[ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Andrew Vasquez]

All,

QLogic is pleased to announce the availability of a completely new
version of the QLogic FC driver (8.00.00b1) for its
ISP21xx/ISP22xx/ISP23xx chips and HBAs.  Our desire after community
review and continued driver development is inclusion of this work into
the Linux 2.5 kernel tree.

This driver contains support for Linux kernels 2.5.x and above *only*
(all 2.4.x support has been removed).  It's based on the QLogic 6.x
driver which is qualified with a number of OEMs and is functionally
equivalent to the 6.05.00b9 driver.

The new driver contains a number of key functional changes,
initialization (device scanning), I/O handling -- command queuing
refinements (front-end), ISR rewrite (backend).  The last two notables
should assist in a reasonable performance improvement.  Details
pertaining to the these changes and the development direction of this
work can be found towards the end of this email.

Driver tar-balls are available in two-forms from our SourceForge site:

	http://sourceforge.net/projects/linux-qla2xxx/

   o Kernel tree drop-in tarball (synced with 2.5.69):

	qla2xxx-kernel-v8.00.00b1.tar.bz2

	Extract the contents directly in the kernel tree:

		# cd /usr/src/linux-2.5.69
		# tar xvfj /tmp/qla2xxx-kernel-v8.00.00b1.tar.bz2
		# make config
		# ...

   o External build tarball:

	qla2xxx-src-v8.00.00b1.tar.bz2

	Extract the contents to your build directory:

		# mkdir /tmp/qla-8.00.00b1
		# cd /tmp/qla-8.00.00b1
		# tar xvfj /tmp/qla2xxx-src-v8.00.00b1.tar.bz2
		# make -C /usr/src/linux-2.5.69 SUBDIRS=$PWD modules

Please note, this is a (pre)beta release.  Testing has been performed
against a number of storage devices (JBODs, and FC raid boxes), but
certainly has not received the level of test coverage present with the
6.x series code -- basic error injection (cable-pulls and recovery).

NOTE: The driver group will try to address any issues with this work
within the linux-scsi and linux-kernel mailing lists.  Please do not 
contact QLogic technical support regarding this driver.

Details:

This driver is and will continue to be in a very fluid state.  Changes
thus far include basic infrastructure and semantic rewrites of some core
components of the driver:

	o Initialization:
	  - pci_driver scanning.
	  - Fabric scanning:
	    - GID_PT (if not supported, fallback to GA_NXT).
	    - SNS registration - RFT_ID, RFF_ID RNN_ID, RSNN_ID.
	  - ISP abstractions:
	    - Firmware loading mechanism.
	    - NVRAM configuration.
	  - 2k port login support (ISP23xx only).
	  - SRB pool allocations.

	o Queuing mechanisms:
	  - Rewrite command IOCB handling.

	o Command response handling:
	  - Rewrite ISR -- simplification.
	  - Bottom-half handling via work queues.

	o Code restructuring.

	o Kernel 2.5 support -- currently in sync with 2.5.69.
	
Additional work to be done include:

	o Further fabric scanning refinements:
	  - Minimizing SNS queries.
	  - Asynchronous fabric logins.

	o Review Locking mechanisms -- there are still a number of
	  structures which depend on our high-level hardware lock for
	  mutual exclusion.

	o Internal device-list management unification.

	o Rework mailbox and IOCTL request handling:
	  - To use wait queues.

	o Logging mechanisms.  The current debugging requirement is to
	  recompile the driver in 'debug' mode.  Once included in the
	  kernel tree, recompilation is not a guaranteed option.
	  Make use of 'Extended error logging' NVRAM parameter to enable
	  additional debug statements.
	
	o Kernel 2.5 support:
	  - module_param() interface.

Any feedback (comments, suggestions, criticisms) would be appreciated.

Regards,
Andrew Vasquez
QLogic Corporation

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Alan Cox]

On Llu, 2003-05-12 at 23:10, Xose Vazquez Perez wrote:
> Jes Sorensen wrote:
> 
> > Sorry but those drivers are old, totally obsolete and contain a lot of
> > bugs. As I mentioned previously, I have spent quite a lot of time
> > trying to update and improve the qla1280 driver.
> 
> well, but you can update the new firmware

You are assuming the firmware doesn't change the hardware/driver
interface. At least for some controllers thats a bad assumption

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Jes Sorensen]

>>>>> "James" == James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@steeleye.com> writes:

James> On Mon, 2003-05-12 at 14:00, Andrew Vasquez wrote:
>> Unfortunately, no.  QLogic has no plans to update qla1280 -- all
>> parallel SCSI HBAs have been EOLed.

James> Could Qlogic at least publish the documentation for these chips
James> electronically so we have a vague chance of supporting them?

James> At the moment most of the ISP1020 and ISP1040 bug reports
James> elicit sympathy but not much else.

I very strongly support that idea, right now all the changes I have
made to the qla1280 driver have pretty much been done in the dark.

Cheers,
Jes

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Xose Vazquez Perez]

Jes Sorensen wrote:

>I very strongly support that idea, right now all the changes I have
>made to the qla1280 driver have pretty much been done in the dark.

you have here latest drivers/firmware:

 - latest: 3.12 August 17, 2000 http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2206/qla1x160src-3.12.tgz
 - beta: 3.23  January 12, 2001 http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2209/qla1x160src-3.23Beta.tgz

regards,
-- 
Galiza nin perdoa nin esquence. Governo demision!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Jes Sorensen]

>>>>> "Xose" == Xose Vazquez Perez <xose@wanadoo.es> writes:

Xose> Jes Sorensen wrote:
>> I very strongly support that idea, right now all the changes I have
>> made to the qla1280 driver have pretty much been done in the dark.

Xose> you have here latest drivers/firmware:

Xose>  - latest: 3.12 August 17, 2000
Xose> http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2206/qla1x160src-3.12.tgz -
Xose> beta: 3.23 January 12, 2001
Xose> http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2209/qla1x160src-3.23Beta.tgz

Sorry but those drivers are old, totally obsolete and contain a lot of
bugs. As I mentioned previously, I have spent quite a lot of time
trying to update and improve the qla1280 driver.

Jes

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[James Bottomley]

On Mon, 2003-05-12 at 16:53, Xose Vazquez Perez wrote:
> you have here latest drivers/firmware:

Does that mean "no"?

>  - latest: 3.12 August 17, 2000 http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2206/qla1x160src-3.12.tgz
>  - beta: 3.23  January 12, 2001 http://download.qlogic.com/drivers/2209/qla1x160src-3.23Beta.tgz

There is little chance that a 2001 driver will compile in 2.5, let alone
run.  Also, I can't find a driver for the ISP1020/1040---unless it's
hiding somewhere.

James

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Xose Vazquez Perez]

Jes Sorensen wrote:

> Sorry but those drivers are old, totally obsolete and contain a lot of
> bugs. As I mentioned previously, I have spent quite a lot of time
> trying to update and improve the qla1280 driver.

well, but you can update the new firmware

linux-2.4.21-rc2-ac2:

ql12160_fw.h: * Firmware Version 10.01.19 (12:38 Oct 12, 1999)
ql1280_fw.h: *  Firmware Version 8.09.00 (18:29 Apr 16, 1999)


qla1x160src-3.23Beta.tgz/qla1x160src-3.12.tgz:

ql12160_fw.h: * Firmware Version 10.04.08 (11:30 May 31, 2000)
ql1280_fw.h: *  Firmware Version 8.13.08 (10:53 Jan 14, 2000)

regards,
-- 
Galiza nin perdoa nin esquence. Governo demision!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Jes Sorensen]

>>>>> "Xose" == Xose Vazquez Perez <xose@wanadoo.es> writes:

Xose> qla1x160src-3.23Beta.tgz/qla1x160src-3.12.tgz:

Xose> ql12160_fw.h: * Firmware Version 10.04.08 (11:30 May 31, 2000)
Xose> ql1280_fw.h: * Firmware Version 8.13.08 (10:53 Jan 14, 2000)

The Firmware I am using is this:

ql1280_fw.h: Firmware Version 8.15.00 (14:35 Aug 22, 2000)
ql12160_fw.h: Firmware Version 10.04.32 (12:03 May 09, 2001)

So no, picking the firmware from the driver on QLogic's web site would
be a downgrade.

Cheers,
Jes

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Xose Vazquez Perez]

Jes Sorensen wrote:

> The Firmware I am using is this:
> 
> ql1280_fw.h: Firmware Version 8.15.00 (14:35 Aug 22, 2000)
> ql12160_fw.h: Firmware Version 10.04.32 (12:03 May 09, 2001)
> 
> So no, picking the firmware from the driver on QLogic's web site would
> be a downgrade.

would you mind to put it into 2.4 too?

-thanks-

regards,
-- 
Galiza nin perdoa nin esquence. Governo demision!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Jes Sorensen]

>>>>> "Xose" == Xose Vazquez Perez <xose@wanadoo.es> writes:

Xose> Jes Sorensen wrote:
>> The Firmware I am using is this:
>> 
>> ql1280_fw.h: Firmware Version 8.15.00 (14:35 Aug 22, 2000)
>> ql12160_fw.h: Firmware Version 10.04.32 (12:03 May 09, 2001)
>> 
>> So no, picking the firmware from the driver on QLogic's web site
>> would be a downgrade.

Xose> would you mind to put it into 2.4 too?

It's in 2.5, working with James on updating the driver, should also
work on 2.4.

Jes

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Xose Vazquez Perez]

James Bottomley wrote:

> Does that mean "no"?

:-?

> There is little chance that a 2001 driver will compile in 2.5, let alone
> run.  Also, I can't find a driver for the ISP1020/1040---unless it's
> hiding somewhere.

difficult, qlogic ftp/http has a very bad index service and not all
files are at http://download.qlogic.com/index.txt

but I think that they only have 3 LiNUX drivers:
- qla2x00 with official support
- qla1x160 obsolete
- qla4xxx for iSCSI QLA4000

regards,
-- 
Galiza nin perdoa nin esquence. Governo demision!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] QLogic FC Driver for Linux kernel 2.5 available.

[Andrew Vasquez]

On Mon, 12 May 2003, Jes Sorensen wrote:

> >>>>> "James" == James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@steeleye.com> writes:
> 
> James> On Mon, 2003-05-12 at 14:00, Andrew Vasquez wrote:
> >> Unfortunately, no.  QLogic has no plans to update qla1280 -- all
> >> parallel SCSI HBAs have been EOLed.
> 
> James> Could Qlogic at least publish the documentation for these chips
> James> electronically so we have a vague chance of supporting them?
> 
> James> At the moment most of the ISP1020 and ISP1040 bug reports
> James> elicit sympathy but not much else.
> 
> I very strongly support that idea, right now all the changes I have
> made to the qla1280 driver have pretty much been done in the dark.
> 

I've forwarded a request to the appropriate people.

Regards,
Andrew Vasquez