Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1998 17:20:09 -0500 (EST) From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@hotjobs.com> To: Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> Cc: stable@FreeBSD.ORG, current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Looking for feedback on xl (3c905/3c905B) driver Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.980829171012.8441A-100000@bright.fx.genx.net> In-Reply-To: <199808291730.NAA00918@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu>
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works BEAUTIFULLY from a user standpoint, only odd thing is that when i
enable a bpfilter program, trafshow/tcpdump it sorta locks up all my
processes for a second. it's odd in X as i can movei my mouse, but things
like x11amp (linux emulation) lock up for a good 2-3 seconds, then all is
well until the program "detaches" from the bpf:
releveant info (i hope):
dmesg:
xl0: <3Com 3c905B Fast Etherlink XL 10/100BaseTX> rev 0x24 int a irq 3 on
pci0.1 5.0
ifconfig:
xl0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 206.64.4.154 netmask 0xffffffc0 broadcast 206.64.4.191
ether 00:10:4b:98:fa:3b
media: autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)
supported media: autoselect 100baseTX <full-duplex> 100baseTX
<half-duplex> 100baseTX 10baseT/UTP <full-duplex> 10baseT/UTP
<half-duplex> 10baseT/UTP
i have IPFIREWALL, IPVERBOSE compiled into my kernel
as well as other odd things: POSIX options, DEVFS and SLICE
after an uptime of 23 hours (i downed the machine myself)
a netstat -m shows:
48/160 mbufs in use:
34 mbufs allocated to data
14 mbufs allocated to packet headers
25/50/1312 mbuf clusters in use (current/peak/max)
120 Kbytes allocated to network (46% in use)
0 requests for memory denied
0 requests for memory delayed
0 calls to protocol drain routines
note that the machine is not heavily loaded, but it survived a gmake -j in
the wine directory recently (was unresponcive for a good 5-10 minutes, but
then came back) although that is not network related.
network "stuff" being used: NFS, remote X, dns and your usual www/ftp/etc.
not i can get over 9megs/second over NFS, it looks REALLY good.
only concern is the odd behavior with bpfilter.
sorry i don't have more exotic stuff to show such as multicast or whatnot.
btw, if i set my mtu higher you think i'll get more performance?
thank you again for the driver,
Alfred Perlstein - Programmer, HotJobs Inc. - www.hotjobs.com
-- There are operating systems, and then there's FreeBSD.
-- http://www.freebsd.org/ 3.0-current
On Sat, 29 Aug 1998, Bill Paul wrote:
> Okay people, it's been some time since I put the xl0 driver in -current
> and -stable. I need to know if people are having problems with the driver
> or not. So far I've gotten startlingly little feedback. This either means
> that it's working so well that nobody has had any trouble with it, or
> you guys are all just slackers and are too lazy to speak up.
>
> Basically I'm looking for as many success or failure reports as possible.
> If you're having trouble with the driver and you don't tell me about it,
> I can't help you, so speak up. If you're not having trouble and it's
> working well, I'd like to know that too.
>
> Here are some things I'd like to know:
>
> - What kind of adapter you have. Note that a 3c905-TX is NOT THE SAME
> as a 3c905B-TX. (See the 'B'? It makes a difference.) Double and triple
> check the model. Don't tell me you have a 3c905B when you actually only
> have a 3c905. If you want to be really nice, do 'dmesg | grep xl' and
> show me the output.
> - The driver version you're using. If you obtained the driver by
> cvsup'ing -current or -stable, then you have the latest one. If you
> downloaded the driver from www.freebsd.org/~wpaul/3Com within the
> last week, then you also have the latest one. If you're not sure,
> show me the rcsid strings from if_xl.c and if_xlreg.h.
> - Does the driver detect all of the adapter's media types correctly?
> - Is the system stable? Have you had problems with kernel panics since
> you started using the driver? Is mbuf usage normal or does it look
> like there's an mbuf leak? (use netstat -m to monitor mbuf usage)
> - Type of system (CPU type/speed). Are you using a slower system like
> a 486 or older Pentium (P75, P90, P1xx, etc...)? If so, are there
> problems with performance? Are you using SCSI disks or IDE disks?
> - Type of network to which the adapter is attached. Are you using a
> hub? A switch? Crossover cable to another machine? Coax? AUI? If a hub,
> are there lots of hosts on the same segment?
> - How many adapters in the system.
> - How heavily loaded is the system. Is this just a personal machine
> with occasional network traffic or is it a heavily used server?
> (http, FTP, NFS, login shell box, etc...) Is it a router?
> - Observed performance. Does the adapter/driver work well under load?
> Does the adapter lock up or otherwise misbehave under high-load
> conditions? Are there lots of input or output errors? (use netstat -in
> to check) Do you ever have to ifconfig down and ifconfig up the adapter
> to reset it?
> - 'Out of buffers' problems. Does the 'OACTIVE' flag ever show up when
> you do 'ifconfig xl0'?
> - Unusual error messages. Are there any diagnostics generated by the
> driver that don't look normal? (timeouts, transmission errors, etc...)
> - Multicast operation. Is the adapter receiving all the multicast
> frames that it should? (Note that the 3c905B adapters have a hash
> filter whereas the 3c900 and 3c905 adapters have only a 'receive all
> multicast frames' mode, so reports about the 3c905B are more useful.)
> - Unusual configurations. Are you using firewalling? Network address
> translation? Proxy ARP? IP aliases? Shitloads of IP aliases? Do you
> have Lose95/98/NT installed on your machine along with FreeBSD?
> Do you have problems warm booting from Lose95/98/NT to FreeBSD?
> (Adapter not probed, adapter not reset correctly after warm boot...)
> - Benchmarks. Have you compared the xl driver's performance against
> any others? What were the numbers? What benchmarks did you use?
> Was performace good? Bad? Ugly?
>
> Here are some things I don't want to hear:
>
> - "I saw some error but I forgot it, and I didn't write it down. Does
> this help?"
> - "I saw somewhere you were interested in information about 3c905
> performance with FreeBSD. What exactly do you need to know?"
> - "I can give you the information you want, but I wanted to send you a
> short note first just to see if you were really interested."
> - "You can use Internet Explorer to find out more information about
> 3Com products by going to www.3Com.com..."
> - "Well, I'm having some trouble, but I don't have time to give you
> the details as I'm just about to leave for the airport and fly to
> some remote part of deepest, darkest Africa to start a tour with the
> Red Cross, and I won't be able to use my computer again for about
> three years. But I can try to give you more information when I get
> back. Is that okay?"
> - "It works just fine with Windows!"
> - "It works just fine with Linux!"
> - "I can't help you with this 3Com thing, but do you have a driver for
> the Gronkulator 2000 board? I've got, like, 20 of them and they only
> cost, like, $5 each."
> - "D00d, got any war3z?"
> - "Are you being investigated?"
> - "How do I get FreeBSD? I have Windows 98 and the Internet; will it
> work with that?"
>
> So speak up everyone. Send your cards and letters to
> wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu. Operators are standing by.
>
> -Bill
>
> --
> =============================================================================
> -Bill Paul (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu
> Work: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research
> Home: wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City
> =============================================================================
> "It is not I who am crazy; it is I who am mad!" - Ren Hoek, "Space Madness"
> =============================================================================
>
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