===========================
R E L E A S E N O T E S
===========================
Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) Driver
for Linux 2.2.x and 2.4.x kernel
Version 2.0.2
June 28, 2001
Table of Contents
-----------------
Overview
Limitation
Installation
Install - TAR archive
Install - RPM package
Files
Configuration
baspcfg
Startup scripts
Configuration scripts
Broadcom NICE patches
Uninstall - RPM package
Removal of physical interface in Generic Trunking mode
Known problems
Logs
Overview
--------
BASP is a kernel module designed for Linux 2.2.x and 2.4.x kernels that
provides load-balancing, fault-tolerance, and VLAN features. These features
are provided by creating teams that consist of multiple NIC interfaces.
A team can consist of 1 to 8 NIC interfaces and each interface can be
designated primary or standby. All primary NIC interfaces in a team will
participate in Load-balancing operations by sending and receiving a
portion of the total traffic. Standby interfaces will take over in the
event that all primary interfaces have lost their links. VLANs can be
added to a team to allow multiple VLANs with different VLAN IDs. A
virtual device is created for each VLAN added.
BASP supports Smart Load-balance, SLB<tm> and Generic trunking. In
SLB mode, all the NIC drivers must support Broadcom NIC Extension (NICE).
In this release, several NIC drivers patched with NICE are included.
SLB mode works with all Ethernet switches without configuring the switch
ports to any special trunking mode. Only IP traffic will be load-balanced
in both inbound and outbound directions. The Generic trunking mode does
not require NICE and can work with any NIC, however, it requires the
Ethernet switch to support the technology and be properly configured.
This mode is protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-balanced
and fault-tolerant.
Limitation
----------
BASP has been tested on Red Hat 6.2, 7.0 and 7.1. Following installation
procedures work with these two distributions. Minor modification to
installation scripts may be required if BASP is installed on other i386
Linux distributions.
BASP also supports SuSe and Red Hat Linux for IA-64 architecture.
Installation for SuSe Linux must be through TAR archive. Please follow
instructions in "Install - TAR archive" section. Installation for Red Hat
Linux can be through RPM or TAR archives. Refer to appropriate section
for installation details.
VLANs are only supported by the 3Com Gigabit Server NIC. As opposed
to VLANs support in other platforms, e.g. Windows and Netware, VLANs are not
supported by Alteon Acenic driver (acenic.c).
Installation
------------
For users of Redhat 6.2, 7.0 and 7.1, please follow instructions in
"Install - RPM package" section.
For users of other Linux distribution, please follow instructions in
"Install - TAR archive" section.
For users of Linux for IA-64, please follow instructions in
"Install - TAR archive" section.
Install - TAR archive
---------------------
BASP for Linux is shipped in mixed forms, where the platform and
kernel specific files are in source code, and the core file is in object
form. Three packages are shipped in this release: two tar archives and
one RPM package.
"basplnx-{version}.i386.tgz" is the tar archive for i386 platform, and
"basplnx-{version}.ia64.tgz" is the tar archive for IA-64 platform.
To uncompress and expand the tar archive, run
% tar xvfz basplnx-{version}.{arch}.tgz
The installation process involves the following steps:
(1) Configure the major device number for BASP configuration. The default
major number is 254 and it can be changed by modifying "Makefile".
(2) To build kernel module, "basp.o",
% make
Note that the Make process will automatically build the correct module
for different kernel flavors, e.g. symbol versioning and SMP support.
There is NO need to define -DMODVERSIONS in the Makefile.
(3) To create device file and to copy files,
% make install
(4) To update the module reference,
% depmod -a
(5) To load the driver,
% insmod basp
(6) Follow the Configuration section to set up the teams.
Install - RPM package
---------------------
(1) To install the RPM source package, run
% rpm -i basplnx-{version}.src.{arch}.rpm
(2) CD to the RPM path and build the binary driver for the kernel
% cd /usr/src/{redhat, OpenLinux, turbo, ...}
% rpm -bb SPECS/basplnx.spec
Note that the RPM path is different for different Linux distributions.
(3) Install the newly built package
% rpm -i RPMS/i386/basplnx-{version}.{arch}.rpm
The driver and other required files will be installed.
(4) To load the driver,
% insmod basp
(5) Follow the Configuration section to set up the teams.
Files
-----
Makefile makefile
baspcfg precompiled configuration utility
bcmtype.h commonly use type header file
blf.c BASP module entry points
blf.h ioctl interface
blfcore.h core interface
blfcore.o pre-compiled core object
blfopt.h automatic generated header file by Make
blfver.h version header file
nicext.h NICE header file
pal.c platform abstraction implementation
pal.h header for paltform abstraction
release.txt this file
nice-2.2.16 contains NICE enabled driver source code
scripts contains sample scripts
scripts/basp init script, goes to /etc/rc.d/init.d
scripts/baspteam start/stop script, goes to /etc/basp
scripts/baspif start/stop network i/f, goes to /etc/basp
scripts/team-sample sample script of SLB team with 3 NICs
scripts/team-gec sample script of GEC team with 3 NICs
basp.4 man page
baspcfg.8 man page for baspcfg utility
Configuration
-------------
The BASP distribution includes an utility program and several scripts for
team configuration. The configuration process involves the following steps:
(1) Copy a configuration script from "/etc/basp/samples" directory to
"/etc/basp" directory. Note the configuration script must be prefixed
with "team-".
(2) Modify the configuration script to
(a) change the team type
(b) add/delete physical network interfaces
(c) add/delete virtual network interfaces
The syntax of the configuration script can be found below.
(3) Manually start the team for the first time,
% /etc/rc.d/init.d/basp start
(4) For Red Hat Linux, run "netcfg" to configure the IP addresses of
the virtual network interfaces.
Note-1) Starting the team is only required for the first time, and the
teams will be started automatically in subsequent reboots.
Note-2) Forming multiple teams is possible by copying the sample files
into "/etc/basp/team-<name>" and modifying this file as
described in the sample file.
Note-3) In order to create more that one virtual interface (VLAN) for
each team, refer to the respective description section in the
sample files.
baspcfg
-------
"baspcfg" is a command line tool to configure the BASP teams, add/remove
NICs and add/remove virtual devices. Following is the usage of this tool:
baspcfg v1.2.0 - Broadcom Advanced Server Program Configuration Utility
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Broadcom Corporation. All rights reserved.
usage: baspcfg <commands>
commands:
addteam <tid> <type> <tname> -- create a team
delteam <tid> -- delete a team
addva <tid> <vlan_id> <vname> [macaddr]
-- add a virtual adapter to a team
delva <tid> <vlan_id> -- del a virtual adapter from a team
bind <tid> <role> <device> -- bind a physical adapter to a team
unbind <tid> <device> -- unbind a physical adapter from a team
show [tid] -- display team configurations
where
tid -- An unique ID for each team, starting from 0
type -- Team type: 0=SLB, 1=FEC/GEC
tname -- ASCII string of the team
vlan_id -- VLAN ID: from 1 to 4094, 0=untagged or no VLAN
vname -- ASCII string of the virtual device
macaddr -- MAC address (optional), e.g. 00:10:18:00:11:44
role -- Role of the physical device: 0=primary, 1=hot-standby
device -- ASCII string of the physical device, e.g. eth0
Startup scripts
---------------
(1) basp
This script is intended to be installed in /etc/rc.d/init.d directory.
After copying the script, run "chkconfig --add basp". This script will be
executed at runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5. When "basp" is run, it will search
the /etc/basp directory to list all the files with "team-" prefix, and
then it will invoke "baspteam" script to add or delete the teams. It
is normal that each "team-*" file in /etc/basp represents 1 team.
(2) baspteam
This script is called by "basp" script to add or delete a team.
To install, create "/etc/basp" directory and copy this script over.
To manually add a team:
% baspteam team-sample add
To delete a team:
% baspteam team-sample del
Note that "team-sample" is the configuration script.
(3) team-sample
This script contains a SLB team configuration with 3 NICs: eth0, eth1
and eth2. The team name is "TeamSample". All 3 NICs are primary. One
virtual interface is also created for this team and the name of the virtual
interface is "sw0". "sw0" is the device that "ifconfig" should be run
against to set up the IP address. VLANs are not enabled in this script.
This script and "team-gec" are intended to be customized. Refer to the
configuration scripts section for details. This script should be copied
to /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.
(4) team-gec
This configuration script creates a GEC team with 3 network interfaces,
eth0, eth1 and eth2. The team name is "TeamGEC". All 3 NICs are primary.
One virtual interface is added to the team with the name "sw0" and
VLANs are not enabled.
This script and "team-sample" are intended to be customized. Refer to the
configuration scripts section for details. This script should be copied
to /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.
Configuration scripts
---------------------
Both "team-sample" and "team-gec" are configuration scripts that follow
the same syntax, as following
TEAM_ID: this number uniquely identifies a team.
TEAM_TYPE: 0 = SLB, 1 = Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC
TEAM_NAME: ascii name of the team
TEAM_PAx_NAME: ascii name of the physical interface x,
where x can be 0 to 7.
TEAM_PAx_ROLE: role of the physical interface x
0 = Primary, 1 = Hot-standby. This field
must be 0 for Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC
team.
TEAM_VAx_NAME: ascii name of the virtual interface x,
where x can be 0 to 63
TEAM_VAx_VLAN: 802.1Q VLAN ID of the virtual interface x.
For untagged virtual interface, i.e. without
VLAN enable, set it to 0. The valid VLAN ID
can be 0 to 4094.
Broadcom NICE patches
---------------------
Also included in this release are network device drivers patched
with Broadcom NICE support. These drivers are originally taken from
the Linux 2.2.16 kernel distribution. To installed patched drivers:
(1) Copy the Broadcom NICE header file, "nicext.h", to the Linux kernel
include directory,
% cp /usr/src/nice-2.2.16/nicext.h /usr/src/linux/include/linux
(2) Rename the original network device driver under the Linux kernel
source tree, "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".
(3) Copy the patched drivers to the Linux kernel network driver source
directory, i.e. "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".
(4) Follow the kernel rebuild instructions to configure kernel
support for these drivers, i.e.
% cd /usr/src/linux
% make config
(5) If the patched drivers are configured into the kernel, goto step (7).
If the patched drivers are configured as modules, goto step (6).
(6) In the case of supporting only the module version of these drivers,
it is possible to simply run the following to compile patched drivers
and to install them into the proper module directory:
% make modules
% make modules_install
There is no need to compile the complete kernel. Goto step (8).
(7) Rebuild the kernel to compile these patched drivers
% make clean
% make dep
% make
(8) Either reboot the system or unload/load the patched modules. Run
configuration scripts to test the patch.
Uninstall - RPM package
-----------------------
To uninstall RPM package,
% rpm -e basplnx-{version}.{arch}.rpm
and to reboot the system,
% reboot
Removal of physical interface in Generic Trunking mode
------------------------------------------------------
In Generic Trunking mode, all the physical and virtual interfaces
belonging to a team have the same MAC address. This MAC address is the same
address as that of the first physical interface bounded to the team. In
the case that this first physical interface is removed dynamically from the
team using "baspcfg" tool and bounded to the protocol directly, this could
lead to a duplicate MAC address problem on the network. Note that if the
removed physical interface does not participate in any traffic, there
will not be any problem.
To properly remove a physical interface in a Generic Trunking team, follow
the steps listed below:
(1) Backup the original team configuration script
% cp /etc/basp/team-gec /etc/basp/backup-gec
Note-1) "team-gec" is the name of the configuration script.
Note-2) "backup-gec" is the name of the backup script. The name of the
backup script must NOT be prefixed with "team-".
(2) Modify the team configuration script to remove the physical interface
(3) Stop the running team
% /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/backup-gec stop
% /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/backup-gec del
(4) Re-start the team
% /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/team-gec add
% /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/team-gec start
Known Problems
--------------
(1) We have identified that the network configuration utility, Yast2,
distributed with Suse Linux 7.0 and 7.1, failed to save the IP address
assigned to the virtual network interface. This problem also occurs when
running under Caldera OpenLinux EDesktop 2.4 Kernel 2.2.14. The following
error message will be seen when running the "basp" init script:
Adding basp team-example OK
Starting basp team-example FAILED
To activate the virtual network interface, enter following command:
% ifconfig sw0 172.16.10.10 up
Consult ifconfig(8) for details in manually configuring a network
interface.
(2) DHCP address problem
We have identified that there is incompatiblity between SLB and IP address
obtained via DHCP. In the lab, we have seen that the virtual network
interface lost the IP address after running for a period of time.
To solve the problem, always assign static IP address to the virtual
network interfaces.
Logs
----
v2.0.2
- Added support to the Linux 2.4.2 kernel for IA-64 architecture.
v2.0.1
- Fixed the server hang problem caused by removing a physical interface
without first detaching from the team.
- Added proc fs support for reporting team configuration.
v1.2.2
- Enhanced "basp" init script to work with other Linux distrbutions.
- Fixed jumbo frame problem.
v1.2.1
- Added support to Redhat 7.1 release.
- Added man pages.
v1.2.0
- Added support to the Linux 2.4.0 kernel.
v1.1.13
- Added check to prevent the removal of the primary physical interface
in a generic trunking team. Such removal might cause duplicated MAC
addresses on the network.
v1.1.12
- Updated the release note.
v1.1.11
- Fixed the problem of adding the same virtual interface twice.
- Correctly attribute packet counters to the correct virtual interfaces
when VLAN is enabled.
v1.1.10
- Fixed the problem that invalid VLAN can be added but not removed.
- Add removing of BASP teams in RPM de-installation.
- Added usage and argument checking to basp script.
- Fixed the problem that init script fails with multiple teams.
- Fixed the problem in switching runlevels.
v1.1.9
- Enhanced RPM packaging support.
- Changed "basp" script to run at priority 11, which is right after
"network" script.
- Automatically detect the presence of "kgcc" and use "kgcc" to get
around Redhat 7.0 compiler problem.
- Added "baspif" script to start and stop network interfaces.
v1.1.8
- Added RPM packaging.
v1.1.7
- Fixed failure of server originated ping with VLAN enable.
- Fixed loss of network connection under heavy traffic on SMP system.
v1.1.6
- Changed both module and device name to "basp.o" and "/dev/basp"
respectively for consistency.
- Added startup scripts.
- Enhanced Generic Trunking support by automatically programing the MAC
addresses.
- Addressed VLAN deletion issue.
v1.1.5
- Fixed Generic Trunking problem.
- Improved error messages in runing baspcfg utility.
- Added Generic Trunking sample script.
v1.1.4
- Added "show" command in baspcfg to display team configurations and status.
- Improved module build process for MODVERSIONS and SMP kernel.
- Display module build options in syslog during module load time.
- Display blfcore.o version during module loading time.
- Major changes in Makefiles to improve the build process.
- Improved build documentation.
- Changed to new baspcfg usage to the release.txt.
- Added documentation to describe how to install NICE patched drivers.
v1.1.3
- Fixed pal_read_mii() function.
v1.1.2
- Fixed linux/if.h dependency problem which prevented BASP from detecting
NICE supported driver on older kernels.
Download Driver Pack
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.