NETGEAR GA621 Reference Manual
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NETGEAR GA621 Reference Manual

Fiber gigabit ethernet card
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Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card
Reference Guide
M O D E L
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Summary of Contents for NETGEAR GA621

  • Page 1 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Reference Guide M O D E L...
  • Page 2 In the interest of improving internal design, operational function, and/or reliability, NETGEAR reserves the right to make changes to the products described in this document without notice. NETGEAR does not assume any liability that may occur due to the use or application of the product(s) or circuit layout(s) described herein.
  • Page 3 • Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. EN 55 022 Statement This is to certify that the NETGEAR Model GA621 Gigabit Ethernet Card are shielded against the generation of radio interference in accordance with the application of Council Directive 89/336/EEC, Article 4a.
  • Page 4 Defective or damaged merchandise can be returned to your point-of-purchase representative. Internet/World Wide Web NETGEAR maintains a World Wide Web home page that you can access at the universal resource locator (URL) http://www.NETGEAR.com. A connection to the Internet and a Web browser such as Internet...

  • Page 5: Table Of Contents

    CHAPTER 2 HARDWARE INSTALLATION Package Contents Requirements Hardware Description Preparing to Install Your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Installing Your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Connecting the Network Cables CHAPTER 3 Windows 95 OSR2/98/Me DRIVER SOFTWARE Installing the Driver Software...
  • Page 6 Installation Troubleshooting CHAPTER 7 LINUX DRIVER SOFTWARE File Listing Installing the Driver Software Testing the Driver Software Configurable Parameters CHAPTER 8 TROUBLESHOOTING Checking the Port LEDs Using a Troubleshooting Checklist APPENDIX A SPECIFICATIONS Cable Specifications GA621 (1000BASE-SX) Technical Specifications INDEX contents...
  • Page 7 FIGURE Figure 2-1. Front Panel of Model GA621 Gigabit Ethernet Card TABLES Table 2-1. Software and Hardware Requirements Table 2-2. GA621 LEDs Table 2-3. GA621 (1000BASE-SX) Cable Characteristics Table 3-1. Parameter Descriptions Table 4-1. Parameter Descriptions Table 6-1. NetWare Device Installation Methods Table 6-2.

  • Page 8: Introduction

    Card. Designed especially for high-performance systems, such as servers and high-end workstations, it offers 2 gigabits per second (Gbps) of aggregate bandwidth and opti- mized performance while minimizing network overhead on the host system.This guide describes the installation and use of the GA621 for operation within a Microsoft ® Windows...
  • Page 9 • Duplex SC fiber connector for 62.5-micron or 50-micron multimode fiber cable • Interoperability with existing Fast Ethernet equipment compliance with the following standards and protocols: – IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet – IEEE 802.3u Fast Ethernet • Standard Ethernet frame size (up to 1,518 bytes) •...

  • Page 10: Hardware Installation

    Keep the Support Information Card, along with the original packing materials. Use the packing materials to repack the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card if you need to return it for repair. To qualify for product updates and product warranty registrations, fill out the registration information within 30 days of purchase.

  • Page 11: Requirements

    Requirements Before installing the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card, verify that your system meets the operating system and hardware requirements outlined in Table 2-1. Table 2-1. Software and Hardware Requirements System Requirements Windows 95 OSR2 Hardware A Pentium-based workstation that meets Windows 95 OSR2 software requirements...
  • Page 12 GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card driver software, version 1.0 (or higher) (loaded during for Windows NT, which is included on the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card driver installation) Driver and Documentation CD in the \Winnt directory.The necessary files are: • GA621nd4.sys (network device driver file) •...
  • Page 13 Software GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card driver software, version 1.0 (or higher) for NetWare, which is Included on the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card (loaded during driver installation) Driver and Documentation CD in the \Netware directory.The necessary files are: •...

  • Page 14: Hardware Description

    Figure 2-1. Front Panel of Model GA621 Gigabit Ethernet Card The front panel of the GA621 has two LEDs: one LED to indicate the link is active and one LED for data transfer status. Once the hardware and its driver software are properly installed on your system, the LEDs indicate the conditions described in Table 2-2.

  • Page 15: Preparing To Install Your Ga621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card

    Preparing to Install Your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Follow the instructions provided in this section for installing the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card in your server or workstation. For additional information about per- forming these tasks on your particular system, refer to the manuals included with your system hardware.

  • Page 16: Installing Your Ga621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card

    Never attempt to install a damaged card. Installing Your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card To install your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card: 1. Remove the PC cover. 2. Choose an available 32-bit or 64-bit PCI expansion slot (PCI slots are usually the shorter slots) and remove the corresponding back plate from the PC chassis.

  • Page 17: Connecting The Network Cables

    Connecting the Network Cables The GA621 has one SC port that can be used with either 62.5/125-Micron multi- mode fiber or with 50/125-Micron multimode fiber. 1. Prepare an appropriate cable. Table 2-3 lists the cable characteristics for connecting to 1000BASE-SX port.
  • Page 18 When the Windows 98 System first boots up after installing a new hardware device, such as a GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card, the system automatically detects the new hardware and prompts you to install the driver software for the device.
  • Page 19 To install the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card software for Windows 98, perform the following procedure: 1. When you boot up the Windows 98 system after installing the Gigabit Ethernet card, a series of Found New Hardware Wizard dialog boxes opens.
  • Page 20 2. When the following dialog box opens, click Search for the best driver for your device (recommended), and then click Next. 3. In the next dialog box, check the “Specify a location” box. Note: Windows Me drivers are found at d:\winMe and Windows 95 drivers are found at d:\win95, assuming that d: is the drive letter for the CD-ROM drive.
  • Page 21 4. When Windows returns its search results in the following dialog box, verify that the correct path to the driver software is shown, and then click Next. Windows 95 OSR2/98/Me driver software...
  • Page 22 5. The driver is copied onto your system, and the GA621 Gigabit UTP Adapter Properties dialog box opens. 6. Click OK to accept the default settings. 7. You can change operating parameters as desired. Refer to Table 3-1 for help in configuring these parameters.

  • Page 23: Windows 95 Osr2/98/Me Driver Software

    Moving the Network Card to a Different Slot Windows 98 automatically detects the installation and removal of hardware.To move a GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card to a different slot in the same system: 1. Shut down the system and remove the card from the PCI slot.

  • Page 24: Installing The Driver Software

    • Moving the network card and removing the driver software Installing the Driver Software Your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card must be physically installed in the server before installing the software driver. If you are installing more than one GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card, you must perform the following procedure for each card.
  • Page 25 3. Double-click the Network icon. The Network dialog box opens. If there are any previously installed GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card drivers list- ed, the drivers must be updated before installing another driver for a new card. For directions on upgrading the driver for an existing card, see “Updating the Driver Software”...
  • Page 26 4. Click on the Adapters tab, and then click Add. The Select Network Adapter dialog box opens. 5. Click Have Disk. The Insert Disk dialog box opens. Windows NT driver software...
  • Page 27 6. Insert the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Driver and Documentation CD into the CD-ROM drive in your PC, type the path to the driver that matches your system, and then click OK. For example, enter the following path: In this example, the letter E: is the CD-ROM drive.
  • Page 28 7. Click OK. The Network dialog box opens. 8. Click Close. If other cards in your system use TCP/IP bindings, the Microsoft TCP/IP Properties dialog box opens. Set any necessary TCP/IP configurations, and click OK when finished. 9. When prompted to restart your computer, click Yes. The system restarts using the new driver and configuration settings.

  • Page 29: Table 4-1. Parameter Descriptions

    Table 4-1. Parameter Descriptions Property Description Address Allows you to change the network address. Packet Size Enables sending larger Ethernet packets Priority Queues Specifies the priority number for traffic prioritization. Receive Buffers Specifies hardware resources in memory used to receive packets. VLAN ID Used to specify VLAN ID number.

  • Page 30: Updating The Driver Software

    6. Click Update. The Select Network Adapter dialog box opens. 7. When prompted, insert the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Driver and Documentation CD into the CD-ROM drive in your PC. 8. Type the path that matches the CD-ROM drive on your system, and then click For example, enter the following path: In this example, the letter E: is the CD-ROM drive.

  • Page 31: Moving The Network Card To A Different Slot

    Moving the Network Card to a Different Slot Before moving your GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card to a different slot in the same system, you must first remove the card driver software. After removing the driver software, you can move the card to a different slot and reinstall the driver software.

  • Page 32: Windows 2000 Driver Software

    A network driver must be installed before the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card can be used with your Windows 2000 system. You must have Network Administrator privileges to install the driver software.
  • Page 33 To install the card software for Windows 2000, perform the following procedure: 1. When you boot up the Windows 2000 system after installing the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card, a series of Found New Hardware Wizard dialog boxes are displayed.
  • Page 34 2. In the Install Hardware Device Drivers dialog box, click “Search for a suitable driver for my device (recommended),”and then click Next. Windows 2000 driver software...
  • Page 35 3. In the Locate Driver Files dialog box, check the “Specify a location” box. 4. Insert the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Driver and Documentation CD into your CD-ROM drive and click OK. Windows 2000 driver software...
  • Page 36 5. In the Driver Files Search Results dialog box, verify that the correct path to the driver software is shown, and then click Next. Windows 2000 driver software...

  • Page 37: Moving The Network Card To A Different Slot

    Moving the Network Card to a Different Slot Windows 2000 automatically detects the installation and removal of hardware. To move a GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card to a different slot in the same system, you need to do the following: 1.

  • Page 38: Removing The Driver Software

    Removing the Driver Software Under Windows 2000, the driver software is automatically uninstalled when its hardware is removed.To remove a card, do the following: 1. Shut down the system and remove the card from the PCI slot. 2. When the system is powered on, the driver will be automatically uninstalled. Windows 2000 driver software...

  • Page 39: Netware Driver Software

    CHAPTER 6: NETWARE DRIVER SOFTWARE This chapter provides information about the Novell NetWare driver software. This chapter also describes how to: • Verify the NetWare pre-installation requirements • Install the driver software in the NetWare environment • Modify Driver properties during the driver software installation Because network administrators can use more than one method to install device drivers on a NetWare server, this chapter does not provide detailed installation instructions for each method.

  • Page 40: Pre-Installation Requirements

    NW4SP8A.EXE (or latest file) (or the latest support pack) Installing the Driver Software To use the floppy drive to install the drivers, copy the Ga621.lan and Ga621.ldi files from the GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Driver and Document CD onto a floppy disk.
  • Page 41 “D”, you would type the following: D:\Netware\ The Scanning for available drivers window appears for a short period of time, and then the “Select a driver to install” dialog box opens with “Ga621.LAN NETGEAR GA621 Gigabit Fiber Adapter” selected. NetWare driver software...
  • Page 42 8. Press the Enter key to select the listed driver. 9. At the “Do you want to copy driver Ga621.LAN?” prompt, select Yes. The “Board Ga621_1 (Driver Ga621) Actions” dialog box opens. 10. Select the “Save parameters and load driver” option.

  • Page 43: Modifying Driver Properties

    1. Repeat steps 1–9 from the above procedure. 2. In the Board Ga621_1 (Driver Ga621) Actions dialog box, click Select/Modify driver parameters and protocols. 3. Use the Tab and Arrow keys to move the cursor to GA621_1 Parameters dialog box, where you can change driver parameters.

  • Page 44: Installation Troubleshooting

    Table 6-3. Parameter Descriptions (continued) Parameter Descriptions CheckSum Off-load Allows you to enable/disable hardware CheckSum. Driver Version This information field displays the version of the driver software.This field cannot be edited. Installation Troubleshooting If you are installing multiple cards, sometimes the second instance of the driver may fail to load due to memory shortage.

  • Page 45: Linux Driver Software

    File Listing The following files are included in the /Linux directory: Table 7-1. Linux files File Name Description ga.c Linux network OS specific module file GA621.h Driver header file hsm.c Hardware specific module file hsm.h Hardware specific module header file nsm.h HSM related data structures nsmtypes.h...

  • Page 46: Installing The Driver Software

    Linux kernel version 2.2.12, or Red Hat Linux 7.1 with Linux kernel version 2.4.2. To install the driver software: 1. Login as root, insert the floppy disk with the GA621 driver, and mount the disk into the system with the following command: # mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt 2.

  • Page 47: Testing The Driver Software

    When the driver is loaded into the system with the command, the driver insmod probes the PCI bus to locate all GA621 devices, and creates control structures for each.The driver logs a couple of messages available in the file /var/log/messages for each device with information about its PCI geographic location, IRQ, IO address, and some basic debug information (addresses of some important structures).

  • Page 48: Configurable Parameters

    All the devices on the PCI bus can be listed by running the following command: # cat /proc/pci IRQ and IO address information from this can be correlated with the information displayed by the driver in the file. /var/log/messages When the TCP/IP stack is initialized, it opens all configured Ethernet devices, and initializes them for use.

  • Page 49: Troubleshooting

    Checking the Port LEDs GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card The front panel of the GA621 has three LEDs: one for each port speed option (100 Mbps and 1000Mbps) to indicate which link is active, and one LED for data transfer status (see Figure 2-1 on page 2-5).

  • Page 50: Using A Troubleshooting Checklist

    Using a Troubleshooting Checklist If you need to test the network card further, check the following items: • Inspect all cables and connections. Check the length and rating of the cable. Make sure that the cable segment is compliant with the requirements shown in Table 2-3 on page 2-8.
  • Page 51 • Try inserting the network card in another slot. If the new position works, the original slot in your system may be defective. • Replace the failed network card with one that is known to work properly. If the second card works in the slot where the first one failed, the original card is probably defective.

  • Page 52: Appendix Aspecifications

    APPENDIX A: SPECIFICATIONS This appendix provides specifications for the NETGEAR GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card. Cable Specifications GA621 (1000BASE-SX) Port Type Connector Media Maximum Distance 1000BASE-SX 62.5/125-Micron multimode fiber 260 meters 1000BASE-SX 50/125-Micron multimode fiber 550 meters General Specifications NETGEAR GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Standards Compatibility IEEE 802.3z 1000BASE-SX Gigabit Ethernet...
  • Page 53 General Specifications NETGEAR GA621 Fiber Gigabit Ethernet Card Operating Humidity 10 to 90% noncondensing Agency Compliance CE mark, commercial FCC, Part 15, Class B EN 55 022 (CISPR 22), Class B Canada ICES-003, Class B specifications...
  • Page 54 NetWare software driver benefits 1-1 installation 6-2 installation methods 6-1 installation troubleshooting 6-6 parameters descriptions 6-5 customer support iv pre-installation requirements 6-2 network card moving 3-6, 4-8, 5-6 features 1-1 package contents 2-1 hardware port LEDs descriptions 2-6 description 2-5 requirements 2-2 requirements 2-2 interoperability 1-2...
  • Page 55 NETGEAR, Inc. 4500 Great America Parkway Santa Clara, CA 95054 USA Phone: 1-888-NETGEAR E-mail: support@NETGEAR.com www.NETGEAR.com July 2001...

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