[vfio-users] sr-iov support on main boards

[Torbjorn Jansson]

On 2017-08-19 07:37, Torbjorn Jansson wrote:
> On 2017-08-19 02:34, Taiidan at gmx.com wrote:
>> On 08/15/2017 02:12 AM, Torbjorn Jansson wrote:
>>
>>> On 2017-08-15 02:44, Taiidan at gmx.com wrote:
>>>> On 08/14/2017 12:28 AM, Torbjorn Jansson wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> yes i noticed that part was missing, but the card i have is an I350-T2 and 
>>>>> according to:
>>>>> https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products/000005722.html 
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> the I350-T2 is supposed to have sr-iov support.
>>>>> i guess it is possible they sent me the wrong type of card or something, 
>>>>> i'll double check what is listed on the card itself.
>>>> Some OEM's (ex: dell) shut off the SR-IOV ability on their NIC's because 
>>>> reasons.
>>>> Please provide an lspci -n and lspci -v -v for that device so we can see 
>>>> what OEM it is.
>>>>
>>>> I would return it and have them send you a real one that isn't nerfed, also 
>>>> FYI most NIC's on ebay are counterfeit so be careful what you buy.
>>>> https://www.servethehome.com/investigating-fake-intel-i350-network-adapters/ (real 
>>>> intel NIC ASIC and SR-IOV but crappy secondary components)
>>>>
>>>
>>> if i look at the back of the card there is a sticker with: I350T2V2
>>>
>>> here is the output:
>> Weird.
>> I would say you almost definitely got a fake - either way send it back.
>>
> 
> yes very strange.
> thing is, i bought it from a well known web shop I've been using forever.
> i have opened a support ticket with them about this, hopefully i can return it.
> 
> but then question is, how do i find a network card with sr-iov that works?
> clearly specs on web shops can't always be trusted.
> 
> also strange is that this page:
> http://ark.intel.com/products/84804/Intel-Ethernet-Server-Adapter-I350-T2V2
> clearly lists sr-iov and this is the model i got.
> 

i did a bit more searching and checking.
found this pdf:
https://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/ethernet-controller-i350-datasheet.pdf
section 6.2.25 looks interesting specifically the IOV Enable bit.

i used ethtool to dump the eeprom to file and a hex editor to check the 
contents and this bit is set to a zero indicating IOV is not exposed.

but i'm definitely no expert on these things so i might be wrong too.
but i wonder if there is a way to flip this bit and see what happens.