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authorAmir Levy <amir.jer.levy@intel.com>2017-10-02 13:38:45 +0300
committerDavid S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>2017-10-02 21:24:42 +0300
commite69b6c02b4c3b8d03be7136f90dd9551ad5a5a5e (patch)
treef337124015e9ad1387ee02f946ea37be8684d398 /Documentation/admin-guide/thunderbolt.rst
parent467cd25bf2aec14c2e2990512248b72f46f94c53 (diff)
downloadlinux-e69b6c02b4c3b8d03be7136f90dd9551ad5a5a5e.tar.xz
net: Add support for networking over Thunderbolt cable
ThunderboltIP is a protocol created by Apple to tunnel IP/ethernet traffic over a Thunderbolt cable. The protocol consists of configuration phase where each side sends ThunderboltIP login packets (the protocol is determined by UUID in the XDomain packet header) over the configuration channel. Once both sides get positive acknowledgment to their login packet, they configure high-speed DMA path accordingly. This DMA path is then used to transmit and receive networking traffic. This patch creates a virtual ethernet interface the host software can use in the same way as any other networking interface. Once the interface is brought up successfully network packets get tunneled over the Thunderbolt cable to the remote host and back. The connection is terminated by sending a ThunderboltIP logout packet over the configuration channel. We do this when the network interface is brought down by user or the driver is unloaded. Signed-off-by: Amir Levy <amir.jer.levy@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Michael Jamet <michael.jamet@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Mika Westerberg <mika.westerberg@linux.intel.com> Reviewed-by: Yehezkel Bernat <yehezkel.bernat@intel.com> Reviewed-by: Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@linux.intel.com> Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/thunderbolt.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/thunderbolt.rst
index 6a4cd1f159ca..5c62d11d77e8 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/thunderbolt.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/thunderbolt.rst
@@ -197,3 +197,27 @@ information is missing.
To recover from this mode, one needs to flash a valid NVM image to the
host host controller in the same way it is done in the previous chapter.
+
+Networking over Thunderbolt cable
+---------------------------------
+Thunderbolt technology allows software communication across two hosts
+connected by a Thunderbolt cable.
+
+It is possible to tunnel any kind of traffic over Thunderbolt link but
+currently we only support Apple ThunderboltIP protocol.
+
+If the other host is running Windows or macOS only thing you need to
+do is to connect Thunderbolt cable between the two hosts, the
+``thunderbolt-net`` is loaded automatically. If the other host is also
+Linux you should load ``thunderbolt-net`` manually on one host (it does
+not matter which one)::
+
+ # modprobe thunderbolt-net
+
+This triggers module load on the other host automatically. If the driver
+is built-in to the kernel image, there is no need to do anything.
+
+The driver will create one virtual ethernet interface per Thunderbolt
+port which are named like ``thunderbolt0`` and so on. From this point
+you can either use standard userspace tools like ``ifconfig`` to
+configure the interface or let your GUI to handle it automatically.