Copyright(c) 2013 - 2018 Intel Corporation

This release includes the native ixgben VMware ESX Driver for Intel(R) Ethernet Controllers 82599, x520, x540, x550 and x552 family

Driver version: 1.7.10

Supported ESXi releases: 6.0
Compatible ESXi versions: 6.5, 6.7

=================================================================================

Contents
--------

- Important Notes
- Supported Features
- New Features
- New Hardware Supported
- Bug Fixes
- Known Issues and Workarounds
- Command Line Parameters
- Previously Released Versions

=================================================================================

Important Notes:
----------------

- Recovery Mode
   A device will enter recovery mode if a device's NVM becomes corrupted.
   If a device enters recovery mode because of an interrupted NVM update, you should attempt to finish the update.
   If the device is in recovery mode because of a corrupted NVM, use the nvmupdate utility to reset the NVM back to
   factory defaults.

   NOTE: You must power cycle your system after using Recovery Mode to completely reset the firmware and hardware.

- Backplane devices
   Backplane devices are operating in auto mode only, and thus the user cannot manually change speed settings.

- Wake on LAN (WoL) is not supported.


Supported Features:
-------------------

- Rx, Tx, TSO checksum offload
- Netqueue (VMDQ)
- Netqueue UDP RSS for VxLAN
- Hardware VLAN filtering
- Rx Hardware VLAN stripping
- Tx Hardware VLAN inserting
- Interrupt moderation
- SR-IOV (support one queue per VF, VF MTU, and VF VLAN)
   Valid range for max_vfs:
   1-61 (VMDQ default)
   1-63 (VMDQ set to 0 or 1)
   When VMDQ is set to 2 or more, the maximum number of VFs supported is 63 – VMDQ.
- VMDQ and SR-IOV co-existence
- Link Auto-negotiation
- Flow Control
- Management APIs for CIM Provider, OCSD/OCBB


New Features:
-------------

- Introduced support for the firmware recovery mode.


New Hardware Supported:
-----------------------

- None


Bug Fixes:
----------

- Fixed traffic hang between VM with VF adapter and VM with vmxnet3 after disabling/enabling vmnic.
- Fixed an issue with VM's being able to communicate over VLANs in VGT mode when Port Group had VLANs set to None(0)
- Fix for silicon errata #26: TX hang observed on some queues during regular traffic with VFLR on the fly.
  Please see X550 specification update for more information.
- Fix for dropped tagged loopback traffic originated from VF.
- Fix for lost VLAN connectivity once the last VM in a port group has been shut down.
- Reduced driver's memory footprint
- Fix for duplicate multicast / broadcast packets during heavy traffic.
- Fix for X552/X557-AT adapters linking at 1G speed after a NIC down/up cycle.
- Fix for the NIC down procedure hanging when heavy traffic is running.
- Fix for lost connectivity when VMDQ is disabled and SR-IOV is enabled


Known Issues and Workarounds:
----------------------------

- Unable to reload VF driver on SLES 12SP2 and ESXi 6.0 update 3
   Workaround: upgrade to ESXi 6.0 update 3a or ESXi 6.5

- Very low throughput when sending IPv6 to a Linux VM that uses a VMXNET3 adapter
   Workaround: Please look at the VMware Knowledge Base 2057874


Command Line Parameters:
------------------------

ethtool is not supported for native driver.
Please use esxcli, vsish, or esxcfg-* to set or get the driver information, for example:

- Get the driver supported module parameters
  esxcli system module parameters list -m ixgben

- Set a driver module parameter (clearing other parameter settings)
  esxcli system module parameters set -m ixgben -p RSS=0,1

- Set a driver module parameter (other parameter settings left unchanged)
  esxcli system module parameters set -m ixgben -a -p RSS=0,1

- Get the driver info
  esxcli network  nic get -n vmnic1

- Get an uplink stats
  esxcli network nic stats -n vmnic1

- Get the Netqueue stats
  vsish -e get /net/pNics/vmnic1/stats


=================================================================================

Previously Released Versions:
-----------------------------

- Driver Version: 1.6.5
   Hardware Supported: Hardware Supported: Intel(R) Ethernet Controllers 82599, x520, x540, x550, and x552 family
   Supported ESXi release: 6.0
   Compatible ESXi version: 6.5 and 6.7
   New Features Supported:
      - None
   New Hardware Supported:
      - Added new devices support for specific OEMs
   Bug Fixes:
      - Add a VF hang detection and take an appropriate action to prevent infinite reset loop
      - Show proper link speed using dual speed optics module connected to 1G link partner
      - Fix the issue where the driver may fail to load after an unexpected system reboot
      - Fix for Multiple Link Down messages after unplug a cable
      - Fix VF link status where it was not updated when PF link state changed
   Known Issues:
      - Unable to reload VF driver on SLES 12SP2 and ESXi 6.0 update 3
         Workaround: upgrade to ESXi 6.0 update 3a or ESXi 6.5


- Driver Version: 1.5.3
   Hardware Supported: Hardware Supported: Intel(R) Ethernet Controllers 82599, x520, x540, x550, and x552 family
   Supported ESXi release: 6.0
   Compatible ESXi version: 6.5 and 6.7
   New Features Supported:
      - Added support for OEM firmware version. If OEM specific adapter is detected, OEM product version in firmware
        version string is reported instead of etrack id.
      - Added ability to get/set Tx/Rx ring buffer size using esxcli command
   New Hardware Supported:
      - Added new devices support for specific OEMs
   Bug Fixes:
      - Fixed possible Tx/Rx queue race condition when there are heavy resets followed by link down/up cycles, which lead to an IOMMU fault
      - Fixed Tx hang issue when enabling 64 VFs
      - Fixed vmknic and VF communication issue when both are configured using the same PF port
      - Fixed zero temperature value for hardware that supports temperature sensors
   Known Issues:
      - None


- Driver Version: 1.4.1
   Hardware Supported: Hardware Supported: Intel(R) Ethernet Controllers 82599, x520, x540, x550, and x552 family
   Supported ESXi release: 6.0
   Compatible ESXi version: 6.5 and 6.7
   Features Supported:
      - Rx, Tx, TSO checksum offload
      - Netqueue (VMDQ)
      - SR-IOV (support one queue per VF, VF MTU, and VF VLAN)
      - VMDQ and SR-IOV co-existence
      - Netqueue UDP RSS for VxLAN
      - Hardware VLAN filtering
      - Rx Hardware VLAN stripping
      - Tx Hardware VLAN inserting
      - Link auto-negotiation and link flow control
      - Interrupt moderation
      - Management APIs for CIM Provider, OCSD/OCBB
   New Hardware Supported:
      - Added new devices support for specific OEMs
   Bug Fixes:
      - None
   Known Issues:
      - There is no traffic when vmknic and VF are configured using the same PF port
         Workaround: none
      - Enabling 64 VFs results in TX hang condition
         Workaround: Reduce the number of VFs to 63 or lower

