Re: Linux 2.6.9 Adaptec 4 Port Starfire Sickness

[jmerkey <jmerkey@utah-nac.org>]

I disabled the FIFO resetting code and am running tests. See what 
happens. I am on 2.6 not
2.4 so it could be a problem there. At any rate, I will see if the 
problem goes away.

Jeff

Willy Tarreau wrote:

>On Sat, Apr 02, 2005 at 11:58:44PM -0700, jmerkey wrote:
>  
>
>>It works fine with the Intel Dual Port Pro-1000 MT adapters without 
>>these problems.
>>    
>>
>
>but unless I'm mistaken, there's no PCI bridge on this board, and it is
>possible that the two ports share the same IRQ, that's why I suggested
>trying a 4-port sun QFE or something which is more similar to the starfire.
>
>  
>
>>I am using testing scenarios
>>with Jumbo Frames as well. I am guessing the PCI bus contention is high 
>>due to the disk I/O bandwidth and
>>this is causing conditions the adapter does not normally see. 
>>    
>>
>
>As I said, I have been saturating this card for weeks during stress tests
>and although it spitted out lots of messages, it never hanged (at least on
>recent 2.4 kernels, because very early 2.4 were a real pain with this one).
>
>  
>
>>Documentation states that this message should be very
>>rare, and not spool off into the logs at this rate.
>>    
>>
>
>perhaps you have a mix of small and large frames which makes the driver
>constantly change the fifo size, and this part is not handled properly ?
>
>Willy
>
>  
>
>>See http://www.ibiblio.org/mdw/HOWTO/Ethernet-HOWTO-8.html
>>
>>Jeff
>>
>>Willy Tarreau wrote:
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Hi Jeff,
>>>
>>>I've also experienced those messages under 2.4, but they were harmless,
>>>and I never had a machine hang even after weeks of full load (the adapter
>>>was mounted on a stress test machine before being used in firewalls for
>>>months).
>>>
>>>So I wonder how you can be sure that it is this driver which finally 
>>>locks
>>>the bus. Perhaps the system locks for any other reason (eg: race 
>>>condition).
>>>Have you tried with any other 4-port NIC (tulip or sun for example) ? Sun
>>>QFE would be the most interesting to test as it also supports 64 bits /
>>>66 MHz.
>>>
>>>Regards,
>>>Willy
>>>
>>>On Sat, Apr 02, 2005 at 09:41:28PM -0700, jmerkey wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>With linux 2.6.9 running at 192 MB/S network loading and protocol 
>>>>splitting drivers routing packets out of
>>>>a 2.6.9 device at full 100 mb/s (12.5 MB/S) simultaneously over 4 
>>>>ports, the adaptec starfire driver goes into
>>>>constant Tx FIFO reconfiguration mode and after 3-4 days of constantly 
>>>>resetting the Tx FIFO window and
>>>>generating a deluge of messages such as:
>>>>
>>>>ethX:  PCI bus congestion, resetting Tx FIFO window to X bytes
>>>>
>>>>pouring into the system log file at a rate of a dozen per minute.  
>>>>After several days, the PCI bus totally locks up
>>>>and hangs the system.  Need a config option to allow the starfire to 
>>>>disable this feature.  At very
>>>>high bus loading rates, the starfire card will completely lock the bus 
>>>>after 3-4 days
>>>>of constant Tx FIFO reconfiguration at very high data rates with 
>>>>protocol splitting and routing.
>>>>
>>>>Jeff
>>>>-
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>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>
>>>      
>>>
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