# sk98lin

## NAME



           sk98lin - Marvell/SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet driver v6.21
    


## SYNOPSIS



           **insmod sk98lin.o**[**Speed_A=**_i,j,..._]  [**Speed_B=**_i,j,..._]
           [**AutoNeg_A=**_i,j,..._]  [**AutoNeg_B=**_i,j,..._]  [**DupCap_A=**_i,j,..._]
           [**DupCap_B=**_i,j,..._]  [**FlowCtrl_A=**_i,j,..._]  [**FlowCtrl_B=**_i,j,..._]
           [**Role_A=**_i,j,..._]  [**Role_B=**_i,j,..._]  [**ConType=**_i,j,..._]
           [**Moderation=**_i,j,..._]  [**IntsPerSec=**_i,j,..._]  [**PrefPort=**_i,j,..._]
           [**RlmtMode=**_i,j,..._]
    


## DESCRIPTION



           **Note** : This obsolete driver was removed in Linux 2.6.26.
    
           **sk98lin** is the Gigabit Ethernet driver for Marvell and SysKonnect
           network adapter cards.  It supports SysKonnect SK-98xx/SK-95xx
           compliant Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and any Yukon compliant
           chipset.
    
           When loading the driver using insmod, parameters for the network
           adapter cards might be stated as a sequence of comma separated
           commands.  If for instance two network adapters are installed and
           AutoNegotiation on Port A of the first adapter should be ON, but
           on the Port A of the second adapter switched OFF, one must enter:
    
               insmod sk98lin.o AutoNeg_A=On,Off
    
           After **sk98lin** is bound to one or more adapter cards and the _/proc_
           filesystem is mounted on your system, a dedicated statistics file
           will be created in the folder _/proc/net/sk98lin_ for all ports of
           the installed network adapter cards.  Those files are named
           _eth[x]_ , where _x_ is the number of the interface that has been
           assigned to a dedicated port by the system.
    
           If loading is finished, any desired IP address can be assigned to
           the respective _eth[x]_ interface using the ifconfig(8) command.
           This causes the adapter to connect to the Ethernet and to display
           a status message on the console saying "ethx: network connection
           up using port y" followed by the configured or detected connection
           parameters.
    
           The **sk98lin** also supports large frames (also called jumbo frames).
           Using jumbo frames can improve throughput tremendously when
           transferring large amounts of data.  To enable large frames, the
           MTU (maximum transfer unit) size for an interface is to be set to
           a high value.  The default MTU size is 1500 and can be changed up
           to 9000 (bytes).  Setting the MTU size can be done when assigning
           the IP address to the interface or later by using the ifconfig(8)
           command with the mtu parameter.  If for instance eth0 needs an IP
           address and a large frame MTU size, the following two commands
           might be used:
    
               ifconfig eth0 10.1.1.1
               ifconfig eth0 mtu 9000
    
           Those two commands might even be combined into one:
    
               ifconfig eth0 10.1.1.1 mtu 9000
    
           Note that large frames can be used only if permitted by your
           network infrastructure.  This means, that any switch being used in
           your Ethernet must also support large frames.  Quite some switches
           support large frames, but need to be configured to do so.  Most of
           the times, their default setting is to support only standard
           frames with an MTU size of 1500 (bytes).  In addition to the
           switches inside the network, all network adapters that are to be
           used must also be enabled regarding jumbo frames.  If an adapter
           is not set to receive large frames, it will simply drop them.
    
           Switching back to the standard Ethernet frame size can be done by
           using the ifconfig(8) command again:
    
               ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500
    
           The Marvell/SysKonnect Gigabit Ethernet driver for Linux is able
           to support VLAN and Link Aggregation according to IEEE standards
           802.1, 802.1q, and 802.3ad.  Those features are available only
           after installation of open source modules which can be found on
           the Internet:
    
           _VLAN_ : ⟨http://www.candelatech.com/~greear/vlan.html⟩
           _Link Aggregation_ : ⟨http://www.st.rim.or.jp/~yumo⟩
    
           Note that Marvell/SysKonnect does not offer any support for these
           open source modules and does not take the responsibility for any
           kind of failures or problems arising when using these modules.
    
       **Parameters**
           **Speed_A=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is used to set the speed capabilities of
                  port A of an adapter card.  It is valid only for Yukon
                  copper adapters.  Possible values are: _10_ , _100_ , _1000_ , or
                  _Auto_ ; _Auto_ is the default.  Usually, the speed is
                  negotiated between the two ports during link establishment.
                  If this fails, a port can be forced to a specific setting
                  with this parameter.
    
           **Speed_B=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is used to set the speed capabilities of
                  port B of an adapter card.  It is valid only for Yukon
                  copper adapters.  Possible values are: _10_ , _100_ , _1000_ , or
                  _Auto_ ; _Auto_ is the default.  Usually, the speed is
                  negotiated between the two ports during link establishment.
                  If this fails, a port can be forced to a specific setting
                  with this parameter.
    
           **AutoNeg_A=**_i,j,..._
                  Enables or disables the use of autonegotiation of port A of
                  an adapter card.  Possible values are: _On_ , _Off_ , or _Sense_ ;
                  _On_ is the default.  The _Sense_ mode automatically detects
                  whether the link partner supports auto-negotiation or not.
    
           **AutoNeg_B=**_i,j,..._
                  Enables or disables the use of autonegotiation of port B of
                  an adapter card.  Possible values are: _On_ , _Off_ , or _Sense_ ;
                  _On_ is the default.  The _Sense_ mode automatically detects
                  whether the link partner supports auto-negotiation or not.
    
           **DupCap_A=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter indicates the duplex mode to be used for
                  port A of an adapter card.  Possible values are: _Half_ ,
                  _Full_ , or _Both_ ; _Both_ is the default.  This parameter is
                  relevant only if AutoNeg_A of port A is not set to _Sense_.
                  If AutoNeg_A is set to _On_ , all three values of DupCap_A (
                  _Half_ , _Full_ , or _Both_) might be stated.  If AutoNeg_A is set
                  to _Off_ , only DupCap_A values _Full_ and _Half_ are allowed.
                  This DupCap_A parameter is useful if your link partner does
                  not support all possible duplex combinations.
    
           **DupCap_B=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter indicates the duplex mode to be used for
                  port B of an adapter card.  Possible values are: _Half_ ,
                  _Full_ , or _Both_ ; _Both_ is the default.  This parameter is
                  relevant only if AutoNeg_B of port B is not set to _Sense_.
                  If AutoNeg_B is set to _On_ , all three values of DupCap_B (
                  _Half_ , _Full_ , or _Both_) might be stated.  If AutoNeg_B is set
                  to _Off_ , only DupCap_B values _Full_ and _Half_ are allowed.
                  This DupCap_B parameter is useful if your link partner does
                  not support all possible duplex combinations.
    
           **FlowCtrl_A=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter can be used to set the flow control
                  capabilities the port reports during auto-negotiation.
                  Possible values are: _Sym_ , _SymOrRem_ , _LocSend_ , or _None_ ;
                  _SymOrRem_ is the default.  The different modes have the
                  following meaning:
    
                  _Sym_ = Symmetric
                         Both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE frames.
    
                  _SymOrRem_ = SymmetricOrRemote
                         Both or only remote partner are allowed to send
                         PAUSE frames.
    
                  _LocSend_ = LocalSend
                         Only local link partner is allowed to send PAUSE
                         frames.
    
                  _None_ = None
                         No link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames.
    
                  Note that this parameter is ignored if AutoNeg_A is set to
                  _Off_.
    
           **FlowCtrl_B=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter can be used to set the flow control
                  capabilities the port reports during auto-negotiation.
                  Possible values are: _Sym_ , _SymOrRem_ , _LocSend_ , or _None_ ;
                  _SymOrRem_ is the default.  The different modes have the
                  following meaning:
    
                  _Sym_ = Symmetric
                         Both link partners are allowed to send PAUSE frames.
    
                  _SymOrRem_ = SymmetricOrRemote
                         Both or only remote partner are allowed to send
                         PAUSE frames.
    
                  _LocSend_ = LocalSend
                         Only local link partner is allowed to send PAUSE
                         frames.
    
                  _None_ = None
                         No link partner is allowed to send PAUSE frames.
    
                  Note that this parameter is ignored if AutoNeg_B is set to
                  _Off_.
    
           **Role_A=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is valid only for 1000Base-T adapter cards.
                  For two 1000Base-T ports to communicate, one must take the
                  role of the master (providing timing information), while
                  the other must be the slave.  Possible values are: _Auto_ ,
                  _Master_ , or _Slave_ ; _Auto_ is the default.  Usually, the role
                  of a port is negotiated between two ports during link
                  establishment, but if that fails the port A of an adapter
                  card can be forced to a specific setting with this
                  parameter.
    
           **Role_B=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is valid only for 1000Base-T adapter cards.
                  For two 1000Base-T ports to communicate, one must take the
                  role of the master (providing timing information), while
                  the other must be the slave.  Possible values are: _Auto_ ,
                  _Master_ , or _Slave_ ; _Auto_ is the default.  Usually, the role
                  of a port is negotiated between two ports during link
                  establishment, but if that fails the port B of an adapter
                  card can be forced to a specific setting with this
                  parameter.
    
           **ConType=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is a combination of all five per-port
                  parameters within one single parameter.  This simplifies
                  the configuration of both ports of an adapter card.  The
                  different values of this variable reflect the most
                  meaningful combinations of port parameters.  Possible
                  values and their corresponding combination of per-port
                  parameters:
    
                  **ConType   DupCap   AutoNeg   FlowCtrl   Role   Speed**
                  _Auto_      Both     On        SymOrRem   Auto   Auto
                  _100FD_     Full     Off       None       Auto   100
                  _100HD_     Half     Off       None       Auto   100
                  _10FD_      Full     Off       None       Auto   10
                  _10HD_      Half     Off       None       Auto   10
    
                  Stating any other port parameter together with this _ConType_
                  parameter will result in a merged configuration of those
                  settings.  This is due to the fact, that the per-port
                  parameters (e.g., _Speed_A_) have a higher priority than the
                  combined variable _ConType_.
    
           **Moderation=**_i,j,..._
                  Interrupt moderation is employed to limit the maximum
                  number of interrupts the driver has to serve.  That is, one
                  or more interrupts (which indicate any transmit or receive
                  packet to be processed) are queued until the driver
                  processes them.  When queued interrupts are to be served,
                  is determined by the _IntsPerSec_ parameter, which is
                  explained later below.  Possible moderation modes are:
                  _None_ , _Static_ , or _Dynamic_ ; _None_ is the default.  The
                  different modes have the following meaning:
    
                  _None_ No interrupt moderation is applied on the adapter
                  card.  Therefore, each transmit or receive interrupt is
                  served immediately as soon as it appears on the interrupt
                  line of the adapter card.
    
                  _Static_ Interrupt moderation is applied on the adapter card.
                  All transmit and receive interrupts are queued until a
                  complete moderation interval ends.  If such a moderation
                  interval ends, all queued interrupts are processed in one
                  big bunch without any delay.  The term _Static_ reflects the
                  fact, that interrupt moderation is always enabled,
                  regardless how much network load is currently passing via a
                  particular interface.  In addition, the duration of the
                  moderation interval has a fixed length that never changes
                  while the driver is operational.
    
                  _Dynamic_ Interrupt moderation might be applied on the
                  adapter card, depending on the load of the system.  If the
                  driver detects that the system load is too high, the driver
                  tries to shield the system against too much network load by
                  enabling interrupt moderation.  If—at a later time—the CPU
                  utilization decreases again (or if the network load is
                  negligible), the interrupt moderation will automatically be
                  disabled.
    
                  Interrupt moderation should be used when the driver has to
                  handle one or more interfaces with a high network load,
                  which—as a consequence—leads also to a high CPU
                  utilization.  When moderation is applied in such high
                  network load situations, CPU load might be reduced by
                  20–30% on slow computers.
    
                  Note that the drawback of using interrupt moderation is an
                  increase of the round-trip-time (RTT), due to the queuing
                  and serving of interrupts at dedicated moderation times.
    
           **IntsPerSec=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter determines the length of any interrupt
                  moderation interval.  Assuming that static interrupt
                  moderation is to be used, an _IntsPerSec_ parameter value of
                  2000 will lead to an interrupt moderation interval of 500
                  microseconds.  Possible values for this parameter are in
                  the range of 30...40000 (interrupts per second).  The
                  default value is 2000.
    
                  This parameter is used only if either static or dynamic
                  interrupt moderation is enabled on a network adapter card.
                  This parameter is ignored if no moderation is applied.
    
                  Note that the duration of the moderation interval is to be
                  chosen with care.  At first glance, selecting a very long
                  duration (e.g., only 100 interrupts per second) seems to be
                  meaningful, but the increase of packet-processing delay is
                  tremendous.  On the other hand, selecting a very short
                  moderation time might compensate the use of any moderation
                  being applied.
    
           **PrefPort=**_i,j,..._
                  This parameter is used to force the preferred port to A or
                  B (on dual-port network adapters).  The preferred port is
                  the one that is used if both ports A and B are detected as
                  fully functional.  Possible values are: _A_ or _B_ ; _A_ is the
                  default.
    
           **RlmtMode=**_i,j,..._
                  RLMT monitors the status of the port.  If the link of the
                  active port fails, RLMT switches immediately to the standby
                  link.  The virtual link is maintained as long as at least
                  one "physical" link is up.  This parameters states how RLMT
                  should monitor both ports.  Possible values are:
                  _CheckLinkState_ , _CheckLocalPort_ , _CheckSeg_ , or _DualNet_ ;
                  _CheckLinkState_ is the default.  The different modes have
                  the following meaning:
    
                  _CheckLinkState_ Check link state only: RLMT uses the link
                  state reported by the adapter hardware for each individual
                  port to determine whether a port can be used for all
                  network traffic or not.
    
                  _CheckLocalPort_ In this mode, RLMT monitors the network path
                  between the two ports of an adapter by regularly exchanging
                  packets between them.  This mode requires a network
                  configuration in which the two ports are able to "see" each
                  other (i.e., there must not be any router between the
                  ports).
    
                  _CheckSeg_ Check local port and segmentation: This mode
                  supports the same functions as the CheckLocalPort mode and
                  additionally checks network segmentation between the ports.
                  Therefore, this mode is to be used only if Gigabit Ethernet
                  switches are installed on the network that have been
                  configured to use the Spanning Tree protocol.
    
                  _DualNet_ In this mode, ports A and B are used as separate
                  devices.  If you have a dual port adapter, port A will be
                  configured as _eth[x]_ and port B as _eth[x+1]_.  Both ports
                  can be used independently with distinct IP addresses.  The
                  preferred port setting is not used.  RLMT is turned off.
    
                  Note that RLMT modes _CheckLocalPort_ and _CheckLinkState_ are
                  designed to operate in configurations where a network path
                  between the ports on one adapter exists.  Moreover, they
                  are not designed to work where adapters are connected back-
                  to-back.
    


## FILES



           _/proc/net/sk98lin/eth[x]_
                  The statistics file of a particular interface of an adapter
                  card.  It contains generic information about the adapter
                  card plus a detailed summary of all transmit and receive
                  counters.
    
           _/usr/src/linux/Documentation/networking/sk98lin.txt_
                  This is the _README_ file of the _sk98lin_ driver.  It contains
                  a detailed installation HOWTO and describes all parameters
                  of the driver.  It denotes also common problems and
                  provides the solution to them.
    


## BUGS



           Report any bugs to linux@syskonnect.de
    


* * *