Link Status before sending packet

[gerrykurz]

Do I have to make sure the link is up before I try and send packets to the ethernet port?

Or does the ethernet server handle this?

In other words, what would happen if I try and transmit a packet on a port where the link is down?

If I do need to know the link status, is the only way to get that is from the smi interface?

[srinie]

Do I have to make sure the link is up before I try and send packets to the ethernet port?

Or does the ethernet server handle this?

Ethernet server does not do the link status checks;

If I do need to know the link status, is the only way to get that is from the smi interface?

Yes - thru 'smi_get_link_state()'

[gerrykurz]

So what happens if I send packets to a link that is down?

[srinie]

My observation is that send always go through (remove the link cable on a continuous tx application and print/LED toggle for sends)

On the other hand, if the receive side is a XMOS device: checks for the link status in this path.

[gerrykurz]

Yes it seems that the server sends the packet and returns a timestamp whether the link is up or not.

This is fine as my concern was that the call would block and not return.

[srinie]

Good to note your feedback as well. Yes, its a non-blocking call.

Can you please update the similar question in the QnA section with your feedback and learning, for the benefit of other users?

[gerrykurz]

Done.