RHBA-2014:1421 - Bug Fix Advisory

Topic

Updated ethtool packages that fix several bugs and add one enhancement are now
available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.

Description

Ethtool is a utility that enables querying and changing settings such as speed,
port autonegotiation, PCI locations, and checksum offload on many network
devices, especially on ethernet devices.

This update fixes the following bugs:

• Previously, the ethtool utility did not support the Backplane link type. As a

consequence, ethtool did not return "supported link modes" and "advertised link
modes" on be2net-based devices. With this update, the support for Backplane has
been added, and ethtool now returns "supported link modes" and "advertised link
modes" as expected. (BZ#1003891)

• Previously, the ethtool utility did not correctly communicate with the network

device driver when attempting to set Large Receive Offload (LRO) options.
Consequently, it was not possible to set the LRO options on devices supporting
LRO. With this update, ethtool has been fixed to communicate correctly with the
network device driver, and the LRO options can now be set on network devices.
(BZ#1010843)

• Due to a change to the ixgbe driver, the "ethtool -d" command in non-raw mode

stopped providing output. As a consequence, "ethtool -d" could not be used to
examine the state of ixgbe devices. To fix this bug, ethool has been changed to
work with the new ixgbe device driver, and the "ethtool -d" command in non-raw
mode can now be used again on the ixgbe devices. (BZ#1018367)

In addition, this update provides the following enhancement:

• With this update, the ethtool utility supports the Medium Dependent Interface

Crossover (MDI-X) mode setting on the e1000, e1000e, and igb drivers.
(BZ#1105589)

Users of ethtool are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which fix
these bugs and add this enhancement.

Solution

Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata
relevant to your system have been applied.

This update is available via the Red Hat Network. Details on how to
use the Red Hat Network to apply this update are available at
https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258

Affected Products

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM z Systems 6 s390x
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Power, big endian 6 ppc64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Scientific Computing 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 x86_64
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server from RHUI 6 i386
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server - Extended Life Cycle Support (for IBM z Systems) 6 s390x

Fixes

CVEs

(none)

References

(none)