i219-LM PTP issues after re-connect to a i210

[Propa]

Hi all! 

I am having issues with a Precision Time Protocol (PTP; 1588) setup using a i219-LM NIC.

The setup consists of: 

* i210 NIC inside a PC that acts as grandmaster clock (GM)

* i210 NIC inside another PC set up as ordinary clock (OC) connected to GM

* i219-LM NIC inside a PC set up as boundary clock (BC) connected to GM

* a proprietary device supporting PTP as ordinary clock (OC2) connected to BC

The PCs are running debian 11 using e1000e driver with linuxptp installed (ptp4l and phc2sys running as service). 

By now I found a configuration where the time-syncing is working according to the offsets that get reported by pmc. Offsets between GM and OC are +/- 50 nsec, and offsets between GM and BC are +/- 3000nsec. It took some time to find out that this is an already known issue of the i219-LM. Suggestion for improvement: please also note that in the specs!
Offsets between BC and OC2 are also in the thousands due to large offset between GM and BC. Ok on my side as this is still within my required threshold.

I can disconnect ethernet connections between GM and BC and systems are sync'ing fine after re-connection. Also disconnecting, restarting GM system, and then re-connecting GM and BC works fine! 

But I see issues when I restart the GM system while it is connected to BC! During GM start-up something is happening on BC side which causes the BC and also OC2 to get out of sync entirely and never get into sync'ing again.
Ptp4l running on BC then reports the clock jumping backwards and in the next line running forwards as if the clocks on the NIC are stuck! I checked; I don't have multiple services running on any PC. Restarting ptp4l or Phc2sys on BC doesn't solve it. I need to restart BC PC to get it to sync again!

It works when I replace the i219-LM with a i210! Then I can restart GM PC and sync gets re-established again.

-> Is there any driver development of i219-LM still ongoing?
-> Could there be a bug causing the clock to stop ticking when re-connecting to a device?
-> Is there any energy-saving in the i219-LM that might miss some communication during startup of a conncted device?
-> Whats the difference between i219-LM and a i210 in that regard?

I can provide detailed logs if needed. Any advice would be highly appreciated!

Thank you!

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team,

Greetings from Intel!

Thank you for posting your query in the Intel Community. We sincerely apologize for the delay in our response. We have received your concern and want to assure you that assisting you is our top priority.

Could you kindly let us know if the issue has been resolved or if you require further assistance? Your prompt response will greatly assist us in diagnosing and resolving the issue as quickly as possible.

We truly appreciate your patience and understanding, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Amina

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Propa]

Hello Amina,

the problem is still blocking us.

Since we haven't received any response for a month, the risk of the i219LM setup postponing the project became too big. Switching the i219-LM setup to use SW PTP was not a solution. Therefore, we are trying to mitigate the problem by changing the hardware (adding an additional ethernet expansion card). But of course this increases the complexity and costs again.

Please tell us if there is a possibility to solve the problem by SW/configuration changes. The above questions still exist.

Thank you in advance!

P.S. Please also consider to re-phrase the specs of the i219-LM NIC as this would have saved us half a year of debugging! Reading through the issues here I believe that you can't claim that i219 is fully supporting 1588.

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team,  

Thank you for the update. We are actively working towards finding an appropriate resolution for your issue. Kindly allow me some time to check and get back to you with an update.

Please feel free to respond to this email at your earliest convenience. 

Regards, 

Amina 

Intel Customer Support Technician 

[Sazirah]

Hi Propa,

Thank you for patiently waiting for us. 

Regarding this issue, please be inform that i219 supports basic PTP functionality as part of its feature set. However, the detailed validation, extensive support, and precise timing capabilities might not be as extensive as those seen in i210. Please refer section 5.2 of below document which has details of the validated controllers and adapters:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/secure/design/internal/content-details.html?DocID=635237

For applications requiring validated and high-precision timing, we found that i210 might be a more suitable choice.

Hope this clarifies.

Regards,

Sazzy_Intel

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Propa]

Hello Sazzy,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, I can't access the document you linked to.
It looks like it's either internal or I need an explicit developer account. However, it seems strange to me that a customer should distrust the information on https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/products/sku/82185/intel-ethernet-connection-i219lm/specifications.html and rather look at the internal developer documentation, which is not freely accessible. https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/products/sku/82185/intel-ethernet-connection-i219lm/downloads.html would be the place I would expect to find such documentation. Again, this doesn't give us back the time we've already invested, this would just be a suggestion for you to optimize customer satisfaction.

-> The answer we need is why an i219-LM does not restore PTP synchronization when physically disconnected and connected, but an i210 does (see questions in original post). The PTP configuration is the same in both cases.

I would be interested in the details you refer to though....

Thank you

[Sreelakshmi1]

Hi Propa,

Greetings!

Thank you for your response. As you are unable to view the document, please note that CNDA access with Intel may be required to view it.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/secure/design/internal/content-details.html?DocID=635237

Please refer section 5.2 of below document which has details of the validated controllers and adapters.

If you do not have Intel CNDA access, please sign up for the Intel Resource and Documentation Center with Developer Zone Premier Access by following the article linked below.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000058073/programs/resource-and-documentation-center.html

Thank you for understanding.

Best Regards,

Sreelakshmi

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team, 

Greetings from Intel! 

This is a reminder mail, We are eager to ensure a swift resolution and would greatly appreciate an updates if you had a chance to look into the information we have shared previously and provide us an update on the same. 

Please feel free to respond to this email at your earliest convenience. 

Regards,  

Amina  

Intel Customer Support Technician  

[Propa]

Hi Amina,

please excuse us here.

By priority I did not get the time to sign up for the Intel Resource and Documentation Center and continue spending more time on the questions I asked above.
As said, we have escalated the blockage by switching to another extension card. We hope to speed up development by this.

Thanks again

[Azeem_Intel]

Hi Propa,

Thank you for your response. We understand that due to other priorities, you haven’t had the time to sign up for the Intel Resource and Documentation Center or further explore your previous questions.

If you find the time to do so and need any further assistance, please let us know.

We acknowledge your update regarding the blockage and your decision to switch to another extension card to speed up development. If you find the time to revisit the issue and need any further assistance, please let us know.

We appreciate your update, and if you need any further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thank you for using Intel products and services.

Regards,

Azeem_Intel

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team,

Greetings from Intel!

Could you kindly let us know if there are any other concerns apart from the sign-up for the Resource and Documentation Center? If there are no other concerns, please let us know if you would like us to keep the case open until you complete the sign-in process, or if we can proceed with closing the case.

Best regards,

Amina

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team,

Greetings from Intel!

Since your only concern pertains to the sign-up for the Resource and Documentation Center and there are no other issues, we can proceed with closing the case.

If you encounter any errors during the sign-up process, you can reopen the case by replying to this email we will continue to assist you further.

Best regards,

Amina

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Amina_Sadiya]

Hello Team,

Greetings from Intel!

Since your only concern pertains to the sign-up for the Resource and Documentation Center, As there is no further scope of support from our end we will proceed with closing the case.

Best regards,

Amina

Intel Customer Support Technician