I210 dropping all network packets send from NC-SI over MCTP

[EmielBrink]

I am currently working on a server project where we have a Management Controller connected to an I210 through SMBus. The I210 serves as the Network Interface Controller for the host system. The idea is to connect the MC and I210 through NC-SI over MCTP using SMBus for sideband functionality. I am running into some issues with the NC-SI pass-through functionality regarding sending and receiving ethernet packets via the sideband interface.

I am unable to successfully send Ethernet packets from the MC to the LAN using the sideband interface. I am, however, able to receive both multicast and broadcast packets on the MC from the LAN. When I use the NC-SI "Get NC-SI Pass-through statistics" command, I was able to verify that the packets send from the MC do actually arrive at the I210, however they are all dropped (the Pass-through TX packets dropped counter equals the number of packets send from the MC).

Here are the steps I have taken so far:

1. Erased and re-flashed the I210 using an EFI shell on the host system

2. Verified the I210 is functioning correctly via the host system

3. Verified the I210 SMBus slave address (0x49) of the I210 is reachable via the MC

4. Verified the I210 responds to MCTP commands such as Set EID via the MC over SMBus (the MC also acts as the MCTP bus owner in our configuration).

5. Verified the I210 responds to NC-SI commands using NC-SI over MCTP over SMBus.

For NC-SI initialization I go through the following steps. I get the correct response back from the I210 for each of these commands.

1. Send a "Clear Initial State" command.

2. Send a "Select Package" command with hardware arbitration disabled. (I don't think this should be necessary after sending the clear initial state command)

3. Send a "Set MAC address" command to set the MAC address of the first filter and set it to enabled. The MAC address is send in network order, so MSB first, LSB last.

4. Send a "Enable broadcast filter" command, with all filters enabled.

5. Send a "Enable global multicast filter" command, with all filters enabled.

6. Send a "Disable VLAN" command.

7. Send a "AEN enable" command.

8. Send a "Enable Channel network TX" command.

9. Send a "Enable Channel" command.

Afterwards I am able to confirm the settings such as MAC address and filter options are correct using the "Get Parameters" command.

After going through the above initialization steps the I210 will send multicast and broadcast packets from the LAN to the MC using the sideband interface but will drop any packets send from the MC to the LAN using the sideband interface.

I currently suspect this has something to do with the MAC address filtering. An additional characteristic of the NC-SI over MCTP binding (DMTF document DSP0261) is that the identification of channel is done using the registered MAC address. Any packet that is received from the MC where the source MAC address does not match the I210 MAC filter is dropped and counted in the Pass-through TX packets dropped counter as part of the NC-SI Pass-through Statistics Response (See DSP0261 section 7.2.1).

This would line up with the currently witnessed behavior,  where all MC to LAN packets are dropped and only broadcast and multicast packets are forwarded from LAN to MC.

I would like to know what the byte order for MAC addresses is in the Set MAC address command for NC-SI for the I210. Does this differ from the network-order specified in the NS-SI specification? Also, are there any example programs for Pass-Through using NC-SI over MCPT  for the I210 that I could use?

If anyone is able to assist me in the matter it would be greatly appreciated. If any more specific details need to be provided please let me know.

[Faez_Intel]

Hi Emiel,

Good day and thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.

Understood that you are having an issue with receiving the Ethernet packets from the MC to the LAN using the sideband interface. For this matter, please kindly refer to our datasheet link below to verify if only one mode of sideband is activated? Page 627, figure 10.1

https://cdrdv2-public.intel.com/333016/333016%20-%20I210_Datasheet_v_3_7.pdf

Also, please kindly help to gather the SSU logs for us to analyzed from our end as well. Refer the link below on how to gather the logs:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

Kindly let us know if you have any other inquiries.

Best regards,

Faez.

Intel Customer Support 

[EmielBrink]

Hi Faez,

Thank you for your reply! Regarding verifying which sideband(s) is activated:

I am reasonably sure I've flashed the I210 correctly with the MCTP image. The I210 seems to be responding to NC-SI commands over MCTP via SMBus fine, only that the pass-through functionality does not seem to be working correctly.

I've previously tried looking at the Sideband Interface and Manageability Mode bits in the Common Firmware Parameters inside the Firmware module in the Flash Map to verify this, but I was unable to seemingly find the correct addresses. Perhaps you could provide me with some info on how the different offsets and addresses used in section 6.0 of the datasheet (Word, Global MNG Offset and Offset) should be interpreted?

When I look up the firmware module's start address I get something different as to what is described in the datasheet: The datasheet says that the first 2 words should be 0xFFFF but it's actually 0x0080 (I've added a screenshot of lanconf to this message).

Regarding the SSU logs: We're running a Linux based server so I suppose I need this tool:
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18895/26735/intel-system-support-utility-for-the-linux-operating-system.html?

Do I run this on the host system or the MC?

Thank you for your support.

Kind regards

[EmielBrink]

Hi Faez,

I've used the tool linked in the above post to gather the SSU logs from the host system. I've ran the tool twice with the following parameters:
All_Information_networking.txt: Gathering all information from the system excluding 3rd party logs

Log_Only_networking.txt: Gathering only 3rd party logs

I've attached the SSU logs to this post. Due to this being a public forum and the contents discussed being confidential I've only provided the logs related to the I210. If the entire logs are required please provide me with a private channel for communication (e.g. email) so the contents can be discussed in confidentially.

I Should note that the problem I am having mostly relates to the witnessed behavior of the I210. The I210 seems to work fine for the host system, only that it drops all packets send to it by the sideband interface. It is also not able to send any messages to the sideband interface other than broadcast and multicast traffic.

Kind regards

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day and our sincerest apologies for the delay in responding to this thread.

Thank you for the details and the logs provided. Please do note that we are currently checking with our team to simulate this issue and provide a possible solution ASAP. We will get back to you accordingly.

Thanks,

Faez_Intel

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day and apologies on the delayed response from our end.

As we checked on the logs. it seems that since there is no info on the motherboard, we will need to know if this is a purchased motherboard or are you working on a custom design?

Please kindly let us know on the details above for us to proceed further. Do let us know as well if you have any other inquiries.

Regards,

Faez

[EmielBrink]

Hello Faez,

We are working with a custom motherboard.

Kind regards,

Emiel

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day and thanks for the response.

Since you are working with a custom motherboard at hand, it is best to have your inquiries posted on our embedded community instead. Refer the link below:

https://community.intel.com/t5/Embedded-Connectivity/bd-p/embedded-networking-connectivity

Please kindly visit the embedded community support for your inquiries regarding on this matter as you are using a custom motherboard.

Kindly let us know if you have any other inquiries.

Thanks,

Faez_Intel

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day. This is just a follow up on this thread. Please kindly let us know if you have any further questions and we will gladly assist you accordingly.

Thanks,

Faez_Intel

[EmielBrink]

Hi Faez,

I'm currently still having this issue. I've created a post on  Embedded Products/Embedded Connectivity put a solution has not been found yet. 

I wanted to ask if the NC-SI over MCTP sideband interface of the I210 can be used using the NC-SI commands specified in the NC-SI specification only, or if usage of specific Intel OEM commands is required.

Post on the Embedded Connectivity forum: https://community.intel.com/t5/Embedded-Connectivity/I210-dropping-all-network-packets-send-from-NC-SI-over-MCTP/td-p/1493320

NC-SI specification: https://www.dmtf.org/documents/pmci/network-controller-sideband-interface-nc-si-specification-100

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day. Thanks for the response.

As for now I would suggest that you can inquire the same to the embedded community to verify on the usage of the commands whether if its specific to the Intel OEM commands.

Kindly let us know if you have any further questions.

Thanks,

Faez_Intel

[Faez_Intel]

Hi EmielBrink,

Good day. This is just a follow up on this thread.

Please kindly let us know if you have any further inquiries. Since you have raised this to the embedded community, please do let us know if you have any further questions on this matter.

Thanks,

Faez_Intel

[Faez_Intel]

Hello EmielBrink,

I hope you're having a wonderful day. I am just sending a follow up to check if you still have questions or clarifications. We will wait for your reply. As for now, we will be closing your thread.

If you want to continue support, please reply to this community thread and we will reopen your case or create a new one so that we can continue to support you. 

Best regards,

Faez.

Intel Customer Support