E810 PHC per iface or per port

[alopez1980]

Hello,

For my project I need NIC with hw timestamp for all the received packets. I believe this family of nics  supports this feature but I would like to know if the physical hardware clock (PHC) is one per interface or one different clock for each port of the interface.

Thanks in advance

Albert

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities.

Please allow us to discuss this query internally. Please be rest assured that we will provide you with an update on this matter as soon as it is available but no later than 3 business days.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support

[alopez1980]

Thank you so much. Just to give you some more details of my scenario. I want to measure the delay of traffic generated by a traffic generator, so I will connect , using optical spliters, the traffic to the ports of the NIC. I believe that, as the nics are not really connected to a network, I can not synchronise their clock using PTP (ptp4l) so, if the NIC have a different PHC per  ports of the NIC, I need to be synchronised between them. I have a similar scenario with Intel i350-t4 and it has a PHC clock per port and they where not synchronised so I couldn't do the measurements correctly .

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

Thank you for the quick response.

We appreciate the details you have shared with us. Please allow us to add this information into our discussion. We will provide you with an update on this matter within 3 business days.

Thank you and have a great day.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

Good day.

Based on the discussion we had with our engineers, there are separate timers for each PHY but they are synced with 2 primary timers. This allows flexibility to support two separate 1588 time domains. For reference, you may also want to check out the datasheet from the document attached (section 9.7.1 - page 1488).

Let us know if you have further questions or need clarifications. We will reach out after 3 business days if we do not receive an update from you.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support

[alopez1980]

Thanks for your reply. Could you confirm me that the PHC of each clock are synchronized with the primary timers despite no PTP protocol is used? I can not use PTP as I use spliters to receive a copy of the traffic and only the rx port is connected.

( I can not check it by myself as i don't have the NIC, I am evaluating if this is the NIC model I should buy for my project)

Thanks in advance

Albert

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

Appreciate the quick response.

Please allow us to confirm this with our engineers. We we will provide you with an update on this within 3 business days.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

How are you?

Upon confirmation, unfortunately, PTP is required for the PHY timers to be synced with the primary timers. The operation of a 1588 logic is based on Precision Time Protocol (PTP). This protocol is composed of two stages: initialization and time synchronization. You can also find this information from the document we have shared before (Section 9.7.2.1 - page 1489).

Let us know if you have additional questions for need clarifications. If we do not receive an update from you, we will reach out after 3 business days.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support

[alopez1980]

Thanks for your reply. With this information, I believe then this is not the NIC I require :-(. Thanks anyway

[Achilles_Intel]

Hello alopez1980,

Thank you for the update.

We sincerely apologize if the E810 adapter did not meet the requirements you were looking for. We hope you find the adapter that is suitable for your project.

With this, we will now be closing this thread. If you have questions or need assistance again, please don't hesitate to post a new question in the forums as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

Best regards,

Achilles M.

Intel Customer Support