6.2 Setting up multiple units

6 Using multiple Ethernet driver units

6.2 Setting up multiple units

When multiple units are in use a single Ethernet card driver modulepresents two unit numbers whose functionality is more or lessidentical.

For instance, the EtherB drivers for ANT's RiscPC NICs canprovide two units, eb0 and eb1, on the samecard. The ARM-side software (such as Acorn TCP/IP) typically then useseb0 as normal, and the PC-side software (such as PC-NFS) isconfigured to use eb1. It is not in fact important whichway around the unit numbers are used.

ANT/Atomwide Ethernet interfaces

All ANT Ethernet interfaces with EtherB or Ether3 driver versions of4.20 or greater can be set up to provide mutiple units. On ANT cards, tocontrol the second unit you must use one of the following command at theSupervisor (f12) prompt:

For RiscPC NIC interfaces:

*Configure EtherB Multiple|Single

For Expansion Card (Podule) interfaces

*Configure EtherA Multiple|Single

and then reset the computer.

After resetting you can check that the multiple interfaces are enabledby entering the following at the Supervisor prompt:

*EBinfo	For RiscPC NIC interfaces

*EAinfo	For Expansion Card (Podule) interfaces

The unit numbers which are controlled by this process are derived fromthe driver name: Ether3 drivers present units named ea0 andea1, EtherB drivers present eb0 andeb1.

i-Cubed Ethernet interfaces

Versions of EtherH, the i-Cubed Ethernet driver, from 4.15onwards, offer the additional feature of Virtual Ethernet Interfaces. Itis worth noting that the i-Cubed feature works in a slightly differentway to the ANT one, and it should be left disabled if you do notabsolutely require it in order to maximise the performance of yourcomputer.

To control this feature use the following command at the Supervisor(f12) prompt:

*Configure EHVirtual On|Off

and then reset the computer.

After resetting you can check that the multiple interfaces are enabledby entering the following at the Supervisor prompt:

*EHinfo

Consult the i-Cubed driver software release note for more detailedinformation. i-Cubed also produce an application note entitled Usinga PC card with your i3 Ethernet card (Issue 1.0: 21 Feb 1996) whichis very helpful.

The Virtual Ethernet Interface capability of EtherH version 4.15 onlyrelates to the Ethernet driver supplied for use with the E500 series andE600 series EtherLan interface cards; drivers for the E100 and E200series cards remain as described in the EtherLan User Guide. The newdriver, EtherH version 4.15 or later, may be provided as part of a FlashROM upgrade, or may be provided separately for soft-loading during acomputer's boot sequence.

ANT/Atomwide Ethernetinterfaces
i-Cubed Ethernetinterfaces