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7–Linux Driver Software
Limitations
34 BC0054508-00 M
Limitations
The Linux drivers have the limitations described in the following:
bnx2 Driver Limitations
bnx2x Driver Limitations
bnx2i Driver Limitations
bnx2fc Driver Limitations
bnx2 Driver Limitations
The current version of the driver has been tested on 2.4.x kernels, starting from
the 2.4.24 kernel, and all 2.6.x and 3.x kernels. The driver may not compile on
kernels older than 2.4.24. Testing is concentrated on i386 and x86_64
architectures. Only limited testing has been done on some other architectures.
Minor changes to some source files and the Makefile may be needed on some
kernels. Additionally, the Makefile does not compile the C-NIC driver on kernels
older than 2.6.31.
iSCSI offload is supported only on 2.6.31 and later kernels.
bnx2x Linux driver for the BCM57xxx 1Gb/10Gb network adapters. This driver directly con-
trols the hardware and is responsible for sending and receiving Ethernet packets on
behalf of the Linux host networking stack. The driver also receives and processes
device interrupts, both on behalf of itself (for Layer 2 networking) and on behalf of
the bnx2fc (FCoE) and C-NIC drivers.
cnic The C-NIC driver provides the interface between Marvell’s upper-layer protocol (for
example, storage) drivers and Marvell’s BCM57xx and BCM57xxx 1Gb and 10Gb
network adapters. The C-NIC module works with the bnx2 and bnx2x network
drives in the downstream and the bnx2fc (FCoE) and bnx2i (iSCSI) drivers in the
upstream.
bnx2i Linux iSCSI Host Bus Adapter driver to enable iSCSI offload on the BCM57xx and
BCM57xxx 1Gb and 10Gb network adapters.
bnx2fc Linux FCoE kernel mode driver used to provide a translation layer between the
Linux SCSI stack and the Marvell FCoE firmware and hardware. In addition, the
driver interfaces with the networking layer to transmit and receive encapsulated
FCoE frames on behalf of the Open-FCoE libfc/libfcoe for FIP and device
discovery.
Table 7-1. Marvell BCM57xx and BCM57xxx Linux Drivers (Continued)
Linux Driver Description