ICE(4)

NAME
ice - ice -- Intel(R) Ethernet Driver for the FreeBSD* operating system

  Contents

•   ice FreeBSD* Base Driver for the Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series of Adapters

•   Important Notes

•   Overview

•   Related Documentation

•   Identifying Your Adapter

•   The VF Driver

•   Building and Installation

•   Configuration and Tuning

•   Known Issues/Troubleshooting

•   Support

•   Trademarks

IMPORTANT NOTES

  Firmware Recovery Mode

A device will enter Firmware Recovery mode if it detects a problem that requires the firmware to be reprogrammed. When a device is in Firmware Recovery mode it will not pass traffic or allow any configuration; you can only attempt to recover the device's firmware. Refer to the Intel(R) Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide for details on Firmware Recovery Mode and how to recover from it.

OVERVIEW

This file describes the FreeBSD* driver for Intel(R) Ethernet. This driver has been developed for use with all community-supported versions of FreeBSD.

The ice driver supports devices based on the following controllers:

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-XXV

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E822-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E822-L

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-L

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E830-XXV

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E835-CC

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E835-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E835-L

    For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the documentation supplied with your Intel Ethernet Adapter. All hardware requirements listed apply to use with FreeBSD.

    The associated Virtual Function (VF) driver for this driver is iavf.

    The associated RDMA driver for this driver is irdma.

RELATED DOCUMENTATION

See the "Intel(R) Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide" for additional information on features. It is available on the Intel website at either of the following:

•   https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getContent/705831

•   https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/19373/adapter-user-guide-for-intel-ethernet-adapters.html

IDENTIFYING YOUR ADAPTER

The driver is compatible with devices based on the following:

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-XXV

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E822-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E822-L

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-C

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E823-L

•   Intel(R) Ethernet Connection E830-XXV

    For information on how to identify your adapter, and for the latest Intel network drivers, refer to the Intel Support website at http://www.intel.com/support.

THE VF DRIVER

The VF driver is normally used in a virtualized environment where a host driver manages SR-IOV, and provides a VF device to the guest.

In the FreeBSD guest, the iavf driver would be loaded and will function using the VF device assigned to it.

The VF driver provides most of the same functionality as the core driver, but is actually a subordinate to the host. Access to many controls is accomplished by a request to the host via what is called the "Admin queue." These are startup and initialization events, however; once in operation, the device is self-contained and should achieve near native performance.

Some notable limitations of the VF environment:

•   The PF can configure the VF to allow promiscuous mode, when using iovctl.

•   Media info is not available from the PF, so it will always appear as auto.

  Adaptive Virtual Function

Adaptive Virtual Function (AVF) allows the virtual function driver, or VF, to adapt to changing feature sets of the physical function driver (PF) with which it is associated. This allows system administrators to update a PF without having to update all the VFs associated with it. All AVFs have a single common device ID and branding string.

AVFs have a minimum set of features known as "base mode," but may provide additional features depending on what features are available in the PF with which the AVF is associated. The following are base mode features:

•   4 Queue Pairs (QP) and associated Configuration Status Registers (CSRs) for Tx/Rx

•   iavf descriptors and ring format

•   Descriptor write-back completion

•   1 control queue, with iavf descriptors, CSRs and ring format

•   5 MSI-X interrupt vectors and corresponding iavf CSRs

•   1 Interrupt Throttle Rate (ITR) index

•   1 Virtual Station Interface (VSI) per VF

•   1 Traffic Class (TC), TC0

•   Receive Side Scaling (RSS) with 64 entry indirection table and key, configured through the PF

•   1 unicast MAC address reserved per VF

•   8 MAC address filters for each VF on an Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series devices

•   16 MAC address filters for each VF on an Intel(R) Ethernet 700 Series device

•   Stateless offloads - non-tunneled checksums

•   AVF device ID

•   HW mailbox is used for VF to PF communications (including on Windows)

BUILDING AND INSTALLATION

NOTE: This driver package is to be used only as a standalone archive and the user should not attempt to incorporate it into the kernel source tree.

In the instructions below, x.x.x is the driver version as indicated in the name of the driver tar file.

1.  Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For example, use /home/username/ice or /usr/local/src/ice.

2.  Untar/unzip the archive:

        tar xzf ice-x.x.x.tar.gz
    This will create the ice-x.x.x directory.

3.  To install the man page:

        cd ice-x.x.x
        gzip -c ice.4 > /usr/share/man/man4/ice.4.gz

4.  To load the driver onto a running system:

        cd ice-x.x.x
        make
        kldload ./if_ice.ko

    NOTE: Running the make command will not install the Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP) package and could cause the driver to fail to load. See step #7 below for more information.

5.  To assign an IP address to the interface, enter the following, where X is the interface number for the device:

        ifconfig iceX <IP_address>

6.  Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address> is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the interface that is being tested:

        ping <IP_address>

7.  If you want the driver to load automatically when the system is booted:

        cd ice-x.x.x
        make
        make install

    NOTE: It's important to do make install so that the driver loads the DDP package automatically.

    Then edit /boot/loader.conf, and add the following line:

        if_ice_load="YES"

8.  If you want the device to connect to a network without manual intervention after a boot, edit /etc/rc.conf and create the appropriate ifconfig_<driver>X entry:

        ifconfig_iceX="<ifconfig_settings>"
    Example usage:

        ifconfig_ice0="inet 192.168.10.1 netmask 255.255.255.0"

    NOTE: For assistance, see the ifconfig man page.

CONFIGURATION AND TUNING

  Important System Configuration Changes

•   Change the file /etc/sysctl.conf, and add the line:

        hw.intr_storm_threshold: 0

    The default is 1000.

•   Best throughput results are seen with a large MTU; use 9706 if possible. The default number of descriptors per ring is 1024. Increasing this may improve performance, depending on your use case.

•   If you have a choice, run on a 64-bit OS rather than a 32-bit OS.

  Configuring for iflib

Iflib is a common framework for network interface drivers for FreeBSD that uses a shared set of sysctl names. The iflib driver works best in FreeBSD 11.3 and later.

See the iflib man page for more information.

  Dynamic Device Personalization

Dynamic Device Personalization (DDP) allows you to change the packet processing pipeline of a device by applying a profile package to the device at runtime. Profiles can be used to, for example, add support for new protocols, change existing protocols, or change default settings. DDP profiles can also be rolled back without rebooting the system.

The ice driver automatically installs the default DDP package file during driver installation.

NOTE: It's important to do make install during initial ice driver installation so that the driver loads the DDP package automatically.

The DDP package loads during device initialization. The driver looks for the ice_ddp module and checks that it contains a valid DDP package file.

If the driver is unable to load the DDP package, the device will enter Safe Mode. Safe Mode disables advanced and performance features and supports only basic traffic and minimal functionality, such as updating the NVM or downloading a new driver or DDP package. Safe Mode only applies to the affected physical function and does not impact any other PFs. See the "Intel(R) Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide" for more details on DDP and Safe Mode.

NOTE:

•   If you encounter issues with the DDP package file, you may need to download an updated driver or ice_ddp module. See the log messages for more information.

•   You cannot update the DDP package if any PF drivers are already loaded. To overwrite a package, unload all PFs and then reload the driver with the new package.

•   You can only use one DDP package per driver, even if you have more than one device installed that uses the driver.

•   Only the first loaded PF per device can download a package for that device.

  RDMA (Remote Direct Memory Access)

Remote Direct Memory Access, or RDMA, allows a network device to transfer data directly to and from application memory on another system, increasing throughput and lowering latency in certain networking environments.

The ice driver supports the following RDMA protocols:

•   iWARP (Internet Wide Area RDMA Protocol)

•   RoCEv2 (RDMA over Converged Ethernet)

    The major difference is that iWARP performs RDMA over TCP, while RoCEv2 uses UDP.

    Devices based on the Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series do not support RDMA when operating in multiport mode with more than 4 ports.

    For detailed installation and configuration information for RDMA, see the README file in the irdma driver tarball.

  RDMA Monitoring

For debugging/testing purposes, you can use sysctl to set up a mirroring interface on a port. The interface can receive mirrored RDMA traffic for packet analysis tools like tcpdump. This mirroring may impact performance.

NOTE:

•   To use RDMA monitoring, you may need to reserve more MSI-X interrupts. Before the ice driver loads, perform the following:

        kenv dev.ice.0.iflib.use_extra_msix_vectors=4

    You may need to adjust the number of extra MSI-X interrupt vectors.

•   The mirrored interface receives both LAN and RDMA traffic. Additional filters can be configured in tcpdump.

    To differentiate the mirrored interface from the primary interface, the network interface naming convention is:

        <driver name><port number><modifier><modifier unit number>

    For example, ice0m0 is the first mirrored interface on ice 0.

    To create/delete the interface:

        sysctl dev.ice.0.create_interface=1
        sysctl dev.ice.0.delete_interface=1

  Data Center Bridging (DCB)

DCB is a configuration Quality of Service implementation in hardware. It uses the VLAN priority tag (802.1p) to filter traffic. That means that there are 8 different priorities that traffic can be filtered into. It also enables priority flow control (802.1Qbb) which can limit or eliminate the number of dropped packets during network stress. Bandwidth can be allocated to each of these priorities, which is enforced at the hardware level (802.1Qaz).

DCB is normally configured on the network using the DCBX protocol (802.1Qaz), a specialization of LLDP (802.1AB). The ice driver supports the following mutually exclusive variants of DCBX support:

1.  Firmware-based LLDP Agent

2.  Software-based LLDP Agent

    In firmware-based mode, firmware intercepts all LLDP traffic and handles DCBX negotiation transparently for the user. In this mode, the adapter operates in "willing" DCBX mode, receiving DCB settings from the link partner (typically a switch). The local user can only query the negotiated DCB configuration. For information on configuring DCBX parameters on a switch, please consult the switch manufacturer's documentation.

    In software-based mode, LLDP traffic is forwarded to the network stack and user space, where a software agent can handle it. In this mode, the adapter can operate in "nonwilling" DCBX mode and DCB configuration can be both queried and set locally. This mode requires the FW-based LLDP Agent to be disabled.

    NOTE:

•   To enable DCBX, enable the fw_lldp_agent sysctl. Refer to the FW-LLDP (Firmware Link Layer Discovery Protocol) section in this README for more information.

•   Link-level flow control and priority flow control are mutually exclusive. The ice driver will disable link flow control when priority flow control is enabled on any traffic class (TC). It will disable priority flow control when link flow control is enabled.

    To enable/disable priority flow control in software-based DCBX mode:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.pfc=1 (or 0 to disable)

    Enhanced Transmission Selection (ETS) allows you to assign bandwidth to certain TCs, to help ensure traffic reliability. To view the assigned ETS configuration, use the following:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.ets_min_rate

    To set the minimum ETS bandwidth per TC, separate the values by commas. All values must add up to 100. For example, to set all TCs to a minimum bandwidth of 10% and TC 7 to 30%, use the following:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.ets_min_rate=10,10,10,10,10,10,10,30

    To set the User Priority (UP) to a TC mapping for a port, separate the values by commas. For example, to map UP 0 and 1 to TC 0, UP 2 and 3 to TC 1, UP 4 and 5 to TC 2, and UP 6 and 7 to TC 3, use the following:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.up2tc_map=0,0,1,1,2,2,3,3

  L3 QoS mode

The ice driver supports setting DSCP-based Layer 3 Quality of Service (L3 QoS) in the PF driver. The driver initializes in L2 QoS mode.

L3 QoS is disabled by default. Use the following sysctl to enable or disable L3 QoS:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.pfc_mode=1 (or 0 to disable)

NOTE: If you disable L3 QoS mode, it returns to L2 QoS mode.

To map a DSCP value to a traffic class, separate the values by commas. For example, to map DSCPs 0-3 and DSCP 8 to DCB TCs 0-3 and 4, respectively:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.dscp2tc_map.0-7=0,1,2,3,0,0,0,0
    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.dscp2tc_map.8-15=4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

To change the DSCP mapping back to the default traffic class, set all the values back to 0.

To view the currently configured mappings, use the following:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.dscp2tc_map

NOTE:

•   L3 QoS mode is not available when FW-LLDP is enabled.

•   You also cannot enable FW-LLDP if L3 QoS mode is active.

•   Disable FW-LLDP before switching to L3 QoS mode.

•   Refer to the FW-LLDP (Firmware Link Layer Discovery Protocol) section in this README for more information on disabling FW-LLDP.

  FW-LLDP (Firmware Link Layer Discovery Protocol)

Use sysctl to change FW-LLDP settings. The FW-LLDP setting is per port and persists across boots.

To enable LLDP:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.fw_lldp_agent=1

To disable LLDP:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.fw_lldp_agent=0

To check the current LLDP setting:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.fw_lldp_agent

or:

    sysctl -a|grep lldp

NOTE: You must enable the UEFI HII LLDP Agent attribute for this setting to take effect. If LLDP AGENT is set to disabled, you cannot enable it from the OS.

  Link-Level Flow Control (LFC)

Ethernet Flow Control (IEEE 802.3x) can be configured with sysctl to enable receiving and transmitting pause frames for ice. When transmit is enabled, pause frames are generated when the receive packet buffer crosses a predefined threshold. When receive is enabled, the transmit unit will halt for the time delay specified when a pause frame is received.

NOTE: You must have a flow control capable link partner.

Flow Control is disabled by default.

Use sysctl to change the flow control settings for a single interface without reloading the driver.

The available values for flow control are:

•   0 = Disable flow control

•   1 = Enable Rx pause

•   2 = Enable Tx pause

•   3 = Enable Rx and Tx pause

    Examples:

•   To enable a flow control setting with sysctl:

        # sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.fc=3

•   To disable flow control using sysctl:

        # sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.fc=0

    NOTE:

•   The ice driver requires flow control on both the port and link partner. If flow control is disabled on one of the sides, the port may appear to hang on heavy traffic.

•   For more information on priority flow control, refer to the Data Center Bridging (DCB) section in this README.

•   The VF driver does not have access to flow control. It must be managed from the host side.

  Jumbo Frames

Jumbo Frames support is enabled by changing the Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) to a value larger than the default value of 1500.

Use the ifconfig command to increase the MTU size. For example, enter the following where X is the interface number:

    ifconfig iceX mtu 9000

To confirm an interface's MTU value, use the ifconfig command.

To confirm the MTU used between two specific devices, use:

    route get <destination_IP_address>

NOTE:

•   The maximum MTU setting for jumbo frames is 9706. This corresponds to the maximum jumbo frame size of 9728 bytes.

•   This driver will attempt to use multiple page sized buffers to receive each jumbo packet. This should help to avoid buffer starvation issues when allocating receive packets.

•   Packet loss may have a greater impact on throughput when you use jumbo frames. If you observe a drop in performance after enabling jumbo frames, enabling flow control may mitigate the issue.

  VLANS

To create a new VLAN interface:

    ifconfig <vlan_name> create

To associate the VLAN interface with a physical interface and assign a VLAN ID, IP address, and netmask:

    ifconfig <vlan_name> <ip_address> netmask <subnet_mask> vlan <vlan_id>
    vlandev <physical_interface>

Example:

    ifconfig vlan10 10.0.0.1 netmask 255.255.255.0 vlan 10 vlandev ice0

In this example, all packets will be marked on egress with 802.1Q VLAN tags, specifying a VLAN ID of 10.

To remove a VLAN interface:

    ifconfig <vlan_name> destroy

  Checksum Offload

Checksum offloading supports both TCP and UDP packets and is supported for both transmit and receive.

Checksum offloading can be enabled or disabled using ifconfig.

To enable checksum offloading:

    ifconfig iceX rxcsum rxcsum6
    ifconfig iceX txcsum txcsum6

To disable checksum offloading:

    ifconfig iceX -rxcsum -rxcsum6
    ifconfig iceX -txcsum -txcsum6

To confirm the current setting:

    ifconfig iceX

Look for the presence or absence of the following line:

    options=3 <RXCSUM,TXCSUM,RXCSUM6,TXCSUM6>

See the ifconfig man page for further information.

  TSO

TSO (TCP Segmentation Offload) supports both IPv4 and IPv6. TSO can be disabled and enabled using the ifconfig utility or sysctl.

To enable/disable TSO in the stack:

    sysctl net.inet.tcp.tso=0 (or 1 to enable it)

Doing this disables/enables TSO in the stack and affects all installed adapters.

To disable BOTH TSO IPv4 and IPv6, where X is the number of the interface in use:

    ifconfig iceX -tso

To enable BOTH TSO IPv4 and IPv6:

    ifconfig iceX tso

You can also enable/disable IPv4 TSO or IPv6 TSO individually. Simply replace tso or -tso in the above command with tso4 or tso6. For example, to disable TSO IPv4:

    ifconfig iceX -tso4

To disable TSO IPv6:

    ifconfig iceX -tso6

  LRO

LRO (Large Receive Offload) may provide Rx performance improvement. However, it is incompatible with packet-forwarding workloads. You should carefully evaluate the environment and enable LRO when possible.

To enable:

    ifconfig iceX lro

It can be disabled by using:

    ifconfig iceX -lro

  Rx and Tx Descriptor Rings

Allows you to set the Rx and Tx descriptor rings independently. The tunables are:

    hw.ice.rx_ring_size
    hw.ice.tx_ring_size

The valid range is 32-4096 in increments of 32. Use kenv to configure the descriptor rings. Changes will take effect on the next driver reload. For example:

    kenv hw.ice.rx_ring_size=1024
    kenv hw.ice.rx_ring_size=1280

You can verify the descriptor ring size by using the following sysctls:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.rx_ring_size
    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.tx_ring_size

If you are using iflib, use the following sysctls instead:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.iflib.override_nrxds
    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.iflib.override_ntxds

  Forward Error Correction (FEC)

Allows you to set the Forward Error Correction (FEC) mode. FEC improves link stability, but increases latency. Many high quality optics, direct attach cables, and backplane channels provide a stable link without FEC.

NOTE: For devices to benefit from this feature, link partners must have FEC enabled.

If you enable the flag allow_no_fec_modules_in_auto, Auto FEC negotiation will include No FEC in case your link partner does not have FEC enabled or is not FEC capable:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.allow_no_fec_modules_in_auto=1

NOTE: This flag is currently not supported on the Intel(R) Ethernet 830 Series.

Use sysctl to configure FEC.

To show the current FEC settings that are negotiated on the link:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.negotiated_fec

To view or set the FEC setting that was requested on the link:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.requested_fec

To see the valid modes for the link:

    sysctl -d dev.ice.<interface #>.requested_fec

  Speed and Duplex Configuration

You cannot set speed, duplex, or autonegotiation settings.

To have your device advertise supported speeds, use the following:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.advertise_speed=<mask>

Supported speeds will vary by device. Depending on the speeds your device supports, available speed masks could include:

•   0x0 - Auto

•   0x2 - 100 Mbps

•   0x4 - 1 Gbps

•   0x8 - 2.5 Gbps

•   0x10 - 5 Gbps

•   0x20 - 10 Gbps

•   0x80 - 25 Gbps

•   0x100 - 40 Gbps

•   0x200 - 50 Gbps

•   0x400 - 100 Gbps

•   0x800 - 200 Gbps

  Disabling physical link when the interface is brought down

When the link_active_on_if_down sysctl flag is set to "0", the port's link will go down when the interface is brought down using the ifconfig iceX down command.

To disable link when the interface is down:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.link_active_on_if_down=0

  Firmware Logs

The ice driver allows you to generate firmware logs for supported categories of events, to help debug issues with Customer Support. Firmware logs are enabled by default. Refer to the Intel(R) Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide for an overview of this feature and additional tips.

At a high level, you must do the following to capture a firmware log:

1.  Set the configuration for the firmware log.

2.  Perform the necessary steps to generate the issue you are trying to debug.

3.  Capture the firmware log.

4.  Stop capturing the firmware log.

5.  Reset your firmware log settings as needed.

6.  Work with Customer Support to debug your issue.

    NOTE: Firmware logs are generated in a binary format and must be decoded by Customer Support. Information collected is related only to firmware and hardware for debug purposes.

    Once the driver is loaded, it will create the fw_log sysctl node under the debug section of the driver's sysctl list. The driver groups these events into categories, called "modules." Supported modules include:

general
    General (Bit 0)

ctrl
    Control (Bit 1)

link
    Link Management (Bit 2)

link_topo
    Link Topology Detection (Bit 3)

dnl Link Control Technology (Bit 4)

i2c I2C (Bit 5)

sdp SDP (Bit 6)

mdio
    MDIO (Bit 7)

adminq
    Admin Queue (Bit 8)

hdma
    Host DMA (Bit 9)

lldp
    LLDP (Bit 10)

dcbx
    DCBx (Bit 11)

dcb DCB (Bit 12)

xlr XLR (function-level resets; Bit 13)

nvm NVM (Bit 14)

auth
    Authentication (Bit 15)

vpd Vital Product Data (Bit 16)

iosf
    Intel On-Chip System Fabric (Bit 17)

parser
    Parser (Bit 18)

sw  Switch (Bit 19)

scheduler
    Scheduler (Bit 20)

txq TX Queue Management (Bit 21)

acl ACL (Access Control List; Bit 22)

post
    Post (Bit 23)

watchdog
    Watchdog (Bit 24)

task_dispatch
    Task Dispatcher (Bit 25)

mng Manageability (Bit 26)

synce
    SyncE (Bit 27)

health
    Health (Bit 28)

tsdrv
    Time Sync (Bit 29)

pfreg
    PF Registration (Bit 30)

mdlver
    Module Version (Bit 31)

    You can change the verbosity level of the firmware logs. You can set only one log level per module, and each level includes the verbosity levels lower than it. For instance, setting the level to "normal" will also log warning and error messages. Available verbosity levels are:

•   0 = none

•   1 = error

•   2 = warning

•   3 = normal

•   4 = verbose

    To set the desired verbosity level for a module, use the following sysctl command and then register it:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.debug.fw_log.severity.<module>=<level>

    For example:

        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.severity.link=1
        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.severity.link_topo=2
        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.register=1

    To log firmware messages before the driver initializes, use the kenv command to set the tunable. The on_load setting tells the device to register the variable as soon as possible during driver load. For example:

        kenv dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.severity.link=1
        kenv dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.severity.link_topo=2
        kenv dev.ice.0.debug.fw_log.on_load=1

    To view the firmware logs and redirect them to a file, use the following command:

        dmesg > log_output

    NOTE: Logging a large number of modules or too high of a verbosity level will add extraneous messages to dmesg and could hinder debug efforts.

  Debug Dump

Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series devices support debug dump, which allows you to obtain runtime register values from the firmware for "clusters" of events and then write the results to a single dump file, for debugging complicated issues in the field.

This debug dump contains a snapshot of the device and its existing hardware configuration, such as switch tables, transmit scheduler tables, and other information. Debug dump captures the current state of the specified cluster(s) and is a stateless snapshot of the whole device.

NOTE:

•   Like with firmware logs, the contents of the debug dump are not human-readable. You must work with Customer Support to decode the file.

•   Debug dump is per device, not per PF.

•   Debug dump writes all information to a single file.

    To generate a debug dump file in FreeBSD, do the following:

1.  Specify the cluster(s) to include in the dump file, using a bitmask and the following command:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.debug.dump.clusters=<bitmask>

•   To print the complete cluster bitmask and parameter list to the screen, pass the -d argument. For example:

        sysctl -d dev.ice.0.debug.dump.clusters

•   Possible bitmask values for clusters are:

•   0 - Dump all clusters (only supported on Intel(R) Ethernet E810 Series and Intel(R) Ethernet E830 Series)

•   0x1 - Switch

•   0x2 - ACL

•   0x4 - Tx Scheduler

•   0x8 - Profile Configuration

•   0x20 - Link

•   0x80 - DCB

•   0x100 - L2P

•   0x400000 - Manageability Transactions (only supported on Intel(R) Ethernet E810 Series)

    For example, to dump the Switch, DCB, and L2P clusters, use the following:

        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.dump.clusters=0x181

    To dump all clusters, use the following:

        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.dump.clusters=0

    NOTE: Using 0 will skip Manageability Transactions data.

•   If you don't specify a cluster, the driver will dump all clusters to a single file.

2.  Issue the debug dump command, using the following:

        sysctl -b dev.ice.<interface #>.debug.dump.dump=1 > dump.bin

    NOTE:

•   The driver will not receive the command if you do not write "1" to the sysctl.

•   Replace dump.bin above with the file name you want to use.

•   If you did not specify any clusters, the dump file will include information about all clusters.

    To clear the clusters bitmap before a subsequent debug dump and then do the dump:

        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.dump.clusters=0
        sysctl dev.ice.0.debug.dump.dump=1

  Debugging PHY Statistics

The ice driver supports the ability to obtain the values of the PHY registers from Intel(R) Ethernet 810 Series devices, to debug link and connection issues during runtime.

The driver allows you to obtain information about:

•   Rx and Tx Equalization parameters

•   RS FEC correctable and uncorrectable block counts

    Use the following sysctl to read the PHY registers:

        sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.debug.phy_statistics

    NOTE: The contents of the registers are not human-readable. Like with firmware logs and debug dump, you must work with Customer Support to decode the file.

  Transmit Balancing

Some Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series devices allow you to enable a transmit balancing feature to improve transmit performance under certain conditions. When the feature is enabled, you should experience more consistent transmit performance across queues and/or PFs and VFs.

By default, transmit balancing is disabled in the NVM. To enable this feature, use one of the following to persistently change the setting for the device:

•   Use the Ethernet Port Configuration Tool (EPCT) to enable the tx_balancing option. Refer to the EPCT readme for more information.

•   Enable the Transmit Balancing device setting in UEFI HII.

    When the driver loads, it reads the transmit balancing setting from the NVM and configures the device accordingly.

    NOTE:

•   The user selection for transmit balancing in EPCT or HII is persistent across reboots. You must reboot the system for the selected setting to take effect.

•   This setting is device wide.

•   The driver, NVM, and DDP package must all support this functionality to enable the feature.

  Thermal Monitoring

Intel(R) Ethernet 810 Series and Intel(R) Ethernet 830 Series devices can display temperature data via the temp parameter in sysctl:

    sysctl dev.ice.<interface #>.temp

This is represented in degrees Celsius. The driver limits polling to a maximum one per 100ms.

KNOWN ISSUES/TROUBLESHOOTING

  Driver Buffer Overflow Fix

The fix to resolve CVE-2016-8105, referenced in Intel SA-00069 <https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/security-center/advisory/intel-sa-00069.html>, is included in this and future versions of the driver.

  Network Memory Buffer Allocation

FreeBSD may have a low number of network memory buffers (mbufs) by default. If your mbuf value is too low, it may cause the driver to fail to initialize and/or cause the system to become unresponsive. You can check to see if the system is mbuf-starved by running netstat -m. Increase the number of mbufs by editing the lines below in /etc/sysctl.conf:

    kern.ipc.nmbclusters
    kern.ipc.nmbjumbop
    kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9
    kern.ipc.nmbjumbo16
    kern.ipc.nmbufs

The amount of memory that you allocate is system specific, and may require some trial and error. Also, increasing the following in /etc/sysctl.conf could help increase network performance:

    kern.ipc.maxsockbuf
    net.inet.tcp.sendspace
    net.inet.tcp.recvspace
    net.inet.udp.maxdgram
    net.inet.udp.recvspace

  UDP Stress Test Dropped Packet Issue

Under small packet UDP stress with the ice driver, the system may drop UDP packets due to socket buffers being full. Setting the driver Intel Ethernet Flow Control variables to the minimum may resolve the issue.

  Disable LRO when routing/bridging

LRO must be turned off when forwarding traffic.

  Lower than expected performance

Some PCIe x8 slots are actually configured as x4 slots. These slots have insufficient bandwidth for full line rate with dual port and quad port devices. In addition, if you put a PCIe v4.0 or v3.0-capable adapter into a PCIe v2.x slot, you cannot get full bandwidth. The driver detects this situation and writes one of the following messages in the system log:

    PCI-Express bandwidth available for this card is not sufficient for optimal
    performance. For optimal performance a x8 PCI-Express slot is required.

or:

    PCI-Express bandwidth available for this device may be insufficient for
    optimal performance. Please move the device to a different PCI-e link with
    more lanes and/or higher transfer rate.

If this error occurs, moving your adapter to a true PCIe x8 or x16 slot will resolve the issue. For best performance, install devices in the following PCI slots:

•   Any 100Gbps-capable Intel(R) Ethernet 800 Series device: Install in a PCIe v4.0 x8 or v3.0 x16 slot

•   A 200Gbps-capable Intel(R) Ethernet 830 Series device: Install in a PCIe v5.0 x8 or v4.0 x16 slot

  Throughput lower than expected

In FreeBSD 11.3, you may observe lower than expected throughput. This is due to an underlying OS limitation in FreeBSD 11.3. Using FreeBSD 12.0 or newer should resolve the issue.

If your Rx throughput is lower than expected in FreeBSD 11.3 or 12.1, you can also adjust the iflib sysctl variable rx_budget. We have seen performance benefits by increasing that value to at least 85. For example:

    sysctl dev.ice.0.iflib.rx_budget=85

  Fiber optics and auto-negotiation

Modules based on 100GBASE-SR4, active optical cable (AOC), and active copper cable (ACC) do not support auto-negotiation per the IEEE specification. To obtain link with these modules, you must turn off auto-negotiation on the link partner's switch ports.

SUPPORT

For general information, go to the Intel support website at http://www.intel.com/support/.

If an issue is identified with the released source code on a supported kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related to the issue to freebsd@intel.com.

TRADEMARKS

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Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

AUTHOR
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