Additional Configurations
Configuring the Driver on Different Distributions
Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started is distribution dependent. Typically, the con-
figuration process involves adding an alias line to /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf as well as editing other sys-
tem startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many Linux distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you. To
learn the proper way to configure a network device for your system, refer to your distribution documentation. If during
this process you are asked for the driver or module name, the name for the Linux Base Driver for the Intel Gigabit Fam-
ily of Adapters is igbvf.
As an example, if you install the igbvf driver for two Intel Gigabit adapters (eth0 and eth1) and want to set the interrupt
mode to MSI-X and MSI, respectively, add the following to modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias eth0 igbvf
alias eth1 igbvf
options igbvf InterruptThrottleRate=3,1
Viewing Link Messages
Link messages will not be displayed to the console if the distribution is restricting system messages. In order to see net-
work driver link messages on your console, set dmesg to eight by entering the following:
dmesg -n 8
NOTE:
This setting is not saved across reboots.
Jumbo Frames
Jumbo Frames support is enabled by changing the MTU to a value larger than the default of 1500 bytes. Use the ifcon-
fig command to increase the MTU size. For example:
ifconfig eth<x> mtu 9000 up
This setting is not saved across reboots. The setting change can be made permanent by adding
MTU = 9000
to the file
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth<x>
, in Red Hat distributions. Other distributions may store this set-
ting in a different location.
NOTES:
l
Using Jumbo Frames at 10 or 100 Mbps may result in poor performance or loss of link.
l
To enable Jumbo Frames, increase the MTU size on the interface beyond 1500.
l
The maximum Jumbo Frames size is 9234 bytes, with a corresponding MTU size of
9216 bytes.
ethtool
The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical inform-
ation. ethtool version 3 or later is required for this functionality, although we strongly recommend downloading the
latest version at:
http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool/
.
Known Issues
Compiling the Driver
When trying to compile the driver by running make install, the following error may occur:
"Linux kernel source not configured - missing version.h"
To solve this issue, create the version.h file by going to the Linux Kernel source tree and entering:
# make include/linux/version.h
