Hello,

I'm installing a new NIC card (PCI-X Dual Gigabit Ethernet X7285A-2) in a SunFire V890 Server.

After the installation, I'm able to see the new device from the ok prompt with:
{7} ok show-devs
/pci@9,700000/ethernet@2,1
/pci@9,700000/ethernet@2
/pci@9,700000/network@1,1
/pci@8,600000/network@1

The lines named "network" are the NICs that includes the machine by default, a FastEthernet and a GigabitEthernet. The lines named "ethernet" are new and only dissappear if I remove the new NIC. So it seems to me that the NIC is correctly installed and recognized by the server.

Anyway, when I execute the show-nets command I can't see the new NIC:
{7} ok show-nets
a) /pci@9,700000/network@1,1
b) /pci@8,600000/network@1
q) NO SELECTION
Enter Selection, q to quit: q

I can't see the NIC either in /etc/path_to_inst when I boot the operating system (Solaris9), but I assume that's because of the show-nets issue:
# cat /etc/path_to_inst
"/pci@8,600000/network@1" 0 "ge"
"/pci@9,700000/network@1,1" 0 "eri"
(no more lines with "network" in it)

Does anybody know why the NIC doesn't appear in show-nets? Maybe the card should be recognized in show-devs as "network" instead of "ethernet"?

Thank you very much for your help in advance

Ismael

the system handbook says, that the minimum Solaris Release for X7285 (371-0911) for SPARC is 10....
it seems that there is no e1000g driver for solaris 9....

regards
- PRESSY

Hello pressy,

Yes, the tech specs of the NIC states that only Solaris10 is supported:
Sun PCI-Express Dual Gigabit Ethernet Adapter - Tech Specs

But in the downloads page, it seemed to me that the driver does exist:
Sun Downloads

I chose "GigaSwift Ethernet Driver (1.135) 1.0 Update":
The GigaSwift Ethernet Drivers software includes the 1.135 CE Driver which supports the following hardware products:
Sun Dual Gigabit Ethernet and Dual SCSI/P adapter
Sun FastEthernet and Dual SCSI/P Adapter
GigaSwift Ethernet Adapter
GigaSwift Ethernet Adapter Compact/pci Adapter
Quad GigaSwift Ethernet Adapter

And in the "platform selection" section appears Solaris 9, so I installed this driver. Is it the wrong driver?

Besides, I thought that OBP was in a lower level of execution than the OS, so I assumed that the driver is only needed when Solaris9 has been booted, and that at ok-prompt level you just interact with the hardware, no matter if the driver is installed or not. Am I wrong? Does the show-nets command need the driver to be installed before being able to recognize the NIC card?

Thank you very much for you quick response

Ismael

i am not sure, why the OBP says network to one and to the new card ethernet, perhaps that's the reason, why show-nets doesn't recognize the new one... could imaging that you would need a newer firmware, but couldn't find a hint for that....

but that ce driver is not the right one. ce is for Cassini Gigabit-Ethernet devices, your X7285A is an Intel PRO/1000GT chip, so you will need that e1000g driver... GigaSwift is the name for another card (e.g: X4445A)

gP

I'll try to install the e1000g driver then. Do you know where can I get it? I would have thought that you can donwload it from the downloads page of the NIC card in sun site, or Intel site, but it's not there. In fact, Intel doesn't provide Solaris drivers not in the cd that comes with the card neither in their web site, there is only support for Windows, Linux, etc.

I'll try first to set up the card with the e1000g driver, and if I don't succeed I'll have to replace it for another one supported in Solaris9, maybe "Sun Quad GigaSwift PCI-X Adapter".

Or maybe the e1000g driver is included in the OS release?

Thank you very much pressy

why would you in the 1st place want to see the card in the OBP? as long as you can plumb the interface and set an IP will work.. but why you're taking the hassle?

I came the other way round. First tried to plumb up the interface, but I couldn't because I didn't know the name (tried different names anyway). That took me to the /etc/path_to_inst file, where you can consult which driver belongs to which hardware. But the NIC wasn't there... I think that's because the show-nets issue, the OBP is supposed to recognize it as a NIC card before using it at OS level. But I recognize it could be also that I still haven't installed the right driver for the NIC.

Do you know where might I find the e1000g driver? Probably it's dead easy to find it for Solaris9, but somehow I can't

BR