Use of snoop(7P)

[Jack Weldon]

In article <3797 at odin.SGI.COM> jweldon at renegade.sgi.com (Jack Weldon) writes:
>>
>>on the console of the machine (4D/80S in this case):
>>
>>	enp0: promisc. mode failed: no firmware support
>>
>>
>If your system is under a support contract, contact the Geometry Hotline
>and request that the newer PROMS be installed in your 4D{50,60,70,80}.
>These PROMS support both snoop and 4DDN protocols. The information is
>contained in FB 87 (Field Bulletin 87). This is only required in CMC (enpX)
>boards found in the above machines.  Neither the PI or the GTX series
>requires this type of upgrade--the newer PROM support is already installed.
>If you are curious as to whether your machine has the newer PROM installed,
>run 'hinv' from a shell. The correct output will show version 4 (SGI) PROMS:
>
>CMC ENP-10 Ethernet controller 0, firmware version 4 (SGI)
>
>Before all of the readers of this newsgroup go and call for PROM upgrades,
>please realize that this is not required for normal ethernet operation, but
>is required for snoop or 4DDN use.  Future tools based on snoop may also
>require the upgrade, which will be fully documented in Release Notes if it
>IS required.
>
An SGI development engineer dropped me a note asking me to clarify the 
above statement, so here goes:

You do not need to upgrade ANY firmware/PROMs in your ethernet board unless
your machine has CMC ENP-10 Ethernet Cards in it and they are of Revision 0.
It is possible that a PI or a GTX could have  a CMC ENP-10 as a 
secondary/"gateway" board.  In his words:

"only if you have a CMC ENP-10 (interface name enp<unit#>) and you want to
snoop or do 4DDN and hinv says revision 0" do you need an upgrade. If they 
want to snoop on all interfaces, they will need to upgrade down-rev CMC proms."

Hope this clarifies things.

Cheers, 

Jack P. Weldon (jweldon at sgi.com)     Fish and guests grow stale after 3 days
SGI Product Support		                           M.F.K. Fisher