TABLE OF CONTENTS So that you can see first hand how to use the Ethernet APIs and buffer management, this chapter takes you through all of the steps involved in implementing a simple half-bridge application. This example demonstrates the general principles from a Linux perspective. Later in the chapter, you have a summary version of the same example from Windows CE and VxWorks perspectives.
Each physical interface provided on the Intel IXP4XX network processors has an associated access component. When developing an Ethernet reference example, you can concentrate on three Ethernet access components: ethAcc, ethMii, and ethDB. The underlying principle in the development of the Ethernet access components was to create a series of APIs that abstract Ethernet-related hardware on the IXP4XX network processor. The Ethernet components cover the following areas:
Ethernet port control
Data plane for transmission and reception of IEEE 802 .3 Ethernet frames, hereafter simply called "Ethernet frames"
Statistics
Ethernet PHY management
MAC address database management
The Ethernet access interfaces are defined in the following public header files:
IxEthAcc.h
IxEthMii.h
IxEthDB.h
Figure 6.1 shows the relationship between each subcomponent within the Ethernet component and the associated mapping to the IXP4XX network processor and board-level components. For simplicity, the diagram does not show the support components such as IxQMgr, IxNpeMh, or IxNpeDl.
The IEEE Ethernet Standards 802.3/802.1 define separate layers. This chapter deals only...
