Installing the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Application
Updating the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Application
Removing the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Application
Initializing the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Application
Using the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite Application
Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) is an integrated application (with a graphical user interface) that provides useful information about each network adapter that is installed in your computer. The BACS application also enables you to perform detailed tests, diagnostics, and analyses on each adapter, as well as view traffic statistics and set configuration options for each adapter. The BACS application is designed to run on Windows operating systems.
The Broadcom Advanced Server Program (BASP) application, which runs within BACS, is used to configure load balancing, fault tolerance, and virtual local area networks (VLANs). This application is available only on computers that use more than one network adapter.
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Broadcom Advanced Control Suite lists all of the network adapters in your computer and provides the following information (if available) about each device:
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Vital Sign. At-a-glance status reports on all of the LAN devices in your computer.
Resources. Shows the resource settings for the selected device.
Hardware. Shows the hardware information (the ASIC version and the firmware version) for the selected device.
Statistics. Provides detailed performance statistics on each selected device.
BASP Statistics. Provides detailed performance statistics for the selected team (this BASP Statistics tab appears only when you click the name of an adapter that is part of a team.
The following testing, diagnostics, analyses, and teaming functions are provided:
Network Test. Confirms network connectivity to a remote station. The network test sends ICMP packets to remote systems and waits for a response. If a gateway is configured, the test automatically sends packets to that system. If a gateway is not configured or if the gateway is unreachable, the test prompts you for a destination IP address.
Diagnostics. Performs comprehensive diagnostics on Broadcom network adapters.
Cable Analysis. Analyzes Category 5 cabling conditions in depth.
Configuring Teaming. Allows you to group multiple network adapters into teams for load balance and failover.
The BACS installation file (Setup.exe) is located at C:\SWSetup\Network\BACS.
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To install the BACS application
| Control Suite. Installs the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite. | |
| BASP. Installs the Broadcom Advanced Server Program. | |
| SNMP Service. Installs the Advanced Server SNMP subagent. |
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Note: The Microsoft SNMP Service must be running for the SNMP Service application to function properly. |
| CIM Provider. Installs the CIM Provider. |
The Control Suite can be started from Control Panel by double-clicking Broadcom Control Suite 2. Alternatively, click Start, point to Programs, point to Broadcom, and then click Broadcom Advanced Control Suite.
To update the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) application
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Note: Before you begin the update, close all applications, windows, or dialog boxes. |
| Control Suite. Installs the Broadcom Advanced Server Control Suite. | |
| BASP. Installs the Broadcom Advanced Server Program. | |
| SNMP Service. Installs the Advanced Server SNMP subagent. |
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Note: The Microsoft SNMP Service must be running for the SNMP Service application to function properly. |
| CIM Provider. Installs the CIM Provider. |
To remove the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) application
To initialize the Broadcom Advanced Control Suite (BACS) application
In Control Panel, double-click Broadcom Control Suite. Alternatively, click Start, point to Programs, point to Broadcom, and then click Broadcom Advanced Control Suite.
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Note: The Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet Controller must be installed before you initialize the BACS application. |
Start the BACS application and then click the tab on Broadcom Advanced Control Suite that provides the information of interest or access to the tests, diagnostics, analyses, and configuration functions you want to perform; or from the Tools menu, click Create a Team to start the BASP application.
The Vital Sign tab contains information about the Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet controller and other network adapters that are installed, the link status of the network, and network connectivity. To view this information for any installed network adapter, click the name of the device.
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Note: Information about network adapters made by others is less comprehensive than the information provided for Broadcom network adapters. |
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| Physical Address. This is a physical MAC (media access control) address that is assigned to the device by the manufacturer. The physical address is never all 0s. | |
| IP Address: The network address that is associated with the device. If the IP address is all 0s, this means that the associated driver has not been bound with Internet Protocol (IP). |
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Note: The MAC address changes when the device is upgraded to Gigabit Ethernet. |
| Driver Status. Information about the status of the driver that is associated with the selected controller. | ||
| Driver Loaded. Normal operating mode. The driver that is associated with the device has been loaded by Windows and is functioning. | ||
| Driver Not Loaded. The driver that is associated with the device has not been loaded by Windows. | ||
| Information Not Available. The value is not obtainable from the driver that is associated with the device. | ||
| Driver Name/Version/Date. The file name, version, and creation date of the software driver that is associated with the device. | ||
BASP State. Information about the status of the BASP application. This information appears only when there is a team (see Configuring Teaming).
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Network Status: The following network status information is provided: |
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| Link Status. The indicator is green if a link is established. A red indicator means that a link is not established. | ||
| Speed. The link speed of the device. | ||
| Duplex. The duplex mode in which the device is operating. | ||
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| Bus Type. The type of input/output (I/O) interconnect used by the controller. | |
| Slot No. The PCI slot number on the system board occupied by the controller. This item is not available for PCI-E type controllers. | |
| Bus Speed (MHz). The bus clock signal frequency used by the controller. This item is not available for PCI-E type controllers. | |
| Bus Width (bit). The number of bits that the bus can transfer at a single time to and from the controller. This item is not available for PCI-E type controllers. | |
| Bus No. Indicates the number of the bus in which the controller is installed. | |
| Device No. The number assigned to the device by the operating system. | |
| Function No. The port number of the adapter. For a single-port adapter, the function number is 0. For a two-port adapter, the function number for the first port is 0, and the function number for the second port is 1. | |
| Interrupt Request. The interrupt line number that is associated with the device. Valid numbers range from 2 to 25. | |
| Memory Address. The memory mapped address that is assigned to the device. This value can never be 0. |
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ASIC Version. The chip version of the Broadcom device (this information is not available for devices made by others).
Firmware Version. The firmware version of the Broadcom device (this information is not available for devices made by others).
From the Network Test tab, you can verify IP network connectivity. This test verifies if the driver is installed correctly and tests connectivity to a gateway or other specified IP address on the same subnet. The Network test uses TCP/IP.
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From the Diagnostics tab you can perform diagnostic test only on Broadcom network adapters. This function is used to test the physical components of the adapter.
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Note: The network connection is temporarily lost when these tests are running. |
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Control Registers. This test verifies the read and write capabilities of the network controller registers by writing various values to the registers and verifying the results. The device driver uses these registers to perform network functions such as send and receive information. If the test fails, the device may not work properly.
MII Registers. This test verifies the read and write capabilities of the registers of the physical layer (PHY). The physical layer is used to control the electrical signals on the wire and for configuring network speeds such as 1000 Mbit/s
EEPROM. This test verifies the content of the electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) by reading a portion of the EEPROM and computing the checksum. The test fails if the computed checksum is different from the checksum stored in the EEPROM. An EEPROM image upgrade does not require a code change for this test.
Internal Memory. This test verifies that the internal memory of the device is functioning properly. The test writes patterned values to the memory and reads back the results. The test fails if an erroneous value is read back. The device cannot function without its internal memory.
On-Chip CPU. This test verifies the operation of the internal CPUs in the device.
Interrupt. This test verifies that the NDIS driver is able to receive interrupts from the device.
Loopback MAC and Loopback PHY. These tests verify that the Network Device Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) driver is able to send packets to and receive packets from the device.
Test LED. This test causes all of the LEDs to blink 5 times for the purpose of identifying the device.
On the Cable Analysis tab, you can monitor the conditions of an Ethernet Category 5 cable connection within a cabling plant in an Ethernet network. The analysis measures the cable quality and compares it against the IEEE 802.3ab specification for compliance. A graph of the frequency-response characteristics of each cable pair is displayed, along with a graph of the Gain versus Frequency characterization.
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You can verify cable length and determine whether your configuration has the appropriate length of cable by running a Length test. This determination is made by using a return loss algorithm. This information allows you to determine whether the problem is with the device or if the cabling is too long.
To run a Length test
The resulting test information is described below:
| Distance. The estimated cable length in meters (an average of all 4 channels using a return loss algorithm). | |
| Margin. The minimum difference (in dB) between the measured length of the cable pair and the maximum length specified in IEEE 802.3ab. | |
| Frequency Margin. The minimum difference (in MHz) between the measured frequency of the cable pair and the maximum frequency specified in IEEE 802.3ab. |
The frequency response of each channel 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 specification 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.
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Note: The Frequency test feature may not be supported for your network device. |
To run a Frequency test
The resulting test information is described below:
Cable Loss Measurement. The cable loss curve (red) 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 curve (blue) represents the cable loss limit as specified in Section 40.7.2.1 of the IEEE Standard 802.3ab-1999. A cable loss curve that is above the cable loss limit curve indicates that the cable is operating within the operating limit. A cable loss curve that is superimposed on the cable loss limit curve indicates that the cable is operating at the operating limit, which means that the quality of operation is marginal. If a cable loss curve is below the cable loss limit curve, the cable is operating outside of the operating limit of the IEEE 802.3ab-1999 standards. This means that the cable is too long for satisfactory operation. |
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Return Loss Measurement. The return loss curve (red) 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 curve (blue) represents the return loss limit as specified in Section 40.7.2.3 of the IEEE Standard 802.3ab-1999. A return loss curve that is below of the return limit curve indicates that the cable is operating within the operating limit. A return loss curve that is superimposed on the return limit curve indicates that the cable is operating at the operating limit, which means that the quality of operation is marginal. A return loss curve that is above the return limit curve indicates that the cable is operating outside of the operating limit of the IEEE 802.3ab-1999 standards. This means that the cable is too long for satisfactory operation. |
On the Statistics tab, you can view traffic statistics for both Broadcom network devices and network devices made by others. Statistical information and coverage are more comprehensive for Broadcom devices, however.
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Note: Team statistics are not shown for a Broadcom device if it is disabled. |
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| Frames Tx OK. A count of frames that are successfully transmitted. This counter is incremented when the transmit status is reported as Transmit OK. | |
| Frames Rx OK. A count of frames that are successfully received (Receive OK). This does not include frames received with frame-too-long, frame check sequence (FCS), length or alignment errors, or frames lost due to internal MAC sublayer errors. This counter is incremented when the receive status 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 Transmit OK) to a group destination address other than a broadcast address. | |
| Broadcast Frames Tx. A count of frames that were successfully transmitted (as indicated by the transmit status Transmit OK) to the broadcast address. Frames transmitted to multicast addresses are not broadcast frames and therefore, 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 errors. This counter is incremented as indicated by the Receive OK status. | |
| Broadcast Frames Rx. A count of frames that are successfully received and are directed to a broadcast group address. This count does not include frames received with frame-too-long, FCS, length or alignment errors, or frames lost due to internal MAC sublayer errors. This counter is incremented as indicated by the Receive OK status. |
| Frames Rx with Alignment Error. A count of frames that are not an integral number of octets in length and do not pass the FCS check. This counter is incremented when the receive status is reported as Alignment Error. | |
| Frames Tx with one Collision. A count of frames that are involved in a single collision and are subsequently transmitted successfully. This counter is incremented when the result of a transmission is reported as Transmit OK, and the attempt value is 2. | |
| Frames Tx with more than one Collision. A count of frames that are involved in more than one collision and are subsequently transmitted successfully. This counter is incremented when the transmit status is reported as Transmit OK, and the value of the attempts variable is greater than 2 and less or equal to the attempt limit. | |
| Frames Tx after Deferral. A count of frames whose transmission was delayed on the first attempt because the medium was busy. The frames involved in any collision are not counted. |
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Note: Custom statistics are available only for an enabled Broadcom device. |
| Number of Interrupts generated by this adapter. The number of interrupts generated by the device. | |
| Number of Interrupts avoided by this adapter. The number of interrupts avoided by the device. | |
| Tx Max Coalesce Frames Threshold hit. The number of times the Send Max Coalesce Frames Threshold was hit. | |
| Rx Max Coalesce Frames Threshold hit. The number of times the Receive Max Coalesce Frames Threshold was hit. | |
| DMA write Queue was full. The number of times the DMA write queue was full. | |
| DMA write High Priority Queue was full. The number of times the DMA write high priority queue was full. | |
| DMA Read Queue was full. The number of times the DMA read queue was full. | |
| DMA Read High Priority Queue was full. The number of times the DMA read high priority queue was full. | |
| Send Data Completion FTQ was full. The number of times the send data completion FTQ (flow through queue) was full. | |
| NIC ran out of the Recv Buffer. The number of times the network adapter ran out of the Recv Buffer descriptors. | |
| Frames size less than 64-byte with bad FCS. The number of frames with a size less than 64 bytes with bad FCS. | |
| MAC Rx w/ Pause Command and Length = 0. MAC control frames with the pause command and a length equal to 0. | |
| MAC Rx w/ Pause Command and Length greater than 0. MAC control frames with the pause command and a length greater than 0. | |
| MAC Rx w/ no Pause Command. MAC control frames with no pause command. | |
| MAC Sent X-on. MAC Transmit with X-on was on. | |
| MAC Sent X-off. MAC Transmit with X-on was off. |
On the BASP Statistics tab you can view performance information about the network adapters that are on a team. To view this information for any team member adapter, click the name of the device. To view the BASP statistics for the team as a whole, click the name of the team.
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The teaming function allows you to group any available network devices together to function as a team. Teaming is a method of creating a virtual LAN (a group of multiple devices that function as a single device). The benefit of this approach is that it enables load balancing and failover. Teaming is done via BASP.
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An example of this usage is illustrated below. This example shows three network adapters in the Available Adapters list. When these adapters are moved to the Load Balance Members list, they function as a single adapter—that is, each member shares the traffic burden.
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There are 4 types of load balance teams:
Smart Load Balance and Failover. In this type of team, a standby member handles the traffic if all of the load balance members fail (a failover event). All load balance members have to fail before the standby member takes over. When one or more of the load balance members is restored (fallback), the restored team member(s) resumes the handling of the traffic.
Link Aggregation. In this type of team you can dynamically configure the network adapters that have been selected to participate in a given team. If the link partner is not correctly configured for IEEE 802.3ad link configuration, errors are detected and noted. All adapters in the team are configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. The outbound load balancing scheme is determined by the BASP driver. The team’s link partner determines the load balancing scheme for inbound packets. In this mode, at least one of the link partners must be in active mode.
Generic Trunking. This type of team is very similar to the Link Aggregation type in that all adapters in the team need to be configured to receive packets for the same MAC address. This mode, however, does not provide (Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) or marker protocol support. This mode supports a variety of environments where the link partners are statically configured to support a proprietary trunking mechanism.
Trunking supports load balancing and failover for both outbound and inbound traffic.
SLB (Auto-Fallback Disable). This team is identical to Smart Load Balance and Failover, with the following exception—when the standby member is active, if a primary member comes back on line, the team continues using the standby member rather than switching back to the primary member. This type of team is supported only for situations in which the network cable is disconnected and reconnected to the network adapter. It is not supported for situations in which the adapter is removed/installed via Device Manager or Hot-Plug PCI.
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Note: There must be at least one Broadcom Ethernet Controller assigned to the team. |
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After you have created a team, you can modify the team in the following ways:
To modify a team
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To view the team properties and statistics
You also 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 network adapter 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 (63 tagged and 1 untagged). 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 appears.
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Note: Disabled Broadcom adapters are not recognized, and they prevent the creation of a VLAN. If you attempt to create a VLAN with a disabled Broadcom adapter, an error message appears. |
To configure a team with a VLAN
| The Untagged VLAN check box is exclusively used by the VLAN ID field. To use VLAN ID 0, simply click this check box. If you type a VLAN name or ID and the name already exists, an Input Error message appears. |
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Note: To maintain optimum adapter performance, your system should have 64 MB of system memory for each of the 8 VLANs created per adapter. |
The available adapters are listed (these adapters are not currently members of any team).
To view VLAN properties and statistics and to run VLAN tests
To delete a VLAN
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Note: If you delete a team, any VLANs configured for that team are also deleted. |
To save a configuration
The configuration file is a text file that can be viewed by any text editor. The file contains information about both the adapter and the team configuration.
To restore a configuration
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Note: If necessary, navigate to the folder where the file is located. |
