Users Guide

Linux* Driver Installation and Configuration
102
i40e Linux Driver for the Intel Ethernet Controller 700 Series
i40e Overview
NOTE: The kernel assumes that TC0 is available, and will disable Priority Flow Control (PFC) on the device if TC0 is
not available. To fix this, ensure TC0 is enabled when setting up DCB on your switch.
NOTE: If the physical function (PF) link is down, you can force link up (from the host PF) on any virtual functions (VF)
bound to the PF. Note that this requires kernel support (Redhat kernel 3.10.0-327 or newer, upstream kernel 3.11.0
or newer, and associated iproute2 user space support). If the following command does not work, it may not be sup-
ported by your system. The following command forces link up on VF 0 bound to PF eth0:
ip link set eth0 vf 0 state enable
NOTE:Do not unload a port's driver if a Virtual Function (VF) with an active Virtual Machine (VM) is bound to it. Doing
so will cause the port to appear to hang. Once the VM shuts down, or otherwise releases the VF, the command will
complete.
NOTE: In a virtualized environment, on Intel® Server Adapters that support SR-IOV, the virtual function (VF) may be
subject to malicious behavior. Software- generated layer two frames, like IEEE 802.3x (link flow control), IEEE
802.1Qbb (priority based flow-control), and others of this type, are not expected and can throttle traffic between the
host and the virtual switch, reducing performance. To resolve this issue, and to ensure isolation from unintended
traffic streams, configure all SR-IOV enabled ports for VLAN tagging from the administrative interface on the PF. This
configuration allows unexpected, and potentially malicious, frames to be dropped.
The i40e Linux* Base Driver for the Intel Ethernet Controller 700 Series family of adapters supports the 2.6.32 and newer ker-
nels, and includes support for Linux supported x86_64 systems.
The following features are now available in supported kernels:
l VXLAN encapsulation
l Native VLANs
l Channel Bonding (teaming)
l Generic Receive Offload
l Data Center Bridging
Adapter teaming is implemented using the native Linux Channel bonding module. This is included in supported Linux ker-
nels. Channel Bonding documentation can be found in the Linux kernel source: /Documentation/networking/bonding.txt
Use ethtool, lspci, or iproute2's ip command to obtain driver information. Instructions on updating ethtool can be found in the
Additional Configurations section.
i40e Linux Base Driver Supported Devices
The following Intel network adapters are compatible with this driver:
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 4P X710-k bNDC
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 2P X710-k bNDC
l Intel® Ethernet 10G X710-k bNDC
l Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710
l Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-T
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 4P X710/l350 rNDC
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 4P X710 SFP+ rNDC
l Intel® Ethernet 10G X710 rNDC
l Intel® Ethernet Server Adapter X710-DA2 for OCP
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 2P X710 OCP
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 4P X710 OCP
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 2P X710-T2L-t OCP
l Intel® Ethernet 10G 4P X710-T4L-t OCP