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diff --git a/Documentation/switchtec.txt b/Documentation/switchtec.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a0a9c7b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/switchtec.txt @@ -0,0 +1,80 @@ +======================== +Linux Switchtec Support +======================== + +Microsemi's "Switchtec" line of PCI switch devices is already +supported by the kernel with standard PCI switch drivers. However, the +Switchtec device advertises a special management endpoint which +enables some additional functionality. This includes: + +* Packet and Byte Counters +* Firmware Upgrades +* Event and Error logs +* Querying port link status +* Custom user firmware commands + +The switchtec kernel module implements this functionality. + + +Interface +========= + +The primary means of communicating with the Switchtec management firmware is +through the Memory-mapped Remote Procedure Call (MRPC) interface. +Commands are submitted to the interface with a 4-byte command +identifier and up to 1KB of command specific data. The firmware will +respond with a 4 bytes return code and up to 1KB of command specific +data. The interface only processes a single command at a time. + + +Userspace Interface +=================== + +The MRPC interface will be exposed to userspace through a simple char +device: /dev/switchtec#, one for each management endpoint in the system. + +The char device has the following semantics: + +* A write must consist of at least 4 bytes and no more than 1028 bytes. + The first four bytes will be interpreted as the command to run and + the remainder will be used as the input data. A write will send the + command to the firmware to begin processing. + +* Each write must be followed by exactly one read. Any double write will + produce an error and any read that doesn't follow a write will + produce an error. + +* A read will block until the firmware completes the command and return + the four bytes of status plus up to 1024 bytes of output data. (The + length will be specified by the size parameter of the read call -- + reading less than 4 bytes will produce an error. + +* The poll call will also be supported for userspace applications that + need to do other things while waiting for the command to complete. + +The following IOCTLs are also supported by the device: + +* SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_FLASH_INFO - Retrieve firmware length and number + of partitions in the device. + +* SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_FLASH_PART_INFO - Retrieve address and lengeth for + any specified partition in flash. + +* SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_EVENT_SUMMARY - Read a structure of bitmaps + indicating all uncleared events. + +* SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_EVENT_CTL - Get the current count, clear and set flags + for any event. This ioctl takes in a switchtec_ioctl_event_ctl struct + with the event_id, index and flags set (index being the partition or PFF + number for non-global events). It returns whether the event has + occurred, the number of times and any event specific data. The flags + can be used to clear the count or enable and disable actions to + happen when the event occurs. + By using the SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_EVENT_FLAG_EN_POLL flag, + you can set an event to trigger a poll command to return with + POLLPRI. In this way, userspace can wait for events to occur. + +* SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_PFF_TO_PORT and SWITCHTEC_IOCTL_PORT_TO_PFF convert + between PCI Function Framework number (used by the event system) + and Switchtec Logic Port ID and Partition number (which is more + user friendly). |