[PLUG] RESOLVED: Debian Xen + Broadcom NetXtreme II (IBM x3655 7985-AC1)

Kris krisa at subtend.net
Sun Oct 7 01:21:47 UTC 2007


I have a new x3655 IBM and whenever the /etc/xen/scripts/network-bridge
script starts, the ethernet would no longer work.  This post isn't about
the cause, but the fix.  I did a lot of tcpdumps and Googling, but I'll
spare you that.  All they do is prove that yes, there is an issue. :)

I tried Debian 4.0 i386/amd64 and Ubuntu 7.04 Server i386/amd64 and they
all exhibit the problem.

Upgrading the bnx2 driver is the key.  I came to find bnx2 is included
in the initrd.  Debian comes with 1.4.44 and Ubuntu 1.4.45 of the
driver.  As of this writing 1.5.10c is the latest from Broadcom and is
what I ended up using.

Summary:
 * Install kernel source, make config/prepare the distro's config file
 * Download bnx2 source, compile and install
 * Update initrd
Here are step by step instructions for clean install of Debian 4.0 amd64:

aptitude install linux-source unzip
cd /usr/src
tar jxf linux-source-2.6.18.tar.bz2
ln -s linux-source-2.6.18 linux
cd linux
cp /boot/config-2.6.18-5-xen-amd64 ./.config
make oldconfig (<enter> through all the prompts to take defaults)
make prepare
cd /tmp
wget http://www.broadcom.com/docs/driver_download/NXII/linux-1.5.10c.zip
unzip linux-1.5.10c.zip
cp Server/Linux/Driver/bnx2-1.5.10c.tar.gz /usr/src
cd /usr/src
tar zxf bnx2-1.5.10c.tar.gz
cd bnx2-1.5.10c/src
make
make install
mv /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-5-xen-amd64 \
/boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-5-xen-amd64.orig
update-initramfs -k `uname -r` -c
reboot

Verify:
zcat /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-5-xen-amd64.orig|strings|grep "bnx2 v"
Broadcom NetXtreme II Gigabit Ethernet Driver bnx2 v1.4.44 (August 10, 2006)

zcat /boot/initrd.img-2.6.18-5-xen-amd64|strings|grep "bnx2 v"
Broadcom NetXtreme II Gigabit Ethernet Driver bnx2 v1.5.10c (May 4, 2007)


Other keywords: Dell DELL


-- 
I'm just a packet pusher.



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