Installing the Ethernet Ports

This chapter covers how to install the Ethernet portion of the ITI-8241C-S CompactPCI® Combination adapter in your system and how to verify that the Ethernet ports have been installed correctly.

Refer to section “Installing the IntraServer CompactPCI Host Adapter” to install the combination adapter in your CompactPCI® machine.

Ethernet 10/100 Auto-Negotiation

The qfe Ethernet interface used on the IntraServer ITI-8241C-S adapter supports auto-negotiation. The auto-negotiation protocol, as specified in the 100BASE-T standard, automatically selects the operation mode (half-duplex or full-duplex) and speed (10Mbps or 100Mbps) based on the network the adapter is on.

The link speed and modes supported by the IntraServer ITI-8241C-S adapter are listed below in order of decreasing priority:

100Mbps, full-duplex

100Mbps, half-duplex

10Mbps, full-duplex

10Mbps, half-duplex

When the system is booted, the IntraServer CompactPCI® adapter advertises these capabilities to the Link Partner at the other end of the link (a hub, switch, or another network interface card (NIC) in a host system). If the Link Partner also supports auto-negotiation, it will advertise its capabilities over the link, the common highest priority mode supported by both sides will be selected automatically for the link operation.

If the IntraServer CompactPCI® adapter is connected to a remote system or to an interface that is capable of auto-negotiation, your system will automatically select the speed and duplex mode.

If the IntraServer CompactPCI® adapter is connected to a Link Partner in which auto-negotiation protocol is not operational, you can configure the device to not use this protocol and force the driver to set up the link in the mode and speed of your choice.

Refer to the Platform Notes; “The qfe Ethernet Device Driver” document for mode information on the qfe driver and auto-negotiation. This document is also available in the Solaris™ AnswerBook.

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