Dell Intel PRO Family of Adapters - Manual (Page 85)

Install Using KMP RPM
NOTE: KMP is only supported on SLES11.
The KMP RPMs update existing igbvf RPMs currently installed on the system. These updates are provided by SuSE in
the SLES release. If an RPM does not currently exist on the system, the KMP will not install.
The RPMs are provided for supported Linux distributions. The naming convention for the included RPMs is:
intel--..rpm
For example, intel-igbvf-1.3.8.6-1.x86_64.rpm: igbvf is the component name; 1.3.8.6-1 is the component version; and
x86_64 is the architecture type.
KMP RPMs are provided for supported Linux distributions. The naming convention for the included KMP RPMs is:
intel--kmp--_..rpm
For example, intel-igbvf-kmp-default-1.3.8.6_2.6.27.19_5-1.x86_64.rpm: igbvf is the component name; default is the
kernel type; 1.3.8.6 is the component version; 2.6.27.19_5-1 is the kernel version; and x86_64 is the architecture type.
To install the KMP RPM, type the following two commands:
rpm -i
rpm -i
For example, to install the igbvf KMP RPM package, type the following:
rpm -i intel-igbvf-1.3.8.6-1.x86_64.rpm
rpm -i intel-igbvf-kmp-default-1.3.8.6_2.6.27.19_5-1.x86_64.rpm
Command Line Parameters
If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters are used by entering them on the command line with
the modprobe command using this syntax:
modprobe igbvf [=,,...]
A value () must be assigned to each network port in the system supported by this driver. The values are applied
to each instance, in function order. For example:
modprobe igbvf InterruptThrottleRate=16000,16000
In this case, there are two network ports supported by igb in the system. The default value for each parameter is gen-
erally the recommended setting, unless otherwise noted.
The following table contains parameters and possible values for modprobe commands:
Parameter
Name Valid Range/Settings Default Description
Interrupt-
ThrottleRate 0, 1, 3, 100-100000
(0=off, 1=dynamic, 3=d-
dynamic conservative) 3 The driver can limit the number of interrupts per second
that the adapter will generate for incoming packets. It
does this by writing a value to the adapter that is based
on the maximum number of interrupts that the adapter
will generate per second.
Setting InterruptThrottleRate to a value greater or equal
to 100 will program the adapter to send out a maximum
of that many interrupts per second, even if more packets
have come in. This reduces interrupt load on the system
and can lower CPU utilization under heavy load, but will
increase latency as packets are not processed as
quickly.
The default behavior of the driver previously assumed a
static InterruptThrottleRate value of 8000, providing a
NOTES:
l Dynamic interrupt throttling is only applic-
able to adapters operating in MSI or
Legacy interrupt mode, using a single
receive queue.
l When igbvf is loaded with default settings
and multiple adapters are in use sim-
ultaneously, the CPU utilization may
increase non-linearly. In order to limit the
CPU utilization without impacting the over-
all throughput, it is recommended to load
the driver as follows:
modprobe igbvf Inter-
ruptThrottleRate-
e=3000,3000,3000
This sets the InterruptThrottleRate to 3000
interrupts/sec for the first, second, and third
instances of the driver. The range of 2000
to 3000 interrupts per second works on a
majority of systems and is a good starting
point, but the optimal value will be platform-
specific. If CPU utilization is not a concern,
use default driver settings.