OS ‘in-tree’ sfc Driver - UG1602

Many Linux distributions include an in-tree version of the sfc driver:

• From sfptpd 3.5.0 onwards, the in-tree driver is supported. The out-of-tree driver from the NIC Software and Drivers downloads page on the Xilinx website is recommended for best performance.
• Earlier versions of sfptpd cannot use an in-tree driver.

To identify if the adapter is using an in-tree driver run the following ethtool command:

# ethtool -i <interface>

The adapter is using an in-tree driver in either of the following cases:

• The reported version is 4.0 or 4.1. For example:

  # ethtool -i <interface>
  version: 4.0
  firmware-version: 3.3.0.6298

• The reported version is a kernel version string. For example:

  # ethtool -i <interface>
  driver: sfc
  version: 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8.x86_64
  firmware-version: 8.6.2.1000 rx1 tx1