                  ===========================
                  R E L E A S E    N O T E S
                  ===========================

          Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) Driver
                    for Linux 2.4.x kernel
                        Version 6.0.1

            Copyright (c) 2000-2003 Broadcom Corporation
                     All rights reserved.
                       February 2, 2003

Table of Contents
-----------------

    1.  Overview
    2.  Limitation
    3.  Installation
    4.  Install - TAR archive
    5.  Install - RPM package
    6.  Files
    7.  Configuration - Red Hat Distribution
    8.  Configuration - Suse Distribution
    9.  Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution
    10. Startup scripts - Red Hat distributions
    11. Configuration scripts - Red Hat Distributions
    12. Broadcom NICE patches
    13. Uninstall - RPM package
    14. Removal of physical interface in Generic Trunking 
        and 802.3ad mode
    15. Known Problems
    16. Logs


1. Overview
-----------

BASP is a kernel module designed for 2.4.x kernels that provides 
load-balancing, fault-tolerance, and VLAN features. These features 
are provided by creating teams that consist of multiple 
NIC interfaces. A team can consist of 1 to 8 NIC interfaces and each 
interface can be designated primary, or hot-standby (SLB team only). 
All primary NIC interfaces in a team will participate in 
Load-balancing operations by sending and receiving a portion of the 
total traffic. Hot-standby interfaces will take over in the event 
that all primary interfaces have lost their links. VLANs can be 
added to a team to allow multiple VLANs with different VLAN IDs. 
A virtual device is created for each VLAN added.

BASP supports Smart Load-balance (SLB<tm>), Generic trunking and IEEE 
802.3ad Link Aggregation. In SLB and 802.3ad mode, all the NIC drivers
must support Broadcom NIC Extension (NICE). In this release, several 
NIC drivers patched with NICE are included. 
    * SLB mode works with all Ethernet switches without configuring 
      the switch ports to any special trunking mode. Only IP traffic 
      will be load-balanced in both inbound and outbound directions. 
    * Generic trunking mode does not require NICE and can work with 
      any NIC, however, it requires the Ethernet switch to support 
      the technology and be properly configured. This mode is 
      protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-balanced 
      and fault-tolerant.
    * 802.3ad mode requires NICE drivers and Ethernet switches 
      supporting IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation. This mode is 
      protocol-independent and all traffic should be load-balanced 
      and fault-tolerant. All the physical interfaces in the 
      802.3ad teams are defaulted to be LACP active. A 802.3ad team 
      requires all the member NICs supporting NICE. All the member
      NICs, once in the 802.3ad team, will be set with the same 
      MAC address. 




2. Limitation
-------------

BASP supports Red Hat 7.1, 7.2 and 8.1 beta.  The following installation 
procedures work with these distributions.  BASP has also been tested 
on SuSE 7.2 & 7.3, Caldera 3.1, Turbo Linux 7.0, Mandrake 8.1 and
United Linux 1.0 based distribution.  Minor modification to the 
Makefile may be required if problems are experienced when compiling 
BASP on other i386 Linux distributions.

BASP supports Red Hat Linux for IA-64 architecture.

BASP supports SuSE Linux for AMD x86_64 architecture.

VLANs are only supported by Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet. As 
opposed to VLANs support in other platforms, e.g. Windows and Netware, 
VLANs are not supported by Alteon Acenic driver (acenic.c).



3. Installation
---------------

For users of Red Hat 7.1, 7.2 (i386 and IA-64) and Suse Linux (i386 and
x86_64) follow instructions in "Install - RPM package" section.

For users of other Linux i386 and IA-64 distribution, follow 
instructions in "Install - TAR archive" section.




4. Install - TAR archive
------------------------

BASP for Linux is shipped in mixed forms, where the platform and 
kernel specific files are in source code, and the core file is in 
object form. Three packages are shipped in this release: two tar 
archives and two RPM package.

"basplnx-{version}.i386.tgz" is the tar archive for i386 platform,  
"basplnx-{version}.ia64.tgz" is the tar archive for IA-64 platform,
"basplnx-{version}.x86_64.tgz" is the tar archive for AMD 64 bit platform.

To uncompress and expand the tar archive, run

    % tar xvfz basplnx-{version}.{arch}.tgz

The installation process involves the following steps:

(1) To build kernel module, "basp.o",

    % make

    Note that the Make process will automatically build the correct 
    module for different kernel options, e.g. symbol versioning and 
    SMP support. There is NO need to define -DMODVERSIONS in the 
    Makefile.

(2) To create device file and to copy files,

    % make install

(3) To update the module reference,

    % depmod -a

(4) To load the driver,

    % insmod basp

(5) Follow the "Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution" 
    section to set up the teams.



5. Install - RPM package
------------------------
(1) To install the RPM source package, run

    % rpm -i basplnx-{version}.src.{arch}.rpm

(2) Change directory to the RPM path and build the binary driver for 
    the kernel

    % cd /usr/src/redhat
    % rpm -bb SPECS/basplnx.spec

    Note that the RPM path is different for different Linux 
    distributions. For those distributions with RPM v4.1 or later,
    use "rpmbuild" comannd instead of "rpm".

(3) Install the newly built package

    % rpm -i RPMS/i386/basplnx-{version}.{arch}.rpm

    The driver and other required files will be automatically 
    installed.

(4) To load the driver,

    % insmod basp

(5) Follow the Configuration section to set up the teams.



6. Files
--------

    Makefile                    makefile
    baspcfg                     precompiled configuration utility
    bcmtype.h                   commonly use type header file
    blf.c                       BASP module entry points
    blf.h                       ioctl interface
    blfcore.h                   core interface
    blfcore.o                   pre-compiled core object
    blfopt.h                    automatic generated header file by Make
    blfver.h                    version header file
    nicext.h                    NICE header file
    pal.c                       platform abstraction implementation
    pal.h                       header for paltform abstraction
    release.txt                 this file
    nice-2.2.16                 NICE enabled driver for 2.2 kernel
    nice-2.4.16                 NICE enabled driver for 2.4 kernel
    scripts                     contains sample scripts
    scripts/basp                init script, goes to /etc/init.d
    scripts/baspteam            start/stop script, goes to /etc/basp
    scripts/baspif              start/stop network i/f, goes to /etc/basp
    scripts/team-sample         sample script of SLB team with 3 NICs
    scripts/team-gec            sample script of GEC team with 3 NICs
    scripts/team-vlan           sample script of SLB team with 2 VLANs
    basp.4                      man page
    baspcfg.8                   man page for baspcfg utility



7. Configuration - Red Hat Distribution
---------------------------------------

The BASP distribution includes an utility program and several scripts 
for team configuration. Following steps for Red Hat Linux distributions 
only. Most of the steps are only required to be performed after the first 
time installation. Step 2 "Modify the configuration script" should be 
performed whenever there is any change to the team configuration.

For users of other Linux distributions, follow instructions in the 
"baspcfg" section.

The configuration process involves the following steps:

(1) Copy a configuration script from "/etc/basp/samples" directory to
    "/etc/basp" directory. Note the configuration script must be 
    prefixed with "team-".

(2) Modify the configuration script to 
    (a) change the team type
    (b) add/delete physical network interfaces
    (c) add/delete virtual network interfaces
    (d) assign IP address to each virtual network interface
    The syntax of the configuration script can be found below. Note that
    when configuring Teaming, at lease one Primary Adapter is required.

(3) Manually start the team for the first time,

    % /etc/init.d/basp start

    Note that this step is only required for the first time installation.
    The team configuration will be automatically started on subsequent
    reboots. 
    
    Note that if not all the virtual network interfaces are configured 
    with IP address, there will be an error message in starting the 
    BASP team. When this happens, repeat step (2) to configure IP 
    address for all the virtual network interfaces.


Note-1) Forming multiple teams is possible by copying the sample files 
        into "/etc/basp/team-<name>" and modifying this file as 
        described in the sample file.

Note-2) In order to create more that one virtual interface (VLAN) for 
        each team, refer to the respective description section in the
        sample files.



8. Configuration - Suse Distribution
---------------------------------------

The BASP distribution includes an utility program and several scripts 
for team configuration. Following steps for Suse Linux distributions 
only. Most of the steps are only required to be performed after the first 
time installation. Step 2 "Modify the configuration script" should be 
performed whenever there is any change to the team configuration.

Since Suse distribution does not automatically load driver for the
network device unless the device is configured with IP address, users 
must manually use "yast2" or configure /etc/rc.config file to ensure
proper network drivers loaded during init time.

For users of other Linux distributions, follow instructions in the 
"baspcfg" section.

The configuration process involves the following steps:

(1) Copy a configuration script from "/etc/basp/samples" directory to
    "/etc/basp" directory. Note the configuration script must be 
    prefixed with "team-".

(2) Modify the configuration script to 
    (a) change the team type
    (b) add/delete physical network interfaces
    (c) add/delete virtual network interfaces
    (d) assign IP address to each virtual network interface
    The syntax of the configuration script can be found below. Note that
    when configuring Teaming, at lease one Primary Adapter is required.

(3) Manually start the team for the first time,

    % /etc/init.d/basp start

    Note that this step is only required for the first time installation.
    The team configuration will be automatically started on subsequent
    reboots. 
    
    Note that if not all the virtual network interfaces are configured 
    with IP address, there will be an error message in starting the 
    BASP team. When this happens, repeat step (2) to configure IP 
    address for all the virtual network interfaces.


Note-1) Forming multiple teams is possible by copying the sample files 
        into "/etc/basp/team-<name>" and modifying this file as 
        described in the sample file.

Note-2) In order to create more that one virtual interface (VLAN) for 
        each team, refer to the respective description section in the
        sample files.



9. Configuration and Startup for Other Linux Distribution
---------------------------------------------------------

"baspcfg" is a command line tool to configure the BASP teams, add/remove
NICs and add/remove virtual devices. This tool, may be used to configure 
your own startup script files.  Please read your distribution specific 
documentation for more information on your distributions's startup 
procedure. 

Following is the usage of this tool:

baspcfg v6.0.1  - Broadcom Advanced Server Program Configuration Utility
Copyright (c) 2000-2003 Broadcom Corporation. All rights reserved.
usage: baspcfg <commands>
commands:
    addteam <tid> <type> <tname>    -- create a team
    delteam <tid>                   -- delete a team
    addva   <tid> <vlan_id> <vname> [macaddr]
                                    -- add a virtual adapter to a team
    delva   <tid> <vlan_id>         -- del a virtual adapter from a team
    bind    <tid> <role> <device>   -- bind a physical adapter to a team
    unbind  <tid> <device>          -- unbind a physical adapter from a team
    show    [tid]                   -- display team configurations
where
    tid      -- An unique ID for each team, starting from 0
    type     -- Team type: 0=SLB, 1=FEC/GEC, 2=802.3ad
    tname    -- ASCII string of the team
    vlan_id  -- VLAN ID: from 1 to 4094, 0=untagged or no VLAN
    vname    -- ASCII string of the virtual device
    macaddr  -- MAC address (optional), e.g. 00:10:18:00:11:44
    role     -- Role of the physical device: 0=primary, 1=hot-standby
    device   -- ASCII string of the physical device, e.g. eth0

Following sample startup script should be used to start the BASP after
first time installation and configuration, or in the subsequent reboots.

	#!/bin/bash
	# load basp module
	insmod basp

	# create new team
	baspcfg addteam 0 0 team-one

	# bind physical interfaces / two primary one backup
	baspcfg bind 0 0 eth0
	baspcfg bind 0 0 eth1
	baspcfg bind 0 1 eth2

	# create the virtual interface
	baspcfg addva 0 0 sw0

	# bind ip address to virtual interface and initialize
	ifconfig sw0 192.168.0.1 up

Note: Baspcfg command can only be executed in Super User mode only, 
configure with other login mode will yield "Permission Denied.  Must be 
root to manage BASP" error message.

When configuring Teaming, at lease one Primary Adapter is required.


10. Startup scripts - Red Hat distributions
------------------------------------------

(1) basp
This script is intended to be installed in /etc/init.d directory.
After copying the script, run "chkconfig --add basp". This script will 
be executed at runlevel 2, 3, 4 and 5. When "basp" is run, it will 
search the /etc/basp directory to list all the files with "team-" prefix, 
and then it will invoke "baspteam" script to add or delete the teams. It
is normal that each "team-*" file in /etc/basp represents 1 team.

(2) baspteam
This script is called by "basp" script to add or delete a team. 
To install, create "/etc/basp" directory and copy this script over. 

To manually add a team:

    % baspteam team-sample add

To delete a team:

    % baspteam team-sample del

Note that "team-sample" is the configuration script.

(3) team-sample
This script contains a SLB team configuration with 3 NICs: eth0, eth1 
and eth2. The team name is "TeamSample". All 3 NICs are primary. One 
virtual interface is also created for this team and the name of the 
virtual interface  is "sw0". "sw0" is the device that "ifconfig" should 
be run against to set up the IP address. VLANs are not enabled in this 
script.

This script and "team-gec" are intended to be customized. Refer to the 
configuration scripts section for details. This script should be copied
to /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.

(4) team-gec
This configuration script creates a GEC team with 3 network interfaces, 
eth0, eth1 and eth2. The team name is "TeamGEC". All 3 NICs are primary. 
One virtual interface is added to the team with the name "sw0" and 
VLANs are not enabled.

This script and "team-sample" are intended to be customized. Refer to 
the configuration scripts section for details. This script should be 
copied to /etc/basp directory and retain the "team-" prefix.



11. Configuration scripts - Red Hat and Suse
-------------------------------------------

Both "team-sample" and "team-gec" are configuration scripts that follow
the same syntax, as following

    TEAM_ID: this number uniquely identifies a team. 
    TEAM_TYPE: 0 = SLB, 1 = Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC, 2 = 802.3ad
    TEAM_NAME: ascii name of the team
    TEAM_PAx_NAME: ascii name of the physical interface x,
                   where x can be 0 to 7.
    TEAM_PAx_ROLE: role of the physical interface x
                   0 = Primary, 1 = Hot-standby. This field
                   must be 0 for Generic Trunking/GEC/FEC 
                   team.
    TEAM_VAx_NAME: ascii name of the virtual interface x,
                   where x can be 0 to 63
    TEAM_VAx_VLAN: 802.1Q VLAN ID of the virtual interface x.
                   For untagged virtual interface, i.e. without
                   VLAN enable, set it to 0. The valid VLAN ID
                   can be 0 to 4094.
    TEAM_VAx_IP:   IP address of the virtual interface x. The 
                   format should be aa.bb.cc.dd.
    TEAM_VAx_NETMASK: Subnet mask of the virtual interface x.
                   The format should mm.nn.oo.pp.

Note: Teaming scripts are intended for Red Hat distributions ONLY, 
use with other Linux distribution will causes ERROR.

12. Broadcom NICE patches
-------------------------

Also included in this release are network device drivers patched
with Broadcom NICE support. These drivers are originally taken from 
the Linux 2.4.16 kernel distribution. To install patched drivers:

(1) Copy the Broadcom NICE header file, "nicext.h", to the appropriate
    Linux kernel include directory, e.g.

    % cp /usr/src/nice-2.4.16/nicext.h /usr/src/linux/include/linux

(2) Rename the original network device driver under the Linux kernel 
    source tree, "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".

(3) Copy the patched drivers to the Linux kernel network driver source
    directory, i.e. "/usr/src/linux/drivers/net".

(4) Follow the kernel rebuild instructions to configure kernel
    support for these drivers, i.e. 

    % cd /usr/src/linux
    % make config

(5) If the patched drivers are configured into the kernel, goto step (7).
    If the patched drivers are configured as modules, goto step (6).

(6) In the case of supporting only the module version of these drivers,
    it is possible to simply run the following to compile patched 
    drivers and to install them into the proper module directory:

    % make modules
    % make modules_install

    There is no need to compile the complete kernel. Goto step (8).

(7) Rebuild the kernel to compile these patched drivers

    % make clean 
    % make dep 
    % make

(8) Either reboot the system or unload/load the patched modules. Run
    configuration scripts to test the patch.



13. Uninstall - RPM package
---------------------------

To uninstall RPM package, 

    % rpm -e basplnx

and to reboot the system,

    % reboot



14. Removal of physical interface in Generic Trunking and 802.3ad mode
----------------------------------------------------------------------

In Generic Trunking and 802.3 ad mode, all the physical and virtual 
interfaces belonging to a team have the same MAC address. This MAC 
address is the same address as that of the first physical interface 
bounded to the team. In the case that this first physical interface is 
removed dynamically from the team using "baspcfg" tool and bounded to 
the protocol directly, this could lead to a duplicate MAC address 
problem on the network. Note that if the removed physical interface 
does not participate in any traffic, there will not be any problem.

To properly remove a physical interface, follow the steps listed below:

(1) Backup the original team configuration script

    % cp /etc/basp/team-gec /etc/basp/backup-gec

Note-1) "team-gec" is the name of the configuration script.

Note-2) "backup-gec" is the name of the backup script. The name of the
        backup script must NOT be prefixed with "team-".

(2) Modify the team configuration script to remove the physical 
interface

(3) Stop the running team

    % /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/backup-gec stop
    % /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/backup-gec del

(4) Re-start the team
    
    % /etc/basp/baspteam /etc/basp/team-gec add
    % /etc/basp/baspif /etc/basp/team-gec start



15. Known Problems
------------------

(1) DHCP address problem
We have identified that there is incompatiblity between SLB and IP 
address obtained via DHCP. In the lab, we have seen that the virtual 
network interface lost the IP address after running for a period of 
time.

To solve the problem, always assign static IP address to the virtual
network interfaces.


(2) 802.3ad team member links disconnect and reconnect continuously 
when connects to the HP2524 switch.
This is a 3rd party issue.  It is seen only when configuring an 802.3ad
team with greater than 2 members on the server and connecting an HP2524
switch, with lacp enabled as passive or active. The HP switch will 
show an lacp channel being brought up successfully with only 2 members. 
All other member's links will disconnect and reconnect. This does not 
occur with a Cisco Catalyst 6500.


(3) To avoid fail-over issues when using BASP, make sure that spanning
tree is disabled on the switch that the network adapter is connected to.


16. Logs
--------
v6.0.1
- Added RPM support for AMD 64-bit on SuSE 8.1 beta.
- Added RPM support for Red Hat 8.1 beta.
- Added RPM support for United Linux 1.0 based distributions.
- Fixed potential duplicated MAC address problem in Generic Trunking or
  IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation mode.
- Minor documentation cleanup.

v3.0.14
- Fixed memory leak problem caused by baspcfg.

v3.0.13
- Man pages correction.

v3.0.12
- Added "MODULE_LICENSE("Proprietary")".
- Clarification of the MAC address error message.

v3.0.11
- Added IP address parameters to the team configuration script.

v3.0.10
- Fixed init script to start BASP properly on Suse Linux.

v3.0.9
- Add RPM support for Suse 7.3.

v3.0.8
- Fixed installation script to handle already existing directories.
- Minor changes in documentation.

v3.0.7
- Added dynamic assigned major device number support.
- Discontinued Linux 2.2.x kernel support.

v3.0.6
- Fixed Prod00003107: Load balancing does not occur on multiple
  hot-standby adapters.

v3.0.5
- Support BASP MIBs.

v3.0.4
- Added installation of nicext.h file to the current kernel source tree.
- Enhanced /proc file system support.

v3.0.3
- Fixed a buffer overrun issue in the IEEE 802.3ad mode .
- Fixed the virtual adapter deletion issue.

v3.0.2
- Fixed various IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation problems.
- Added NICE enabled drivers for 2.4.16 kernel.

v3.0.1
- Added support of IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation.

v2.0.5
- Fixed lock-up problem with 2.4 SMP kernel.

v2.0.4
- Enhanced install documentation for non-Red Hat distribution.
- Minor documentation changes.
- Corrected the error message displayed by "baspcfg" utility.
- Added removal of empty directories at RPM un-install time.

v2.0.3
- Changed default BASP management device to 250 to facilitate out of 
  box installation.
- Added access control to allow that only root can manage BASP. proc 
  file system is still visible to all users.

v2.0.2
- Added support to the Linux 2.4.2 kernel for IA-64 architecture.

v2.0.1
- Fixed the server hang problem caused by removing a physical 
  interface without first detaching from the team.
- Added proc fs support for reporting team configuration.

v1.2.2
- Enhanced "basp" init script to work with other Linux distrbutions.
- Fixed jumbo frame problem.

v1.2.1
- Added support to Red Hat 7.1 release.
- Added man pages.

v1.2.0
- Added support to the Linux 2.4.0 kernel.

v1.1.13
- Added check to prevent the removal of the primary physical interface
  in a generic trunking team. Such removal might cause duplicated MAC 
  addresses on the network.

v1.1.12
- Updated the release note.

v1.1.11
- Fixed the problem of adding the same virtual interface twice.
- Correctly attribute packet counters to the correct virtual 
  interfaces when VLAN is enabled.

v1.1.10
- Fixed the problem that invalid VLAN can be added but not removed.
- Add removing of BASP teams in RPM de-installation.
- Added usage and argument checking to basp script.
- Fixed the problem that init script fails with multiple teams.
- Fixed the problem in switching runlevels.

v1.1.9
- Enhanced RPM packaging support.
- Changed "basp" script to run at priority 11, which is right after
  "network" script.
- Automatically detect the presence of "kgcc" and use "kgcc" to get
  around Red Hat 7.0 compiler problem.
- Added "baspif" script to start and stop network interfaces.

v1.1.8
- Added RPM packaging.

v1.1.7
- Fixed failure of server originated ping with VLAN enable.
- Fixed loss of network connection under heavy traffic on SMP system.

v1.1.6
- Changed both module and device name to "basp.o" and "/dev/basp" 
  respectively for consistency.
- Added startup scripts.
- Enhanced Generic Trunking support by automatically programing the MAC
  addresses.
- Addressed VLAN deletion issue.

v1.1.5
- Fixed Generic Trunking problem.
- Improved error messages in runing baspcfg utility.
- Added Generic Trunking sample script.

v1.1.4
- Added "show" command in baspcfg to display team configurations and 
  status.
- Improved module build process for MODVERSIONS and SMP kernel.
- Display module build options in syslog during module load time.
- Display blfcore.o version during module loading time.
- Major changes in Makefiles to improve the build process.
- Improved build documentation.
- Changed to new baspcfg usage to the release.txt.
- Added documentation to describe how to install NICE patched drivers.

v1.1.3
- Fixed pal_read_mii() function.

v1.1.2
- Fixed linux/if.h dependency problem which prevented BASP from 
  detecting NICE supported driver on older kernels.

