3.2. Network Drivers

  • Support for the ib_qib device driver has been added to the kernel shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9. The ib_qib driver is an updated version (and a replacement) of QLogic's ib_ipath InfiniBand Host Channel Adapter (HCA) device driver and provides support for the latest PCI Express QLE-series of SDR, DDR, and QDR InfiniBand adapters. The older ipath driver is still retained and is used to manage all older HTX based QLogic InfiniBand controllers.
  • The Solarflare driver (sfc) has been updated to version 3.1, which adds support for the SFE4003 board and TXC43128 PHY support.
  • The bnx2x firmware has been updated to version 7.2.51 to include support for the Broadcom 57710/57711/57712 chips.
  • The bnx2x driver has been updated to version 1.72.51-0+ to include support for the Broadcom 578xx family of chips, support for iSCSI offload, support for additional PHYs (including EEE), OEM-specific features, and to address a number of bugs.
  • The bnx2 driver has been updated to version 2.2.1+.
  • The cnic driver and firmware have been updated to add FCoE parity error recovery, statistics support, and FCoE capabilities advertisement.
  • The cxgb3 driver for the Chelsio T3 family of network devices has been updated to the latest upstream version.
  • The cxgb4 driver for Chelsio Terminator4 10G Unified Wire Network Controllers has been updated to the latest upstream version, which adds support for the Chelsio T480-CR and T440-LP-CR adapters.
  • The cxgb4 firmware has been updated to upstream version 1.4.23.0.
  • The iw_cxgb3 driver has been updated to the latest upstream version.
  • The iw_cxgb4 driver has been updated to the latest upstream version.
  • The cxgb4i, cxgb3i, and libcxgbi drivers have been updated.
  • The netxen_nic driver has been updated to version 4.0.79, which includes Minidump support.
  • The tg3 driver for Broadcom Tigon3 Ethernet devices has been updated to version 3.123.
  • The ixgbe driver for Intel 10 Gigabit PCI Express network devices has been updated to the latest upstream version, which adds the following enhancement:
    • Support for the Intel Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
    • Support for the Quad Port 10 Gigabit Ethernet adapter based on the Intel Ethernet 82599 10 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
    • Added module parameter (allow_unsupported_sfp) to allow untested and unsafe enhanced small form-factor pluggable (SFP+) modules.
  • The ixgbevf driver has been updated to the latest upstream version to include the latest hardware support, enhancements, and bug fixes. Additionally, support to recognize 100MB link speed has been added.
  • The igbvf driver has been updated to upstream version 2.0.1-k-1.
  • The igb driver for Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapters has been updated to the latest upstream version, which adds support for Intel Ethernet Network Connection I210 and Intel Ethernet Network Connection I211.
  • The e1000e driver for Intel 82563/6/7, 82571/2/3/4/7/8/9, and 82583 PCI-E family of controllers has been updated to the latest upstream version, which includes support for Intel Ethernet Network Connection I217-LM.
  • The bna driver is no longer considered a Technology Preview. In Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9, the BNA driver is fully supported. Additionally, the BNA driver and firmware have been updated to version 3.0.23.0.
  • The qlge driver has been updated to version 1.00.00.30.
  • The qlcnic driver for HP NC-Series QLogic 10 Gigabit Server Adapters has been updated to version 5.0.29.
  • The be2net driver for ServerEngines BladeEngine2 10Gbps network devices has been updated to version 4.2.116r.
  • The enic driver for Cisco 10G Ethernet devices has been updated to version 2.1.1.33.