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Date:      Tue, 9 Mar 2010 14:12:40 -0800
From:      Pyun YongHyeon <pyunyh@gmail.com>
To:        Ian FREISLICH <ianf@clue.co.za>
Cc:        current@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: dev.bce.X.com_no_buffers increasing and packet loss
Message-ID:  <20100309221240.GR1311@michelle.cdnetworks.com>
In-Reply-To: <E1Np7Ok-000Gpl-FE@clue.co.za>
References:  <20100305210435.GF14818@michelle.cdnetworks.com> <20100305184046.GD14818@michelle.cdnetworks.com> <20100305175639.GB14818@michelle.cdnetworks.com> <E1NnVaT-0003Ft-3p@clue.co.za> <E1Nnc4d-0003mB-6e@clue.co.za> <E1Nne0Q-0003uZ-OR@clue.co.za> <E1Nnesz-00040L-AQ@clue.co.za> <E1NoeCu-0006P9-12@clue.co.za> <E1NozXP-000GGH-T9@clue.co.za> <E1Np7Ok-000Gpl-FE@clue.co.za>

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On Tue, Mar 09, 2010 at 11:55:30PM +0200, Ian FREISLICH wrote:
> Pyun YongHyeon wrote:
> > On Tue, Mar 09, 2010 at 03:31:55PM +0200, Ian FREISLICH wrote:
> > > Can you explain the tunables please - I'm guessing it's these:
> 
> I think I asked the wrong question.  What is a "Quick BD Chain"?

I don't know why Broadocom uses 'Quick'. It's a just buffer
descriptor chain for TX/RX.

> What relation should this number have to traffic rate.  Is there a
> maximum and what are reasonable numbers for setting this to?
> 

The maximum BD chain would be number of configured TX/RX descriptors.
And 1 would be minimum value as you have to want to get status block
for each TX/RX. Finding best value may depend on specific load.

> I set the RX as high as 512 in 64 quanta but it made little difference
> to the interrupt rate.  At times where we experience the packet
> loss and com_no_buffers increases, the interrupt rate on between 1
> and 3 of the 4 bce interfaces fell from about 3200/s to 130/s.
> 

BD chain is just one of parameters. bce(4) controllers also provide
more advanced features that fine control interrupt moderation(TX/RX
ticks). It's hard to explain all the details so you may want to
read public data sheet of bce(4).
http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pg/NetXtremeII-PG203-R.pdf
See host coalescing registers(page 484).

> We're wondering if the switches we're using could be causing this
> problem - they're Dell PowerConnect 5448.  I've seen complaints of
> random packet loss caused by these switches on the Internet.  We
> have some new H3C 5100 series switches which we're planning on
> swapping for the Dells tomorrow to see if it makes a difference.
> 

Not sure but it does not explain increasing
dev.bce.X.com_no_buffers counter.

> Ian
> 
> --
> Ian Freislich



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