

The ie driver is a ‘style 2’ Data Link Service provider. All M_PROTO and M_PCPROTO type messages are interpreted as DLPI primitives. Valid DLPI primitives are defined in <sys/dlpi.h>. Refer to dlpi(7P) for more information. An explicit DL_ATTACH_REQ message by the user is required to associate the opened stream with a particular device (ppa). The ppa ID is interpreted as an unsigned long and indicates the corresponding device instance (unit) number. An error (DL_ERROR_ACK ) is returned by the driver if the ppa field value does not correspond to a valid device instance number for this system. The device is initialized on first attach and de-initialized (stopped) on last detach.

The values returned by the driver in the DL_INFO_ACK primitive in response to the DL_INFO_REQ from the user are as follows:


Once in the DL_ATTACHED state, the user must send a DL_BIND_REQ to associate a particular SAP (Service Access Pointer) with the stream. The ie driver interprets the sap field within the DL_BIND_REQ as an Ethernet ‘type’. Therefore, valid values for the sap field are in the [0-0xFFFF] range. Only one Ethernet type can be bound to the stream at any time.

In addition to Ethernet V2 service, an ‘802.3 mode’ is provided by the driver and works as follows. sap values in the range [0-1500] are treated as equivalent and represent a desire by the user for ‘802.3 mode’. If the value of the sap field of the DL_BIND_REQ is within this range, then the driver computes the length of the message, not including the initial M_PROTO message block, of all subsequent DL_UNITDATA_REQ messages and transmits 802.3 frames having this value in the MAC frame header length field. All frames received from the media having a ‘type’ field in this range are assumed to be 802.3 frames and are routed up all open streams which are bound to any sap value within this range. If more than one stream is in ‘802.3 mode’ then the frame will be duplicated and routed up multiple streams as DL_UNITDATA_IND messages.

The ie driver DLSAP address format consists of the 6 byte physical (Ethernet) address component followed immediately by the 2 byte sap (type) component producing an 8 byte DLSAP address. Applications should not hardcode to this particular implementation-specific DLSAP address format but use information returned in the DL_INFO_ACK primitive to compose and decompose DLSAP addresses. The sap length, full DLSAP length, and sap/physical ordering are included within the DL_INFO_ACK . The physical address length can be computed by subtracting the sap length from the full DLSAP address length or by issuing the DL_PHYS_ADDR_REQ to obtain the current physical address associated with the stream.

Once in the DL_BOUND state, the user may transmit frames on the Ethernet by sending DL_UNITDATA_REQ messages to the ie driver. The ie driver will route received Ethernet frames up all those open and bound streams having a sap which matches the Ethernet type as DL_UNITDATA_IND messages. Received Ethernet frames are duplicated and routed up multiple open streams if necessary. The DLSAP address contained within the DL_UNITDATA_REQ and DL_UNITDATA_IND messages consists of both the sap (type) and physical (Ethernet) components.

ie Primitives

In addition to the mandatory connectionless DLPI message set the driver additionally supports the following primitives.

The DL_ENABMULTI_REQ and DL_DISABMULTI_REQ primitives enable/disable reception of individual multicast group addresses. A set of multicast addresses may be iteratively created and modified on a per-stream basis using these primitives. These primitives are accepted by the driver in any state following DL_ATTACHED .

The DL_PROMISCON_REQ and DL_PROMISCOFF_REQ primitives with the DL_PROMISC_PHYS flag set in the dl_level field enables/disables reception of all (‘promiscuous mode’) frames on the media including frames generated by the local host. When used with the DL_PROMISC_SAP flag set this enables/disables reception of all sap (Ethernet type) values. When used with the DL_PROMISC_MULTI flag set this enables/disables reception of all multicast group addresses. The effect of each is always on a per-stream basis and independent of the other sap and physical level configurations on this stream or other streams.

The DL_PHYS_ADDR_REQ primitive return the 6 octet Ethernet address currently associated (attached) to the stream in the DL_PHYS_ADDR_ACK primitive. This primitive is valid only in states following a successful DL_ATTACH_REQ .

The DL_SET_PHYS_ADDR_REQ primitive changes the 6 octet Ethernet address currently associated (attached) to this stream. The credentials of the process which originally opened this stream must be superuser. Otherwise EPERM is returned in the DL_ERROR_ACK . This primitive is destructive in that it affects all other current and future streams attached to this device. An M_ERROR is sent up all other streams attached to this device when this primitive is successful on this stream. Once changed, all streams subsequently opened and attached to this device will obtain this new physical address. The physical address will remain until this primitive is used to change the physical address again or the system is rebooted, whichever comes first.

Files

/dev/ie

See Also

netstat(1M) , dlpi(7P) , le(7D)

Diagnostics

There are too many driver messages to list them all individually here. Some of the more common messages and their meanings follow.

ie%d: Ethernet jammed
Network activity has become so intense that successive transmission attempts failed, and the 82586 gave up on the current packet. Another possible cause of this message is a noise source somewhere in the network, such as a loose transceiver connection.
ie%d: no carrier
The 82586 has lost input to its carrier detect pin while trying to transmit a packet, causing the packet to be dropped. Possible causes include an open circuit somewhere in the network and noise on the carrier detect line from the transceiver.

Notes

netstat -i command (see netstat(1M) ) will display the number of collisions of a packet transmission before a packet is successfully transmitted.


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