ReadmeFirst.txt Driver File Contents (Bcom_LAN_NX2_26_W2K_A01.exe)

                          Release Text
                          ============
                   Broadcom NetXtreme Software 
            Copyright (c) 2000-2006 Broadcom Corporation
                       All rights reserved.
                          Version 2.6 
                           (5/8/2006)                           

                         
*** Release Version Information Table for NetXtreme II software ***

uxdiag      v1.0.7       User Diagnostic software.
mba         v2.6.7       Broadcom Multiple Boot Agent [ PXE,RPL, and BOOTP ]
ODI32       v2.6.1       Netware ODI32 Driver. 
ODI16       v1.04        Netware ODI16 Driver.
bnx2        v1.4.36b     Broadcom Linux Driver.
bxdiag      v2.6.16      Broadcom NetXtreme II GigE Diagnostic Driver
b06bdrv     v2.6.17      VBD driver for Windows 2003 and Windows 2000.
l2nd_w2k    v2.6.14      NDIS 5.0 driver for Windows 2000.
l4nd_xp     v2.6.14      NDIS 5.1/5.2 driver for Windows 2003 32/64 bits versions.
l2 BASP     v6.1.20	     Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) Driver 
NDIS2       v1.4.3       NDIS2 driver

*** Release Version Information Table for NetXtreme software ***
                  
Product                 	   Version   
                  
Windows 2000 Driver                8.48e*       
Windows Server 2003 IA32 Driver    8.48e*    
Windows Server 2003 x64 Driver     8.48e*    
DOS NDIS2 Driver                   8.28      
BASP Silent Config                 6.1.5      
Linux TG3 Driver                   3.44j     
Netware ODI32 Driver               8.60                 
Netware ODI16 Driver               8.27       
BASP for Netware                   2.25       
Netware SNMP                       6.00       
DOS Diagnostics                    8.30      
PXE                                8.3.9      

HTML User Guide for NetXtreme      2CS57XX-UM208-R     
HTML User Guide for NetXtreme II   2CS57XX-UM2000-D10  

*** Release Version Information Table common for both NetXtreme and NetXtreme II software ***

BACS	    v8.3.11      Broadcom Advanced Control Suite 
BASP        v6.1.20      Broadcom Advanced Server Program for Windows  
SNMP        v7.1.3       Broadcom SNMP Agent
BMAPI       v7.5.7       Broadcom Management Application Programming Interface
CABW32      v6.1.8       Broadcom Cable Diagnostics dll
SNMP Agent  v7.1.4       Broadcom SNMP-Extensible-Agent         
CIM         v6.3.1       Broadcom CIM for Windows 
DrvMgmtInst v8.26.02     Broadcom Driver and Management Applications Installer (Umbrella).

*** Currently known issues and limitations with Broadcom NetXtreme 1 and 2 drivers and devices. ***

1. BASP (the Broadcom Advanced Server Program) will appear to be bound to all adapters 
in the system once loaded.  This binding is normal and is used only to determine compatibility
with BASP.  The binding is not active, as indicated by the gray background of the selection
box.  This pre-binding will not interfere with bindings to other software protocols.

2. Lower receive throughput with TOE at 2KB network I/O size: Using Ixia's Chariot 6.20, the receive throughput 
at a network I/O size of 2K will be lower with TOE compared to non-TOE. This issue may be seen with web applications
where network I/O size is generally in the range of 1 to 2 KB.

3. Lower throughput with TOE with IOMeter against EMC's AX100i:Applications like database or exchange may have
impaired network performance with TOE enabled. Customer may disable TOE in this configuration to fix this issue.
 
4. Backup time using EMC's Networker Backup 7.3 may take longer when TOE is enabled on only one side of the
client/server connection. When TOE is enabled on both sides the backup time has been shown to be less than
with TOE disabled on both sides. 
CPU utilization in the case where TOE is enabled on both sides has been shown to be much lower than TOE disabled.

5. Customer may not see improvements with TOE when running web traffic with short-lived connections. When Webbench 
5.0 uses short-lived connections to generate web traffic, TOE throughput is ~3% lower than non-TOE. CPU utilization 
is 100% in both cases. This is due to the fact that Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack and 
Broadcom NetXtreme II drivers aren't fully optimized to handle uploading and offloading of short-lived http 
connections. TOE demonstrates performance advantages with long-lived connections.  

6. Double network counters using Perfmon: The Windows application, Perfmon, may report twice the number of bytes 
received/sec, bytes sent/sec, packets received/sec and packets sent/sec when monitoring a NetXtreme II device with
TOE disabled.

7. The NetXtreme II drivers have two parts, the VBD driver and the NDIS Client driver.  This combination of drivers
can be used for WinPE installations as long as the WinPE image is built with the /PnP option.  WinPE images that are
booted with the -miniNT option will only load the NDIS driver so NetXtreme II network devices will not be functional
in this environment.  Use the -winpe option instead of the -minint option to boot WinPE when using NetXtreme II devices.

8. Specifying network settings for NetXtreme II devices using the Microsoft unattended answer file does not work
using the PCI Bus/Device/Function designation to specify adapters.  This is due to the NDIS personality of the
NetXtreme II device being a virtual device which means it does not have a physical Bus/Device/Function address.  MAC
address designation does work and may be used in conjunction with Bus/Device/Function for a complete solution. A 
program called netset.exe from Microsoft, available in the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit, can also be used to 
apply network settings after the unattended install.  Netset.ext uses the answer file to apply the network settings 
specified to the adapters in the system.  See Microsoft Knowledge Base article 268781 for more information on netset.exe.

9. NetXtreme II devices support Jumbo Frames, but the interface for configuring them is not listed in the Windows 
Advanced Tab of the Network Interface properties.  To configure Jumbo Frames, you must use the Broadcom Advanced 
Control Suite, BACS2.  Running the InstallShield installer will allow the installation of BACS.

10. Windows network device teaming (aggregation of 2 or more networks interfaces into one logical interface) may
encounter problems when the team is servicing multiple types of TCP/IP traffic and experiences high stress.  If 
teamed networks encounter persistent issues when running multiple types of traffic, splitting that traffic between 
servers, such as moving email services or HTTP services, to different servers will alleviate this issue.

11. BACS2 is used to configure TOE when the Microsoft Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack (SNP hotfix) is installed. 
If a user clicks on the Configure button on the Resource Allocation tab of BACS, and unchecks the box next to NDIS
with the intent of disabling TOE, then commits the change in BACS and then uninstalls the SNP hotfix, the network 
capability of the NetXtreme II device is locked and can not be used.  To reenable the network function, reinstall SNP
and use BACS2 to recheck the NDIS box.  To properly disable TOE without locking the network function, do not uncheck 
the NDIS box, instead, uncheck the TCP/IP Offload Engine box directly below the NDIS box.

12. Under Windows 2000 Server, the NetXtreme II devices may display an option in their Advanced Tab in the network interface properties entitled 
"Receive Side Scaling".  This option is only supported on the Windows Server 2003 family.  This option does not have
any affect on any settings and may be ignored.

13. Running the Dell Online Diagnostic tools under Linux simultaneously against more than one Broadcom NX1 or NX2 
devices while the devices are bonded in a team may report failures.  This is a bug in the diagnostic logic.  Running
ethtool diagnostics in the same scenario does not produce failures.  It is recommended that the diagnostics be run on 
only one NIC at a time.

Dell, Broadcom and Microsoft are currently working to fix these issues and will release updated network drivers 
and other required software as they become available.
Download Driver Pack

How To Update Drivers Manually

After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.

  • Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).

  • If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.

  • Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.

  • Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.

  • Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.

  • From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.

  • Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.

Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.

For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.

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