Ethernet Support Guide for HP-UX 11i v3
Some of the other major features that might be provided by these cards are listed in Section 1.5
(page 9).
HP-UX provides software drivers that manage the 100Base-T Ethernet cards or interfaces. For
example, the btlan driver manages both 100Base-T and 100Base-FX interfaces. For more
information about this driver and managing it, see the nwmgr_btlan(1m) manpage and “Setting
and displaying driver Ethernet parameters” (page 21).
For more detailed information on the currently supported Fast Ethernet cards, drivers, and the
platforms that support them, see the HP-UX Ethernet Card Support Matrix document at the following
Business Support Center website:
www.hp.com/go/hpux-iocards-11iv3-docs
NOTE: The btlan driver is not mentioned by name in the HP-UX Ethernet Card Support Matrix
document. The driver does not come with a separate software bundle as do most other drivers
mentioned there but instead is automatically installed with the HP-UX kernel.
1.2 Gigabit Ethernet and cards
Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) is an Ethernet networking solution that supplanted most Fast Ethernet in
wired local area networks because of its higher performance. Gigabit Ethernet delivers Ethernet
frames at a rate of a gigabit per second (Gb/s), as defined by the IEEE 802.3-2008 standard.
Gigabit Ethernet is a generic reference to 1000Base Ethernet, which provides a transmission speed
of 1000 Mbit/s for baseband signalling. Gigabit Ethernet includes the following basic standards:
• 1000Base-T IEEE 802.3ab — Gigabit Ethernet over copper cables using four pairs of category
5 or better twisted pair to achieve the gigabit data rate. Generally this standard supports a
maximum length of 100 meters. 1000Base-T brings high bandwidth with 10, 100, and 1000
Mbit/s speeds, which makes more network bandwidth available for applications. 1000Base-T
can be used in data centers for server switching, for uplinks from desktop computer switches,
or directly to the desktop for broadband applications. A big advantage of 1000base-T is that
existing copper cabling can be used instead of having to rewire with optical fiber.
• 1000Base-SX IEEE 802.3z — Gigabit Ethernet over shortwave laser multi-mode fiber optic
cable, generally for a maximum length of 550 meters. This standard is popular for intra-building
links in large office buildings, co-location facilities and carrier neutral internet exchanges.
The demand for higher-speed network connections is growing at a tremendous rate to keep pace
with the speed requirements of current applications and systems. Data centers process terabytes
of data daily. Processing, sharing, and distributing this data requires faster and faster networks.
Intelligent cards take on more of the network processing from the server. They have become critically
important in helping servers cope with the onslaught of traffic running at Gigabit/s speeds.
The HP Gigabit Ethernet intelligent cards are designed to maximize host CPU efficiency by taking
on more of the network processing from the server. These cards include features provided by Fast
Ethernet 10/100Base-T cards and more. They not only perform functions such as TCP/IP checksum,
interrupt coalescing, and byte swapping, but also enable the reduction of host data copy operations.
Bulk data transfers can be optimized by using Jumbo Frames — the large 9000-byte maximum
transfer unit (MTU) improves system efficiency.
The Gigabit LAN cards are also supported with HP Auto Port Aggregation (APA) software. Up to
4 Gigabit Ethernet links can be logically aggregated to form a single, extremely high-bandwidth
channel with one IP address, automatic link failover, and load balancing.
HP Gigabit Ethernet cards support HP-UX VLANs, as discussed in Section 1.1 (page 5).
The 1000Base-T cards are tri-speed cards that support autonegotiation and autosensing. They
operate in full-duplex mode at 10, 100 and 1000 Mbit/s or in half-duplex mode at 10 and 100
Mbit/s.
6 Overview