ptx®/LAN V4.6.3 Release Notes


Introduction

These release notes support Version 4.6.3 of the ptx®/LAN software intended for use with IBM® Symmetry® and NUMA-Q systems. ptx/LAN consists of hardware and software that can interconnect a variety of data-communication devices to create a local area network (LAN).

Read this document before you install or run this release of ptx/LAN.


Product Compatibility

This version of ptx/LAN can be used with the following products:

To determine which versions of layered-software products (such as ptx/TCP/IP and ptx/NFS®), will run with this release of ptx/LAN, refer to the specific product's release notes.


64-Bit Ethernet Incompatible with Quads

The 64-Bit 10/100 Ethernet PCI board is not supported in Quads. Quads are first generation NUMA-Q hardware. The /etc/showcfg command displays a processor speed of 180Mhz for Quads.

The 64-Bit 10/100 Ethernet PCI board is supported in Squads. Squads are the current NUMA-Q hardware and have processor speeds greater than 180Mhz.


Setting the Speed and Duplex Mode for the 64-Bit Ethernet Card

The 64-bit Ethernet card (identified as AIC 6915 by the ethstat -i command) implements the hardware speed and duplex mode negotiation protocol as specified in the IEEE 802.3u standard. It will correctly select the speed and duplex mode, as specified by the standard, with other switches and devices which also implement this protocol. When connecting to legacy devices that do not implement this protocol (such as the 32-bit Ethernet device identified as RNS 21140A by the ethstat -i command), the speed and duplex mode of the device must be specified manually. Make sure that these settings are the same for the devices at both ends of the cable.

For the 64-bit Ethernet device, the -duplex switch of the /usr/etc/ethadmin command does nothing when the -speed switch is set to auto. If -speed is set to either 10 or 100, then -duplex can be set to full or half. When -speed is set to auto, the device uses the 802.3u protocol to determine speed and duplex mode. When -speed is not set to auto, the speed and duplex mode is forced to the values specified by the /usr/etc/ethadmin command. This is similar in behavior to the Cisco 5500 switch (though the administrative commands are very different).

The /usr/etc/ethadmin command continues to operate as it did before with the 32-bit Ethernet devices.

When connecting a 64-bit Ethernet device to a network, the default speed of auto will normally select the proper speed and duplex mode. However if the device is being used as a CCI link connected to a 32-bit Ethernet device, then the -speed and -duplex modes must be the same for each end of the CCI link. The devices can be manually configured after each boot or changed at run time via the /usr/etc/ethadmin command, or the menu system can be used to set the boot time parameters of the Ethernet Management menu to persist over system boots.


Software Installation

For information on how to install this release of ptx/LAN, refer to the DYNIX/ptx and Layered Products Software Installation Release Notes.


Product Documentation

The following documentation is available on the HTML documentation CD:


Problem Reports

This section lists the following problem report summaries:

The numbers in parentheses identify the problems in the problem-tracking system.


Fixed Problems in ptx/LAN V4.6.3

The following problems have been fixed in this release of ptx/LAN:


Open Problems in ptx/LAN V4.6.3

The following problem has been reported against this release of ptx/LAN:

241032
If you do not specify the speed for either the RNS PCI or VME Fast Ethernet devices, pe and fe respectively, the devices themselves will determine the software speed at which they should run. This software algorithm is not perfect and the device may select the wrong speed.

The RNS board can be determined by the following command:

# ethstat -i 
/dev/net/pe6  RNS 21140Aae Quad 0 Slot 1 
/dev/net/pe7  RNS 21140Aae Quad 0 Slot 1 
/dev/net/pe8  RNS 21140Aae Quad 0 Slot 1 
/dev/net/pe9  RNS 21140Aae Quad 0 Slot 1 

Workaround. Select the correct speed using either the ethadmin command or the ptx/ADMIN menu system:

/usr/etc/ethadmin -speed [10|100] /dev/net/device

Network Administration => LAN Management => Ethernet Management => Manage Station

To permanently select the speed, even if the system reboots, use the Set Boot Time Parameters menu instead of the Manage Station menu.