Device driver functions

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6.18 LPAR mode z/VM guest

The qeth device driver supports many networking transport protocol functions, as well as offload functions and problem determination functions.

The qeth device driver supports functions that are listed in Table 1 and Table 2.
Table 1. Real connections

Data rows that span all columns divide this table into sections. The final row contains a legend and also spans all columns.
Function OSA Layer 2 OSA Layer 3 HiperSockets™ Layer 2 HiperSockets Layer 3
Basic device or protocol functions
IPv4/multicast/broadcast Yes/Yes/Yes Yes/Yes/Yes Yes/Yes/Yes Yes/Yes/Yes
IPv6/multicast Yes/Yes Yes/Yes Yes/Yes Yes/Yes
Non-IP traffic Yes Yes Yes No
VLAN IPv4/IPv6/non IP sw/sw/sw hw/sw/sw sw/sw/sw hw/hw/No
Linux® ARP Yes No (hw ARP) Yes No
Linux neighbor solicitation Yes Yes Yes No
Unique MAC address Yes (random for LPAR) No Yes Yes
Change MAC address Yes No Yes No
Promiscuous mode Yes (bridgeport or VNIC characteristics flooding) No Yes (bridgeport or VNIC characteristics flooding)
  • Yes (for sniffer=1)
  • No (for sniffer=0)
MAC headers send/receive Yes/Yes faked/faked Yes/Yes faked/faked
ethtool support Yes Yes Yes Yes
Bonding Yes No Yes No
Priority queueing Yes Yes No No
Bridge port Yes No Yes No
Offload features
TCP segmentation offload (TSO) Yes Yes No No
Inbound (rx) checksum Yes Yes No No
Outbound (tx) checksum Yes Yes No No
OSA/QETH specific features
Special device driver setup for VIPA No required No Yes
Special device driver setup for proxy ARP No required No Yes
Special device driver setup for IP takeover No required No Yes
Special device driver setup for routing IPv4/IPv6 No/No required/required No/No Yes/Yes
Receive buffer count Yes Yes Yes Yes
Direct connectivity to z/OS® Yes by HW Yes no Yes
SNMP support Yes Yes No No
Multiport support Yes Yes No No
Data connection isolation Yes Yes No No
Problem determination
Hardware trace Yes Yes No No
Legend:
  • No - Function not supported or not required.
  • Yes - Function supported.
  • hw - Function performed by hardware.
  • sw - Function performed by software.
  • faked - Function will be simulated.
  • required - Function requires special setup.
Table 2. Virtual NICs coupled to a z/VM® VSWITCH or guest LAN

Data rows that span all columns divide this table into sections. The final row contains a legend and also spans all columns.
Function Emulated OSA Layer 2 Emulated OSA Layer 3 Emulated HiperSockets Layer 3
Basic device or protocol features
IPv4/multicast/broadcast Yes/Yes/Yes Yes/Yes/Yes Yes/Yes/Yes
IPv6/multicast Yes/Yes Yes/Yes No/No
Non-IP traffic Yes No No
VLAN IPv4/IPv6/non IP sw/sw/sw hw/sw/No hw/No/No
Linux ARP Yes No (hw ARP) No
Linux neighbor solicitation Yes Yes No
Unique MAC address Yes Yes Yes
Change MAC address Yes No No
Promiscuous mode Yes Yes No
MAC headers send/receive Yes/Yes faked/faked faked/faked
ethtool support Yes Yes Yes
Bonding Yes No No
Priority queueing No No No
Offload features No No No
OSA/QETH specific features
Special device driver setup for VIPA No required required
Special device driver setup for proxy ARP No required required
Special device driver setup for IP takeover No required required
Special device driver setup for routing IPv4/IPv6 No/No required/required required/required
Receive buffer count Yes Yes Yes
Direct connectivity to z/OS No Yes Yes
SNMP support No No No
Multiport support No No No
Data connection isolation No No No
Problem determination
Hardware trace No No No
Legend:
  • No - Function not supported or not required.
  • Yes - Function supported.
  • hw - Function performed by hardware.
  • sw - Function performed by software.
  • faked - Function will be simulated.
  • required - Function requires special setup.