---
name: "if_sf"
section: "4freebsd"
platform: "linux"
package: "freebsd-manpages"
version: "12.2-2"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/if_sf/4freebsd"
---

# if\_sf(4freebsd)

Adaptec AIC-6915 "Starfire" PCI Fast Ethernet adapter driver

## NAME

**sf** – Adaptec AIC-6915 "Starfire" PCI Fast Ethernet adapter driver

## SYNOPSIS

To compile this driver into the kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

**device miibus** **device sf**

Alternatively, to load the driver as a module at boot time, place the following line in [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md):

```
if_sf_load="YES"
```

## DEPRECATION NOTICE

The **sf** driver is not present in FreeBSD 13.0 and later. See https://github.com/freebsd/fcp/blob/master/fcp-0101.md for more information.

## DESCRIPTION

The **sf** driver provides support for Adaptec Duralink Fast Ethernet adapters based on the Adaptec AIC-6915 "Starfire" chipset.

The AIC-6915 is a bus master controller with an MII interface. It supports high and low priority transmit and receive queues, TCP/IP checksum offload, multiple DMA descriptor formats and both polling and producer/consumer DMA models. The AIC-6915 receive filtering options include a 16 entry perfect filter, a 512-bit hash table for multicast addresses, a 512-bit hash table for priority address matching and VLAN filtering. An external MII-compliant transceiver is required for media interfacing.

Multiport adapters consist of several AIC-6915 controllers connected via a PCI to PCI bridge. Each controller is treated as a separate interface by the **sf** driver.

The **sf** driver supports the following media types:

- autoselect

  Enable autoselection of the media type and options. The user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to the */etc/rc.conf* file.

- 10baseT/UTP

  Set 10Mbps operation. The *mediaopt* option can also be used to select either *full-duplex* or *half-duplex* modes.

- 100baseTX

  Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. The *mediaopt* option can also be used to select either *full-duplex* or *half-duplex* modes.

The **sf** driver supports the following media options:

- full-duplex

  Force full duplex operation

- half-duplex

  Force half duplex operation.

For more information on configuring this device, see [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md).

## HARDWARE

Adapters supported by the **sf** driver include:

- ANA-62011 64-bit single port 10/100baseTX adapter

- ANA-62022 64-bit dual port 10/100baseTX adapter

- ANA-62044 64-bit quad port 10/100baseTX adapter

- ANA-69011 32-bit single port 10/100baseTX adapter

- ANA-62020 64-bit single port 100baseFX adapter

## SYSCTL VARIABLES

The following variables are available as both [sysctl(8)](/sysctl/8.md) variables and [loader(8)](/loader/8.md) tunables:

- *dev.sf.%d.int\_mod*

  Maximum amount of time to delay interrupt processing in units of 102.4us. The accepted range is 0 to 31, the default value is 1 (102.4us). Value 0 completely disables the interrupt moderation. The interface does not need to be brought down and up again before a change takes effect.

- *dev.sf.%d.stats*

  Display lots of useful MAC counters maintained in the driver.

## DIAGNOSTICS

- sf%d: couldn't map memory

  A fatal initialization error has occurred. This may happen if the PCI BIOS not configured the device, which may be because the BIOS has been configured for a "Plug and Play" operating system. The "Plug and Play OS" setting in the BIOS should be set to "no" or "off" in order for PCI devices to work properly with FreeBSD.

- sf%d: couldn't map ports

  A fatal initialization error has occurred. This may happen if the PCI BIOS not configured the device, which may be because the BIOS has been configured for a "Plug and Play" operating system. The "Plug and Play OS" setting in the BIOS should be set to "no" or "off" in order for PCI devices to work properly with FreeBSD.

- sf%d: couldn't map interrupt

  A fatal initialization error has occurred.

- sf%d: no memory for softc struct!

  The driver failed to allocate memory for per-device instance information during initialization.

- sf%d: failed to enable I/O ports/memory mapping!

  The driver failed to initialize PCI I/O port or shared memory access. This might happen if the card is not in a bus-master slot.

- sf%d: watchdog timeout

  The device has stopped responding to the network, or there is a problem with the network connection (cable).

## SEE ALSO

[altq(4)](/altq/4.md), [arp(4)](/arp/4.md), [miibus(4)](/miibus/4.md), [netintro(4)](/netintro/4.md), [ng\_ether(4)](/ng_ether/4.md), [polling(4)](/polling/4.md), [vlan(4)](/vlan/4.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md) *The Adaptec AIC-6915 Programmer's Manual*, http://download.adaptec.com/pdfs/user\_guides/aic6915\_pg.pdf.

## HISTORY

The **sf** device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0.

## AUTHORS

The **sf** driver was written by Bill Paul ⟨*wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu*⟩.