[U-Boot] UBoot NFS timeout

[U-Boot] UBoot NFS timeout

[christopher.mcnamara]

I'm having trouble booting my linux image over a nfs share. 
The share is on an openSuse 11 server. I am able to mount the folder on a
centOS machine 
and copy the file over the network so I believe it is setup properly. My
UBoot output is

File transfer via NFS from server xxx.xxx.50.21; our IP address is
xxx.xxx.50.15
1
Filename '/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin'.
Load address: 0x80000000
Loading: #################################################################
         #Timeout

When I try a nfs share on the CentOS machine it times out immediately. 

Anyone ever seen this?

UBoot 1.2.0, however the NFS code is the same.

Is the the correct way to activate NFS in my uboot image?

#define CONFIG_COMMANDS ( \
CONFIG__CMD_DFL | \
CFG_CMD_NET  | \
CFG_CMD_PING | \
CFG_CMD_MII | \
CFG_CMD_DHCP | \
CFG_CMD_MEMORY | \
CFG_CMD_NFS)
-- 
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[U-Boot] UBoot NFS timeout

[Ben Warren]

Hi Christopher,

christopher.mcnamara wrote:
> I'm having trouble booting my linux image over a nfs share. 
> The share is on an openSuse 11 server. I am able to mount the folder on a
> centOS machine 
> and copy the file over the network so I believe it is setup properly. My
> UBoot output is
>
> File transfer via NFS from server xxx.xxx.50.21; our IP address is
> xxx.xxx.50.15
> 1
> Filename '/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin'.
> Load address: 0x80000000
> Loading: #################################################################
>          #Timeout
>
> When I try a nfs share on the CentOS machine it times out immediately. 
>
> Anyone ever seen this?
>
> UBoot 1.2.0, however the NFS code is the same.
>
> Is the the correct way to activate NFS in my uboot image?
>
> #define CONFIG_COMMANDS ( \
> CONFIG__CMD_DFL | \
> CFG_CMD_NET  | \
> CFG_CMD_PING | \
> CFG_CMD_MII | \
> CFG_CMD_DHCP | \
> CFG_CMD_MEMORY | \
> CFG_CMD_NFS)
>   
What processor and Ethernet controller are you using?  NFS initially 
bursts a lot of full-size frames and if your MAC can't keep up you'll 
have trouble connecting.  Try limiting the read block size on the client 
by specifying 'rsize=' parameter.

regards,
Ben

[U-Boot] UBoot NFS timeout

[Christopher McNamara]

It is a microblaze on a Xilinx Virtex 5. Not sure what the MAC is
unless it is built into the VITESSE vsc8211 PHY...

The only code on the machine at this time is the UBoot 1.2 image, no
linux kernel.

I was led to believe by the documentation that I could boot the whole
image via nfs, I am faced with a situation where tftp is not allowed
so I was thinking this could be the alternative. (I have a working
linux image, I am just looking for an alternative route to get it to
the board.)

My command is
nfs 0x80000000 xxx.xxx.50.21:/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin

For what you are saying with the rsize= parameter I wouldn't use this
command but rather change the bootargs parameter like this...

setenv bootargs root=?? rw
nfsroot=177.174.50.21:/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin,rsize=512,wsize=512,nolock
ip=177.174.50.151

and then do a

loadb

Without the kernel there what would my root= parameter be?


On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 2:05 PM, Ben Warren <biggerbadderben@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Christopher,
>
> christopher.mcnamara wrote:
>>
>> I'm having trouble booting my linux image over a nfs share. The share is
>> on an openSuse 11 server. I am able to mount the folder on a
>> centOS machine and copy the file over the network so I believe it is setup
>> properly. My
>> UBoot output is
>>
>> File transfer via NFS from server xxx.xxx.50.21; our IP address is
>> xxx.xxx.50.15
>> 1
>> Filename '/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin'.
>> Load address: 0x80000000
>> Loading: #################################################################
>> ? ? ? ? #Timeout
>>
>> When I try a nfs share on the CentOS machine it times out immediately.
>> Anyone ever seen this?
>>
>> UBoot 1.2.0, however the NFS code is the same.
>>
>> Is the the correct way to activate NFS in my uboot image?
>>
>> #define CONFIG_COMMANDS ( \
>> CONFIG__CMD_DFL | \
>> CFG_CMD_NET ?| \
>> CFG_CMD_PING | \
>> CFG_CMD_MII | \
>> CFG_CMD_DHCP | \
>> CFG_CMD_MEMORY | \
>> CFG_CMD_NFS)
>>
>
> What processor and Ethernet controller are you using? ?NFS initially bursts
> a lot of full-size frames and if your MAC can't keep up you'll have trouble
> connecting. ?Try limiting the read block size on the client by specifying
> 'rsize=' parameter.
>
> regards,
> Ben
>
>

[U-Boot] UBoot NFS timeout

[Ben Warren]

Hi Christopher,

Please don't top-post.

Christopher McNamara wrote:
> It is a microblaze on a Xilinx Virtex 5. Not sure what the MAC is
> unless it is built into the VITESSE vsc8211 PHY...
>
>   
I've never used this configuration, but assume it's using some kind of 
Xilinx-provided soft MAC.  It probably doesn't matter much anyway.
> The only code on the machine at this time is the UBoot 1.2 image, no
> linux kernel.
>
> I was led to believe by the documentation that I could boot the whole
> image via nfs, I am faced with a situation where tftp is not allowed
> so I was thinking this could be the alternative. (I have a working
> linux image, I am just looking for an alternative route to get it to
> the board.)
>
> My command is
> nfs 0x80000000 xxx.xxx.50.21:/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin
>
> For what you are saying with the rsize= parameter I wouldn't use this
> command but rather change the bootargs parameter like this...
>
> setenv bootargs root=?? rw
> nfsroot=177.174.50.21:/root/Desktop/susenfs/bootme4linux.bin,rsize=512,wsize=512,nolock
> ip=177.174.50.151
>
> and then do a
>
> loadb
>
> Without the kernel there what would my root= parameter be?
>
>   
No, I don't think this is what you want to do.  You want to use the 
'nfs' command.  I confess I've never used it so can only help by code 
inspection.  It appears that U-boot sets the read size to 1024, which is 
much smaller than the 4k or 8k block size that you'd run into using a 
regular NFS mount.

Anyway, something else to try is to throttle your network speed by 
forcing your PHY to 10/half.  You should be able to do that with the 
miiphy commands.  Your MAC will surely be able to keep up with it and 
this will tell you if the problem is really due to throughput.  The 
downside is that things will seem reeaaallllyy slllloooowwww.

regards,
Ben