Technical data

SunOS 5.5 Devices nfe(7D)
NAME nfe − Compaq Netflex-2 Dualport Ethernet and ENET/TR Drivers
SYNOPSIS /dev/nfe
AVAILABILITY x86
DESCRIPTION The nfe Ethernet driver is a multi-threaded, loadable, clonable, STREAMS hardware
driver supporting the connectionless Data Link Provider Interface, dlpi(7P), over Com-
paq Netflex-2 controllers. Multiple Netflex-2 controllers installed within the system are
supported by the driver. The nfe driver provides basic support for the Netflex-2
hardware. Functions include chip initialization, frame transmit and receive, multicast
support, and error recovery and reporting. NOTE: Promiscuous mode is not supported
using the current revision of the firmware.
APPLICATION
PROGRAMMING
INTERFACE
The cloning, character-special device /dev/nfe is used to access all Netflex-2 devices
installed within the system.
nfe and DLPI The nfe driver is a “style 2” Data Link Service provider. All M_PROTO and M_PCPROTO
type messages are interpreted as DLPI primitives. An explicit DL_ATTACH_REQ message
by the user is required to associate the opened stream with a particular device (ppa). The
ppa ID is interpreted as an unsignedlong integer and indicates the corresponding device
instance (unit) number. The unit numbers are assigned sequentially to each board found.
The search order is determined by the order defined in the /kernel/drv/nfe.conf file. An
error (DL_ERROR_ACK) is returned by the driver if the ppa field value does not
correspond to a valid device instance number for this system. The device is initialized on
first attach and de-initialized (stopped) on last detach.
The values returned by the driver in theDL_INFO_ACK primitive in response to the
DL_INFO_REQ from the user are as follows:
The maximum SDU is 1500 (ETHERMTU).
The minimum SDU is 0. The driver will pad to the mandatory 60-octet
minimum packet size.
The dlsap address length is 8.
The MAC type isDL_ETHER.
The sap length value is −2, meaning the physical address component is fol-
lowed immediately by a 2-byte sap component within the DLSAP address.
The service mode is DL_CLDLS.
No optional quality of service (QOS) support is included at present, so the
QOS fields are 0.
The provider style isDL_STYLE2.
The version isDL_VERSION_2.
The broadcast address value is Ethernet/IEEE broadcast address
(FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF).
modified 1 May 1995 7D-231