netdev - RE: [net-next-2.6 RFC PATCH] ethtool: allow custom interval for physical identification

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Message-ID: <8DD2590731AB5D4C9DBF71A877482A90018A2A315B@orsmsx509.amr.corp.intel.com>
Date:	Mon, 11 Apr 2011 18:07:45 -0700
From:	"Allan, Bruce W" <bruce.w.allan@...el.com>
To:	Ben Hutchings <bhutchings@...arflare.com>
CC:	Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@...tta.com>,
	"netdev@...r.kernel.org" <netdev@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: RE: [net-next-2.6 RFC PATCH] ethtool: allow custom interval for
 physical identification

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Ben Hutchings [mailto:bhutchings@...arflare.com]
>Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 5:01 PM
>To: Allan, Bruce W
>Cc: Stephen Hemminger; netdev@...r.kernel.org
>Subject: RE: [net-next-2.6 RFC PATCH] ethtool: allow custom interval for
>physical identification
>
>I noticed that some drivers did this.  Do you know if these OEMs expect
>this of all hardware, or do they actually want different vendors'
>hardware to blink in different ways?  If it's a common requirement to
>blink at 2 Hz then let's use that frequency for all the drivers that
>want to be called periodically.
>
>Ben.

Sorry, I don't know.  I'll ask around, but doubt I will get a definitive
answer.

FWIW, without digging too deep into how other drivers identify their
respective ports through software, it appears it was split:
* bnx2*, cxgb3, niu, s2io, sfc, sky2, tg3 - once per second
* e100*, igb, ixgb*, pcnet32, ewrk3, cxgb4 - approx. twice per second

AFAIK for parts that can set the physical identification through hardware,
the Intel drivers set the on/off intervals to approximately twice/second;
I don't know what other drivers do in that situation.

So, I would guess it is not a common requirement to blink at a specific Hz.
I have no problem with changing the hard-coded blink frequency to what our
OEMs expect, but that might be an issue for those other vendors; I was just
trying to make it flexible.

Thanks,
Bruce.