Advanced settings for HP NC-Series Intel adapters

These advanced properties are available for HP NC-Series Intel, Intel E1E, Intel E1Q, and Intel E1R Gigabit Server Adapters.

Property. Each property displays only if the property is supported by the selected adapter.

• 802.1p QoS Packet Tagging. Enables or disables IEEE 802.1p tagging to send network traffic with different priority levels.
  • Default = Disabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• Priority and VLAN. Enables or disables the ability to insert or remove the 802.1q tags for priority and VLAN.
  • Default = Priority & VLAN Enabled
  • Range = Priority & VLAN Disabled; Priority & VLAN Enabled; Priority Enabled; VLAN Enabled
• Wake Up Capabilities. Determines the type of packets that will cause the adapter to wake up the system.
• Ethernet @WireSpeed. Enables linking at 100 Mbps when using a cable that does not support Gigabit speed.
• Maximum Frame Size. Specifies the maximum number of bytes in a single packet. Larger frames can increase throughput and decrease CPU use by putting more data in each packet, thereby sending out fewer packets. This is equivalent to Jumbo Frames and must comply with switch limitations.
  • Default = 1514 Bytes
  • Ranges:

    NC71xx, NC110x, NC112x, NC340x, NC360x, NC36xx adapters = 1514 Bytes; 4088 Bytes; 9014 Bytes

    NC310F and NC61xx adapters = 1514 Bytes; 4088 Bytes; 9014 Bytes; 16128 Bytes

• Number of Coalesce Buffers: Minimum/Maximum. Coalesce Buffers reduce the number of DMA operations per transfer by combining small fragments into a single buffer.
  • Defaults:

    NC61xx, NC71xx, NC310x, and NC340x adapters = 128

    NC110x, NC360x, and NC36xx adapters = 256

  • Range = 16–768 (increments of 16)
• Number of RX Descriptors. Determines how many resources are allocated to receive packets. Increasing receive descriptors can increase performance, which also increases the amount of system memory used by the driver. So, if too few receive descriptors are used, performance suffers and if too many receive descriptors are used the driver unnecessarily consumes memory resources.
  • Default = 256
  • Ranges:

    NC310F, NC340x, NC6170, and NC7170 adapters = 80–4096 (increments of 8)

    NC110x, NC36xx adapters = 80-2048 (increments of 8)

• Number of Tx Descriptors. Determines how many resources are allocated to transmit packets.
  • Default = 256
  • Ranges:

    NC310F, NC340x, NC6170, and NC7170 adapters = 80–4096 (increments of 8)

    NC110x, NC36xx dapters = 80-2048 (increments of 8)

• Rx TCP Checksum Offload. Offloads the task of computing the checksum for incoming TCP or UDP packets, thereby improving performance.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• Tx TCP Checksum Offload. Offloads the task of computing the checksum for outgoing TCP or UDP packets, thereby improving performance.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• Tx IP Checksum Offload. Offloads the task of computing the checksum for outgoing IP packets, thereby improving performance.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• Rx IP Checksum Offload. Offloads the task of computing the checksum for incoming IP packets, thereby improving performance.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• Enable PME. Allows the use of power management and wake-up functions.
  • Default = No Action
  • Range = Disable; Enable; H/W Default; No Action;

  For NC360x adapters: Range = OS Controlled; Disabled; Enabled. Default = OS Controlled

• Wake On. Available only when Enable PME is enabled. Allows you to choose what types of packets will cause the adapter to wake.
  • Default = Disable
  • Range = Disable; Magic Packet; Direct Packet; Magic and Direct Packets; OS Controlled

  For NC110x, NC360x, and NC364T adapters: Default = OS Controlled

  For NC112x and NC362x, and NC365T: Default = Magic and Direct Packets

• Large Send Offload. Enables offloading of large TCP packets.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
• WOL Speed. Specifies the speed at which the adapter connects to the network during Wake-on-LAN mode.
• Gigabit Master Slave Mode. Determines IEEE 802.3ab Master-Slave resolution during gigabit auto negotiation.
  • Default = Auto Detect
  • Range = Auto Detect; Force Master Mode; Force Slave Mode
• Smart Power Down. Minimizes power consumption by enabling the adapter to enter a deep sleep mode under certain conditions.
  • Default = Hardware Default
  • Range = Disable; Enable; Hardware Default
• Wake on Link. Allows wake-up from Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) when link is reconnected.
  • Default = Disable
  • Range = Disable; Force
• Flow Control. Specifies the type of flow control that is needed.
  • Default = Rx/Tx Enable
  • Range = Disable; Tx Enable; Rx Enable; Rx/Tx Enable
• Receive Buffers. The size, in bytes, of the receive buffers that the hardware can support. This size is hardware-dependent and can include data buffers, buffer descriptors, and so on.
  • Default = 256
  • Range = 80–2048
• Transmit Buffers. The size, in bytes, of the transmit buffers that the hardware can support. This size is hardware-dependent and can include data buffers, buffer descriptors, and so forth.
  • Default = 512
  • Range = 80–2048
• Receive-side Scaling (RSS). Enables dynamic load balancing of incoming traffic across CPUs.
  • Default = Enabled
  • Range = Disabled; Enabled
    • RSS is disabled system wide by default in the operating system. RSS must be enabled system-wide for it to work on the adapter itself. To enable RSS in the operating system:
    1. Click Start > Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
    2. Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters
    3. Right-click EnableRSS, and then click Modify.
    4. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
    5. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the server.
    • For systems running Windows Server 2003 (SP1) or Windows Server 2003 x64 (SP1), you must upgrade to Service Pack 2 or later.