Re: 7.3 supported ethernet

johnhreinhardt_at_yahoo.com
Date: 08/22/05 

Date: 21 Aug 2005 21:07:03 -0700

Adam Stouffer wrote:
> Anyone have a list of supported ethernet cards other than the DE500 and
> tulip cards? Or does that cover it ;) I'm gathering parts for a PC164 box.
>
>
> Adam

The OpenVMS Wizard article #8886
http://h71000.www7.hp.com/wizard/wiz_8886.html Indicates that V7.1-2
is the earliest version that supporst a DE600 so V7.3 should be fine.
In addition some Comapaq NC cards are the equivalent of the DE600,
DE602, DE604. What follows is a excerpt from the relaease notes for
VMS V7.1-2 on the subject:

Support for Compaq's Fast Ethernet Network Interface Cards (NICs) based
on Intel's i8255x Ethernet controllers has been added to the OpenVMS
Alpha Version 7.2-1 release. These NICs replace the end-of-life DE500
family of adapters. These PCI based NICs support 10/100BaseTX,
100BaseFX, Full Duplex, Half Duplex, and Auto Negotiation.

OpenVMS displays these devices as EIx0 devices, where x is the
controller's unit letter. The device drivers for these devices are
SYS$EIDRIVER.EXE for the run-time environment and SYS$EIBTDRIVER.EXE
for LAN booting.

The SRM console provides an environment variable for setting the mode
of operation. The variable is EIx0_MODE, where x is the controller's
unit letter. Only newer Alpha platforms will provide console support
for these NICs.

The supported NICs include:

DE600-AA NIC
DE602-AA NIC
DE602-TA NIC
DE602-FA NIC

DE600-AA NIC

The DE600-AA NIC is also known as the NC3123 and is based on the i82559
Ethernet controller. This is a single port NIC using a standard RJ45
connector. This NIC supports 10/100BaseTX, Full Duplex, Half Duplex,
and Auto Negotiation.

DE602-AA NIC

The DE602-AA NIC is also known as the NC3131 and is based on the i82558
Ethernet controller. This is a dual port NIC using two standard RJ45
connectors. This NIC supports 10/100BaseTX, Full Duplex, Half Duplex,
and Auto Negotiation. It also provides support for an additional
daughter card, which allows one PCI slot to be configured with one of
the following:

Two 10/100BaseTX ports
Four 10/100BaseTX ports
Two 10/100BaseTX port and one 100BaseFX port

DE602-TA NIC

The DE602-TA NIC daughter card, also known as the NC3132, should be
used with the DE602-AA. This is a dual-port card using two standard
RJ45 connectors. This card supports 10/100BaseTX, Full Duplex, Half
Duplex, and Auto Negotiation.

DE602-FA NIC

The DE602-FA NIC daughter card, also known as the NC3133, should be
used with the DE602-AA. This is a single-port card using one standard
SC connector for use with multimode fiber. This card supports
100BaseFX, Full Duplex, and Half Duplex.

Note that the NC3123 and NC3131 cards are readily available on Ebay (in
fact I just picked up a lot of 10 NC3131's for $62 including shipping).

WARNING!! Don't confuse the NC3131 with the NC3134. They are both dual
port cards and nearly identicial but the NC3134 will not always be
identified as a DE602. I think it's a SRM firmware thing but I haven't
pinned it down.

I use the DE602 (NC3131) in my clustered machines (AS1200 and AS800).
One port goes to the switch for regular network traffic and the other
goes VIA a cross-patch cable to the second port on it's cluster partner
for SCS traffic. So far no troubles using Alpha V7.3-2

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Logwatch message
    ... It's a Linksys and doesn't support it. ... AFAIK all modern NICs support ... full duplex, ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: xl0 full duplex
    ... *sigh* You can't set a mode that the NIC doesn't support. ... These NICs do _NOT_ support ... interface to set the port with the xl0 link to full duplex as well. ... configure the port settings, ...
    (freebsd-net)
  • RE: Logwatch message
    ... > NICs support ... >> negotiated a full duplex connection to the switch. ... When your card auto-negotiates with the switch a lot of settings are ...
    (Fedora)
  • Re: SARGE compatible Gigabit Ethernet adapter/card
    ... Baffled as to how Sarge could support such an Intel nic card as ... > Intel card, and I can't see anything remotely looking like an Intel ... >> I would recommend Intel Gigabit NICs. ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Destination host unreachable
    ... Colin Paul Adams wrote: ... So maybe that card has failed, although how it can do so I'm not sure. ... 10M/Half duplex. ... If it's not old then it can support 10/100 - ...
    (Fedora)