Embedded Ethernet controller settings in UEFI - IBM BladeCenter and System x

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip: H196064

Symptom

There are two (2) Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) setup items related to the embedded Ethernet controller.

The following indicates where they are located:

System Configuration and Boot Management -->
System Settings -->
Devices and I/O Ports -->
Enable / Disable on-board device(s):

Ethernet 1 Enabled
Ethernet 2 Enabled

When setting "Ethernet 1" to "Disabled," it results in embedded Ethernet 2 being disabled as well. In this case, Ethernet 2 will be shown as "SUPPRESSED."

Affected configurations

The system may be any of the following IBM servers:

• BladeCenter HS22, Type 1936, any model
• BladeCenter HS22, Type 7870, any model
• BladeCenter HS22V, Type 1949, any model
• BladeCenter HS22V, Type 7871, any model
• System x3550 M2, Type 4198, any model
• System x3550 M2, Type 7946, any model
• System x3650 M2, Type 4199, any model
• System x3650 M2, Type 7947, any model

This tip is not software specific.
This tip is not option specific.

The system has the symptom described above.

Solution

There is no fix determined or planned to correct this issue.

Workaround

If it is necessary to have a single Network Interface Controller (NIC) available on the blade, Ethernet 2 should be disabled. If Network Interface Controller 1 (NIC1) needs to be disabled and Network Interface Controller 2 (NIC2) enabled, then both should be enabled in the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), and NIC1 should be disabled from within the Operating System (OS).

Additional information

The symptom stated occurs because of a hardware limitation of the embedded architecture of the NIC's Ethernet technology. Because of this limitation, UEFI cannot disable the port with the option presented in its interface. The workaround offers an alternative of choosing NIC2 as the port to disable. Or alternatively, disabling the NIC1 interface using the OS configuration features.