Doing so may render the system inoperable, generating a blue screen. The FCoE Stack and base driver need to be matched. The FCoE stack may get out of sync with the base driver if the base driver is updated via Windows Update.
Upgrading Windows Drivers on an Intel® Ethernet FCoE-Booted System
Validation and Storage Certification
New Installation on a Windows Server* 2008 R2 system
Intel® Ethernet FCoE Configuration Using Intel® PROSet for Windows* Device Manager
Upgrading an FCoE-booted system can only be done via the Intel® Network Connections Installer. A reboot is required to complete the upgrade. You cannot upgrade a port's Windows driver and software package if the port is in the path to the virtual memory paging file and is also part of a Microsoft Server 2012 NIC Team (LBFO Team). To complete the upgrade, remove the port from the LBFO team and restart the upgrade.
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Warning: Do not update the base driver via the
Windows Update method
Doing so may render the system inoperable, generating a blue screen. The FCoE Stack and base driver need to be matched. The FCoE stack may get out of sync with the base driver if the base driver is updated via Windows Update. |
The software components for Intel® Ethernet FCoE are comprised of two major components: the Intel® Ethernet base driver and the Intel® Ethernet FCoE Driver. They are developed and validated as an ordered pair. Users are strongly encouraged to avoid scenarios, either through upgrades or Windows update, where the Intel® Ethernet driver version is not the version released with the corresponding Intel® Ethernet FCoE driver. For more information, visit the download center.
Notes: |
Individually upgrading/downgrading the Intel® Ethernet FCoE driver will not work and may even cause a blue screen; the entire FCoE package must be the same version. Upgrade the entire FCoE package using Intel® Network Connections only. If you uninstalled the Intel® Ethernet Virtual Storage Miniport Driver for FCoE component, just find the same version that you uninstalled and re-install it; or uninstall and then re-install the entire FCoE package. |
Intel and the storage vendors spend considerable effort ensuring that their respective products operate with each other as expected for every version that we release. However, given the sheer number of releases and each respective organizations' differing schedules, users are strongly encouraged to use their storage vendor's support matrix to ensure that the versions that they are deploying for the Intel® Ethernet Protocol Driver, the switch and storage vendor have been tested as an integrated set.
From the Intel CD: Click the FCoE/DCB checkbox to install Intel® Ethernet FCoE Protocol Driver and DCB. The MSI Installer installs all FCoE and DCB components including Base Driver.
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FCoE is supported on 82599 and X540-based Intel® Network Connections. We recommend installing using the latest Storage Qualified Image. For current drivers and documentation, visit the Customer Support site. |
The following Microsoft hotfixes have been found to be needed for specific use cases:
Windows 2008 R2
Multipath I/O (MPIO)
Windows 2008 R2
Windows 2008 R2 SP1
Configuring MPIO Timers: <http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee619749(WS.10).aspx> contains additional information about these registry settings.
Set the PathRecoveryInterval value to 60
Many FCoE functions can also be configured or revised using Intel PROSet for Windows* Device Manager, accessed from the FCoE Properties button within the Data Center tab. You can use Intel PROSet to perform the following tasks:
In addition, you can find some FCoE RSS performance settings under the Performance Options of the Advanced tab of the Network Adapter device properties. For additional information see the Receive Side Scaling subsection of the Microsoft Windows Advanced Features section of the Intel(R) 10GbE Adapter Guide.
Click here for instructions on installing and using Intel® PROSet for Windows* Device Manager.
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Note: |
PROSetCL.EXE is used for DCB/FCoE configuration on Microsoft* Windows* Server 2008 Core and Microsoft* Windows* Server 2008 R2 Core operating systems. |
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From the Boot Options Tab, the user will see the Flash Information Button. Clicking on the Flash Information Button will open the Flash Information Dialog. From the Flash Information Dialog, clicking on the Update Flash button allows Intel® iSCSI Remote Boot, Intel® Boot
Agent (IBA), Intel® Ethernet FCoE Boot, EFI, and CLP to be written. The
update operation writes a new image to the adapter's Flash and
modifies the EEPROM, which may temporarily disable the operation
of the Windows*
network device driver. You might need to reboot the computer
following this operation.
You cannot update the flash image of a LOM; this button will be disabled. |
The Fabric View tab displays FC fabrics, VN2VN fabrics, physical ports, targets, and LUNs:
For general information about VN2VN, see FCoE VN to VN Support.
A list of the Virtual Ports associated with the HBA has a column for the WWPN and FCID for each Virtual Port. "Not Connected" is displayed in the FCID column if it is not logged in to a target.
From the Boot Options tab you can obtain Target information and Update the Flash.
From the Data Center tab you can enable/disable Data Center Bridging (DCB), view DCB Feature status, and access the storage adapter miniport device’s FCoE properties tabs.
Options
When Using Advanced Settings is indicated, you have configured Data Center Bridging (DCB) locally, using a tool like SNMP, in a way which does not match the Use Switch Settings template. The Use Switch Settings template is Enabled, Advertising, and Willing for all DCB features.
If you select Use Switch Settings, any Advanced configuration is overwritten.
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Note:
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You cannot disable DCB while the system is booted from an FCoE drive or if the system paging file is on an FCoE drive. The options on the Data Center tab will be grayed out if you try. |
DCB Feature Status
A non-operational status is most likely to occur when Use Switch Settings is selected or Using Advanced Settings is active. This is generally a result of one or more of the DCB features not getting successfully exchanged with the switch. Possible problems include:
The DCBx Version Number will be one of the following: