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Talos Linux allows you to configure Ethernet network link settings, such as ring configuration or disabling TCP checksum offloading. The settings and their values closely follow ethtool command line options, so you can use similar recipes.

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Observing current status

You can observe current Ethernet settings in the EthernetStatus resource:
The available features depend on the network card and driver. Some values are fixed by the driver and hardware and cannot be changed.

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Configuration

Use the EthernetConfig document to configure Ethernet settings. You can append the machine config document to the machine configuration (separating with ---), or apply it as a machine configuration patch. For example, to disable TCP segmentation on transmit:
For rings and channels configuration, values can be increased if they do not exceed the maximum supported by the network card (the maximum values are reported in the status with -max suffix). The following sections cover Wake-on-LAN and flow control, which have their own fields in the document.

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Enable Wake-on-LAN support

Starting with 1.12, Talos Linux now supports configuring Wake-on-LAN (WOL) directly in the Ethernet configuration. Use the wakeOnLan field under the EthernetConfig resource to enable WOL and specify the desired WOL modes. This allows a node’s network interface to wake the system from a low-power state when receiving a magic packet or other WOL-triggering event. Example:

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Supported modes

Supported WOL modes depend on the NIC and driver, but common values include:
  • "magic" — wake on magic packet (most common)
  • "unicast" — wake on unicast packets
  • "multicast" — wake on multicast packets
  • "broadcast" — wake on broadcast packets
  • "phy" — wake on PHY activity
Note: If wakeOnLan is omitted, Talos leaves the Wake-on-LAN configuration of the interface unchanged. An empty list (wakeOnLan: []) disables Wake-on-LAN. WOL functionality requires that your hardware and BIOS/UEFI firmware support it and that it is not disabled there.
You can check WOL support and status with:
This command will show the current wakeOnLan settings along with other Ethernet features.

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Configure flow control

Flow control lets a link ask its peer to pause sending when it cannot keep up, using 802.3x pause frames. Use the flowControl field to configure it, similar to the ethtool -A command:
The flowControl field has three settings:
  • rx: accept pause frames from the link peer.
  • tx: send pause frames to the link peer.
  • autoneg: negotiate flow control with the link peer.
When autoneg is on, rx and tx are only advertised to the link peer, and the result depends on what the peer supports. To apply rx and tx exactly as set, turn autoneg off, as in the example above. A setting that is omitted stays unchanged, and omitting flowControl leaves the flow control configuration of the link unchanged. When flowControl is present, it must set at least one of the three settings. Not all drivers support flow control; virtio-net is one example. On such a link, Talos logs a warning and skips the flow control settings. The current flow control settings appear under flowControl in the EthernetStatus resource: