Does Flex-10 work for Linux?

[Michael Dudzinsky]

Does Flex-10 (the ability to divide the Flex-10 10GB NIC into 4 "physical function" NICs) work for servers running a Linux operating system (SLES 10 or RHEL 5)?

I was able to find drivers for the BL495c and G6 servers that have integrated Flex-10 NICs, but there is nothing in the VC-Enet Cookbook (v2.01 April 2009) on how to configure Flex-10 for Linux. There are chapters on configuring Flex-10 for Windows and ESX. Do these drivers only allow the Flex-10 NIC to operate as a 1Gb or 10Gb NIC under Linux?

[Steven Clementi]

Michael:

There is a multifunction driver package, but I am not sure if it allows the OS to see the 4 separate nics.

I would think that is should, but can't say 100%.

" http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=3709945&prodSeriesId=3782978&swItem=MTX-3dda109a88c946f399e4ca7a6c&prodNameId=3813532&swEnvOID=4006&swLang=13&taskId=135&mode=3 "



Steven

[cmmiller · Accepted solution]

The NC532x adapters are supported by the Linux driver. Your OS will see up to 4 physical adapters (depending how you configure flex-10) even before you install a driver. The driver will allow the NICs you create within VC to function from 1 to 10 Gb/s (again depending how you slice the bandwidth). So to answer your question they can function as multiple 1 Gb/s adapters, a single 10 Gb/s adapter, or multiple varying bandwidth adapters in increments of 100 Mb/s depending upon your configuration.