[openib-general] Problem configuring ipath_ether

[Greg Lindahl]

On Thu, Mar 23, 2006 at 11:50:18PM -0800, Matt Leininger wrote:

> I have the ipath driver up, running, and working with IPoIB.  I'm using
> 2.6.16 with svn 5938.  The ipath_ether comes up as eth2.  I can set the
> netmask and broadcast, but when I try to set the ip address for this
> device I get the following error:

Matt,

ipath_ether uses InfiniBand protocols but is not the same as IPoIB. So
it's better to ask support at pathscale.com about it. (The reason we ship
it at all is that it's faster than IPoIB -- this necessitates a
different wire format -- and it behaves more like an ethernet device
than IPoIB.)

My guess is that you're trying to use it with ib_mad (the in-kernel
SMA).  Do you see anything in /var/log/messages like "ipath_ether_open
timed out waiting for MLID"? The relevant entry in RELEASE-NOTES.txt
under the KNOWN LIMITATIONS section is:

   * IPoIB and ipath_ether do not work together, as ipath_ether requires
     the InfiniPath SMA, which needs to be disabled to use OpenIB.  This
     will be fixed in a future release.

Apologies for this not being more obvious.

-- greg