xref: /linux/Documentation/networking/phy.rst (revision c098564d91c55d408ed31e8885b915a5e2006249)
1=====================
2PHY Abstraction Layer
3=====================
4
5Purpose
6=======
7
8Most network devices consist of set of registers which provide an interface
9to a MAC layer, which communicates with the physical connection through a
10PHY.  The PHY concerns itself with negotiating link parameters with the link
11partner on the other side of the network connection (typically, an ethernet
12cable), and provides a register interface to allow drivers to determine what
13settings were chosen, and to configure what settings are allowed.
14
15While these devices are distinct from the network devices, and conform to a
16standard layout for the registers, it has been common practice to integrate
17the PHY management code with the network driver.  This has resulted in large
18amounts of redundant code.  Also, on embedded systems with multiple (and
19sometimes quite different) ethernet controllers connected to the same
20management bus, it is difficult to ensure safe use of the bus.
21
22Since the PHYs are devices, and the management busses through which they are
23accessed are, in fact, busses, the PHY Abstraction Layer treats them as such.
24In doing so, it has these goals:
25
26#. Increase code-reuse
27#. Increase overall code-maintainability
28#. Speed development time for new network drivers, and for new systems
29
30Basically, this layer is meant to provide an interface to PHY devices which
31allows network driver writers to write as little code as possible, while
32still providing a full feature set.
33
34The MDIO bus
35============
36
37Most network devices are connected to a PHY by means of a management bus.
38Different devices use different busses (though some share common interfaces).
39In order to take advantage of the PAL, each bus interface needs to be
40registered as a distinct device.
41
42#. read and write functions must be implemented. Their prototypes are::
43
44	int write(struct mii_bus *bus, int mii_id, int regnum, u16 value);
45	int read(struct mii_bus *bus, int mii_id, int regnum);
46
47   mii_id is the address on the bus for the PHY, and regnum is the register
48   number.  These functions are guaranteed not to be called from interrupt
49   time, so it is safe for them to block, waiting for an interrupt to signal
50   the operation is complete
51
52#. A reset function is optional. This is used to return the bus to an
53   initialized state.
54
55#. A probe function is needed.  This function should set up anything the bus
56   driver needs, setup the mii_bus structure, and register with the PAL using
57   mdiobus_register.  Similarly, there's a remove function to undo all of
58   that (use mdiobus_unregister).
59
60#. Like any driver, the device_driver structure must be configured, and init
61   exit functions are used to register the driver.
62
63#. The bus must also be declared somewhere as a device, and registered.
64
65As an example for how one driver implemented an mdio bus driver, see
66drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fsl_pq_mdio.c and an associated DTS file
67for one of the users. (e.g. "git grep fsl,.*-mdio arch/powerpc/boot/dts/")
68
69(RG)MII/electrical interface considerations
70===========================================
71
72The Reduced Gigabit Medium Independent Interface (RGMII) is a 12-pin
73electrical signal interface using a synchronous 125Mhz clock signal and several
74data lines. Due to this design decision, a 1.5ns to 2ns delay must be added
75between the clock line (RXC or TXC) and the data lines to let the PHY (clock
76sink) have a large enough setup and hold time to sample the data lines correctly. The
77PHY library offers different types of PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII* values to let
78the PHY driver and optionally the MAC driver, implement the required delay. The
79values of phy_interface_t must be understood from the perspective of the PHY
80device itself, leading to the following:
81
82* PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII: the PHY is not responsible for inserting any
83  internal delay by itself, it assumes that either the Ethernet MAC (if capable)
84  or the PCB traces insert the correct 1.5-2ns delay
85
86* PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_TXID: the PHY should insert an internal delay
87  for the transmit data lines (TXD[3:0]) processed by the PHY device
88
89* PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_RXID: the PHY should insert an internal delay
90  for the receive data lines (RXD[3:0]) processed by the PHY device
91
92* PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_ID: the PHY should insert internal delays for
93  both transmit AND receive data lines from/to the PHY device
94
95Whenever possible, use the PHY side RGMII delay for these reasons:
96
97* PHY devices may offer sub-nanosecond granularity in how they allow a
98  receiver/transmitter side delay (e.g: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5ns) to be specified. Such
99  precision may be required to account for differences in PCB trace lengths
100
101* PHY devices are typically qualified for a large range of applications
102  (industrial, medical, automotive...), and they provide a constant and
103  reliable delay across temperature/pressure/voltage ranges
104
105* PHY device drivers in PHYLIB being reusable by nature, being able to
106  configure correctly a specified delay enables more designs with similar delay
107  requirements to be operate correctly
108
109For cases where the PHY is not capable of providing this delay, but the
110Ethernet MAC driver is capable of doing so, the correct phy_interface_t value
111should be PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII, and the Ethernet MAC driver should be
112configured correctly in order to provide the required transmit and/or receive
113side delay from the perspective of the PHY device. Conversely, if the Ethernet
114MAC driver looks at the phy_interface_t value, for any other mode but
115PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII, it should make sure that the MAC-level delays are
116disabled.
117
118In case neither the Ethernet MAC, nor the PHY are capable of providing the
119required delays, as defined per the RGMII standard, several options may be
120available:
121
122* Some SoCs may offer a pin pad/mux/controller capable of configuring a given
123  set of pins'strength, delays, and voltage; and it may be a suitable
124  option to insert the expected 2ns RGMII delay.
125
126* Modifying the PCB design to include a fixed delay (e.g: using a specifically
127  designed serpentine), which may not require software configuration at all.
128
129Common problems with RGMII delay mismatch
130-----------------------------------------
131
132When there is a RGMII delay mismatch between the Ethernet MAC and the PHY, this
133will most likely result in the clock and data line signals to be unstable when
134the PHY or MAC take a snapshot of these signals to translate them into logical
1351 or 0 states and reconstruct the data being transmitted/received. Typical
136symptoms include:
137
138* Transmission/reception partially works, and there is frequent or occasional
139  packet loss observed
140
141* Ethernet MAC may report some or all packets ingressing with a FCS/CRC error,
142  or just discard them all
143
144* Switching to lower speeds such as 10/100Mbits/sec makes the problem go away
145  (since there is enough setup/hold time in that case)
146
147Connecting to a PHY
148===================
149
150Sometime during startup, the network driver needs to establish a connection
151between the PHY device, and the network device.  At this time, the PHY's bus
152and drivers need to all have been loaded, so it is ready for the connection.
153At this point, there are several ways to connect to the PHY:
154
155#. The PAL handles everything, and only calls the network driver when
156   the link state changes, so it can react.
157
158#. The PAL handles everything except interrupts (usually because the
159   controller has the interrupt registers).
160
161#. The PAL handles everything, but checks in with the driver every second,
162   allowing the network driver to react first to any changes before the PAL
163   does.
164
165#. The PAL serves only as a library of functions, with the network device
166   manually calling functions to update status, and configure the PHY
167
168
169Letting the PHY Abstraction Layer do Everything
170===============================================
171
172If you choose option 1 (The hope is that every driver can, but to still be
173useful to drivers that can't), connecting to the PHY is simple:
174
175First, you need a function to react to changes in the link state.  This
176function follows this protocol::
177
178	static void adjust_link(struct net_device *dev);
179
180Next, you need to know the device name of the PHY connected to this device.
181The name will look something like, "0:00", where the first number is the
182bus id, and the second is the PHY's address on that bus.  Typically,
183the bus is responsible for making its ID unique.
184
185Now, to connect, just call this function::
186
187	phydev = phy_connect(dev, phy_name, &adjust_link, interface);
188
189*phydev* is a pointer to the phy_device structure which represents the PHY.
190If phy_connect is successful, it will return the pointer.  dev, here, is the
191pointer to your net_device.  Once done, this function will have started the
192PHY's software state machine, and registered for the PHY's interrupt, if it
193has one.  The phydev structure will be populated with information about the
194current state, though the PHY will not yet be truly operational at this
195point.
196
197PHY-specific flags should be set in phydev->dev_flags prior to the call
198to phy_connect() such that the underlying PHY driver can check for flags
199and perform specific operations based on them.
200This is useful if the system has put hardware restrictions on
201the PHY/controller, of which the PHY needs to be aware.
202
203*interface* is a u32 which specifies the connection type used
204between the controller and the PHY.  Examples are GMII, MII,
205RGMII, and SGMII.  See "PHY interface mode" below.  For a full
206list, see include/linux/phy.h
207
208Now just make sure that phydev->supported and phydev->advertising have any
209values pruned from them which don't make sense for your controller (a 10/100
210controller may be connected to a gigabit capable PHY, so you would need to
211mask off SUPPORTED_1000baseT*).  See include/linux/ethtool.h for definitions
212for these bitfields. Note that you should not SET any bits, except the
213SUPPORTED_Pause and SUPPORTED_AsymPause bits (see below), or the PHY may get
214put into an unsupported state.
215
216Lastly, once the controller is ready to handle network traffic, you call
217phy_start(phydev).  This tells the PAL that you are ready, and configures the
218PHY to connect to the network. If the MAC interrupt of your network driver
219also handles PHY status changes, just set phydev->irq to PHY_MAC_INTERRUPT
220before you call phy_start and use phy_mac_interrupt() from the network
221driver. If you don't want to use interrupts, set phydev->irq to PHY_POLL.
222phy_start() enables the PHY interrupts (if applicable) and starts the
223phylib state machine.
224
225When you want to disconnect from the network (even if just briefly), you call
226phy_stop(phydev). This function also stops the phylib state machine and
227disables PHY interrupts.
228
229PHY interface modes
230===================
231
232The PHY interface mode supplied in the phy_connect() family of functions
233defines the initial operating mode of the PHY interface.  This is not
234guaranteed to remain constant; there are PHYs which dynamically change
235their interface mode without software interaction depending on the
236negotiation results.
237
238Some of the interface modes are described below:
239
240``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_1000BASEX``
241    This defines the 1000BASE-X single-lane serdes link as defined by the
242    802.3 standard section 36.  The link operates at a fixed bit rate of
243    1.25Gbaud using a 10B/8B encoding scheme, resulting in an underlying
244    data rate of 1Gbps.  Embedded in the data stream is a 16-bit control
245    word which is used to negotiate the duplex and pause modes with the
246    remote end.  This does not include "up-clocked" variants such as 2.5Gbps
247    speeds (see below.)
248
249``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_2500BASEX``
250    This defines a variant of 1000BASE-X which is clocked 2.5 times as fast
251    as the 802.3 standard, giving a fixed bit rate of 3.125Gbaud.
252
253``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_SGMII``
254    This is used for Cisco SGMII, which is a modification of 1000BASE-X
255    as defined by the 802.3 standard.  The SGMII link consists of a single
256    serdes lane running at a fixed bit rate of 1.25Gbaud with 10B/8B
257    encoding.  The underlying data rate is 1Gbps, with the slower speeds of
258    100Mbps and 10Mbps being achieved through replication of each data symbol.
259    The 802.3 control word is re-purposed to send the negotiated speed and
260    duplex information from to the MAC, and for the MAC to acknowledge
261    receipt.  This does not include "up-clocked" variants such as 2.5Gbps
262    speeds.
263
264    Note: mismatched SGMII vs 1000BASE-X configuration on a link can
265    successfully pass data in some circumstances, but the 16-bit control
266    word will not be correctly interpreted, which may cause mismatches in
267    duplex, pause or other settings.  This is dependent on the MAC and/or
268    PHY behaviour.
269
270``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_5GBASER``
271    This is the IEEE 802.3 Clause 129 defined 5GBASE-R protocol. It is
272    identical to the 10GBASE-R protocol defined in Clause 49, with the
273    exception that it operates at half the frequency. Please refer to the
274    IEEE standard for the definition.
275
276``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_10GBASER``
277    This is the IEEE 802.3 Clause 49 defined 10GBASE-R protocol used with
278    various different mediums. Please refer to the IEEE standard for a
279    definition of this.
280
281    Note: 10GBASE-R is just one protocol that can be used with XFI and SFI.
282    XFI and SFI permit multiple protocols over a single SERDES lane, and
283    also defines the electrical characteristics of the signals with a host
284    compliance board plugged into the host XFP/SFP connector. Therefore,
285    XFI and SFI are not PHY interface types in their own right.
286
287``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_10GKR``
288    This is the IEEE 802.3 Clause 49 defined 10GBASE-R with Clause 73
289    autonegotiation. Please refer to the IEEE standard for further
290    information.
291
292    Note: due to legacy usage, some 10GBASE-R usage incorrectly makes
293    use of this definition.
294
295``PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_100BASEX``
296    This defines IEEE 802.3 Clause 24.  The link operates at a fixed data
297    rate of 125Mpbs using a 4B/5B encoding scheme, resulting in an underlying
298    data rate of 100Mpbs.
299
300Pause frames / flow control
301===========================
302
303The PHY does not participate directly in flow control/pause frames except by
304making sure that the SUPPORTED_Pause and SUPPORTED_AsymPause bits are set in
305MII_ADVERTISE to indicate towards the link partner that the Ethernet MAC
306controller supports such a thing. Since flow control/pause frames generation
307involves the Ethernet MAC driver, it is recommended that this driver takes care
308of properly indicating advertisement and support for such features by setting
309the SUPPORTED_Pause and SUPPORTED_AsymPause bits accordingly. This can be done
310either before or after phy_connect() and/or as a result of implementing the
311ethtool::set_pauseparam feature.
312
313
314Keeping Close Tabs on the PAL
315=============================
316
317It is possible that the PAL's built-in state machine needs a little help to
318keep your network device and the PHY properly in sync.  If so, you can
319register a helper function when connecting to the PHY, which will be called
320every second before the state machine reacts to any changes.  To do this, you
321need to manually call phy_attach() and phy_prepare_link(), and then call
322phy_start_machine() with the second argument set to point to your special
323handler.
324
325Currently there are no examples of how to use this functionality, and testing
326on it has been limited because the author does not have any drivers which use
327it (they all use option 1).  So Caveat Emptor.
328
329Doing it all yourself
330=====================
331
332There's a remote chance that the PAL's built-in state machine cannot track
333the complex interactions between the PHY and your network device.  If this is
334so, you can simply call phy_attach(), and not call phy_start_machine or
335phy_prepare_link().  This will mean that phydev->state is entirely yours to
336handle (phy_start and phy_stop toggle between some of the states, so you
337might need to avoid them).
338
339An effort has been made to make sure that useful functionality can be
340accessed without the state-machine running, and most of these functions are
341descended from functions which did not interact with a complex state-machine.
342However, again, no effort has been made so far to test running without the
343state machine, so tryer beware.
344
345Here is a brief rundown of the functions::
346
347 int phy_read(struct phy_device *phydev, u16 regnum);
348 int phy_write(struct phy_device *phydev, u16 regnum, u16 val);
349
350Simple read/write primitives.  They invoke the bus's read/write function
351pointers.
352::
353
354 void phy_print_status(struct phy_device *phydev);
355
356A convenience function to print out the PHY status neatly.
357::
358
359 void phy_request_interrupt(struct phy_device *phydev);
360
361Requests the IRQ for the PHY interrupts.
362::
363
364 struct phy_device * phy_attach(struct net_device *dev, const char *phy_id,
365		                phy_interface_t interface);
366
367Attaches a network device to a particular PHY, binding the PHY to a generic
368driver if none was found during bus initialization.
369::
370
371 int phy_start_aneg(struct phy_device *phydev);
372
373Using variables inside the phydev structure, either configures advertising
374and resets autonegotiation, or disables autonegotiation, and configures
375forced settings.
376::
377
378 static inline int phy_read_status(struct phy_device *phydev);
379
380Fills the phydev structure with up-to-date information about the current
381settings in the PHY.
382::
383
384 int phy_ethtool_ksettings_set(struct phy_device *phydev,
385                               const struct ethtool_link_ksettings *cmd);
386
387Ethtool convenience functions.
388::
389
390 int phy_mii_ioctl(struct phy_device *phydev,
391                   struct mii_ioctl_data *mii_data, int cmd);
392
393The MII ioctl.  Note that this function will completely screw up the state
394machine if you write registers like BMCR, BMSR, ADVERTISE, etc.  Best to
395use this only to write registers which are not standard, and don't set off
396a renegotiation.
397
398PHY Device Drivers
399==================
400
401With the PHY Abstraction Layer, adding support for new PHYs is
402quite easy. In some cases, no work is required at all! However,
403many PHYs require a little hand-holding to get up-and-running.
404
405Generic PHY driver
406------------------
407
408If the desired PHY doesn't have any errata, quirks, or special
409features you want to support, then it may be best to not add
410support, and let the PHY Abstraction Layer's Generic PHY Driver
411do all of the work.
412
413Writing a PHY driver
414--------------------
415
416If you do need to write a PHY driver, the first thing to do is
417make sure it can be matched with an appropriate PHY device.
418This is done during bus initialization by reading the device's
419UID (stored in registers 2 and 3), then comparing it to each
420driver's phy_id field by ANDing it with each driver's
421phy_id_mask field.  Also, it needs a name.  Here's an example::
422
423   static struct phy_driver dm9161_driver = {
424         .phy_id         = 0x0181b880,
425	 .name           = "Davicom DM9161E",
426	 .phy_id_mask    = 0x0ffffff0,
427	 ...
428   }
429
430Next, you need to specify what features (speed, duplex, autoneg,
431etc) your PHY device and driver support.  Most PHYs support
432PHY_BASIC_FEATURES, but you can look in include/mii.h for other
433features.
434
435Each driver consists of a number of function pointers, documented
436in include/linux/phy.h under the phy_driver structure.
437
438Of these, only config_aneg and read_status are required to be
439assigned by the driver code.  The rest are optional.  Also, it is
440preferred to use the generic phy driver's versions of these two
441functions if at all possible: genphy_read_status and
442genphy_config_aneg.  If this is not possible, it is likely that
443you only need to perform some actions before and after invoking
444these functions, and so your functions will wrap the generic
445ones.
446
447Feel free to look at the Marvell, Cicada, and Davicom drivers in
448drivers/net/phy/ for examples (the lxt and qsemi drivers have
449not been tested as of this writing).
450
451The PHY's MMD register accesses are handled by the PAL framework
452by default, but can be overridden by a specific PHY driver if
453required. This could be the case if a PHY was released for
454manufacturing before the MMD PHY register definitions were
455standardized by the IEEE. Most modern PHYs will be able to use
456the generic PAL framework for accessing the PHY's MMD registers.
457An example of such usage is for Energy Efficient Ethernet support,
458implemented in the PAL. This support uses the PAL to access MMD
459registers for EEE query and configuration if the PHY supports
460the IEEE standard access mechanisms, or can use the PHY's specific
461access interfaces if overridden by the specific PHY driver. See
462the Micrel driver in drivers/net/phy/ for an example of how this
463can be implemented.
464
465Board Fixups
466============
467
468Sometimes the specific interaction between the platform and the PHY requires
469special handling.  For instance, to change where the PHY's clock input is,
470or to add a delay to account for latency issues in the data path.  In order
471to support such contingencies, the PHY Layer allows platform code to register
472fixups to be run when the PHY is brought up (or subsequently reset).
473
474When the PHY Layer brings up a PHY it checks to see if there are any fixups
475registered for it, matching based on UID (contained in the PHY device's phy_id
476field) and the bus identifier (contained in phydev->dev.bus_id).  Both must
477match, however two constants, PHY_ANY_ID and PHY_ANY_UID, are provided as
478wildcards for the bus ID and UID, respectively.
479
480When a match is found, the PHY layer will invoke the run function associated
481with the fixup.  This function is passed a pointer to the phy_device of
482interest.  It should therefore only operate on that PHY.
483
484The platform code can either register the fixup using phy_register_fixup()::
485
486	int phy_register_fixup(const char *phy_id,
487		u32 phy_uid, u32 phy_uid_mask,
488		int (*run)(struct phy_device *));
489
490Or using one of the two stubs, phy_register_fixup_for_uid() and
491phy_register_fixup_for_id()::
492
493 int phy_register_fixup_for_uid(u32 phy_uid, u32 phy_uid_mask,
494		int (*run)(struct phy_device *));
495 int phy_register_fixup_for_id(const char *phy_id,
496		int (*run)(struct phy_device *));
497
498The stubs set one of the two matching criteria, and set the other one to
499match anything.
500
501When phy_register_fixup() or \*_for_uid()/\*_for_id() is called at module load
502time, the module needs to unregister the fixup and free allocated memory when
503it's unloaded.
504
505Call one of following function before unloading module::
506
507 int phy_unregister_fixup(const char *phy_id, u32 phy_uid, u32 phy_uid_mask);
508 int phy_unregister_fixup_for_uid(u32 phy_uid, u32 phy_uid_mask);
509 int phy_register_fixup_for_id(const char *phy_id);
510
511Standards
512=========
513
514IEEE Standard 802.3: CSMA/CD Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications, Section Two:
515http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.3-2008_section2.pdf
516
517RGMII v1.3:
518http://web.archive.org/web/20160303212629/http://www.hp.com/rnd/pdfs/RGMIIv1_3.pdf
519
520RGMII v2.0:
521http://web.archive.org/web/20160303171328/http://www.hp.com/rnd/pdfs/RGMIIv2_0_final_hp.pdf
522