Release Note for Napatech Link™ Software Driver Version 3.16.0

Release date

2019-10-31

Description

This release note applies to driver package nt_driver_3gd-linux-3.16.0

Release history from version 3.15.0 to 3.16.0
New Features
ID Customer tracking number Summary Implemented in
43095 Added support for CPU Socket Load Balancer feature when using the 8x10G (200-9539-23-xx) or the 2x40G (200-9540-23-xx) FPGA images. 3.16.0
Resolved Issues

No resolved issues

Known issues
ID Customer tracking number Summary Found in version
42948 Frequent CRC errors when using DAC cables shorter than 1 meter. 3.13.3
42936 The link diode extinguishes when the port is disabled as it should, but lights up again when the module is unplugged and reinserted with the port still disabled. No link is up. But the diode lights up as if there is. Status is read correct from software. 3.13.3
42719 42701 (Support) ntservice hanging if specifying more than 128 tx host buffers in ntservice.ini 3.9.1
42653 42616 (fix) When using host loopback on NT200A01 without any NIMs plugged in, it is not possible to get link on a QSFP28-LR4 NIM inserted afterwards unless FEC has been disabled (for SR modules) in the ini file
Workaround:
If QSFP28-LR module is to be used then either plug it in before start-up of the system or set DisableFEC=TRUE in ntsevice.ini 		3.11.1
42652 42616 (fix) FEC cannot be changed dynamically on NT200A01, if traffic has been applied. Hence, it is not possible to dynamically swap between SR and LR QSFP28 if unless FEC has been disabled for SR modules in the ini file
Workaround:
If QSFP28-LR module is to be used then either plug it in before start-up of the system or set DisableFEC=TRUE in ntsevice.ini 		3.11.1
42257 Dynamic hostbuffers are not supported by Intel PAC A10 accelerators.
Therefore NTAPI Inline features are not supported by Intel PAC A10 accelerators.
Workaround:
Applications using DPDK will support Inline for Intel PAC A10 accelerators. 		3.9.1
42256 The performance of the Intel PAC A10 accelerator when using 1 hostbuffer and small packets (64-65 bytes length) is limited to approximately 95% of the theoretical performance.
In all other scenarios full performance (100%) can be expected. 		3.9.1
41150 The Automatic over-temperature shutdown will only stop NT service, it cannot shutdown the Intel Programmable Acceleration Card Blue bitstream. 3.9.0
38699 Using NT_NetRxGet* or NT_NetRxGetMult* first time on newly created or reconfigured streams can lead to initial package drops when the system is configured with large hostbuffers or many client applications.
This will only be triggered on newly created and reconfigured streams.
Workaround:
If packet loss is observed, to get clean statistics no traffic should be received on connected ports while streams are being started. 		3.7.5
32765 When using the GlobalSync feature, link down/up events causes the port to enter 'unknown' state 2.9.4
14086 If NUMA node zero is offline and /opt/napatech3/config/ntservice.ini does not exist, the driver cannot start because it fails to allocate memory for the default host buffer set-up.
Workaround:
Use an existing ntservice.ini or specify the host buffer set-up on an online NUMA node: '/opt/napatech3/bin/start.sh -o adapter0.BusId=0000:04:00.0 -o adapter0.AdapterType=NT40E3_4_PTP -o adapter0.HostBuffersRx=[4,32,1] -o adapter0.HostBuffersTx=[2,16,1]'. BusId and AdapterType are only required if there are multiple adapters in the server; the BusId can be obtained with 'lspci | grep Napa'. 		2.8.5
10740 When using a Cisco DAC pluggable, link is detected even if the other end of the cable is unplugged. 2.7.0
9189 9137 (Support) The Linux kernel v3.8->v3.12 has a bug in the NUMA balancing code which was introduced in v3.8. See https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=60734
The issue causes high execution delays on cores running on other than NUMA 0 if the feature is enabled.
To work around the problem, disable the NUMA balancing by adding "numa_balancing=disable" to the kernel command line.
The Linux kernel 3.13 received significant NUMA updates which fixes this issue.
The 3.10 kernel in RHEL 7, CentOS 7 and Oracle Linux 7 (not the 3.8.13 uek kernel) contains a fix for this, thus the work around is not needed. 		0.1.1
8719 Setting TimeSyncTimeJumpThreshold for OS timesync to values > 0, will enable the time jump feature and results in a jump threshold of 1 second. 2.4.1
4324 3GD requires at least gcc 4.0 to build and at least glibc 2.5 to run. 1.1.0
Notes

Operating systems

The Napatech driver version applies to these operating systems:

  • Linux 3.0 -> 3.19 (64-bit)
  • Linux 4.0 -> 4.20 (64-bit)
  • Linux 5.0 -> 5.03 (64-bit)

    The software has been qualified on: CentOS 7, Ubuntu 16.04LTS and Fedora 30

Hardware and FPGA image compatibility
Hardware 4GA FPGA images
NT20E3-2-PTP 200-9501-02-16, 200-9501-04-04, 200-9501-06-06, 200-9501-08-06, 200-9501-09-08, 200-9501-10-07, 200-9501-15-02, 200-9501-17-02, 200-9501-18-07, 200-9501-22-05
NT40E3-4-PTP 200-9502-02-16, 200-9502-04-04, 200-9502-06-06, 200-9502-06-07, 200-9502-08-06, 200-9502-08-07, 200-9502-08-08, 200-9502-09-08, 200-9502-10-07, 200-8011-22-02
NT80E3-2-PTP 200-9503-02-16, 200-9503-04-04, 200-9503-06-05, 200-9503-08-06, 200-9503-08-07, 200-9503-08-08, 200-9503-09-08, 200-9503-10-07, 200-9503-10-09, 200-9503-15-02, 200-9503-17-02, 200-9503-18-07, 200-9503-20-04, 200-9503-22-05, 200-9503-08-07, 200-9519-10-05, 200-9519-10-07, 200-9519-15-02, 200-9519-17-02, 200-9519-18-07, 200-8005-10-01, 200-8005-15-02, 200-8005-17-02, 200-8005-22-00
NT200A01 200-9508-05-08, 200-9508-05-17, 200-9508-06-06, 200-9508-07-06, 200-9508-07-07, 200-9515-09-08, 200-9515-10-07, 200-9515-15-02, 200-9515-18-09, 200-9515-20-04, 200-9516-09-08, 200-9516-10-07, 200-9516-15-05, 200-9516-18-09, 200-9516-20-04, 200-9531-20-12, 200-8002-09-01, 200-8002-09-02, 200-8002-09-04, 200-8002-10-02, 200-8002-15-02, 200-8002-20-01, 200-9512-07-02, 200-9512-08-08, 200-9512-08-09, 200-9512-09-08, 200-9512-10-07, 200-9512-15-02, 200-9512-18-07, 200-9512-20-04, 200-9512-22-05, 200-9522-15-03, 200-9522-18-07, 200-9522-20-04, 200-9522-22-05, 200-8001-08-00, 200-8001-08-01, 200-8003-09-01, 200-8003-09-03, 200-8003-10-02, 200-8003-15-02, 200-8003-22-00, 200-8004-10-03, 200-8004-15-02, 200-8004-22-00, 200-8006-15-03, 200-8006-22-00, 200-8010-20-02
NT40A01-4x1 200-9500-06-06, 200-9500-06-07, 200-9500-08-06, 200-9500-09-08, 200-9500-10-07, 200-9500-15-02, 200-9500-18-07, 200-9500-22-05
NT100E3-1-PTP 200-9504-01-12, 200-9505-02-16, 200-9505-04-04, 200-9505-06-05, 200-9505-08-06, 200-9505-09-08, 200-9505-10-08, 200-9505-10-09, 200-9505-15-02, 200-9505-18-07, 200-9505-20-05
NT40A01 200-9517-09-08
INTEL-A10 200-7000-12-00, 200-7000-12-02, 200-7000-12-06, 200-7000-22-05, 200-7001-12-00, 200-7001-12-03, 200-7001-12-06, 200-7001-22-05
NT200A02 200-9521-18-11, 200-9521-20-04, 200-9521-22-05, 200-9526-18-10, 200-9526-20-04, 200-9526-22-05, 200-9533-20-04, 200-9533-22-05, 200-9539-23-00, 200-9540-23-00, 200-8007-22-00, 200-8008-22-00, 200-8009-22-00
Hardware 3GA FPGA images
NT4E 200-9015-42-08, 200-9015-42-13, 200-9015-42-14
NT4E-STD 200-9017-42-09, 200-9017-42-10
NT4E-INL 200-9115-42-13
NT4E2-4-PTP 200-9226-46-12, 200-9226-46-13, 200-9226-48-05, 200-9226-50-03, 200-9226-50-04, 200-9226-51-03, 200-9226-51-04
NT20E2 200-9220-44-10, 200-9220-44-12, 200-9220-45-06, 200-9220-46-09, 200-9220-47-03, 200-9220-50-03, 200-9220-50-04, 200-9220-50-05
NT20E2-PTP 200-9227-50-03, 200-9227-51-03, 200-9227-51-04
NT20E3-2-PTP 200-9233-52-13, 200-9233-53-01
NT40E3-4-PTP 200-9232-50-04, 200-9232-51-04, 200-9232-51-07, 200-9232-52-13, 200-9232-53-01
NT40E2-1 200-9222-52-05
NT40E2-4 200-9221-44-13, 200-9221-50-04
Microcontroller compatibility

  • AVR-firmware v1.x
  • AVR-firmware v2.x
  • AVR-firmware v3.x

    • Test status

    Complete test plan

    Documentation

    See the Documentation Portal, WebHelp or DN-0449 for reference documentation on Napatech Software Suite.

    Release note generated at

    2019-10-31