PCIe2 10 GbE RoCE Adapter support

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The PCIe2 10GbE RDMA Over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) Adapter was first supported in the AIX® operating system as a remote direct memory access (RDMA) capable device only. The software to support it was an IBM® proprietary software based on the AIX InfiniBand stack. This support was called AIX RoCE. AIX 7 with 7100-02 or later supports that adapter in two modes, which are the AIX RoCE and the 10G Ethernet support also called the network interface card (AIX NIC). The new AIX 7 with 7100-03 now supports RDMA along with the NIC mode and OpenFabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED). The host bus adapter (HBA), which was not available in earlier versions of the AIX operating systems, manages which mode is enabled.

The following table shows the evolution of the PCIe2 10GbE Adapter software:
AIX Level MODE 1 MODE 2
Before AIX 7 with 7100-02 AIX RoCE NA
AIX 7 with 7100-02 AIX RoCE AIX NIC
AIX 7 with 7100-03 AIX RoCE AIX NIC + OFED RoCE
To download the latest device driver for this adapter complete the following steps:
  1. Go to the IBM website (www.ibm.com)
  2. Click Support and downloads.
  3. Download the latest firmware to the AIX host location (/etc/microcode)
  4. Run the diag tool to update the firmware by choosing one of the following procedures:
    • Short path procedure
      1. Enter the following command:
        *diag -d entX -T download
        Note: Replace entX with roceX if you are using the RoCE stack from a previous version.
      2. Select the microcode that is saved in the /etc/microcode directory.
    • Long path procedure
      1. Enter the following command: 
        *diag
      2. Click: Task selection > Microcode tasks > Download microcode.
      3. Select entX or roceX.
      4. Select the microcode that is saved in the /etc/microcode directory.

By default the adapter is configured to support the AIX RoCE mode. Complete the steps in the AIX NIC + OFED RDMA section to change it to the other mode.