Documentation: net: phy: Add blurb about RGMII

RGMII is a recurring source of pain for people with Gigabit Ethernet
hardware since it may require PHY driver and MAC driver level
configuration hints. Document what are the expectations from PHYLIB and
what options exist.

Reviewed-by: Martin Blumenstingl <martin.blumenstingl@googlemail.com>
Signed-off-by: Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>

1 files changed, 77 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/networking/phy.txt b/Documentation/networking/phy.txt
index 9a42a9414cea..c7ba84b5d912 100644
--- a/Documentation/networking/phy.txt
+++ b/Documentation/networking/phy.txt
@@ -65,6 +65,83 @@ The MDIO bus
  drivers/net/ethernet/freescale/fsl_pq_mdio.c and an associated DTS file
  for one of the users. (e.g. "git grep fsl,.*-mdio arch/powerpc/boot/dts/")
 
+(RG)MII/electrical interface considerations
+
+ The Reduced Gigabit Medium Independent Interface (RGMII) is a 12-pin
+ electrical signal interface using a synchronous 125Mhz clock signal and several
+ data lines. Due to this design decision, a 1.5ns to 2ns delay must be added
+ between the clock line (RXC or TXC) and the data lines to let the PHY (clock
+ sink) have enough setup and hold times to sample the data lines correctly. The
+ PHY library offers different types of PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII* values to let
+ the PHY driver and optionally the MAC driver, implement the required delay. The
+ values of phy_interface_t must be understood from the perspective of the PHY
+ device itself, leading to the following:
+
+ * PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII: the PHY is not responsible for inserting any
+   internal delay by itself, it assumes that either the Ethernet MAC (if capable
+   or the PCB traces) insert the correct 1.5-2ns delay
+
+ * PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_TXID: the PHY should insert an internal delay
+   for the transmit data lines (TXD[3:0]) processed by the PHY device
+
+ * PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_RXID: the PHY should insert an internal delay
+   for the receive data lines (RXD[3:0]) processed by the PHY device
+
+ * PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII_ID: the PHY should insert internal delays for
+   both transmit AND receive data lines from/to the PHY device
+
+ Whenever possible, use the PHY side RGMII delay for these reasons:
+
+ * PHY devices may offer sub-nanosecond granularity in how they allow a
+   receiver/transmitter side delay (e.g: 0.5, 1.0, 1.5ns) to be specified. Such
+   precision may be required to account for differences in PCB trace lengths
+
+ * PHY devices are typically qualified for a large range of applications
+   (industrial, medical, automotive...), and they provide a constant and
+   reliable delay across temperature/pressure/voltage ranges
+
+ * PHY device drivers in PHYLIB being reusable by nature, being able to
+   configure correctly a specified delay enables more designs with similar delay
+   requirements to be operate correctly
+
+ For cases where the PHY is not capable of providing this delay, but the
+ Ethernet MAC driver is capable of doing so, the correct phy_interface_t value
+ should be PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII, and the Ethernet MAC driver should be
+ configured correctly in order to provide the required transmit and/or receive
+ side delay from the perspective of the PHY device. Conversely, if the Ethernet
+ MAC driver looks at the phy_interface_t value, for any other mode but
+ PHY_INTERFACE_MODE_RGMII, it should make sure that the MAC-level delays are
+ disabled.
+
+ In case neither the Ethernet MAC, nor the PHY are capable of providing the
+ required delays, as defined per the RGMII standard, several options may be
+ available:
+
+ * Some SoCs may offer a pin pad/mux/controller capable of configuring a given
+   set of pins'strength, delays, and voltage; and it may be a suitable
+   option to insert the expected 2ns RGMII delay.
+
+ * Modifying the PCB design to include a fixed delay (e.g: using a specifically
+   designed serpentine), which may not require software configuration at all.
+
+Common problems with RGMII delay mismatch
+
+ When there is a RGMII delay mismatch between the Ethernet MAC and the PHY, this
+ will most likely result in the clock and data line signals to be unstable when
+ the PHY or MAC take a snapshot of these signals to translate them into logical
+ 1 or 0 states and reconstruct the data being transmitted/received. Typical
+ symptoms include:
+
+ * Transmission/reception partially works, and there is frequent or occasional
+   packet loss observed
+
+ * Ethernet MAC may report some or all packets ingressing with a FCS/CRC error,
+   or just discard them all
+
+ * Switching to lower speeds such as 10/100Mbits/sec makes the problem go away
+   (since there is enough setup/hold time in that case)
+
+
 Connecting to a PHY
 
  Sometime during startup, the network driver needs to establish a connection