This chapter provides the following information:
Overview Installing the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite Removing the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite Initializing the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite Vital Sign Diagnostics Cable Analysis Load Balance/Virtual LAN Save and Restore Configuration Load Balance/Virtual LAN Statistics Statistics
Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite (BASCS) is an integrated graphical user interface application that provides the following functions:
Vital Sign - at-a-glance status reports of all LAN adapters/controllers in your systems
Diagnostics - a comprehensive diagnostic for Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controllers
Cable Analysis - an in depth analysis on CAT5 cable characterization performed by the Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet controller
Load Balance/Virtual LAN - an easy way to configure the load balance and failover by grouping multiple adapters/controller
Statistics - a detailed performance statistics on each selected adapter/controller
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NOTE BASCS Help files require Internet Explorer 5.0 or later to work properly. |
To configure the load balance, failover, and VLAN, use BASCS or the Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP). Using BASP is the preferred method during installation, where BASCS is more suitable for use after installation.
To install the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite (BASCS) software, do the following:
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NOTE Before installing on Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Terminal Services, the command "change user /install" must be issued, otherwise an error will occur. |
Insert the Broadcom CD-ROM into your systems CD-ROM drive.
Open the Control Suite folder on the CD and double-click setup.exe. The Broadcom Management Programs Setup screen will appear.
Control Suite - Check this box to install the Advanced Server Control Suite.
SNMP Service - Check this box to install the Advanced Server SNMP sub-agent.
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NOTE The Microsoft SNMP Service must be running for this component to function properly. |
DMI PCI Hot Plug Service - Check this box to install the DMI PCI Hot Plug Service.
NOTE 1 DMI Service Provider Software must be installed prior to installing the DMI PCI Hot Plug Service.
NOTE 2 For Windows 2000 operating systems, the DMI PCI Hot Plug Service will not appear as an option.
The Control Suite can be started from the Control Panel by double-clicking the Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet icon.
To remove the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite (BASCS) software, perform the following:
To initialize the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite (BASCS) software, do the following:
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NOTE The Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Adapter must be enabled before initializing the BASCS. Refer to "Installing the Driver Software" for the operating system that you are using. |
The Vital Sign screen allows you to view vital adapter information, network status, and network connectivity. Active adapters are listed in the Installed Adapters window. When selected, vital sign information for that adapter is displayed.
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NOTE Information for Non-Broadcom adapters is less comprehensive than information listed for Broadcom adapters. |
Interface components of the BASCS Vital Sign window are described below:
Example: [0] 14 indicates Broadcom adapter resides in PCI bus 0, device 14.
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NOTE Only adapters with a 1000 Mbps link will light the Gigabit Receive OK and Gigabit Transmit OK LEDs. |
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NOTE Parameters (3 through 10) are not applicable on other vendor's adapters and these values are displayed as: Information Not Available. |
The Diagnostics screen allows you to view information for Broadcom-only adapters. This function is used to test the physical adapter components.
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NOTE Network connection will be lost when running these tests. |
Interface components of the BASCS Diagnostics window are described below:
From the Cable Analysis screen, the user can monitor conditions of an Ethernet CAT5 cable connection within a cable plant in an Ethernet network. The software measures the cable quality and compares it against the IEEE 802.3ab for compliance. Given a graphical environment, it can display the frequency-response characteristics of each cable pair.
The Cable Analysis screen allows you to display the "Gain vs. Frequency Characterization" feature.
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NOTE Network connection will be lost when running this test. |
The Length sub tab allows you to verify cable length and determine whether your configuration has the appropriate cable, which are calculated by a Return Loss algorithm. This utility allows you to determine whether the problem is with the adapter or in the cable plant.
Interface components for the BASCS Cable Analysis/Channel Pairs window are described below:
Distance: This field presents the estimated cable length in meters by averaging all four channels using Return Loss algorithms.
Margin: Margin yields the minimum distance between the measured cable pair and the maximum IEEE 802.3ab limits. The unit is in dB.
Each channel's frequency response is displayed based on the computation by the cable algorithms. The two graphs represent the values calculated by the Cable Loss and Return Loss algorithms. The vertical axis represents the gain in dB and the horizontal axis represents the operating frequency. The blue graph is the IEEE 802.3ab limit and the red graph is the actual computed values for a particular twisted pair. The two methods of measurement present the typical measurement standards to characterize the cable quality. It is important to take both measurements into consideration, as one result alone is not indicative of the characterization of the cable being tested.
The cable loss (red) curve represents the insertion loss of the cable under test as a function of frequency in the frequency range [0 - 62.5 MHz]. The cable loss limit (blue) curve represents the cable loss limit as specified in Section 40.7.2.1 of the IEEE Standard 802.3ab-1999. The cable loss curve (red) on top of the cable loss limit (blue) curve indicates the cable is within the operating limit. If the cable loss (red) curve superimposes the cable loss limit (blue) curve, the cable is marginal to the operating limit. If the cable loss (red) curve is below the cable loss limit (blue) curve, the cable is outside the operating limit of the IEEE 802.3ab-1999 standards. This condition would signify that the cable length is too long and not operational.
The return loss (red) curve represents the return loss of the cable under test as a function of frequency in the frequency range [0,62.5 MHz]. The return limit (blue) curve represents the return loss limit as specified in Section 40.7.2.3 of the IEEE Standard 802.3ab-1999. The return loss (red) curve below of the return limit (blue) curve indicates the cable is within the operating limit. If the return loss (red) curve superimposes the return limit (blue) curve, the cable is marginal to the operating limit. If the return loss (red) curve is above the return limit (blue) curve, the cable is outside the operating limit of the IEEE 802.3ab-1999 standards. This condition would signify that the cable length is too long and not operational.
The Load Balance/Virtual LANs screen allows you to configure advanced features. Any available adapter can be configured as part of a team. Teaming is a method of grouping multiple adapters into a virtual adapter (bundling multiple adapters to look like a single adapter). The benefit of this approach is load balancing.
An example of this usage using the graphic provided below shows three available adapters on the primary side. By selecting each of the available adapters, and moving each of them over to the Load Balance Members column, they then appear to the outside world as one adapter. Each member in the Load Balance Member list shares the traffic burden of all three members.
The Standby Member field is used to permit the selection of one of the team members to handle traffic, should all members in the Load Balance Member list fail (failover). The selected Standby Member will not handle any traffic unless all Load Balance Members fail. When one Load Balance Member (or more) is restored (fail-back), traffic will then be handled by the restored team member(s).
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NOTE At least one adapter must be displayed in the Load Balance list box. |
The minimum number of characters that can be used in a team name is one. The maximum number of characters that can be used in a team name is 39. A Team Name cannot begin with spaces nor contain the character "&". If you attempt to use an identical team name, an error message displays indicating that the entered name already exists. The maximum number of members in a team is eight.
When you create a generic trunking team, you cannot select a Standby Member. Standby Members only work with Smart Load Balance and Failover Teams.
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NOTE Not all vendor adapters are supported or fully certified for Teaming. If an adapter is not (fully) supported, you can click List All Supported Adapters to display a list of fully supported adapters. |
To set an adapter's IP address, use the following menu:
You can add VLANs to a team. The concept behind this is that you are adding multiple virtual adapters that are on different subnets. The benefit of this is that your server can have one NIC that can belong to multiple subnets. With a VLAN you can couple the functionality of load balancing for the Load Balance Members and you can employ a failover adapter.
You can define up to 64 VLANs per team. VLANs can only be created when all members are Broadcom adapters. If you try to create a VLAN with a non-Broadcom adapter, an error message displays.
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NOTE Disabled Broadcom adapters are not recognized and will not allow the creation of a VLAN. If you attempt to create a VLAN with a disabled Broadcom adapter, the error message above will appear. |
To configure a new VLAN, perform the following steps:
The Untagged VLAN checkbox is exclusively used by the VLAN ID field. To use VLAN ID zero, simply check this box.
If you enter a VLAN name or ID and the name already exists, an Input Error message is displayed similar to the one below:
NOTE To maintain optimum adapter performance, your system should have 64 MB of system memory for each eight VLANs created per adapter.
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NOTE If you delete a Team, any VLANs configured for that team will also be deleted. |
To delete a configured VLAN, perform the following steps:
To save a configuration, perform the following:
A configuration file will be placed in the directory as shown below.
This new configuration file is a text file and can be viewed by any text editor. As shown below, it contains both adapter and team configuration information.
To restore a saved configuration, perform the following:
NOTE The Open screen will navigate to the folder where the last configuration file was stored. If the configuration file to be restored is elsewhere, navigate to that location to select the file.
The following shows the screen that displays when you select the Statistics tab.
The Statistics screen allows you to view traffic statistics for both Broadcom and non-Broadcom adapters. Statistical values and coverage is more comprehensive for Broadcom than for non-Broadcom adapters.
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NOTE If a Broadcom adapter is disabled, its team will not be displayed in the Statistics window. |
Interface components of the BASCS Statistics/General tab window are described below:
Frames Tx OK: A count of frames
that are successfully transmitted. This counter is incremented when the
TransmitStatus is reported as transmitOK.
Frames Rx OK: A count of frames
that are successfully received (receiveOK). This does not include frames
received with frame-too-long, FCS, length or alignment errors, or frames
lost due to internal MAC sublayer error. This counter is incremented when
the ReceiveStatus is reported as receive OK.
Directed Frames Tx: A count
of directed data frames that are successfully transmitted.
Multicast Frames Tx: A count
of frames that are successfully transmitted, as indicated by the status
value transmitOK, to a group destination address other than broadcast.
Broadcast Frames Tx: A count
of the frames that were successfully transmitted as indicated by the TransmitStatus
transmitOK, to the broadcast address. Frames transmitted to multicast
addresses are not broadcast frames and are excluded.
Directed Frames Rx: A count
of directed data frames that are successfully received.
Multicast Frames Rx: A count
of frames that are successfully received and are directed to an active
nonbroadcast group address. This does not include frames received with
frame-too-long, FCS, length or alignment errors, or frames lost due to
internal MAC sublayer error. This counter is incremented as indicated
by the receiveOK status.
Broadcast Frames Rx: A count
of frames that are successfully received and are directed to the broadcast
group address. This does not include frames received with frame-too-long,
FCS, length or alignment errors, or frames lost due to internal MAC sublayer
error. This counter is incremented as indicated by the receiveOK status.
Interface components of the BASCS Statistics/IEEE 802.3 tab window are described below:
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NOTE The Custom tab will only appear for an enabled Broadcom adapter. |
A complete view of Interface components of the BASCS Statistics/Custom tab window are shown below. Their descriptions follow: