1 Overview
The HP-UX 11i v2 to 11i v3 Network Driver Migration Guide provides 3rd party developers a
resource to understand the HP-UX network stack architecture and network API changes between
HP-UX 11i v2 and 11i v3 and an overview for migrating network drivers from HP-UX 11i v2 to
11i v3.
This document describes how to migrate HP-DLPI based LAN drivers and native STREAMS
DLPI based LAN drivers.
HP strongly encourages developers to write HP-DLPI based LAN drivers instead of native
STREAMS DLPI based LAN drivers because of the many advantages of the HP-DLPI based LAN
drivers model. The developers save time by using the HP-DLPI implemention; they do not have
to write one of their own. This results in a better time-to-market for their product and reduced
maintance costs.
LAN Driver Architecture
HP-UX 11i v3 exports HP-DLPI interfaces for network drivers. A driver written to the HP-DLPI
interface is called a non-native HP-DLPI driver (also referred to as a tightly coupled driver). A
driver that includes its own implementation of the data link layer written to DLPI standards is
called a native STREAMS DLPI driver (also referred to as a loosely coupled driver).
HP-DLPI LAN Driver Architecture
HP-DLPI LAN drivers utilize HP-DLPI for the following operations and features:
• HP-DLPI is the interface between the transport and driver layer. An advantage of writing
a non-native driver is that HP-DLPI assumes the responsibility of interacting with the
transport layer.
• Support for SMH and LAN commands is provided in the non-native driver architecture.
• HP-DLPI provides support for Out-of-Packet (OOP) and Checksum-offload (CKO).
Figure 1-1 shows the HP-UX 11i v3 HP-DLPI LAN driver architecture.
LAN Driver Architecture 13
