Re: Linux 2.6.9 Adaptec 4 Port Starfire Sickness

[jmerkey]

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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