[DRBD-user] DRBD serious locking due to TOE - RESULT

Ben Clewett ben at roadrunner.uk.com
Fri Dec 14 21:29:30 CET 2007

Note: "permalinks" may not be as permanent as we would like,
direct links of old sources may well be a few messages off.



Florian and Dr J Pelan,

I managed to get the correct software to upgrade the firmware on my 
NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-SX network cards.

The only thing it changed was the iSCSI, from 1.0.0 to 1.1.8.

This seems to have fixed the problem.  The load is predictable and no 
DRBD locking has been seen so far.  The problem seems to have been solved.

Therefore I would strongly advise any member with a similar network card 
to upgrade.  Although just a warning for anybody with the HP version (HP 
NC*), the script says no reboot is needed.  Please ignore this and 
re-boot after upgrading.

Thanks for all your help,

Regards,

Ben Clewett.


Ben Clewett wrote:
> 
> 
> Florian,
> 
> Thanks for the advise.
> 
>  > - You mention "NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-SX" cards.
>  >   2. I believe the chipset identifier you mentioned is wrong, should
>  > be "BCM5708S". Whether or not these differ greatly from their copper 
> sibling
> 
> 'dmesg' is telling me  it is BCM5708.  I don't know how reliable that is.
> 
> Also I am not using SELinux.
> 
> My efforts to upgrade the Firmware are going slowly.  HP label my 
> 'Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-SX' as an 'HP NC373F 1000SX'. 
> They offer a tool to take this to version 2.0.9 from 2007-11-03.   But 
> the upgrade software tells me I don't have an 'HP NC*' installed, which 
> is a little confusing.
> 
> When I have worked it out, I will let you know if this has sorted the 
> problem.
> 
> Ben Clewett.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Florian Haas wrote:
>> Ben,
>>
>> On Friday 14 December 2007 16:09:44 Ben Clewett wrote:
>>> Hi Dr J Pelan,
>>>
>>> My name sake Ben Lavender solved his similar problem by entirely
>>> disabling ToE, by removing a form of jumper on the NIC PCB.
>>>
>>> I am still trying the fix Florian suggested.  However this has made no
>>> difference yet.
>>>
>>> Since I have the same chip set as Ben, all be it on a different NIC, I
>>> think this suggests some bug on the NIC card firmware.  (Since DELL
>>> actually added a jumper to their NIC to disable ToE, it might suggest
>>> they are worried about it's effect on the NIC, despite the drivers used.
>>>   But on the from HP version...)
>>
>> OK, if you are really suspecting a hardware issue, and before you 
>> accidentally run off on an irrelevant tangent, try to establish 
>> whether Ben Lavender's issue really applies to you. Maybe he can jump 
>> in on this if he's still monitoring the list. A few things that come 
>> to mind:
>>
>> - Ben mentiones "onboard Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet NICs" in his 
>> August/September thread. I don't think he ever mentioned his actual 
>> chipset, or even whether he's using the bnx2 or the old tg3 driver.
>>
>> - You mention "NetXtreme II BCM5708 1000Base-SX" cards.
>>   1. This is a FO card, not a copper interface like Ben's.
>>   2. I believe the chipset identifier you mentioned is wrong, should 
>> be "BCM5708S". Whether or not these differ greatly from their copper 
>> sibling in chipset terms I don't know.
>>   3. I know of at least a revision 11 and 12 I've seen of that chipset 
>> recently, so find out what revision your hardware is and attempt to 
>> correlate with Ben's.
>>
>> - Ben's system ran with SELinux enabled, I don't know if yours does.
>>
>>> There is a new version of the firmware out there which I have just
>>> found, so this must be my next option....
>>
>> Possibly, but as I said be warned not to draw premature conclusions 
>> from similarities to an earlier issue someone mentioned on this list, 
>> whose circumstances may or may not match yours. YMMV. Please share 
>> your results.
>>
>> Florian
>>
> 
> 
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This e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended
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content in this message is not necessarily a view or statement from Road
Tech Computer Systems Limited but is that of the individual sender. If
you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received
this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding,
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no warranty is given that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free.
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  Road Tech Computer Systems Ltd. Shenley Hall, Rectory Lane, Shenley,
  Radlett, Hertfordshire, WD7 9AN. - VAT Registration No GB 449 3582 17
  Registered in England No: 02017435, Registered Address: Charter Court, 
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