Alacritech Scalable Network Accelerator™ Users Guide Microsoft Windows® Edition Version 10.
Preface Disclaimer The information in this document is subject to change without notice. Alacritech reserves the right to change any portion of these products for reasons such as improving performance or enhancing functionality. Alacritech assumes no liability arising out of the application or use of these products for anything other than its intended purpose. Copyright This document is copyrighted material.
Organization of This Guide This guide is the primary reference and operation guide for Alacritech Accelerators and contains the following sections: Chapter 1 – Introduction introduces Alacritech Accelerators and the Dynamic TCP Offload technology on which they are based. Chapter 2 – Software Installation includes the procedures required to install the software component and configure the operating system for correct operation.
Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5 Introduction 1-1 1.1 Description 1-1 1.2 Changes from Release 9 1-1 1.3 Supported Accelerators 1-2 1.4 Operating System Compatibility 1-4 Software Installation 2-1 2.1 Software Installation Overview 2-1 2.2 Software Installation 2-2 2.3 Uninstalling the Accelerator 2-7 2.4 Command Line Driver Installation 2-8 Device Management 3-1 3.1 Starting Device Management 3-1 3.2 Running Adapter Diagnostics 3-3 3.3 Updating Flash Code 3-5 3.
Appendix A Network Software License Agreement and Warranty Alacritech Accelerator Users Guide: Microsoft Windows Edition A-1 iv
1 Introduction This guide describes how to install Release 10 software and operate Alacritech Accelerators under the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. 1.1 Description Alacritech Scalable Network Accelerators™ (SNAs) are single-port or multi-port network interface cards (NICs) that employ Alacritech‟s Dynamic TCP Offload technology, which uses an innovative application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) for protocol processing.
1.3 Supported Accelerators This release supports the following Accelerators: 3000 Series 10 Gigabit Accelerators 1800, 2000, and 2100 Series Gigabit Accelerators 1000 Series (1000x1, SES1001) Accelerators are not supported with this software release, but will continue to be supported under earlier software releases with a major number of 7.
1.3.3 10 Gigabit Accelerators Release 10 applies to the following 10 Gigabit Accelerators: Part Number Ports PCI Bus Medium SEN3001EF Single PCIe n/a SEN3001EF-SR Single PCIe 10GBASE-SR The SEN3001EF is the model number of the board without an installed SFP+ transceiver. The SEN3001EF-SR includes a 10GBASE-SR SFP+ transceiver. SFP+ refers to the Small Form-Factor Pluggable transceiver. The medium supported depends on the properties of the installed optical module.
1.4 Operating System Compatibility Note: Systems using Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 require the Scalable Network Pack (SNP) from Microsoft. 1.4.
2 Software Installation 2.1 Software Installation Overview This chapter covers the installation of the software required for an Accelerator under Windows, using Windows Server 2008 as the example. The same procedure applies to other versions of Windows, though the specific windows may appear different than shown. For Windows Server Core 2008, refer to Section 4.
2.2 Software Installation The following procedure applies whether installing a new Alacritech Accelerator or updating the driver of an existing Accelerator. 1. Install the Alacritech Accelerator using the procedure in the Alacritech Hardware Installation Guide. 2. Once the hardware has been installed, start the system. If the Found New Hardware Wizard appears, press Cancel. 3. Insert your Alacritech Driver Installation CD into the system. Select the appropriate installation.
4. From the Alacritech Accelerator Setup click Next to begin the software installation. 5. In the Alacritech Accelerator Setup – Software License Agreement window read the terms of the End User License Agreement. Select I accept the terms of the License Agreement, and click the Next button if you accept the license agreement. If you do not accept the terms of the License Agreement, leave I do not accept the terms in the License Agreement selected and click Cancel to exit the installation. 6.
Once you have made your selection, click Next to continue. 7. The Ready to Install window will appear. Click the Install button to install the software.
8. A dialog box titled Software Installation or Windows Security may appear. This should only occur when using drivers that are not certified through the Microsoft Designed for Windows Logo process. Most official drivers released by Alacritech have digital signatures from Microsoft that will be automatically accepted, while others, including beta drivers and patches, will be self-signed by Alacritech. A self-signed driver will cause the installer to pop up a warning message.
Server 2008 does recognize self-signed drivers and will pop up the following message. Go ahead a click install as many times as this pop-up appears. Or you can choose to select “Always trust Alacritech”, and you will never be bothered by this pop-up again. 9. If the hardware was not installed in step 1, when the install completes the Attach Your Device dialog box will appear. Hit OK. 10. Click Finish to exit the Setup Wizard.
2.3 Uninstalling the Accelerator 1. Shut down the computer, and unplug the power cable. Failure to do so may endanger you, and may damage the adapter or computer. Note: Alacritech Accelerators use components that are sensitive to ESD. Proper ESD handling and storage should be followed. 2. Remove the computer cover and then remove the Alacritech Accelerator. 3. The Windows operating system will disable the driver software automatically when the Accelerator is removed. a.
2.4 Command Line Driver Installation It is assumed in this document that the user is familiar with the Microsoft command line installation tool, msiexec.exe. If this is not the case, it is recommended that at a bare minimum the user first run 'msiexec /?' to familiarize themselves with the msiexec syntax. In order to install via the command line, you need to know the path to the '.msi' file that is appropriate for your OS. Use the following table to determine this.
If the SXG component (10 gigabit driver) is installed, you will get a popup saying that the driver is signed by Alacritech, do you want to continue. Otherwise, the installation should complete (eventually) without interruption.
3 Device Management 3.1 Starting Device Management 1. Open the Network Connections window and select a connection to manage. Select a connection to manage by right-clicking on the connection and choosing Properties.
2. Click the Configure button. This will open the Properties window which will allow you to manage the device. 3. When device management is complete, click the OK button to exit the window.
3.2 Running Adapter Diagnostics Diagnostics can be run on any Accelerator using the following procedure: 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found.. 2. Select the Diagnostics tab. 1GbE Diagnostics 10GbE Diagnostics Note: Running Diagnostics will disrupt the port of the Accelerator under test. Note: The Teaming Driver Version will indicate “Not Loaded” until a Team is created. 3. Click the Run Tests button. A warning will appear.
4. The adapter will then run through self-test of the IPP and the selected Accelerator. A properly functioning board will display Passed for all results. 5. Additional adapter information is available by clicking the Adapter Details button. 6. Click the Close button to exit Adapter Details.
3.3 Updating Flash Code Note: This section only applies to 1GbE Accelerators. The mechanism for flashing code on flash-capable Accelerators is provided through device manager. This is most commonly used to install PXE/UNDI drivers, which allow PXE and iSCSI software boot solutions to work. Note that these drivers do not include a BIOS-level iSCSI boot driver, and that a third-party iSCSI boot software package is needed for complete iSCSI boot support.
6. After flashing the latest PXE drivers, click the OK button to exit the application.
3.4 Managing Drivers Drivers for Alacritech Accelerators can be managed through the device manager. 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found.. 2. Select the Driver tab. 1GbE Driver 10GbE Driver The following sections describe the functions on this tab.
3.4.1 Driver Details Driver Details provides additional driver information that may be required to troubleshoot problems with Alacritech customer support. 3.4.2 Update Driver… Note: Following this procedure will only update the base driver. If teaming or VLAN functions are required, install the new, updated driver as described in Section 2. The most recent drivers are available from the Alacritech Support website at http://www.alacritech.com/Support/Downloads/Drivers/Default.aspx .
2. Specify where to find the new driver: either by performing an automated search or manually specifying the directory of the updated driver. 3. Selecting Search automatically… will bring up the following window, displaying the search progress.
4. Selecting Browse my computer… will bring up a window asking to locate the driver software location. Check Include subfolders if you are unsure in which subfolder the proper driver is contained. After specifying the folder, press Next.
You may also choose to pick from a list of drivers for devices included in Windows. Choose the Let me pick… option to bring up the driver selection window: To narrow down the list of drivers, check the Show compatible hardware box. If you wish to install from a disk, press the Have Disk… button. When you have specified the driver, click Next. 5. Once the driver is successfully located, it will automatically update the driver and display the following window.
3.4.3 Roll Back Driver This function reverts the system back to the previously installed driver. This function can only be used to roll back to a driver of the same major release number. For example, reverting from release 9.3 to 9.1 or 10.0.1.5413 to 10.0.0.3012, but not from 10.0 to 9.3. 1. Press the Roll Back Driver button. A warning message will appear. 2. Press Yes to confirm the roll back. 3.4.4 Disable This function disables the Accelerator and should only be used for troubleshooting purposes.
3.4.5 Uninstall Uninstall removes only the base driver. To completely uninstall the driver, use the Windows Add/Remove Programs or Uninstall or Change a Program function. 1. Press the Uninstall button. A warning message will appear. 2. Press OK to confirm.
3.5 Configuring Advanced Properties Alacritech Accelerators support the advanced features TCP Checksum Offload and TCP Offload. 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found.. 2. Select the Advanced tab. 1GbE Advanced Options 3.5.1 10GbE Advanced Options Properties The following properties are configurable in the Advanced tab. Highlight the item in the Properties field and select the desired Value. Some properties only apply to the 10GbE accelerator.
Flow Control (10GbE Only) Flow control through the use of pause frames can reduce congestion and the loss of data. To work properly, flow control must be enabled on the Accelerator, the switch, and all other devices in the data path. The default value is Enabled. Note: The use of flow control in 10GbE LAN and iSCSI SANs is highly recommended. Framing (10GbE Only) Framing allows for the efficient processing of small blocks of data, improving throughput and efficiency. The default value is Enabled.
Jumbo Packet The standard maximum Ethernet frame size, including MAC addresses, Length/Type field, and 1500-byte payload, and Frame Check Sequence (FCS) is 1518 bytes. Using jumbo frames with larger payloads improves network efficiency by reducing the overall number of frames. Setting the value to 9014 allows the Accelerator to send and receive frames up to 9014 bytes in length (9018 bytes including the FCS).When To avoid frame loss, all devices in the data path much support jumbo frames.
Media Setting Description Copper 10 Mbps Full Duplex Sets data rate to a maximum of 10 megabits per second bi-directionally 10 Mbps Half Duplex Sets data rate to a maximum of 10 megabits per second unidirectionally 100 Mbps Full Duplex Sets data rate to a maximum of 100 megabits per second bi-directionally 100 Mbps Half Duplex Sets data transmission rate to a maximum of 100 megabits per second unidirectionally 1000 Mbps Full Duplex Sets data transmission rate to a maximum of 1000 megabits per s
disabled or the Microsoft stack has chosen not to offload a TCP connection to the Alacritech Accelerator. The default value is Enabled. TCP Connection Offload (IPv4) This option is included here for troubleshooting purposes. When TCP Connection Offload is disabled, the Accelerator will present itself to Microsoft Windows as nonoffload card and it will not offload IPv4 traffic. The default value is Enabled. TCP Connection Offload (IPv6) (10GbE Only) This option is included here for troubleshooting purposes.
3.6 Configuring Teaming and Failover Alacritech drivers support network teaming and failover. Given the flexible nature of Alacritech‟s teaming implementation, it is possible that it may work with other proprietary solutions as well. For more information on our current teaming support, visit our Customer Support website at http://www.alacritech.com/Support/Overview.aspx It is important to note that EtherChannel and 802.
3.6.2 Recommended Order of Implementation Alacritech strongly recommends that teams be created using the following sequence. Using an alternative sequence of steps may result in unpredictable behavior. 1. Establish TCP/IP communication over a single Ethernet link. If this is a new installation of an Alacritech Accelerator it is important that network connectivity be established before configuring a team.
4. The Team Properties window allows you to configure the type of team as well as the Team Properties. 1GbE Teaming Options 10GbE Teaming Options The Details… button provides more information on each type of team. The Team Properties are identical to the Advanced Properties as described in Section 3.5.1. 5. The default is Cisco Fast EtherChannel/802.3AD. If Cisco Fast EtherChannel/802.3AD is selected then you must have a switch that supports one of these protocols.
7. The team will now be shown in the properties window. The team will not be created until you press the OK button. The newly-created team will appear in the list of LAN connections.
3.6.4 EtherChannel/802.3ad Teaming Guidelines and Restrictions If you disable a port in a team, it is treated as a link failure and its traffic is transferred to one or more of the remaining ports in the team. Configure all ports in a team to operate at the same speed and duplex mode (full or half duplex). Ensure that all ports in a team have the same configuration on both ends of the link. Teaming is not supported in a Team that combines 10GbE and 1GbE ports.
3.6.6 Adding Members from a Team 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found. and select the Teaming tab. 2. Select the team you wish to add members to as well as the ports you wish to add. 3. Press the Add Member button. 4. Press the OK button to finalize the change to the team. 3.6.7 Dropping Members from a Team 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found. and select the Teaming tab. 2.
3.7 Configuring VLAN Tagging Alacritech drivers support VLAN Tagging allowing the user to create Virtual Local Area Networks when used with switches conforming to the IEEE 802.1Q VLAN Tagging Specification. Note: For configuring Teaming under Windows Server Core 2008, refer to Chapter 4 3.7.1 Recommended Order of Implementation Alacritech strongly recommends that VLANs be created using the following sequence. Using an alternative sequence of steps may result in unpredictable behavior. 1.
3.7.2 Configuring a VLAN 1. Open the Properties window as described in Section Error! Reference source not found.. 2. Click the Configure button. The Accelerator Properties dialog box will appear. Select VLAN Setup. 3. Click the Add VLAN button and in the Add VLAN dialog enter the VLAN ID (tag) as well as the VLAN Name.
4. Click OK and then add the second VLAN again using the Add VLAN button. After the second VLAN is created the VLAN list will show both VLANs. 5. Now click OK to create the two requested VLANs. These appear as unique devices in the Network Connection Property Frame.
2 New Devices 6. Configure each of these new devices as a normal network connection. Each requires its own unique IP address on a separate subnet. Notice that Port A of the adapter shows “Network cable unplugged.” This connection is no longer available and is now replaced by the two VLAN network adapters (Local Area Connection 7 and 8). 7. The two VLANs are now configured and should be isolated at the network level. A quick isolation test is to ping an Engineering system from a Finance system.
4 Windows Server Core 2008 Windows Server Core 2008 uses a command line interface rather than the familiar Windows graphical user interface. This chapter describes how to install the Alacritech drivers and configuring the Accelerator for teaming and VLAN using the Slicutil comand line utility. Slicutil.exe is not installed when the driver is installed, but may be found in the distribution package under the \tools folder.
4.3 Configuring Networking Network configuration is standard netsh stuff. The first thing is to change the interface names to something that makes them easier to identify, and that doesn't contain spaces.
4.4 Configuring Teaming It is recommended that the user familiarize themselves with the normal teaming procedures (Section 3.6), and the teaming section of the Server Accelerator FAQ before attempting this procedure. Now use the slicutil command to create a Hot Standby Failover team from the two ports of the SEN2102ET (Interfaces names: SENA, SENB). To do this, we need to know the interface ID for each interface.
C:\Temp> netsh int show int Admin State State Type Interface Name ---------------------------------------------------------------------Enabled Connected Dedicated ob1_10net Enabled Connected Dedicated ob2_csl Enabled Connected Dedicated SENA Enabled Connected Dedicated SENB Enabled Connected Dedicated SEN3001 Enabled Connected Dedicated team_test C:\Temp> netsh int ipv4 show addresses Configuration for interface DHCP enabled: IP Address: Subnet Prefix: InterfaceMetric: "team_test" No 172.17.2.118 172.17.2.
You can now examine the team to determine which interfaces it is created from.
As you can see interface ID 9 "SEN3001" now shows that it supports a VLAN virtual interface. Now, to rename the VLAN interface and assign it an IP address of 192.168.60.118/24: C:\Temp> netsh int set int name="Local Area Connection 2" newname=vlan_test C:\Temp> netsh int ip set address vlan_test static 192.168.60.118/24 C:\Temp> netsh int ipv4 show addresses Configuration for interface DHCP enabled: IP Address: Subnet Prefix: InterfaceMetric: "ob1_10net" No 10.1.50.218 10.1.0.0/16 (mask 255.255.0.
4.6 Configuring Advanced Driver Features The command line interface for configuring advanced interface properties was not complete at the time this page is was written. The idea is to be able to use slicutil to do all of it, but for now, slicutil will only manipulate some, but not all, advanced interface properties for teamed interfaces. Normal interfaces have to be handled with the reg command, as does changing team properties that are not supported by slicutil.
Lsov2IPv6 Large Send Offload Version 2 0 = Disabled (IPv6) 1 = Enabled 1 = Enabled RSS Receive Side Scaling 0 = Disabled 1 = Enabled 1 = Enabled JumboPacket Jumbo Packet 0 = Disabled (1500 MTU) 1 = Enabled (9000 MTU) 0 = Disabled In one of the examples above, we created a Hot Standby team. Starting with that team, we can use slicutil to change the team type to FEC and enable jumbo frames. C:\Temp> slicutil team modify teamid=22 type=FEC jumbopacket=1 Modifying Alacritech Accelerator Team #Team1 .
set REGNET=HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E32511CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} The ID value returned by slicutil interface list is the same as the registry key under HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CEBFC1-08002BE10318} when zero padded to four digits. So to disable TCP offload (IPv4) on the interface ID 9 (SEN3001), you would first query it's current state: C:\Temp> reg query %regnet%\0009 /v *TCPConnectionOffloadIPv4 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\...
5 Troubleshooting and Support 5.1 Alacritech Automated Customer Support You can reach Alacritech‟s automated support service 24 hours a day, every day. The service contains the most up-to-date information about Alacritech products. You can access the most current drivers, installation instructions, troubleshooting information, and general product information. Support: http://www.alacritech.com/Support/Overview.aspx Corporate: http://www.alacritech.com/ 5.
5.4 Installation Problems This section covers errors and problems surrounding installation only. For other problems, please see the other sections in this chapter. Problem Solution TCP Offload does not work TCP Chimney offload will not work with the following features: Windows Firewall (Windows XP enabled by Default) Internet Protocol security (IPsec) Internet Protocol Network Address Translation (IPNAT) Third-party firewalls NDIS 5.
3. Under Startup Type, select Disabled. 4. Click OK.
5.5 Event Log Errors This section covers entries written to the Event Log. You can view the Event Log from the Event Viewer located in the Administrative Tools folder on the Start Menu, located under Programs. Problem Solution Event Log reports "SLIC Has determined that the adapter is not functioning properly" Run Diagnostics from NCPA. See the procedure in Chapter 3. Contact Alacritech technical support for assistance. This is probably the result of a malfunctioning adapter. 5.
5.6.2 Alacritech SEN2002XF, SEN2001XF, SES2002XF and SES2001XF Accelerator LED Function Indicators LED Indication Meaning LNK Green On The Accelerator and the switch are receiving power; the fiber optic cable connection between them is good, and a 1000 Mbps link has been established. Off Either the Accelerator or the switch (or both) is not receiving a proper signal. The fiber optic cable connection between them may be faulty. Yellow Flashing The Accelerator is sending or receiving network data.
Appendix A Network Software License Agreement and Warranty PLEASE REVIEW THE LICENSE AGREEMENT BELOW. BY OPENING THIS SOFTWARE OR PACKAGE OR OTHERWISE DOWNLOADING OR COPYING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU ARE AGREEING TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE UNTIL YOU HAVE CAREFULLY READ AND AGREED TO THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THIS SOFTWARE. LICENSE: Alacritech, Inc.
FREEBSD SOFTWARE: Some portions of the Software are: Copyright © 1994-2003 FreeBSD, Inc. All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 2.
TERMINATION OF THIS LICENSE: Alacritech may terminate this license at any time if you are in breach of any of its terms and conditions. Upon termination, you will immediately destroy the Software and documentation or return all copies of the Software and documentation to Alacritech. U.S. GOVERNMENT RESTRICTED RIGHTS: The Software and documentation were developed at private expense and are provided with "RESTRICTED RIGHTS.
