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Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

 
Projektron
Visitor

Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi *,

we are using two E4204vl (J8770A) with VLAN settings for iSCSI traffic to a separated storage LAN.

This works quite well until we've experimented with Jumbo frames (MTU 9000).

We've set the storage system and servers to this MTU, but then nothing works anymore and I get a lot of messages in the switch saying:

---

Too Many Undersized/Giant Packets on port C2

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I read that the E4204 should support jumbo frames, but found no further informations.

 

Any ideas?

 

Thanks

7 REPLIES 7
Helper
Valued Contributor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi,

 

Regarding your message :

"A port receiving frames exceeding the applicable MTU drops such frames, causing the switch to generate an Event Log message and increment the тАЬGiant RxтАЭ counter (displayed by show interfaces < port-list >)."

 

"A non-jumbo port is generating тАЬExcessive undersize/giant framesтАЭ messages in the Event Log."

 

Have you enabled jumbo frame support ?

show vlan

show vlan <vid>

show vlan ports <portlist>

show jumbo

 

to activate it :

vlan <vid> jumbo

jumbo max-frame-size <1512-9216> (9216 default)

jumbo ip-mtu <1500-9198> (9198 default, This value must be 18 bytes less than the value of max-frame-size.)

 

Jumbo feature are some requirements take a look at your Management and configuration guide, looking for jumbo keyword.

 

For example with K.xx firmware products (3500, 6200, 6600, 5400, 8200) :

You can enable inbound jumbo frames on a per-VLAN basis. That is, on a VLAN configured for jumbo traffic, all ports belonging to that VLAN and operating at a minimum of 10 Mbps on the ProCurve 3500 switches and 1 Gbps on the other switches covered in this guide allow inbound jumbo frames of up to 9220 bytes.

 

The maximum Jumbo frame size is 9220 bytes. (This size includes 4 bytes for the VLAN tag.)

 

All ports belonging to a jumbo and operating at 1 Gbps or higher can receive jumbo frames from external devices.

 

GVRP Operation: A VLAN enabled for jumbo traffic cannot be used to create a dynamic VLAN. A port belonging to a statically configured, jumbo-enabled VLAN cannot join a dynamic VLAN.

 

 

And much more : Operating Notes for Jumbo Traffic-Handling
тЦа
ProCurve does not recommend configuring a voice VLAN to accept jumbo frames. Voice VLAN frames are typically small, and allowing a voice VLAN to accept jumbo frame traffic can degrade the voice transmission performance.
тЦа
You can configure the default, primary, and/or (if configured) the management VLAN to accept jumbo frames on all ports belonging to the VLAN.

the port is receiving тАЬexcessiveтАЭ inbound jumbo traffic, the port generates an Event Log message to notify you of this condition. This same condition generates a Fault-Finder message in the Alert log of the WebAgent and also increments the switchтАЩs тАЬGiant RxтАЭ counter.
тЦа
If you do not want all ports in a given VLAN to accept jumbo frames, you can consider creating one or more jumbo VLANs with a membership comprised of only the ports you want to receive jumbo traffic. Because a port belonging to one jumbo-enabled VLAN can receive jumbo frames through any VLAN to which it belongs, this method enables you to include both jumbo-enabled and non-jumbo ports within the same VLAN. For example, suppose you wanted to allow inbound jumbo frames only on ports 6, 7, 12, and 13. However, these ports are spread across VLAN 100 and VLAN 200, and also share these VLANs with other ports you want excluded from jumbo traffic. A solution is to create a third VLAN with the sole purpose of enabling jumbo traffic on the desired ports, while leaving the other ports on the switch disabled for jumbo traffic. That is:
VLAN 100 VLAN 200 VLAN 300
Ports 6-10 11-15 6, 7, 12, and 13
Jumbo-No No Yes Enabled?
If there are security concerns with grouping the ports as shown for VLAN 300, you can either use source-port filtering to block unwanted traffic paths or create separate jumbo VLANs, one for ports 6 and 7, and another for ports 12 and 13.
тЦа Outbound Jumbo Traffic. Any port operating at 1 Gbps or higher can transmit outbound jumbo frames through any VLAN, regardless of the jumbo configuration. The VLAN is not required to be jumbo-enabled, and the port is not required to belong to any other, jumbo enabled VLANs. This can occur in situations where a non-jumbo VLAN includes some ports thatdo not belong to another, jumbo-enabled VLAN and some ports that do belong to another, jumbo-enabled VLAN. In this case, ports capable of receiving jumbo frames can forward them to the ports in the VLAN that do not have jumbo capability.
Jumbo
-Enabled VLAN VLAN 10 Non-Jumbo VLAN VLAN 20 Port 3 belongs to both VLAN 10 and VLAN 20. Jumbo frames received inbound on port 3 can be forwarded out the Non-Jumbo ports 4, 5, and 6. 1 52 3 4 6
Figure 13-14. Forwarding Jumbo Frames Through Non-Jumbo Ports
Jumbo frames can also be forwarded out non-jumbo ports when the jumbo frames received inbound on a jumbo-enabled VLAN are routed to another, non-jumbo VLAN for outbound transmission on ports that have no memberships in other, jumbo-capable VLANs. Where either of the above scenarios is a possibility, the downstream device must be configured to accept the jumbo traffic. Otherwise, this traffic will be dropped by the downstream device.
тЦа Jumbo Traffic in a Switch Mesh Domain. Note that if a switch belongs to a meshed domain, but does not have any VLANs configured to support jumbo traffic, then the meshed ports on that switch will drop any jumbo frames they receive from other devices. In this regard, if a mesh domain includes any ProCurve 1600M/2400M/2424M/4000M/8000M switches along with the switches covered in this guide configured to support jumbo traffic, only the switches covered in this guide will receive jumbo frames. The other switch models in the mesh will drop such frames. For more information on switch meshing, refer to the chapter titled тАЬSwitch MeshingтАЭ in the Advanced Traffic Management Guide for your switch.

 

 

 

Bye,

Projektron
Visitor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi Helper,

thanks for that advice, but the commands dont work:

Invalid input: jumbo

- vlan <vid> jumbo
switch-core01(config)# vlan 5 jumbo
Invalid input: jumbo

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Matthias

Helper
Valued Contributor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

What is your firmware ? The latest GA code is L.11.24. If you contact the technical Support, they could provide us new versions.
Projektron
Visitor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

We have not the latest .24 but the previous, .20.
Helper
Valued Contributor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi,

 

I have check an old document Switch feature matrix. And it seems that 4204vl are not compatible with Jumbo frames.

 

So if the frame is bigger than 1512Bytes, then the switch will drop it be with the relevant message already mentionned.

"Too Many Undersized/Giant Packets"

 

 

Sorry, the best way would be to contact HPN Support Team.

arnuschky
Occasional Visitor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi,

 

we are having exactly the same problem with our 4208vl. According to the release notes of firmware version L.11.24, this switch should support jumbo frames. Unfortunately, we cannot select the the jumbo frame feature for the VLAN. Actually none of the commands regarding the VLAN configuration as described in the release notes work...

 

Thus, I am having exactly the same problem as 'Projektron'.

 

@CONTI_1: You are right, the switch did not support this initially, but as you said, you've checked an old document. With the new firmware L.11.24 this switch should support jumbo frames.

 

Arnuschky

 

Arimo
Respected Contributor

Re: Problems with Jumbo Frames on E4204vl (J8770A)

Hi all

 

The Management and Configuration Guide talks about Jumbo frames, but only in connection to 3400- and 6400-switches. The Release Notes do mention Jumbo under L.11.08 enhancements, but the enhancement itself is not enabling Jumbo support. The enhancment is adding "show vlan ports detail" command. In a switch which supports Jumbo frames, this command output would indicate whether or not Jumbo support is enabled on that VLAN.

 

So unfortunately no, 4200 doesn't support Jumbo frames.

 


HTH,

Arimo
HPE Networking Engineer