Ethernet Port Configuration Tool (EPCT)

Intel® Ethernet Adapters and Devices User Guide

ID 705831

Date 06/24/2024

Version

Public

Overview

The Ethernet Port Configuration Tool (EPCT) is a command line utility that allows users to change the link type of a device. The supported types are defined within the adapter’s NVM. This utility displays only the devices that potentially support reconfiguration.

Note:

A reboot is required to apply configuration changes.
You may lose link if you change the link type of your device from any port option that contains three to seven ports to a port option that enables multi-lane interfaces, such as 2x100G, 2x50G or 1x100G. One of the following methods may resolve the issue:
- Use the utility to change the port option to 8x10G; reboot your system; change to your originally desired configuration.
- Completely power cycle your system.
If the tool displays an error such as “Access error” or “Cannot initialize port,” you may be using an outdated driver. Please download the latest driver from https://support.intel.com and try again.

Supported Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows Server*
Linux* Kernel
Red Hat* Enterprise Linux*
SUSE* Linux Enterprise Server
UEFI
VMware* ESXi*
FreeBSD

Note:

On systems running Linux, FreeBSD, or ESXi, the base driver must be present for EPCT to function correctly.

Intel® Scalable I/O Virtualization Support

Intel® Scalable I/O Virtualization (Intel® Scalable IOV) allows you to share a physical device across multiple virtual machines and applications. See Intel® Scalable I/O Virtualization Support in the user guide for an explanation of this feature.

You can use this Ethernet Port Configuration Tool (EPCT) to enable Intel Scalable IOV. If EPCT is not available, you can also enable Intel Scalable IOV through your system’s HII interface (if it has one). The recommended method is to use the EPCT tool.

To enable or disable Intel Scalable IOV using the EPCT tool, use one of these commands:

epct -nic=1 -set 'siov enable'

or:

epct -nic=1 -set 'siov disable'

Where -nic=1 specifies the Intel Ethernet device.

Installation

See Installing and Uninstalling Intel® Network Connection Tools for installation instructions.

Running the Utility

Use the following syntax to run EPCT:

epct [options]

Using the /? option will display a list of supported command line options.

See Options below for this tool’s supported parameters.

Note:

If the tool displays the error: “Unable to load the driver. Please close all other applications and try again”, you have a mix of old and new versions of the utility tool on your system. Quit all open applications and retry your operation. If the issue persists:

Download the latest version of the utility tools.
Run the uninstall script to remove the old version of the tool driver.
Run the install script from the downloaded tools package.
Retry your operation.

You may also need to download and install the latest Intel Ethernet driver or Intel® PROSet package for your device.

Basic Usage Examples

The following show some basic usage examples for EPCT:

epct -devices

epct -devices branding

epct -nic=1 -get

epct -nic=1 -set 2x1x50

epct -help

See Detailed Usage Examples below for additional examples.

Options

The Ethernet Port Configuration Tool can be run with any of the following command line options.

Note:

You can use the slash / character in place of the dash - character.
All options are case-sensitive.

-h, -help, -?

Displays help for the command or the parameter.

You can also use the following to display help for the specified parameter:

-h <parameter name>
-help <parameter name>
-? <parameter name>

-devices [branding] <option>

Displays supported devices present in the system. If branding is specified, then the branding view is displayed. If an option is specified, the value for that setting is also displayed.

Possible values for <option> are:

siov:: Displays the status of Intel Scalable IOV.
tx_balancing:: Displays the device’s transmit balancing setting.

-get <option>

Displays the configuration for the specified option on the device specified by -nic.

If an option is not specified, -get displays the port configuration for the specified device.

Active indicates the currently used configuration.
Pending indicates the configuration the device will use after the system reboots.

Possible values for <option> are:

siov:: Displays the status of Intel Scalable IOV.
tx_balancing:: Displays the device’s transmit balancing setting.
max_pwr:: Displays the maximum power options of the QSFP/SFP cages.

See -get Examples below for example usage of this option.

-location <SS:BBB>

Specify a device for this instance of the tool to update, where <SS:BB> means:

SS:: The PCI segment of the desired device.
BBB:: The PCI bus of the desired device.

Do not specify -nic in the same command as -location.

-nic=<device_index>

Selects the device at the specified index. Do not specify -location in the same command as -nic.

-set <option>

Configures the selected device with the specified option. Valid values for <option> are:

siov enable|disable:

Enables or disables Intel Scalable IOV.

tx_balancing enable|disable:

Enables or disables the transmit balancing feature, to improve transmit performance.

max_pwr X:

Sets the maximum allowed power to X for the QSFP/SFP cage.

<port configuration string>:

Specifies the configuration to set for the desired quad, port, or speed.

A port configuration string is defined as:

QxPxS - if all port speeds are the same across both quads and all lines, or
P1xS1-P2xS2 - if each quad has a specific speed, or
P11xS11+<…>+P1nxS1n-P21xS21+<…>+P2mxS2m
Where:
Q:
The desired quad number.
P:
The desired port number.
S:
The desired port speed.
n:
The desired port/speed combination for quad 0.
m:
The desired port/speed combination for quad 1.
For example:
```
epct -nic=1 -set 2x25+2x10-2x10
```

See -set Examples below for example usage of these options.

Note:

A reboot is required after changing the port settings.

Detailed Usage Examples

Note:

Some configurations shown in the examples below may not apply to all adapters.

The following examples show the tool’s -devices option, the -get option, and the -set option.

-devices Examples

Typing the following at the prompt:

epct -devices

Will display:

NIC Seg:Bus:Fun   Ven-Dev   Connector Ports Speed    Quads  Lanes per PF
=== ============= ========= ========= ===== ======== ====== ============
1)  000:012       8086-1583 QSFP      2     50 Gbps  Single  1
2)  000:015       8086-1584 QSFP      4     25 Gbps  Single  1
3)  000:017       8086-1589 SFP       4     25 Gbps  Single  1
4)  000:030:00-01 8086-1588 QSFP      2     25 Gbps  Single  1
    000:030:02-05 8086-1587 QSFP      4     10 Gbps  Single  1

The following shows how to use the branding option:

epct -devices branding

NIC Seg:Bus Ven-Dev   Mode        Adapter Name
=== ======= ========= =========== =============================================
1)  000:012 8086-1583 N/A         Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter
                                  XL710
2)  000:029 8086-1583 4x10        Intel(R) Ethernet Converged Network Adapter
                                  XL710
3)  000:129 8086-1599 2x25,2x10-  Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-XXV for
                      2x10        backplane
4)  000:132 8086-159A 2x50        Intel(R) Ethernet Controller E810-XXV for
                                  QSFP

-get Examples

Typing the following at the prompt:

epct -nic=1 -get

Will display:

Available Port Options:
==========================================================================
        Port                             Quad 0           Quad 1
Option  Option (Gbps)                    L0  L1  L2  L3   L4  L5  L6  L7
======= =============================    ================ ================
        4x25                          -> 25  25  25  25   -   -   -   -
        2x1x100                       -> 100 -   -   -    100 -   -   -
Active  2x2x25                        -> 25  25  -   -    25  25  -   -
        2x50                          -> 50  -   50  -    -   -   -   -
Pending 2x1x50                        -> 50  -   -   -    50  -   -   -
        2x4x10                        -> 10  10  10  10   10  10  10  10
        2x25+2x10-2x10                -> 25  25  10  10   10  10  -   -
        1x10+1x25+1x10+1x25-2x10      -> 10  25  10  25   10  10  -   -

To display the current setting for the transmit balancing feature on a specific device:

epct -nic=1 -get tx_balancing

To display the minimum and maximum power allowed for the QSFP/SFP cage on a specific device:

epct -nic=1 -get max_pwr

For example, the above will display:

Seg:Bus:Fun    Ven-Dev      MIN PWR ALLOWED    MAX PWR ALLOWED    MAX PWR SET
===========    =======      ===============    ===============    ===========
000:012        8086-1583    1                  5.5                3.5

-set Examples

To set two ports to 50Gbps (first port starts with lane L0 in quad 0 and second with lane L4 in quad 1):

epct -nic=1 -set 2x1x50

To set the first and second ports to 25Gbps (respectively lanes L0 and L1 in quad 0), the third and fourth port to 10Gbps (respectively lanes L2 and L3 in quad 0), and the fifth and sixth port to 10Gbps (respectively lanes L4 and L5 in quad 1):

epct -nic=1 -set 2x25+2x10-2x10

To enable the transmit balancing feature on a specific device:

epct -nic=1 -set 'tx_balancing enable'

To set the maximum allowed power for a QSFP cage:

epct -nic=1 -cage=2 -set 'max_pwr 2.5'

Note:

A reboot is required after changing the port settings.
In Windows, you must use double quotation marks instead of single quotation marks. For example:
```
epct -nic=1 -set "tx_balancing enable"
epct -nic=1 -cage=2 -set "max_pwr 2.5"
```

Exit Codes

Upon exit, when possible, the EPCT reports an overall status code to indicate the results of the operation. In general, a non-zero return code indicates an error occurred during processing.

Value	Description
0	Success
1	No supported adapter found
2	Insufficient privileges to run the tool
3	No driver available
4	Unsupported base driver version
5	Bad command line parameter
6	Invalid adapter selected
7	Unsupported ports configuration selected
8	Adapter does not support ports configuration
9	Memory allocation error
10	Adapter access error
13	Cannot set new port option. Pending reboot detected
14	The device is in recovery mode
15	The requested feature is not supported on this device. You may get this error if your system/device/operating system combination does not support the option you tried to set.
25	Setting value is out of range

Note:

EFI versions of this tool may report an incorrect error code when no adapter is installed. This is due to a known limitation in the UDK2015 UEFI Development Kit (UDK) build environment.

Troubleshooting

Issues with breakout cables

Use of the 4x25 quad breakout or 1x100 port option will only work on Port 2 of Intel® Ethernet Network Adapter E810-C-Q2 products.

Unexpected PF mapping

Physical Function (PF) to physical lane mapping is dependent upon the hardware and may change across different MAC port options. This may be most noticeable when using a breakout cable, in which case the labeling on the cable may not align with the device port assignment.

For example, inserting a 4-port breakout cable into either QSFP cage and configuring the device in 2x2x25 mode may result in the two active PFs being assigned to the third and fourth cables of the breakout connector.

Possible misconfiguration of the Ethernet port

You may see an informational message stating that a potential misconfiguration of the Ethernet port was detected. This is to alert you that your device is being underutilized. If this was intentional, you may ignore this message. For example, setting your Intel® Ethernet Network Adapter E810-C-Q2 to 2x2x25 is valid, but it does not use the full capabilities of the device. If you see this message, and the configuration was not intentional, you may use EPCT to correct the configuration.