18.04 Intel ICE driver lacking DDP support

[David Laube]

We are experiencing a problem using the Intel E810 NICs with the latest Ubuntu 18.04 release. So far in order to workaround this problem it was necessary for us to compile our own driver from Intel and would like to have the ICE driver updated in the latest 18.04 if possible.

The exact failure mode observed (before we fixed it with the compiled Intel driver) is:

root@dlaube-m3large-opt-testing2:/etc/netplan# rmmod ice
[69515.667340] ice 0000:41:00.1 enp65s0f1 (unregistering): can't set mac b4:96:91:d5:e9:7d. device not ready
root@dlaube-m3large-opt-testing2:/etc/netplan# ifconfig
bond0: flags=5123<UP,BROADCAST,MASTER,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        inet 136.144.49.76 netmask 255.255.255.254 broadcast 0.0.0.0
        inet6 fe80::b696:91ff:fed5:e97c prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>
        inet6 2604:1380:4091:2b00::2 prefixlen 127 scopeid 0x0<global>
        ether 6a:ac:ad:ed:b2:67 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
        RX packets 7 bytes 1576 (1.5 KB)
        RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
        TX packets 159651 bytes 9867924 (9.8 MB)
        TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop txqueuelen 1000 (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 138694 bytes 11729532 (11.7 MB)
        RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
        TX packets 138694 bytes 11729532 (11.7 MB)
        TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

root@dlaube-m3large-opt-testing2:/etc/netplan# modprobe ice
[69524.477793] ice 0000:41:00.0: The DDP package file was not found or could not be read. Entering Safe Mode
[69524.487694] ice 0000:41:00.0: Package download failed. Advanced features disabled - Device now in Safe Mode
[69525.266197] ice 0000:41:00.1: The DDP package file was not found or could not be read. Entering Safe Mode
[69525.276090] ice 0000:41:00.1: Package download failed. Advanced features disabled - Device now in Safe Mode