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ENT-AN1280
User Guide
VSC8257/VSC8258 Evaluation Board
October 2018
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VSC8257/VSC8258 Evaluation Board
Contents
1 Revision History ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Revision 1.3 ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Revision 1.2 ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.3 Revision 1.1 ........................................................................................................................................ 1
1.4 Revision 1.0 ........................................................................................................................................ 1
2 VSC8257/VSC8258 Evaluation Board ............................................................................................. 2
2.1 References .......................................................................................................................................... 2
3 Quick Start ..................................................................................................................................... 3
4 Hardware Options ......................................................................................................................... 4
4.1 Power Supply Options ........................................................................................................................ 4
4.2 Reference Clock Options .................................................................................................................... 4
5 Software ......................................................................................................................................... 5
5.1 USBXpress® Driver Installation ........................................................................................................... 5
5.2 GUI Setup ............................................................................................................................................ 5
5.3 Main Page ........................................................................................................................................... 6
5.4 Routing ............................................................................................................................................... 7
5.5 BIST ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
5.6 SFP+ .................................................................................................................................................... 9
5.7 Register List ........................................................................................................................................ 9
5.8 RMON ............................................................................................................................................... 10
5.9 KR Status ........................................................................................................................................... 10
5.10 I/O Control ...................................................................................................................................... 11
5.11 Clocking .......................................................................................................................................... 11
5.12 Command Line Interface ................................................................................................................ 12
6 Usage Examples ........................................................................................................................... 14
6.1 Packet BIST ....................................................................................................................................... 14
6.2 PRBS31 BER ...................................................................................................................................... 14
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1 Revision History
The revision history describes the changes that were implemented in the document. The changes are
listed by revision, starting with the most current publication.
1.1 Revision 1.3
Revision 1.3 was published in September 2018. There were no changes to the technical content.
1.2 Revision 1.2
Revision 1.2 was published in October 2016. The latest GUI interface was added.
1.3 Revision 1.1
Revision 1.1 was published in October 2015. The improved interface was added.
1.4 Revision 1.0
Revision 1.0 was published in June 2014. It was the first publication of this document.
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2 VSC8257/VSC8258 Evaluation Board
Supporting 1000BASE-X, 10GBASE-R, 10GBASE-W, and other protocols, the VSC8258 is a quad serial
Ethernet PHY with IEEE 1588-2008 and media access control security (MACsec) support. The VSC8257 is
a quad serial Ethernet PHY with IEEE 1588-2008 support. MACsec functions are permanently disabled in
a VSC8257 product.
There are four bidirectional ports (interchangeably called channel), each consisting of an Rx path
(ingress) and a Tx path (egress). The Rx path receives serial data from the line side (RXIN), de-serializes it
to 64-bit bus to the processing core, then serializes it back to the appropriate serial stream at the host
side (RXOUT). The Tx path receives a serial stream from the host side (TXIN), de-serializes it to 64-bit bus
to the processing core, then serializes it back at the line side (TXOUT).
A GUI is provided for the user to control the evaluation board from a PC using a USB cable. The GUI
allows the user to configure devices, access registers, and run scripts. The GUI may be used without an
evaluation board in a demonstration mode to provide an introduction to the device features.
The default configuration of the evaluation board allows the user to easily connect it to lab equipment
such as a high-speed oscilloscope, bit error rate tester, or protocol analyzer (IXIA, Spirent, and so on)
through SMA cables or fiber.
An external 5 V power supply is required to power to the evaluation board, shown as follows. On-board
voltage regulators are used to supply the 1.0 V, 1.2 V, and 2.5 V power rails for the device.
Figure 1 • VSC8258 Evaluation Board
The following sections detail the evaluation board configuration and the features of the hardware and
software associated with the board. While VSC8258EV is used throughout this document, the
VSC8257EV will behave similarly.
2.1 References
The following documents provide more information on the device and evaluation board.
VSC8258 datasheet
VSC8258 evaluation board schematics
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3 Quick Start
The following items are recommended for use during evaluation of the evaluation board.
VSC8257/8258 evaluation board (included in the kit)
USB cable (included in the kit)
GUI installation file (available on the website)
SR/LR SFP+ module (not included)
Fiber patch cable (not included)
Pattern generator or protocol tester
Oscilloscope
Personal computer running Windows XP or 7
The following steps allow a user to bring up the VSC8258EV, receive traffic from a tester, loop traffic
internal to the device, and transmit back to the tester.
Provide 5 V power supply to the evaluation board.
Connect the USB cable to the evaluation board (J34) and to a PC.
Insert a 10G module into P1 (channel 2).
Connect the optical patch cable to the module and to the 10G tester.
Install the USB driver as described in section .USBXpress® Driver Installation
Install the GUI software as described in section .GUI Setup
Launch the GUI.
From the EVB connection window, select the matching board serial number and click .Launch GUI
The clock is pre-configured at 156.25 MHz.
On the main page, click the option. This will initialize the device. Due to the speed of 10G LAN Mode
the microcontroller and USB interface, this operation may take a minute. During initialization, the
bottom status bar will indicate initialization in progress. When completed, the text will change to
indicate so. Closing the GUI and re-launching without power cycling the board or pressing the reset
button will retain the previously initialized mode.
After initialization, the respective line- or host-side Rx and Tx PLL status will show a green state. The
10G protocol tester should also indicate a link-up condition. Because there is no valid data present
at the XAUI receiver, end-to-end traffic will not flow.
On the Routing tab, enable Loopback L3 for channel 0 (R)XAUI Rx. The 10G tester should now see
valid packets at its receiver.
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4 Hardware Options
The following sections describe the hardware options.
4.1 Power Supply Options
The evaluation board can also be powered by an external 5 V power supply. Use a pair of banana cables
to connect a bench-style power supply capable of 4 A at 5 V to the board. Connect 5 V to J45 and GND
to J46.
4.2 Reference Clock Options
The evaluation board is preconfigured with a clock frequency of 156.25 MHz.
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5 Software
Although the device’s internal registers can be accessed through three different interfaces—MDIO, twowire serial, or SPI—the software makes use of the SPI port. On the evaluation board, a F340
microcontroller acts as the SPI master that controls the PHY. The PC communicates with the
microcontroller through a USB connection.
5.1 USBXpress® Driver Installation
First, the USBXpress development kit needs to be downloaded from the . Follow the Silicon Labs website
installation directions after downloading the development kit.
Once the USBXpress driver is installed, connect the USB cable to the evaluation board and the PC. In
order to double check that the USBXpress driver is installed and recognizing the evaluation board, go to
the Control Panel, and click on > > . Inspect the Universal Serial Bus System Hardware Device Manager
controllers listed to see if “USBXpress Device” appears. The following image shows that the PC has
recognized a connected USBXpress device.
Figure 2 • USBXpress in PC’s Device Manager
5.2 GUI Setup
Run the setup file to install the GUI. Once installed, the user should launch the GUI, which will bring up
the initial window shown in the following image.
Figure 3 • Evaluation Board Selection Window
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The GUI will detect the serial number of the connected evaluation board(s). If there are multiple boards
connected on the same PC, click on the drop down menu, and select the desired evaluation board serial
number. The two status lights will turn green when the F340 microcontroller is detected and the
appropriate device is present. Click .Launch GUI
If the device indicator (for example, “VSC8258 Present”) does not turn green, check the voltage rails
with a multimeter to ensure the VDD rails reached the proper levels, thus ruling out current limiting as
the cause. Also, check the SiUSBXp.dll file in the same directory as the MalibuGUI.exe resides to ensure
the version of it matches to the version of the USBExpress driver installed. In the same directory, one
can file SiUSBXp_old33, SiUSBXp_new4000, SiUSBXp_new4040_32bit dll files. Determine which one of
the three files match to the version of the installed USBExpress driver, and then rename that file to be
SiUSBxp.dll.
5.3 Main Page
The following image shows the GUI main page.
Figure 4 • GUI Main Page
The serial number of the evaluation board appears on the left corner of the page along with the silicon
revision, communication protocol used, and the port address. SPI is the communication protocol used
and Channel 0’s default port address is 00.
The Mode Initialization box allows the user to initialize the 10G LAN mode. During device initialization,
which may take upwards of 4 minutes due to the microcontroller limitations, the “INITIALIZING”
message will appear in the lower corner of the window. When completed, a message dialogue box will
pop up.
When the communication is successfully established, it should say “CONNECTED” at the bottom left
corner of the main page.
The dashboard on the left contains the Status and BER tabs.
The Status box shows the Host and line side PLL status per channel for the receiver and transmit sides.
The LED illuminates green when the appropriate PLL is activated.
The following image shows the PRBS31 pattern generator and checker.
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Figure 5 • GUI Main Page—PRBS31
Click and to start the BIST. This begins the synchronization and error Start Generator Start Checker
checking on the selected channel, along with a timer. The cumulative number of bit errors and the
cumulative bit error rate are displayed.
Stop Checker will stop the timer and polling of the error count. This will retain the last values. While
enabled, the error count register polling is not interrupted when any other page/tab is viewed.
Every channel has its own generator and checker, which allows two or more channels to be started at
the same time.
5.4 Routing
As shown, the routing page provides various options available for routing traffic between the host side
and the line side. A data path diagram of the loopbacks is displayed on the top of this page.
Figure 6 • GUI Routing Page
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There are seven loopbacks available. Three of the loopbacks are host-side loopbacks. These include
loopback H2, loopback H3, and loopback H4. Loopback H2 is the shallow loopback located in the XAUIPHY block before the 8b/10b endec. The deeper loopback includes loopback H3 in the PCS block right
after the
64b/66b gearbox and loopback H4 at the WIS block after the framer.
The other three loopbacks are line-side loopbacks (that is, SFI in and looped back to SFI out). This
includes loopback L3, loopback L2C, loopback L2, and loopback L1. Loopback L3 is the loopback at the
PMA block while loopback L2 is the loopback right before the data hits the XGXS block. The deepest
loopback, L1, is the loopback after the 8b/10b endec. When using loopback L1 with an external 10G
tester, the entire chip is exercised with the exception of the XAUI input and output buffers.
The GUI allows the user to turn on host- and line-side loopbacks for 10G LAN and 1G LAN modes.
Checking the box enables the loopback while un-checking disables it.
5.5 BIST
The following image shows the BIST page.
Figure 7 • GUI BIST Page
The BIST page is not for PRBS BIST, but for packet-based BIST. There is a packet BIST engine on each
channel. The DA, SA, type, PTP time, packet length, IPG length, and the data could be configured. The
CFG, configuration register, and the data path registers are also programmable. The definition of CFG
register is listed in table . The data path register is Generator Configuration (GEN_CFG), Address: 4xE900
reserved for factory use. The current GUI only supports BIST sending data at PMA output and receiving
data from PMA input.
On the checker side, there are counters for the good packets, CRC error, fragmentation error, and local
fault.
The generator and checker can be individually enabled for each channel. The BIST on the right column is
a packet bist engine. When enabled, the DUT will be sending packetized PRB31 traffic out at PMA
output and receiving packetized traffic in at PMA input.
Note: After inputting the value to the corresponding box, make sure a return is hit, or the input value
may not take effect. Also, the settings may not reflect the updated values until the user exits this page
and then returns to it.
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Table 1 • Generator Configuration (GEN_CFG), Address: 4xE900
Bit Name Access Description Default
14:12 LENOFS R/W Decrease pktlen by lenofs 0x3
11:4 SRATE R/W Number of standard frames between PTP frames 0x00
2 IDLES R/W Generate all idles
0: Generate frames
1: Generate idles only
0x0
1 PTP_ENABLE R/W Generate PTP frames
0: Generate standard frames
1: Generate PTP frames
0x0
0 ENABLE R/W Enable packet generator
0: Generator is disabled
1: Generator is enabled
Pattern generator data cannotNote:
simultaneously be inserted in the egress and
ingress data paths. Insertion of pattern
generator data into the paths is controlled by
4xEA20.7 and 4xEA20.8.
There are additional restrictions in using this bitNote:
for 1G mode. Please consult the factory.
0x0
5.6 SFP+
The information of the SFP+ module registers could be read through the GPIOs of the VSC8258 that are
configured as I2C master to interface with the I2C registers of the SFP+, as shown.
Figure 8 • GUI SFP+ Page
5.7 Register List
The following image shows the register list page.
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Figure 9 • GUI Register List Page
The Register List page provides read and write access to device registers. They are grouped into nine
tabs. To select a register, click on the name in the list. The register’s description, address, read/write
capability, and current value are displayed. To write to a device register, highlight the desired register,
enter the hexadecimal value in the “Value (Hex)” box, and click . Clicking will read the same Write Read
register, showing the register’s new contents.
There is an advanced mode where, when enabled, users can jump to any device and any register offset
by typing in the corresponding values without going through the specific register tab.
5.8 RMON
The RMON page, shown as follows, is not available in current GUI.
Figure 10 • GUI RMON Page
5.9 KR Status
The following image shows the pull-down menu for KR status.
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Figure 11 • GUI KR Status Page
When the line side is connected to a link partner through a backplane, the KR mode could be enabled by
clicking on first and then . The user will see the green light move and it should config KR KR enable
eventually reside at AN_GOOD state and indicate KR (10G) is negotiated. The values of the resulted C-1,
C0, and C+1 will also be updated at the Tx Tap Values box.
5.10 I/O Control
The following image shows the I/O control page.
Figure 12 • GUI I/O Control Page
On this page, the user can adjust the pre-cursor, main cursor, and post-cursor of the transmitter of each
lane. On the receiver side, the default mode is for SR/LR/ER. To have the mode support DAC, the user
can enable it by clicking on . The summation of the Cm1, C0, and Cp1 must not Configure for Rx DAC
exceed 31 and the user has to maintain this restriction.
5.11 Clocking
The following image shows the clocking page.
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Figure 13 • GUI Clocking Page
In this page, there are actually two main categories: the source for the output clocks and the source for
the lane sync feature.
For the output clocks, CKOUTn, the user can first enable that output and then select if the output clock
frequency should be divided by 1 or by 2. When it is divided by 2, the result is a 161 MHz clock output
derived from the selected source. When it is divided by 1, then the frequency will be 322 MHz. The
selection of the clock source include the host/line side CMU divided down clock or the host/line-side
recovered clock from data.
For the lane sync feature, the user can select the Tx clock of each channel (line or host) to be lane
synced (locked) to the local reference clock or the Rx clock of the same channel or the Rx clock from
other channels.
Note: When cross-connect is enabled, the Tx clocks of all host channels must be lane synced to the local
reference clock.
5.12 Command Line Interface
Clicking on > from the toolbar opens the command line interface (CLI) window. From Board Vitesse CLI
here, users can load initialization files or other scripts. When the button is clicked, another Load Macro
window will appear allowing the user to select the script.
The following example describes WS_P03_81_ae_00_00_00_02_00 where WS is SPI command:
P03 is the port of the F340 processor used for the SPI
Bit 55 = 1 is write and = 0 is read
Bit 54:53 is the port/channel number: it is port 0
Bit 52:48 is device number: it is 0x1
Bit 47:32 is the register address: it is 0xAE00
Bit 31:0 is the value for the register: it is 0x000000200
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The following images show the command line interface.
Figure 14 • Command Line Interface I
Figure 15 • Command Line Interface II
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6 Usage Examples
The following sections describe usage examples.
6.1 Packet BIST
Go to the BIST page. Check the box above Tx Packets sent to display the Tx packet sent. Then, Enable
check the box under the BER to enable the packet BIST checker. The count of valid packets will Enable
be seen in the box for Good CRC and there are also counters for Bad CRC, Fragmentation, and Local
Fault. The configuration registers might not get updated until the user leaves and then returns to this
page.
6.2 PRBS31 BER
The PRBS31 BER resides on the BER page on the right column of the GUI display.
On the BER page click and to exercise the PRBS31 BER. Starting the Start Generator Start Checker
checker will start the timer and show the current error count and bit error rate. The value of Error
Count and BER is continuous and updated once every second. Click to stop the timer. Stop Checker
The display will retain the last error count and BER.
Clicking again will clear the error counts and restart the polling and calculation.Start Checker
The 1-second polling will continue even if the user moves to other pages or tabs.
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