Intel I210-T1 NIC and SMBus

[one_of_us]

Hello,

I have a question on the I210-T1 Server NIC. This NIC has an additional SMBus that is used for two features:

- Intel® System Management Bus (SMBus) Pass-through

- Management Component Transport Protocol (MCTP) over SMBus and PCIe

What happens if the host SMBus is not connected on the PCIe interface (i.e. if the motherboard misses the I2C bus on PCIe 1x bus)?

Should the above features be disabled if not used? If so, how?

Thanks,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Thank you for posting on Intel Ethernet Communities. 

Can we ask first for you to provide us a picture of the markings of your I210-T1 server NIC both front and back so we can validate if you are using a retail or an OEM adapter.

Also just needing to ask are you having any connection issues as well on your NIC?  

If you have questions or other clarifications please let us know so we can help you further

Awaiting to hear from you soon, should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Hi,

Please, find the pictures attached.

I cannot tell if I am going to have connection issues between the host and the NIC. I need to test it.

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Thank you very much for providing us the markings of your NIC. Please provide us some time to have this check before providing you our recommendations. Would it be ok if you can provide us between 2-3 business days to provide you an update? If you have a preferred time please advise us instead. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

We are still checking on your concern and we would like to ask some additional questions so that we can provide an accurate information. 

Please advise us what would be your goal or what configuration are you trying to achieve?

Also did you encounter any error that you are trying to resolve?

If you have questions or other clarifications please let us know so we can help you further

Awaiting to hear from you soon, should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Dear Zigfreid,

It is OK to wait for 2 business days.

I need to interface this NIC to a Single Board Computer with two Intel Ethernet controllers already present. This NIC will add a third Ethernet interface (same controller) over PCIe bus. The SBCs I need to support are based on Atom N3350 host processor.

For this purpose, I am designing an M.2 to PCIe adapter. The M.2 interface on the SBC exhibits a PCIe 1x interface. My question arise because some SBCs have the SMBus routed on the M.2 connector, others not and I need to understand drawbacks.

Although this is the specific scenario, I would also like to have a feedback that is not tightly bound to the application I have described.

Thanks for your support.

Best regards,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Thank you very much for answering our questions and for providing us a detailed overview of your concern. We will try to provide an update in 2 business days however if we needed more time we will inform you as well. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

We do apologize for the delay since we will not be able to provide you an update today, as the case is still escalated and its currently being further investigated. Rest assure that we are closely monitoring this case and once an update is available we will notify you immediately. 

We would like to ask for more time for this, is it okay if we can ask for another 2-3 business days to provide you an update? We thank you for your patience and understanding and we hope you have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Hi Zigfreid,

If more time is needed to give a comprehensive and detailed feedback, then it is perfectly fine.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Thank you very much for understanding however we do apologize again for the delay since we will not yet be able to provide you an update today, as the case is still escalated and its currently being further investigated by our engineers.

Rest assure that we are closely monitoring this case and once an update is available we will notify you immediately. 

We would like to ask for more time for this, is it okay if we can ask for another 2-3 business days to provide you an update? We thank you for your patience and understanding and we hope you have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Hi Zigfreid,

Take your time, I keep waiting.

Best regards,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Firstly we do apologize for the delay and for any inconvenience that we have cause since we needed to coordinate with our engineers for this. 

We have received an update from our engineers and advised that if there's no connection to the SMBus links then the management protocols would not work. We would like to ask if you do need to be disable the feature? 

If No, there is no link set up so any management commands sent will be ignored or error out.

If you have questions or other clarifications please let us know so we can help you further.

Awaiting to hear from you soon, should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Hi Zigfreid,

Thanks for providing feedback. However, I would like to have some more details.

- Which management protocols would not work without SMBus?

- How can I disable the feature in the NIC?

Thanks.

Best regards,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Thank you for responding, we will need to further check on your follow up concern if we can provide the information that you are looking for. Please allow us some time to check, would it be okay if we can ask for 2-3 business days for this. If you have a preferred date please let us know instead. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[one_of_us]

Hi Zigfreid,

I do not want to doubt about the quality of the technical support, because I understand that there might be priorities and escalation levels according to which each request is processed.

However, I posted my questions on 26th of June and I did not receive any comprehensive feedback so far. I already know that if SMBus is not phisically present on the host motherboard, then all features that make use of it will not work. This is something I would not ask support for.

I just wanted to know (based on the NIC card I have):

- what are the real impacts of missing the SMBus

- how can I disable the SMBus at NIC firmware level, if it can improve performance or stability

- any other hint that may come from Intel, as Intel is the designer of the NIC

Thank you for understanding.

Best regards,

Umberto

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Firstly we do apologize as we have provide an incorrect advise due to a miscommunication. 

As per checking with our engineers, what we actually meant was if there is no connection to the SMBus links then any management protocols will not work since there is no link set up. There is no need to disable because any management commands sent from OS will be ignored or error out.

We do apologize for any inconvenience that we have caused. If you have questions or other clarifications please let us know so we can help you further.

Awaiting to hear from you soon, should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days. Thank you and have a nice day!

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Good day! We hope that you are having a great one so far.

We'd like to know if you have any other questions or clarifications please let us know so we would know if we can close the thread.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

We will wait for your reply within 3 business days in case we don't hear from you, we will proceed closing this request.

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support

[Zigfreid_Intel]

Hello one_of_us,

Good day! We hope that you are having a great one so far.

Please be informed that we will now close this request since we haven't received any response from our previous follow ups. Just feel free to post a new question if you have any other inquiry in the future as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best regards,

Zigfreid I.

Intel® Customer Support