LAN connection speed

[Kevin (Gonzo) Bushman]

OK. I hate to start another thread on this, I've done searches here and tried all the things I can think of to resolve this myself. The problem is I'm getting conflicting info from my system and slow FTP's to/from this box - even to another 11.11 box on the same segment!

This is an 11.11 box with igelan, 1GB cards. The card in question is set to 1GB, auto (verified manually via sam). I verified the switch is set the same. However...

FTP's out of the box seem to not be able to exceed about 9-9.5MB/sec, which is why I started looking at this config.

/etc/rc.config/hpigelanconf looks like this (the end of it anyway):

HP_IGELAN_INTERFACE_NAME[0]=lan1
HP_IGELAN_STATION_ADDRESS[0]=
HP_IGELAN_SPEED[0]=auto_on
HP_IGELAN_MTU[0]=1500
HP_IGELAN_FLOW_CONTROL[0]=1
HP_IGELAN_AUTONEG[0]=
HP_IGELAN_SEND_COAL_TICKS[0]=150
HP_IGELAN_RECV_COAL_TICKS[0]=0
HP_IGELAN_SEND_MAX_BUFS[0]=10
HP_IGELAN_RECV_MAX_BUFS[0]=1

Which supports that it's set to auto.

Now here's where I get conflicting info. I've verified that it is PPA 0, so, lanadmin gives me this:

#lanadmin -g 0 | grep -i speed
Speed = 10000000

or 10MB, while lanadmin -x 0 tells me this:

#lanadmin -x 0
Current Config = NO LINK AUTONEG

I've verified that it is lan1 that I'm referring to here:

#ifconfig lan1
lan1: flags=1843
inet ZZ.XX.90.3 netmask ffffff00 broadcast ZZ.XX.90.255

and lan1 is PPA 0 b/c if I go into lanadmin interactively and ask what ppa number I'm working with it tells me it's ppa 0:

#lanadmin lan1

LOCAL AREA NETWORK ONLINE ADMINISTRATION, Version 1.0
Mon, Nov 22,2010 16:00:56
.
.
.
Test Selection mode.

lan = LAN Interface Administration
menu = Display this menu
quit = Terminate the Administration
terse = Do not display command menu
verbose = Display command menu

Enter command: lan

LAN Interface test mode. LAN Interface PPA Number = 0

If it helps, lanadmin -g also tells me:

Administration Status (value) = up(1)
Operation Status (value) = down(2)

Which I also find interesting. Why does the Operation Status report down when this is a working NIC as verified with ifconfig above?

So, why on one hand do I get 10M, on another the current config says no_link all while this is the NIC we're using (i.e., it's running and the IP address is correct)?

From this, I understand why my FTP's are slow - we've got 1GB cards running at only 10MB. So, what do I have to do to get this to work at 1GB as it should? What am I missing here? We have some BIG FTP's coming up and 12-18 hours per file for 8-10 files is not going to work very well...

TIA - points will be given.

-Gonzo

[Patrick Wallek]

What does 'lanscan' show?

>>and lan1 is PPA 0 b/c if I go into lanadmin interactively and ask what ppa number I'm working with it tells me it's ppa 0:

That doesn't necessarily mean anything. I think lanadmin defaults to '0'. What happens if you change the PPA to 1?

What does 'lanadmin -x 1' show?

[Shibin_2]

Can you provide the output of netstat -in and lanscan?


>> LAN Interface test mode. LAN Interface PPA Number = 0

This is the default value you are getting. It is not correct one.

To get / check correct value,

lanadmin

lan

ppa ( default will be 0 )

enter 0 and then enter display.

After that, enter 1 and display.

Now, you will see the difference.

[Kevin (Gonzo) Bushman]

Then what's the point in providing the NIC instance on the command line (lanadmin lan1) if it's going to go to PPA 0 anyway?

Output requested below:

lanscan
Hardware Station Crd Hdw Net-Interface NM MAC HP-DLPI DLPI
Path Address In# State NamePPA ID Type Support Mjr#
0/0/0/1/0 0x00306E4AA466 0 UP lan0 snap0 1 ETHER Yes 119
0/0/6/0/0 0x00306EE90F20 1 UP lan1 snap1 2 ETHER Yes 119
0/0/12/0/0 0x00306EE91F96 2 UP lan2 snap2 3 ETHER Yes 119
michigan: / #lanadmin -x 1
Speed = 1000 Full-Duplex.
Autonegotiation = On.

michigan: / #netstat -in
Name Mtu Network Address Ipkts Ierrs Opkts Oerrs Coll
lan1 1500 XX.ZZ.90.0 XX.ZZ.90.2 665421112 0 378822864 0 0
lan0* 1500 192.168.0.0 192.168.0.1 0 0 0 0 0
lo0 4136 127.0.0.0 127.0.0.1 2328307 0 2328308 0 0

And you're both right. Once I told it to look at PPA 0, it shows it's at 1GB.

Which leaves my question, why are my FTP's so slown then? I even tried (to test) an FTP over the weekend when the system was all but idle. (CPU at about 10%, I/O at 15-20%, etc.).

Thoughts?

[Kevin (Gonzo) Bushman]

Forgot to add, the tests with the system all but idle showed no increase in speed. So what's misconfigured then?

As for the output, in a different format directly from lanadmin for PPA 1:

Enter command: display

LAN INTERFACE STATUS DISPLAY
Mon, Nov 22,2010 17:10:58

PPA Number = 1
Description = lan1 HP PCI 1000Base-T Release B.11.11.27
Type (value) = ethernet-csmacd(6)
MTU Size = 1500
Speed = 1000000000
Station Address = 0x306ee90f20
Administration Status (value) = up(1)
Operation Status (value) = up(1)
Last Change = 1767133580
Inbound Octets = 3600354776
Inbound Unicast Packets = 1690392766
Inbound Non-Unicast Packets = 27167709
Inbound Discards = 0
Inbound Errors = 0
Inbound Unknown Protocols = 367
Outbound Octets = 893144508
Outbound Unicast Packets = 1411935800
Outbound Non-Unicast Packets = 2444898
Outbound Discards = 12106
Outbound Errors = 0
Outbound Queue Length = 0
Specific = 655367

Ethernet-like Statistics Group

Index = 2
Alignment Errors = 0
FCS Errors = 0
Single Collision Frames = 0
Multiple Collision Frames = 0
Deferred Transmissions = 0
Late Collisions = 0
Excessive Collisions = 0
Internal MAC Transmit Errors = 0
Carrier Sense Errors = 0
Frames Too Long = 0
Internal MAC Receive Errors = 0

[Shibin_2]

>> Then what's the point in providing the NIC instance on the command line (lanadmin lan1) if it's going to go to PPA 0 anyway?

lanadmin without options won't accept PPA. It simply execute lanamdin.

If you execute lanadmin -x , it accepts the whole part. Where as if you simply give lanadmin lan1, it avoid the last part.

>> why are my FTP's so slown then?

Now you know your LAN card speed is correct and there is no problem.

Is this FTP from other server or PC ? Have you checked the routing and access points to see any packet drops?

[TwoProc]

Simple answer: avoid "auto".

Set both the network port on your switch to full duplex, and do the same on your server. This will, in all probability clear up your problem right away.

Granted, it *could* be something else - but I've seen this problem lots of times on my servers (probably half a dozen or so), and setting everything to full duplex on both sides always clears it up.

In fact, for the last several years, its a required step in setup, and we've not seen the problem recur since.

[Patrick Wallek]

>>Simple answer: avoid "auto".

You can't with Gigabit NICs. HP-UX will not allow you to set the speed at 1000 FD on a Gb NIC. In order to achieve Gb speed, it must be set to AUTO.

[rick jones]

Start minimizing variables. For example, take disc and filesystem completely out of the picture by running a netperf TCP_STREAM test between the two systems.

Also, while it may not use HP-UX syntax, the attached is some of the things I look at when looking to diagnose performance issues.

[Keith Jahn]

Two software things to try. You can get chronic perfomance from ftp with large block sizes.

1) Try ftp with a small block size
ftp -B 1

2) Lower the block size on your ftp daemon in inetd.conf .

ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/lbin/ftpd ftpd -B 32 -l



A couple of network hardware item to check.

1) Auto-negotiation or not any re-plugging of LAN cables with the power up can cause slow paths across a switch. A cold start of network then servers can clear this issue.

2) If any network component in the data patch has "Jumbo Packets" enabled this can be a performace disaster for ftp. It is a particular problem in mixed manufacturer networks (e.g. HP and Cisco).