Data Sheet

Ethernet Controller I210 —System Manageability
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The sideband interface provides a mechanism by which the I210 can be shared between the host and
the MC. By providing this sideband interface, the MC can communicate with the LAN without requiring a
dedicated Ethernet controller. The I210 supports two sideband interfaces:
•SMBus
•NC-SI
• PCIe (together with MCTP) - when the system is up.
The usable bandwidth for either direction is up to 1 Mb/s when using SMBus and 100 Mb/s for the NC-
SI interface. When working over PCIe, the bandwidth is limited by the PCIe bandwidth and the I210
processing capabilities. The I210 should support MCTP over PCIe pass-through traffic at a rate of up to
250 Mb/s. Only one mode of sideband can be active at any given time. The configuration is done using
a Flash setting.
Note: In MCTP mode, the PCIe and SMBus interface can receive MCTP commands in parallel.
However, only one of the interfaces can receive NC-SI commands or pass through traffic.
10.1.1 Supported Topologies
The I210 support the following topologies:
• Connection via legacy SMBus (See Section 10.5).
• Connection via NC-SI (See Section 10.6)
• Connection via NC-SI over MCTP for pass through. This connection can be over SMBus, PCI Express
or both. (See Section 10.7).
• Connection via NC-SI over MCTP for control only. This connection can be over SMBus, PCI Express
or both. (See Section 10.7). This connection is not available when device is in D3cold state or when
main power is not available (Dr state).
The topology used is defined in the Redirection Sideband Interface field in the Common Manageability
Parameters Flash word.
10.1.2 Pass Through Packet Routing
When an Ethernet packet reaches the I210, it is examined and compared to a number of configurable
filters. These filters are configurable by the MC and include, but not limited to, filtering on:
•MAC Address
• IP Address
•UDP/IP Ports
•VLAN Tags
•EtherType
If the incoming packet matches any of the configured filters, it is passed to the MC. Otherwise it is not
passed.
The packet filtering process is described in Section 10.3.