Intel® 82599 10 GbE 8b/10b mode

[jackbar13]

Hello Embedded Community,

I have Intel® 82599 10 GbE and i want to activate 8b/10b (XAUI) operation mode is there any tutorial or utility that i can use to help me do this in Linux ?

Thank you.

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @jackbar13,

Thank you for contacting Intel Embedded Community.

You may try to check within the driver documentation, it uses ixgbe or related in linux sites.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005688/ethernet-products.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/14302/14687/intel-network-adapter-driver-for-pcie-intel-10-gigabit-ethernet-network-connections-under-linux.html?

https://lwn.net/Articles/244452/

Or you may try checking in the datasheet:

https://cdrdv2-public.intel.com/331521/331521_82599_SpecUpdate_Rev4.2.pdf

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[jackbar13]

Thank you for your response, i have another question concerning this NIC :

I would like to monitor ethernet traffic and i want to capture XGMII signals as (idle, start and terminate), is it possible to do it in software (low level code) ?

Does this NIC allows such thing ?

Thank you !

[LCotten]

Could you tell me where you got firmware for the 82599 in the first place. I have the JL82599EB on a board with two SFP XAUI sockets, but it comes up in lspci as 8086:10d8 which is "82599 Unprogrammed". This makes sense, since the EEPROM is blank so far. I found a note about document 425136 supposedly containing firmware images, but haven't found access to that document, 

[jackbar13]

Hi @LCotten ,

The firmware was provided by the NIC and i didn't get it from other sources, my firmware version is 0x000118f1.

What was the command with lspci that shows the "8086:10d8" value ?

Hi @Diego_INTEL,

I checked the datasheet of Intel® 82599 10 GbE Controller  November 2019 Revision 3.4 331520-005, and it's says that "XAUI operating mode can be forced by software by setting the relevant bits in the AUTOC register and disabling auto-negotiation" but the datasheet didn't provide any "software" tool for that neither in section 3.7.4.2.

I developed a kernel module function to manipulate AUTOC registers and others to enable XAUI but is it the right way to do that?

Thank you.

[LCotten]

In my case, I'm the one building the NIC, so the EEPROM is currently blank. I.e. no firmware.

I think the -m or -mm option for lspci will give the raw Vendor ID and Product ID numbers. On the system I tested here (some flavor of OpenWRT) the lspci command is very limited and only gives numeric answers.  If you see something like "intel corporation, 82599 ethernet controller", you're just getting text from a lookup table based on Vendor ID and Product ID. Intel's vendor ID is 0x8086 (clever, huh) and intel uses 0x10d8 as the product ID for an 82599EB that has no firmware, i.e. unprogrammed.  

I think I'm looking for the firmware that reports a PID or 0x10db, which is "82598EB 10-Gigabit Dual Port Network Connection"

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @LCotten,

I reviewed your message and you are right about the document #425136, it indeed contains EEPROM images for the 82599.

Also, the documents #444351 and #348742 are helpful too.

You may go to any Intel Authorized Distributor Partner near your zone and ask for an Intel Sales Representative, this way you can get help to get access to the documents.

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL 

[Diego_INTEL]

Hello @jackbar13,

My apologies for the late reply, I tried searching some references on your idea but didn't find much about it, but I will keep looking for it, besides the datasheet we don't have much resources.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/ethernet/gigabit-controllers/82599-10-controllers/docs.html

You may check what is available but many documents are tied to Premier Accounts.

Best regards,

@Diego_INTEL