Solarflare 3.2 Windows driver package ===================================== Version: v3.2.7.6150-4 Overview -------- This is the Solarflare 3.2 Windows driver package for 64-bit Microsoft Windows platforms. An alternate package for 32-bit platforms is available for download from http://download.solarflare.com. Supported features ------------------ This driver is provided for IBM-branded Solarflare adapters and has been validated by IBM System x groups. Current IBM support does not extend to the following Solarflare features: - Use of SR-IOV on the Solarflare adapter. - iSCSI boot support in the Solarflare OptionROM. - UEFI driver for the Solarflare adapter. Supported hardware platforms ---------------------------- The drivers, utilities and applications contained in this package support the following adapters: - IBM Solarflare 10Gb HBA [47C9955] - IBM Solarflare 10Gb Low-latency HBA [47C9963] NOTE: On IBM x3850 X5 and IBM x3950 X5 servers, support for these Solarflare adapters is limited to PCIe slots 1 through slot 4; these adapters are not supported when inserted into the higher numbered slots 5 through 7. Supported operating systems --------------------------- The package contains drivers for the following Microsoft operating systems: - Windows Server 2003 (x64 edition) - Windows Server 2003 R2 (x64 edition) - Windows Server 2008 (x64 edition) - Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64 edition) Contents -------- In addition to the base VBD and NDIS drivers, the Windows installer contains: - Teaming and VLAN support (included in the base drivers) - RIS drivers for Windows 2003 platforms - iSCSI set-up driver for Windows 2003 platforms - iSCSI crash dump driver for Windows 2003 and later platforms - SAM MMC snap-in management application - Command line (CLI) tools: - sfboot.exe – Boot ROM configuration tool - sfcable.exe – 10GBASE-T cable diagnostics tool - sfnet.exe – Adapter configuration tool - sfteam.exe – Adapter teaming and VLANs configuration tool - sfupdate.exe – Firmware update tool - SNMP MIB support Additional information ---------------------- For detailed instructions of how to install and configure the Windows drivers please refer to the Windows chapter in the “Solarflare Server Adapter User’s Guide” (SF-103837-CD). New release 3.2 features ------------------------ Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ) Virtual Machine Queues (VMQ) offloads the classification and delivery of network traffic destined for Hyper-V virtual machines to the network adapter, reducing CPU utilization on Hyper-V hosts. VMQ supports: - Classification of received network traffic in hardware by using the destination MAC address (and optionally also the VLAN identifier) to route packets to different receive queues dedicated to each virtual machine. - The ability to use the network adapter to directly transfer received network traffic to a virtual machine’s shared memory avoiding a potential software-based copy from the Hyper-V host to the virtual machine. - Scaling to multiple processors by processing network traffic destined for different virtual machines on different processors. System requirements VMQ is a Windows Server 2008 R2 and later feature and is supported by all Solarflare SFN5xxx series and SFN6xxx series network adapters — it is not supported by the Solarstorm SFN4112F SFP+ Server Adapter. Configuration via Network Adapter Properties Three additional properties have been added to the Solarflare Network Adapter Advanced Properties ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Property Name Values Descripiion ------------------- ----------- ---------------------------------------- Virtual Machine Enabled, Virtual Machine Queues (VMQ) is a Queues (VMQ) Disabled Windows Server 2008 R2 specific feature. It offloads the classification and delivery of network traffic destined for Hyper-V virtual machines to the network adapter, reducing CPU utilization on Hyper-V hosts. VMQ is enabled by default. VMQ Lookahead Split Enabled, VLAN lookahead split allows the network Disabled adapter to split packets into header and payload portions in hardware. The payload will be delivered directly into the address space of the destination Hyper-V virtual machine by the network adapter hardware. VMQ lookahead split is enabled by default. Performance will be impacted if VMQ lookahead split is disabled as the packet payload will be copied into the virtual machine using sofwtare. VMQ VLAN Filtering Enabled, VLAN filtering allows the network Disabled adapter to use the VLAN identifer in the Ethernet MAC header for filtering traffic intended for Hyper-V virtual machines. VMQ VLAN filtering is enabled by default. If disabled, only the destination MAC address is used for filtering purposes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configuration via SFNET A vmq parameter has been added to SFNET to set VMQ configuration it has five possible values : -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Value VMQ Lookahead Split VLAN Filtering Description --------- --------- --------------- -------------- ----------------------- enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled VMQ enabled nosplit Enabled Disabled Enabled VMQ enabled (without lookahead split) novlan Enabled Enabled Disabled VMQ enabled (without VLAN filtering) basic Enabled Disabled Disabled VMQ enabled (MAC address filtering only) disabled Disabled — — VMQ disabled -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive Side Scaling (RSS) Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is a technology that enables packet receive processing to scale with the number of available processors (CPUs), distributing the processing workload across the available resources. Although supported in earlier software releases RSS has been improved for release 3.2 of the Solarflare driver package. Configuration via Network Adapter Properties ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Property Name Values Descripiion ------------------- ----------- ---------------------------------------- Receive Side Enabled, Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is a Scaling (RSS) Disabled technology that enables packet receive processing to scale with the number of available processors (CPUs), distributing the processing workload across the available resources. RSS is enabled by default. RSS Algorithm Microsoft, The RSS algoirthm specifies how the Solarflare queues and interrupts are spread over the available processors. The Microsoft setting uses the algorithm supported by the Windows version. The Solarflare setting uses an optimized mode found to improve performance and reduce CPU utilization over a range of traffic patterns. The Solarflare algorithm is used by default. Number of RSS Balanced, The adapter attempts to use up to the Queues 1, 2, 4, 8, specified number of receive queues for 12, 16, 24, RSS. If set to balanced, which is also 32, 48, 64 the default setting, the network adapter will choose the number of queues based on system prcoessor topology information (typically two queues for every level 3 data cache or physical processor package, whichever is greater). RSS NUMA Node All, 0, 1, The network adapter attempts to use only 2, 3, 4, 5, processors from the specified NUMA node 6, 7 for RSS. If this is set to All or is greater than or equal to the number iof NUMA nodes in the system all NUMA nodes are used. By default RSS uses processors from all NUMA nodes. Maximum number of 1 to 256 The number of processors the network RSS Processors adapter attempts to use for RSS. If this is set to greater than or equal to the number of logical processors in the system all processors are used. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Configuration via SFNET Two additional parameters (rssqueuecount and maxrssprocessors) have been added to SFNET to set RSS configuration. The full set of RSS parameters are detailed below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Parameter Description ------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- rss= Specify the receive side scaling (RSS) mode. This setting governs both whether RSS is enabled and the RSS algorithm to use. rssqueuecount= Specify the maximum number of receive queues to use for RSS. If set to balanced the network adapter will choose the number of queues based on system processor topology information. numanode= The network adapter attempts to use only processors from the specified NUMA node for RSS. If this is set to All or is greater than or equal to the number of NUMA nodes in the system, all NUMA nodes are used. maxrssprocessors= Specify the maximum number of processors to use for RSS. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When migrating settings from release 3.0 please be aware that custom RSS modes have been removed in favor of the new – more transparent – rssqueuecount and maxrssprocessors parameters. For example using rss=530 or rss=0x212 – to specify one RSS receive queue per logical processor – should be changed to rss=optimized, numanode=all, rssqueuecount= and maxrssprocessors=. For example on a system with 24 logical processors this would be: SFNET RSS=Optimized NumaNode=All RSSQueueCount=24 MaxRSSProcessors=24 Support ------- Please contact your local Solarflare support representative or email support@solarflare.com.