Doing so may render the system inoperable, generating a blue screen. The FCoE Stack and base driver need to be matched. The FCoE stack may get out of sync with X520, if the X520 base drive is updated via Windows Update.
Upgrading from Software Release 15.4
Validation and Storage Certification
New Windows Server 2008 Installation
Intel® Network Connections Manager
Upgrades for Software Release 16.2 or later are supported when Intel® Ethernet FCoE Boot is enabled or the Windows paging file is on an FCoE target. Upgrading an FCoE-booted system can only be done via the Intel® Network Connections Installer. A reboot is required to complete the upgrade.
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Warning: Do not update X520 base driver via the
Windows Update method Doing so may render the system inoperable, generating a blue screen. The FCoE Stack and base driver need to be matched. The FCoE stack may get out of sync with X520, if the X520 base drive is updated via Windows Update. |
The Windows FCoE stack has recently changed the way it creates the initiator WWPN. The first two bytes of the WWPN previously contained a 2 followed by the FCoE fabric VLAN ID. The VLAN ID is no longer added to the WWPN and the first two bytes will now always be 20:00. After upgrading from Release 15.4, you will need to zone the new WWPN for each initiator port.
The software components for Intel® Ethernet FCoE are comprised of two major components: the Intel® Ethernet base driver and the Intel® Ethernet FCoE Driver. They are developed and validated as an ordered pair. Users are strongly encouraged to avoid scenarios, either through upgrades or Windows update, where the Intel® Ethernet driver version is not the version released with the corresponding Intel® Ethernet FCoE driver. For more information, visit the download center.
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Individually upgrading/downgrading the Intel® Ethernet FCoE driver will not work and may even cause a blue screen; the entire FCoE package must be the same version. Upgrade the entire FCoE package using Intel® Network Connections only. If you uninstalled the Intel® Ethernet Virtual Storage Miniport Driver for FCoE component, just find the same version that you uninstalled and re-install it; or uninstall and then re-install the entire FCoE package. |
Intel and the storage vendors spend considerable effort ensuring that their respective products operate with each other as expected for every version that we release. However, given the sheer number of releases and each respective organizations' differing schedules, users are strongly encouraged to use their storage vendor's support matrix to ensure that the versions that they are deploying for the Intel® Ethernet Protocol Driver, the switch and storage vendor have been tested as an integrated set.
From the Intel CD: Click the FCoE/DCB checkbox to install Intel® Ethernet FCoE Protocol Driver and DCB. The MSI Installer installs all FCoE and DCB components including Base Driver.
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FCoE is supported on 82599 and X540-based Intel® Network Connections. We recommend installing using the latest Storage Qualified Image. For current drivers and documentation, visit the Customer Support site. |
The following Microsoft hotfixes have been found to be needed for specific use cases:
All Windows Server 2008 (R1 and R2)
Windows 2008 R2
Multipath I/O (MPIO)
Windows 2008 R1 SP2
Windows 2008 R2
Windows 2008 R2 SP1
Configuring MPIO Timers: <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619749(WS.10).aspx> contains additional information about these registry settings.
Set the PathRecoveryInterval value to 60
iSCSI Over DCB - QOS binding
Windows 2008 R1 SP2
Many FCoE functions can also be configured or revised using Intel Network Connections Manager, accessed from the FCoE Properties button within the Data Center tab. You can use Intel PROSet to perform the following tasks:
In addition, you can find some FCoE RSS performance settings under the Performance Options of the Advanced tab of the Network Adapter device properties. For additional information see the Receive Side Scaling subsection of the Microsoft Windows Advanced Features section of the Intel(R) 10GbE Adapter Guide.
Click here for instructions on installing and using Network Connections Manager.
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Note: |
PROSetCL.EXE is used for DCB/FCoE configuration on Microsoft* Windows* Server 2008 Core and Microsoft* Windows* Server 2008 R2 Core operating systems. |
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From the Boot Options Tab, the user will see the Flash Information Button. Clicking on the Flash Information Button will open the Flash Information Dialog. From the Flash Information Dialog, clicking on the Update Flash button allows Intel® iSCSI Remote Boot, Intel® Boot
Agent (IBA), Intel® Ethernet FCoE Boot, EFI, and CLP to be written. The
update operation writes a new image to the adapter's Flash and
modifies the EEPROM, which may temporarily disable the operation
of the Windows*
network device driver. You might need to reboot the computer
following this operation.
You cannot update the flash image of a LOM; this button will be disabled. |
The Fabric View tab displays FC fabrics, VN2VN fabrics, physical ports, targets, and LUNs:
For general information about VN2VN, see FCoE VN toVN Support.
A list of the Virtual Ports associated with the HBA has a column for the WWPN and FCID for each Virtual Port. "Not Connected" is displayed in the FCID column if it is not logged in to a target.
From the Boot Options tab you can obtain Target information and Update the Flash.
From the Data Center tab you can, among other things, enable/disable Data Center Bridging (DCB), select "local" or "switch" settings, view operational status, and view and modify various FCoE settings.
Use (Enable/Disable) Data Center Bridging
You must enable Use Data Center Bridging to be able to use Intel® Ethernet FCoE.
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Note:
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You cannot disable DCB or modify any DCB settings while the system is booted from an FCoE drive or if the system paging file is on an FCoE drive. The options on the Data Center tab will be grayed out if you try. |
Options: Use Switch Settings or Use Local Settings
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In most circumstances, we recommend selecting Use Switch Settings, not Use Local Settings. |
View Operational Status
You can view operational status by clicking
on the
icon. If the Status indicator shows that DCB is non-operational, there are several possible reasons:
A non-operational status is most likely to occur when Use Switch Settings is selected or Using Advanced Settings is active. This is generally a result of one or more of the DCB features not getting successfully exchanged with the switch. Possible problems include:
When Use Local Settings is selected, the status should always be operational.
View and Modify FCoE Settings
Adjusting Bandwidth Percentage ensures FCoE traffic is allocated to specified minimum guaranteed bandwidth. All other traffic classes will share the remaining bandwidth. Bandwidth allocation rules are enforced when maximum available bandwidth is being utilized.
Changing FCoE Priority allows the user to choose a different priority class for FCoE traffic on the converged Ethernet network.
The DCBx Version Number will be one of the following: