Alacritech Release 7.3.1.0 Release Notes
Date: Fri. September, 29 2006
======================================
Contents
- Introduction
- Content List
+ File Versions
- Caveats
- Features
+ Supported Hardware
+ Supported Platforms
+ Existing Features
+ New Features
+ Discontinued Features
- Windows Logo
- Known Issues
+ Open Bugs
+ Integration Issues
- Resolved Issues
- Users Guide
- Support and Feedback Mechanism
- Incident Reports
Introduction
============
This is the official release of the 7.3.1.0 driver package for
Alacritech Accelerators on Windows platforms.
This is a maintenance release, and contains no new features that were not
available in the 7.3.0.1 release.
The release updates PXI/UNDI flash capability for iSCSI boot on Alacritech
SEN2000 and SES2000 family products, and includes a trial copy of emBoot
netBoot/i iSCSI boot software.
This release only supports Alacritech Gigabit products. 100 Mbit
products continue to be supported through the 6.x.x.x drivers.
This file provides details on known outstanding bugs, support
issues and feedback mechanisms for this release.
Content List
============
This release contains the following file and directories:
autorun.inf
Launches the installation process on a Windows system if it is
located on CD media.
bin
Contains tools for reading documentation in PDF format. a.k.a.
Adobe Acroread [TM].
doc
Files and documentation associated to Alacritech's hardware
and software products. This includes the Alacritech Server
and Storage Accelerator Users Guide.
FlashImage
Flash image files to provide a PXE UNDI interface to Alacritech
Accelerators based on the STA2000 ASIC.
install.htm
Top level installation and documentation reference for Alacritech
ATCP drivers (included) and SNP drivers (not included)
netbooti
Files and documentation associated to emBoot netBoot/i iSCSI
boot software.
setup.exe
The Alacritech Accelerator Setup application, which allows the
Alacritech drivers and libraries to be installed properly on
your system.
readme.html
Front end introduction to the ATCP drivers
readme_files
Folder containing files referenced by readme.html
RelNotes.txt
This file.
w2k
The software drivers, libraries, and utilities for Windows 2000,
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.
File Versions:
--------------
File Version Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
slic100.sys 7.3.1.0 Network Miniport Driver
atcp.sys 7.3.1.0 TCP Offload Driver
slicteam.sys 7.3.1.0 Link Aggregation (Teaming) Driver
PXE/UNDI File Versions:
-----------------------
File Version* Build Date Description
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
oasis0.bin 1.0.1.1 09/25/2006 10:52 AM iSCSI boot firmware
oasis1.bin 1.0.1.1 09/25/2006 10:53 AM iSCSI boot firmware
oasis2.bin 1.0.1.1 09/25/2006 10:54 AM iSCSI boot firmware
stub_m.nic 1.0.1.1 09/25/2006 11:10 AM iSCSI boot firmware
stub_mf.nic 1.0.1.1 09/25/2006 11:12 AM iSCSI boot firmware
*At this time the PXI/UNDI version is only visible during boot
Caveats
=======
Supports only gigabit products
Features
========
Supported Hardware
------------------
This release supports the following products:
Part Number Product Description
----------------------------------------------------------------------
SEN2001XT PCI-X Gigabit Copper 1-port Network Accelerator
SEN2001XF PCI-X Gigabit Fiber 1-port Network Accelerator
SES2001XT PCI-X Gigabit Copper 1-port iSCSI Accelerator
SES2001XF PCI-X Gigabit Fiber 1-port iSCSI Accelerator
SEN2002XT PCI-X Gigabit Copper 2-port Network Accelerator
SEN2002XF PCI-X Gigabit Fiber 2-port Network Accelerator
SES2002XT PCI-X Gigabit Copper 2-port iSCSI Accelerator
SES2002XF PCI-X Gigabit Fiber 2-port iSCSI Accelerator
SEN2102ET PCI-Express Gigabit Copper 2-port Network Accelerator
SEN2102EF PCI-Express Gigabit Fiber 2-port Network Accelerator
SEN2104ET PCI-Express Gigabit Copper 4-port Network Accelerator
SEN2104EF PCI-Express Gigabit Fiber 4-port Network Accelerator
2000-100007* PCI Gigabit Copper 1-port Network Accelerator
2000-100009* PCI Gigabit Fiber 1-port Network Accelerator
SES1001T* PCI Gigabit Copper 1-port iSCSI Accelerator
SES1001F* PCI Gigabit Fiber 1-port iSCSI Accelerator
* iSCSI boot is not supported on these cards.
Supported Platforms
-------------------
This release is supported only for IA32 compatible architecture running
selected Microsoft Windows operating system versions:
Supported Windows Versions
--------------------------
Windows 2000 (all versions)
Windows XP (Service Pack 1 or later, 32bit only)
Windows Server 2003 (32bit only)
For Windows x64, the Alacritech SNP driver must be used. The SNP driver
is not part of this release.
This driver is not compatible with Virtual PC 2004.
Existing Features
-----------------
- Basic NIC Functionality
- TCP Offload
- TCP Checksum Offload (Only when TCP Offload is enabled)
- Large Memory Support (/PAE)
- Limited support for TCP performance tuning. See
http://www.alacritech.com/html/nettunables.html for more detail
- Link Aggregation (Teaming)
+ 802.3ad/(Fast/Gigabit) EtherChannel compatible mode
+ Hot Standby Failover mode
- Jumbo Frames
- Membership in a single tagged vlan
- Checksum offload in dumb NIC mode.
- Segmentation offload in dumb NIC mode.
- PXE UNDI flash ROM support (To enable iSCSI boot)
New Features
------------
No new features have been added with this release.
Discontinued Features
---------------------
No features are removed by this release.
Windows Logo (Designed for Microsoft Windows)
=============================================
The network miniport driver [slic100.sys] is digitally signed and the
Alacritech Accelerator hardware meets the Designed for Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 and Designed for Microsoft Windows 2000 Server logo requirements.
The link aggregation driver [slicteam.sys] is digitally signed by Microsoft
but is not logoed, as at the time of this release Microsoft has discontinued
logoing from teaming drivers on the platforms which this driver supports.
Known Issues
============
This section contains a list of currently understood issues.
Both open bugs and known integration issues are documented based
on this specific release. Please review the current open bugs and
known issues before filing a bug report. See the Support and Feedback
section below for details on reporting bugs.
Open Bugs
---------
Bug 00678 [All] Alacritech behavior does not match Microsoft for network
tunables
Some tunables for Windows are not evaluated and interpreted by
the Alacritech drivers, particularly TcpMaxDataRetransmissions.
Workaround - Please see the Alacritech Accelerator FAQ
(http://www.alacritech.com/html/accelerator_FAQ.html#s4p1q7 ) for more
details.
Bug 00807 [XP] Uninstall leaves trash in registry
After uninstalling Alacritech cards errant entries left in registry will
cause any subsequent installation of any NICs to start Local Area Connection
numbers to skip, as if the Alacritech cards were still installed.
Workaround - If you encounter this problem, use the 'remove' program
(run in a cmd window) included in the w2k directory of the Alacritech
distribution to clean up the errant registry entries.
Bug 00979 [ALL] slic reports incorrect data to Network Object
Network Performance Object Total Bytes/Sec shows spurious peaks during
data transfer through Alacritech interfaces
Workaround: Use the fastpath total bytes/sec and slowpath total
bytes/sec components of the SLIC object to measure performance for
Alacritech cards.
Bug 00989 [ALL] ATCP will not enforce "Require Kerberos Trust" policy
When windows IP Security Policy "Require Kerberos Trust" is in place,
connections via Alacritech interfaces bypass this policy, allowing
connections to un-trusted hosts.
Workaround - Disable "Alacritech TCP fastpath driver" on interfaces
that require this policy.
Bug 01018 [all] ATCP will not hand out in half closed state
Half closed connections will not get the benefit of TCP offload.
Workaround - No customer workaround. Developers don't send large
amounts of data while in half close. This is a fairly rare condition
in real world, and Alacritech has no plans to fix this bug.
Bug 01213 [2k3sp1] Backup exec fails with 'data inconsistent' message.
On Windows 2003 with SP1 only, Backup Exec version 10.0 and 10.1 can
fail with message: "V-79-57344-33994 - The data being read from the
media is inconsistent." Problem only manifests if backup media/server
slow relative to client being backed up.
Workaround - Disable "Alacritech TCP fastpath driver" on Backup Exec
Media Server.
Bug 01225 [all] PXE/UNDI: Port selection problem with SLICUSER
The Flash Update doesn't always select the correct port on which to
enable iSCSI boot.
Workaround - Before selecting the Flash Update tab, go to the General
and ensure that port A of the device you wish to flash is selected.
As long as port A is selected on the General tab, the Flash Update
will proceed correctly.
Bug 01226 [all] Fiber cards can lose link during iSCSI boot process.
When performing iSCSI boot using a fiber card, link may be lost
when transitioning from preboot to post boot, causing the system
to stall at the Windows screen.
Workaround - Disconnect and reconnect the port, or use a different
switch.
Resolved Issues
===============
Resolved since 7.3.0.1
----------------------
Bug 01208 [all] atcp.sys fails to complete receive
When a client server application closes a connection with an abortive
disconnect on the data receiving side, the Alacritech card can send
a reset with an incorrect sequence number, causing the connection
to fail to close.
Bug 01224 [all] PXE/UNDI: Can't flash/enable port B on SEN2102ET
On Alacritech 2100 Series Accelerators, only port A can be selected
for update during the PXI/UNDI flash process.
Bug 01229 [w2k] ATCP incompatible with QoS on Windows 2000
If QoS is enabled on an Alacritech interface that has offload enabled on
Windows 2000 (works fine on XP and 2k3) TCP stops working.
Bug 01231 [w2k] uCode: Card reset @ 8C0C, 8CEC (SLIC Event ID 5002)
Card would sometimes reset causing network interruption in Windows 2000
cluster environment.
Bug 01232 [all] Occasional "hangs" with IOMETER.
When running IOMeter using a Network Worker between two ATCP enabled
boxes with a message size of 128KB, IOMeter "hangs" and throughput goes
to zero.
Bug 01235 [all] uCode: Card reset @ 8918 (SLIC Event ID 5002)
Card reset when communicating with SQL database over iSCSI.
Same root cause as bug 1261.
Bug 01261 [all] uCode: Card reset @ 8AE7 (SLIC Event ID 5002)
Card reset during backup (Veritas Netbackup) causing backup to fail.
Also seen in environments doing massive numbers of small sends.
Bug 01299 [all] uCode: Card reset @ 94DC (SLIC Event ID 5002)
Card reset during intense iSCSI activity with jumbo frames enabled.
Bug 01312 [all] PXE/UNDI: fails on HP ML350
Undi driver won't load on HP ML350 G4.
Resolved since 7.1.2.2
----------------------
Bug 01196 [all] TCP timestamps don't work w/ Jumbo frames enabled
With Jumbo frames enabled, TCP timestamps can be negotiated when
connection is established, but subsequent data frames have no time
stamp information, causing constant flushing to slowpath and
resultant horrible performance.
Bug 00984 [w2k] ATKPERF fills application log with annoying messages
On some systems with the SNMP agent installed, atkperf.dll puts in
an eventlog message at critical priority every time it opens or
closes the event log.
Bug 00936 [ALL] Can't connect to Novell server.
Windows Novell client cannot connect to Novell server if Alacritech
installed.
Resolved since 7.1.1.0
----------------------
Bug 01181 [2k3] Duplicate ID address message w multiple ports
When multiple Alacritech ports (cards, or multiport boards) are installed,
spurious duplicate IP address messages can occur. The message will contain
the MAC address of one of the other Alacritech ports on the same system.
Bug 01178 [All] Install program hangs
Install program sometimes hangs during installation of multi-port 2000
series boards.
Bug 01177 [All] Cannot connect to iSCSI target
When multi-processor hosts using the MSiSCSI initiator to connect to
targets that use iSCSI redirect ( Notably Equal Logic PS200E ) connection
may hang in the "reconnecting" state.
Bug 01176 [2k3] SLIC Event 5002
Alacritech card resets under heavy load. This bug appears to have
been introduced in release 7 due to firmware changes made to support
jumbo frames.
Bug 01175 [2k3SP1] Stringbean target no longer works
As of SP1 for Windows Server 2003 multiple simultaneous TDI read requests
are now allowed but 7.1.1.0 and earlier we're not handling it correctly.
This bug affected Stringbean Wintarget, ftp, and many other programs,
typically resulting in the program hanging.
Bug 01173 [2k3] Bug 1145 fix breaks Osaka (MS iSCSI 2.0) Initiator fix
When running the Osaka MS iSCSI 2.0 Initiator on release 7.1.1.0 with
persistent LUNs, system blue screens immediately after initialization.
Bug 1145 changed our SLIC initialization time, that changed the internal
timing with respect to the MS Initiator attempting to open and close
connections.
Bug 01098 [All] Asynchronous I/O that polls via TDI_RECIEVE fails.
Kernel mode applications that use socket polling rather than Windows
callbacks for asynchronous I/O will not work with TCP Offload enabled.
Hummingbird Maestro NFS and ADIC SNFS fall in to this category.
Resolved since 7.1.0.1
----------------------
Bug 01170 [2k3] Can't install on Windows 2003 SP1
The co-installer (atkcoin.dll) fails to load on SP1, causing all installs
and upgrades of Alacritech drivers to fail.
Bug 01166 [2k3] Crashes with MS iSCSI 2.0 initiator and persistent disks
If the Microsoft iSCSI initiator is used and there are persistent disks,
the system will crash after reboot.
Bug 01145 [All] File shares on iSCSI disks do not reappear after reboot
The long initialization time of the Alacritech interface may cause
services that depend on the iSCSI disks to fail after a reboot. The
iSCSI disks themselves will appear, but services that depend on them may
not operate as expected.
Readme
======
The readme.html contained with distribution should be used as the starting
point for learning about this driver.
Users Guide
===========
There is a Users Guide contained in the doc directory provided to customers
for use with Alacritech Accelerators. For details on installation, management,
teaming, and interoperability issues, please review the Users Guide, as full
details have been provided there. The users guide is also available online
at http://www.alacritech.com/support/docs/7_3_0_1/Users_Guide.pdf
Support and Feedback Mechanism
==============================
Before Contacting Customer Support, please browse the troubleshooting
section of the Users Guide, as well as the resources available though
online support: http://www.alacritech.com/html/techsupport.html
Should you need to contact customer support, please gather all of the
information requested in the Incident Reports section (below) before
initiating contact.
To contact Alacritech customer support you may use one of the following
options:
Web Site (preferred):
The URL is http://www.alacritech.com/html/techsupport.html. Click
the Customer Care Center button to register and file a support request.
Phone:
Phone number for the United States is 408-287-9997. Select option 2.
E-mail:
The address is support@alacritech.com.
Incident Reports
===========
Please include as much as possible of the following information when sending
in an incident request:
Hardware:
CPUs
Amount of memory
PCI busses
Number of Alacritech accelerators
Other network interfaces
Software:
Windows Version (2000, XP, 2003)
Windows Service Pack version
Version of Alacritech drivers
Log information
Event Viewer details related to Alacritech
Windows dump files (if there is a crash)
Testing environment
What software is being tested
What types of tests reproduce the problem
Where is the failure occurring
What has been done to try and solve the problem
Patents
=======
One or more U.S. and international patents apply to Alacritech
products, including without limitation: U.S. Patent Nos. 6,226,680,
6,247,060, 6,334,153, 6,389,479, 6,393,487, 6,427,171, 6,427,173,
6,434,620, 6,470,415, 6,591,302, 6,658,480, 6,687,758, 6,697,868,
6,751,665, 6,757,746, 6,807,581, 6,938,092, 6,941,386, 6,965,941,
7,042,898, and 7,076,568.
Portions of the technology in Alacritech’s acceleration products are
used under license from Broadcom Corporation [and may be covered by
one or more Broadcom U.S. Patents.] Alacritech does not have a
license under the Broadcom Licensed Patents to implement certain
claimed functionality with hardware and software not provided by
Alacritech. No license is granted under Broadcom’s patents expressly,
by implication, by exhaustion or otherwise, to use or sell the
acceleration technology in combination with any non-licensed hardware
or software that is specifically designed to practice the Broadcom
Licensed Patents.
900125 Rev 7
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.