ethtool – query or control network driver and hardware settings

ethtool devname

ethtool -h|–help

ethtool –version

ethtool -a|–show-pause devname

ethtool -A|–pause devname [autoneg on|off] [rx on|off] [tx on|off]

ethtool -c|–show-coalesce devname

ethtool -C|–coalesce devname [adaptive-rx on|off] [adaptive-tx on|off] [rx-usecs N] [rx-frames N]

[rx-usecs-irq N] [rx-frames-irq N] [tx-usecs N] [tx-frames N] [tx-usecs-irq N] [tx-frames-irq N]

[stats-block-usecs N] [pkt-rate-low N] [rx-usecs-low N] [rx-frames-low N] [tx-usecs-low N]

[tx-frames-low N] [pkt-rate-high N] [rx-usecs-high N] [rx-frames-high N] [tx-usecs-high N]

[tx-frames-high N] [sample-interval N]

ethtool -g|–show-ring devname

ethtool -G|–set-ring devname [rx N] [rx-mini N] [rx-jumbo N] [tx N]

ethtool -i|–driver devname

ethtool -d|–register-dump devname [raw on|off] [hex on|off] [file name]

ethtool -e|–eeprom-dump devname [raw on|off] [offset N] [length N]

ethtool -E|–change-eeprom devname [magic N] [offset N] [length N] [value N]

ethtool -k|–show-features|–show-offload devname

ethtool -K|–features|–offload devname feature on|off …

ethtool -p|–identify devname [N]

ethtool -P|–show-permaddr devname

ethtool -r|–negotiate devname

ethtool -S|–statistics devname

ethtool –phy-statistics devname

ethtool -t|–test devname [offline|online|external_lb]

ethtool -s devname [speed N] [duplex half|full] [port tp|aui|bnc|mii] [mdix auto|on|off] [autoneg on|off]

[advertise N] [phyad N] [xcvr internal|external] [wol p|u|m|b|a|g|s|d…] [sopass xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]

[msglvl N | msglvl type on|off …]

ethtool -n|-u|–show-nfc|–show-ntuple devname

[ rx-flow-hash tcp4|udp4|ah4|esp4|sctp4|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6 |

rule N ]

ethtool -N|-U|–config-nfc|–config-ntuple devname

rx-flow-hash tcp4|udp4|ah4|esp4|sctp4|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6 m|v|t|s|d|f|n|r… |

flow-type ether|ip4|tcp4|udp4|sctp4|ah4|esp4|ip6|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6

[src xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]] [dst xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]]

[proto N [m N]] [src-ip ip-address [m ip-address]] [dst-ip ip-address [m ip-address]] [tos N [m N]]

[tclass N [m N]] [l4proto N [m N]] [src-port N [m N]] [dst-port N [m N]] [spi N [m N]]

[l4data N [m N]] [vlan-etype N [m N]] [vlan N [m N]] [user-def N [m N]] [dst-

mac xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]] [action N] [loc N] |

delete N

ethtool -w|–get-dump devname [data filename]

ethtool -W|–set-dump devname N

ethtool -T|–show-time-stamping devname

ethtool -x|–show-rxfh-indir|–show-rxfh devname

ethtool -X|–set-rxfh-indir|–rxfh devname [hkey xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc:…] [ equal N | weight W0 W1

… | default ] [hfunc FUNC]

ethtool -f|–flash devname file [N]

ethtool -l|–show-channels devname

ethtool -L|–set-channels devname [rx N] [tx N] [other N] [combined N]

ethtool -m|–dump-module-eeprom|–module-info devname [raw on|off] [hex on|off] [offset N] [length N]

ethtool –show-priv-flags devname

ethtool –set-priv-flags devname flag on|off …

ethtool –show-eee devname

ethtool –set-eee devname [eee on|off] [tx-lpi on|off] [tx-timer N] [advertise N]

ethtool –set-phy-tunable devname [ downshift on|off [count N] ]

ethtool –get-phy-tunable devname [downshift]

ethtool is used to query and control network device driver and hardware settings, particularly for wired

Ethernet devices.

devname is the name of the network device on which ethtool should operate.

ethtool with a single argument specifying the device name prints current settings of the specified device.

-h –help

Shows a short help message.

–version

Shows the ethtool version number.

-a –show-pause

Queries the specified Ethernet device for pause parameter information.

-A –pause

Changes the pause parameters of the specified Ethernet device.

autoneg on|off

Specifies whether pause autonegotiation should be enabled.

rx on|off

Specifies whether RX pause should be enabled.

tx on|off

Specifies whether TX pause should be enabled.

-c –show-coalesce

Queries the specified network device for coalescing information.

-C –coalesce

Changes the coalescing settings of the specified network device.

-g –show-ring

Queries the specified network device for rx/tx ring parameter information.

-G –set-ring

Changes the rx/tx ring parameters of the specified network device.

rx N Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx ring.

rx-mini N

Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx Mini ring.

rx-jumbo N

Changes the number of ring entries for the Rx Jumbo ring.

tx N Changes the number of ring entries for the Tx ring.

-i –driver

Queries the specified network device for associated driver information.

-d –register-dump

Retrieves and prints a register dump for the specified network device. The register format for some

devices is known and decoded others are printed in hex. When raw is enabled, then ethtool dumps the

raw register data to stdout. If file is specified, then use contents of previous raw register dump,

rather than reading from the device.

-e –eeprom-dump

Retrieves and prints an EEPROM dump for the specified network device. When raw is enabled, then it

dumps the raw EEPROM data to stdout. The length and offset parameters allow dumping certain portions

of the EEPROM. Default is to dump the entire EEPROM.

raw on|off

offset N

length N

-E –change-eeprom

If value is specified, changes EEPROM byte for the specified network device. offset and value speci‐

fy which byte and it’s new value. If value is not specified, stdin is read and written to the EEPROM.

The length and offset parameters allow writing to certain portions of the EEPROM. Because of the

persistent nature of writing to the EEPROM, a device-specific magic key must be specified to prevent

the accidental writing to the EEPROM.

-k –show-features –show-offload

Queries the specified network device for the state of protocol offload and other features.

-K –features –offload

Changes the offload parameters and other features of the specified network device. The following

feature names are built-in and others may be defined by the kernel.

rx on|off

Specifies whether RX checksumming should be enabled.

tx on|off

Specifies whether TX checksumming should be enabled.

sg on|off

Specifies whether scatter-gather should be enabled.

tso on|off

Specifies whether TCP segmentation offload should be enabled.

ufo on|off

Specifies whether UDP fragmentation offload should be enabled

gso on|off

Specifies whether generic segmentation offload should be enabled

gro on|off

Specifies whether generic receive offload should be enabled

lro on|off

Specifies whether large receive offload should be enabled

rxvlan on|off

Specifies whether RX VLAN acceleration should be enabled

txvlan on|off

Specifies whether TX VLAN acceleration should be enabled

ntuple on|off

Specifies whether Rx ntuple filters and actions should be enabled

rxhash on|off

Specifies whether receive hashing offload should be enabled

-p –identify

Initiates adapter-specific action intended to enable an operator to easily identify the adapter by

sight. Typically this involves blinking one or more LEDs on the specific network port.

[ N] Length of time to perform phys-id, in seconds.

-P –show-permaddr

Queries the specified network device for permanent hardware address.

-r –negotiate

Restarts auto-negotiation on the specified Ethernet device, if auto-negotiation is enabled.

-S –statistics

Queries the specified network device for NIC- and driver-specific statistics.

–phy-statistics

Queries the specified network device for PHY specific statistics.

-t –test

Executes adapter selftest on the specified network device. Possible test modes are:

offline

Perform full set of tests, possibly interrupting normal operation during the tests,

online Perform limited set of tests, not interrupting normal operation,

external_lb

Perform full set of tests, as for offline, and additionally an external-loopback test.

-s –change

Allows changing some or all settings of the specified network device. All following options only ap‐

ply if -s was specified.

speed N

Set speed in Mb/s. ethtool with just the device name as an argument will show you the supported

device speeds.

duplex half|full

Sets full or half duplex mode.

port tp|aui|bnc|mii

Selects device port.

mdix auto|on|off

Selects MDI-X mode for port. May be used to override the automatic detection feature of most

adapters. An argument of auto means automatic detection of MDI status, on forces MDI-X (cross‐

over) mode, while off means MDI (straight through) mode. The driver should guarantee that this

command takes effect immediately, and if necessary may reset the link to cause the change to take

effect.

autoneg on|off

Specifies whether autonegotiation should be enabled. Autonegotiation is enabled by default, but

in some network devices may have trouble with it, so you can disable it if really necessary.

advertise N

Sets the speed and duplex advertised by autonegotiation. The argument is a hexadecimal value us‐

ing one or a combination of the following values:

0x001 10baseT Half

0x002 10baseT Full

0x004 100baseT Half

0x008 100baseT Full

0x010 1000baseT Half (not supported by IEEE standards)

0x020 1000baseT Full

0x20000 1000baseKX Full

0x20000000000 1000baseX Full

0x800000000000 2500baseT Full

0x8000 2500baseX Full (not supported by IEEE standards)’

0x1000000000000 5000baseT Full

0x1000 10000baseT Full

0x40000 10000baseKX4 Full

0x80000 10000baseKR Full

0x40000000000 10000baseCR Full

0x80000000000 10000baseSR Full

0x100000000000 10000baseLR Full

0x200000000000 10000baseLRM Full

0x400000000000 10000baseER Full

0x200000 20000baseMLD2 Full (not supported by IEEE standards)

0x400000 20000baseKR2 Full (not supported by IEEE standards)

0x80000000 25000baseCR Full

0x100000000 25000baseKR Full

0x200000000 25000baseSR Full

0x800000 40000baseKR4 Full

0x1000000 40000baseCR4 Full

0x2000000 40000baseSR4 Full

0x4000000 40000baseLR4 Full

0x400000000 50000baseCR2 Full

0x800000000 50000baseKR2 Full

0x10000000000 50000baseSR2 Full

0x1000000000 100000baseKR4 Full

0x2000000000 100000baseSR4 Full

0x4000000000 100000baseCR4 Full

0x8000000000 100000baseLR4_ER4 Full

phyad N

PHY address.

xcvr internal|external

Selects transceiver type. Currently only internal and external can be specified, in the future

further types might be added.

wol p|u|m|b|a|g|s|d…

Sets Wake-on-LAN options. Not all devices support this. The argument to this option is a string

of characters specifying which options to enable.

p Wake on PHY activity

u Wake on unicast messages

m Wake on multicast messages

b Wake on broadcast messages

a Wake on ARP

g Wake on MagicPacket™

s Enable SecureOn™ password for MagicPacket™

d Disable (wake on nothing). This option

clears all previous options.

sopass xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc

Sets the SecureOn™ password. The argument to this option must be 6 bytes in Ethernet MAC hex

format (xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc).

msglvl N

msglvl type on|off …

Sets the driver message type flags by name or number. type names the type of message to enable or

disable; N specifies the new flags numerically. The defined type names and numbers are:

drv 0x0001 General driver status

probe 0x0002 Hardware probing

link 0x0004 Link state

timer 0x0008 Periodic status check

ifdown 0x0010 Interface being brought down

ifup 0x0020 Interface being brought up

rx_err 0x0040 Receive error

tx_err 0x0080 Transmit error

tx_queued 0x0100 Transmit queueing

intr 0x0200 Interrupt handling

tx_done 0x0400 Transmit completion

rx_status 0x0800 Receive completion

pktdata 0x1000 Packet contents

hw 0x2000 Hardware status

wol 0x4000 Wake-on-LAN status

The precise meanings of these type flags differ between drivers.

-n -u –show-nfc –show-ntuple

Retrieves receive network flow classification options or rules.

rx-flow-hash tcp4|udp4|ah4|esp4|sctp4|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6

Retrieves the hash options for the specified flow type.

tcp4 TCP over IPv4

udp4 UDP over IPv4

ah4 IPSEC AH over IPv4

esp4 IPSEC ESP over IPv4

sctp4 SCTP over IPv4

tcp6 TCP over IPv6

udp6 UDP over IPv6

ah6 IPSEC AH over IPv6

esp6 IPSEC ESP over IPv6

sctp6 SCTP over IPv6

rule N Retrieves the RX classification rule with the given ID.

-N -U –config-nfc –config-ntuple

Configures receive network flow classification options or rules.

rx-flow-hash tcp4|udp4|ah4|esp4|sctp4|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6m|v|t|s|d|f|n|r…

Configures the hash options for the specified flow type.

m Hash on the Layer 2 destination address of the rx packet.

v Hash on the VLAN tag of the rx packet.

t Hash on the Layer 3 protocol field of the rx packet.

s Hash on the IP source address of the rx packet.

d Hash on the IP destination address of the rx packet.

f Hash on bytes 0 and 1 of the Layer 4 header of the rx packet.

n Hash on bytes 2 and 3 of the Layer 4 header of the rx packet.

r Discard all packets of this flow type. When this option is

set, all other options are ignored.

flow-type ether|ip4|tcp4|udp4|sctp4|ah4|esp4|ip6|tcp6|udp6|ah6|esp6|sctp6

Inserts or updates a classification rule for the specified flow type.

ether Ethernet

ip4 Raw IPv4

tcp4 TCP over IPv4

udp4 UDP over IPv4

sctp4 SCTP over IPv4

ah4 IPSEC AH over IPv4

esp4 IPSEC ESP over IPv4

ip6 Raw IPv6

tcp6 TCP over IPv6

udp6 UDP over IPv6

sctp6 SCTP over IPv6

ah6 IPSEC AH over IPv6

esp6 IPSEC ESP over IPv6

For all fields that allow both a value and a mask to be specified, the mask may be specified immediately

after the value using the m keyword, or separately using the field name keyword with -mask appended,

e.g. src-mask.

src xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]

Includes the source MAC address, specified as 6 bytes in hexadecimal separated by colons, along

with an optional mask. Valid only for flow-type ether.

dst xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]

Includes the destination MAC address, specified as 6 bytes in hexadecimal separated by colons,

along with an optional mask. Valid only for flow-type ether.

proto N [m N]

Includes the Ethernet protocol number (ethertype) and an optional mask. Valid only for flow-type

ether.

src-ip ip-address [m ip-address]

Specify the source IP address of the incoming packet to match along with an optional mask. Valid

for all IP based flow-types.

dst-ip ip-address [m ip-address]

Specify the destination IP address of the incoming packet to match along with an optional mask.

Valid for all IP based flow-types.

tos N [m N]

Specify the value of the Type of Service field in the incoming packet to match along with an op‐

tional mask. Applies to all IPv4 based flow-types.

tclass N [m N]

Specify the value of the Traffic Class field in the incoming packet to match along with an op‐

tional mask. Applies to all IPv6 based flow-types.

l4proto N [m N]

Includes the layer 4 protocol number and optional mask. Valid only for flow-types ip4 and ip6.

src-port N [m N]

Specify the value of the source port field (applicable to TCP/UDP packets) in the incoming packet

to match along with an optional mask. Valid for flow-types ip4, tcp4, udp4, and sctp4 and their

IPv6 equivalents.

dst-port N [m N]

Specify the value of the destination port field (applicable to TCP/UDP packets)in the incoming

packet to match along with an optional mask. Valid for flow-types ip4, tcp4, udp4, and sctp4 and

their IPv6 equivalents.

spi N [m N]

Specify the value of the security parameter index field (applicable to AH/ESP packets)in the in‐

coming packet to match along with an optional mask. Valid for flow-types ip4, ah4, and esp4 and

their IPv6 equivalents.

l4data N [m N]

Specify the value of the first 4 Bytes of Layer 4 in the incoming packet to match along with an

optional mask. Valid for ip4 and ip6 flow-types.

vlan-etype N [m N]

Includes the VLAN tag Ethertype and an optional mask.

vlan N [m N]

Includes the VLAN tag and an optional mask.

user-def N [m N]

Includes 64-bits of user-specific data and an optional mask.

dst-mac xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc [m xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc]

Includes the destination MAC address, specified as 6 bytes in hexadecimal separated by colons,

along with an optional mask. Valid for all IP based flow-types.

action N

Specifies the Rx queue to send packets to, or some other action.

-1 Drop the matched flow

0 or higher Rx queue to route the flow

vf N Specifies the Virtual Function the filter applies to. A value of 0 indicates the PF, and thus the

VF index is offset by 1. Not compatible with action.

queue N

Specifies the Rx queue to send packets to. Not compatible with action.

loc N Specify the location/ID to insert the rule. This will overwrite any rule present in that location

and will not go through any of the rule ordering process.

delete N

Deletes the RX classification rule with the given ID.

-w –get-dump

Retrieves and prints firmware dump for the specified network device. By default, it prints out the

dump flag, version and length of the dump data. When data is indicated, then ethtool fetches the

dump data and directs it to a file.

-W –set-dump

Sets the dump flag for the device.

-T –show-time-stamping

Show the device’s time stamping capabilities and associated PTP hardware clock.

-x –show-rxfh-indir –show-rxfh

Retrieves the receive flow hash indirection table and/or RSS hash key.

-X –set-rxfh-indir –rxfh

Configures the receive flow hash indirection table and/or RSS hash key.

hkey Sets RSS hash key of the specified network device. RSS hash key should be of device supported

length. Hash key format must be in xx:yy:zz:aa:bb:cc format meaning both the nibbles of a byte

should be mentioned even if a nibble is zero.

hfunc Sets RSS hash function of the specified network device. List of RSS hash functions which kernel

supports is shown as a part of the –show-rxfh command output.

equal N

Sets the receive flow hash indirection table to spread flows evenly between the first N receive

queues.

weight W0 W1 …

Sets the receive flow hash indirection table to spread flows between receive queues according to

the given weights. The sum of the weights must be non-zero and must not exceed the size of the

indirection table.

default

Sets the receive flow hash indirection table to its default value.

-f –flash

Write a firmware image to flash or other non-volatile memory on the device.

file Specifies the filename of the firmware image. The firmware must first be installed in one of the

directories where the kernel firmware loader or firmware agent will look, such as /lib/firmware.

N If the device stores multiple firmware images in separate regions of non-volatile memory, this

parameter may be used to specify which region is to be written. The default is 0, requesting

that all regions are written. All other values are driver-dependent.

-l –show-channels

Queries the specified network device for the numbers of channels it has. A channel is an IRQ and the

set of queues that can trigger that IRQ.

-L –set-channels

Changes the numbers of channels of the specified network device.

rx N Changes the number of channels with only receive queues.

tx N Changes the number of channels with only transmit queues.

other N

Changes the number of channels used only for other purposes e.g. link interrupts or SR-IOV co-or‐

dination.

combined N

Changes the number of multi-purpose channels.

-m –dump-module-eeprom –module-info

Retrieves and if possible decodes the EEPROM from plugin modules, e.g SFP+, QSFP. If the driver and

module support it, the optical diagnostic information is also read and decoded.

–show-priv-flags

Queries the specified network device for its private flags. The names and meanings of private flags

(if any) are defined by each network device driver.

–set-priv-flags

Sets the device’s private flags as specified.

flag on|off Sets the state of the named private flag.

–show-eee

Queries the specified network device for its support of Energy-Efficient Ethernet (according to the

IEEE 802.3az specifications)

–set-eee

Sets the device EEE behaviour.

eee on|off

Enables/disables the device support of EEE.

tx-lpi on|off

Determines whether the device should assert its Tx LPI.

advertise N

Sets the speeds for which the device should advertise EEE capabilities. Values are as for

–change advertise

tx-timer N

Sets the amount of time the device should stay in idle mode prior to asserting its Tx LPI (in mi‐

croseconds). This has meaning only when Tx LPI is enabled.

–set-phy-tunable

Sets the PHY tunable parameters.

downshift on|off

Specifies whether downshift should be enabled

count N

Sets the PHY downshift re-tries count.

–get-phy-tunable

Gets the PHY tunable parameters.

downshift

For operation in cabling environments that are incompatible with 1000BASE-T, PHY device provides

an automatic link speed downshift operation. Link speed downshift after N failed 1000BASE-T au‐

to-negotiation attempts. Downshift is useful where cable does not have the 4 pairs instance.

Gets the PHY downshift count/status.

Not supported (in part or whole) on all network drivers.

ethtool was written by David Miller.

Modifications by Jeff Garzik, Tim Hockin, Jakub Jelinek, Andre Majorel, Eli Kupermann, Scott Feldman, Andi

Kleen, Alexander Duyck, Sucheta Chakraborty, Jesse Brandeburg, Ben Hutchings.

ethtool is available from ⟨http://www.kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool/⟩