From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG  Wed Jun 11 02:58:20 2003
Return-Path: <owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG>
Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125])
	by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4536837B407
	for <stable@freebsd.org>; Wed, 11 Jun 2003 02:58:20 -0700 (PDT)
Received: from host185.dolanmedia.com (host185.dolanmedia.com
	[209.98.197.185])
	by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 6B7CE43F93
	for <stable@freebsd.org>; Wed, 11 Jun 2003 02:58:19 -0700 (PDT)
	(envelope-from greg.panula@dolaninformation.com)
Received: (qmail 84176 invoked by uid 0); 11 Jun 2003 09:58:19 -0000
Received: from greg.panula@dolaninformation.com by proxy by uid 82 with
	qmail-scanner-1.16  ( Clear:. 
	Processed in 1.587544 secs); 11 Jun 2003 09:58:19 -0000
X-Qmail-Scanner-Mail-From: greg.panula@dolaninformation.com via proxy
X-Qmail-Scanner-Rcpt-To: ltning@anduin.net,stable@freebsd.org
X-Qmail-Scanner: 1.16 (Clear:. Processed in 1.587544 secs)
Received: from unknown (HELO mail.dolanmedia.com) (10.1.1.23)
  by host185.dolanmedia.com with SMTP; 11 Jun 2003 09:58:16 -0000
Received: from dolaninformation.com (10.1.1.135) by mail.dolanmedia.com
	(Worldmail 1.3.167); 11 Jun 2003 04:58:16 -0500
Sender: pang@FreeBSD.ORG
Message-ID: <3EE6FD38.C8AC3358@dolaninformation.com>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 04:58:16 -0500
From: Greg Panula <greg.panula@dolaninformation.com>
Organization: Dolan Information Center Inc
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.12 i386)
X-Accept-Language: en
MIME-Version: 1.0
To: Eirik Oeverby <ltning@anduin.net>
References: <6906683B-9AB7-11D7-A8ED-000A956789F6@katamail.com>
	<1055252312.49655.26.camel@ranger.anduin.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
cc: stable@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: A stupid question...
X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org
X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1
Precedence: list
Reply-To: greg.panula@dolaninformation.com
List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code
	<freebsd-stable.freebsd.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable>,
	<mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: <http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-stable>
List-Post: <mailto:freebsd-stable@freebsd.org>
List-Help: <mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable>,
	<mailto:freebsd-stable-request@freebsd.org?subject=subscribe>
X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 09:58:20 -0000

Eirik Oeverby wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have the rl problem from time to time - it is as if the interface is
> unplugged from the HUB. However, I have no problem pinging it from the
> host itself, but it's gone to anyone on the outside.
> A "ifconfig rl0 DOWN ; ifconfig rl0 UP" usually solves the problem until
> it happens next time - which can be minutes, hours, days or weeks later.
> I suppose in average I have it happening two to three times per month.
> On another machine with the same FreeBSD version I do not have the same
> problem, but the hardware is entirely different. Only the NIC driver
> used is the same.
> 

Check network buffers 'netstat -m'.  If peak equals max, you should bump
up the amount of memory set aside for network buffers.  See 'man 7
tuning' for information about increasing network buffers.

Check your logs(e.g. /var/log/messages) for any interesting
messages&hints... maybe something related to rl0 losing connectivity,
buffer space, etc.

You might also want to try swapping out the nic.  RealTek nics are
fairly inexpensive.

good luck,
  greg