DL380G5 with HP NC510C losing connection

[Antoine Baumann]

Hi, we have a HP AiO1200r with one NC510C, running on windows storage server 2003 Standard Edition, Service Pack 2, R2. It is loaded with 4GB or ram and has the PAE, it also has a smart array P800 controller.

We are experimenting a similar problem, may be not exactly same issue: we are not getting the "network cable is unpluged" icon&message, but the 10gig card is loosing connection every two hours or so. When we disable it and enable it back, it works fine again for a couple of hours.
Now we have switched back to the gigabit inboard card, because we have to work, but we really need this 10gig to work. Any a update of info would be much appreciate. Thanks,
antoine.

PS: we have contacted HP support, but no solution for now.

[Rich Bryant]

Please tell me someone has found a solution to this. I've been pulling my hair(only a little left) out with this problem. Now I found out I'm not the only one? I've replaced NIC cards, cables, servers, rebuilt OS and all the time it could be firmware. I feel like Florida Evans when James died.

[Antoine Baumann]

Hi Rich,

Well first sorry I thought I had posted the "next step to our story".
So after a few try to tweak the gigabit settings without any success, HP sent a new NC510C (note that it was the second time we were going to replace it, as the first card didn't even start), but they said it is the latest build version of this gigbit card. We tried out and since we replaced it, the connectino hasn't been lost. That is nearly one month ago.

antoine baumann

[Rich Bryant]

Problem resolved. I seen this on a sister thread.

HP NC510C losing connection

http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=1244786

The problem is the NIC doesn't function properly with >32GB RAM in the system, in my case Windows 2003 server x64, Proliant DL380G5. My server had exactly 32GB of ram. I took it down to 24GB of ram and it worked like a charm. Took it back to 32GB of ram and the connection started dropping again. The problem is with the NC510C (NetXen rebranded NIC)working in servers having more than 32GB of ram. Go figure.

[rick jones]

Ah, _that_ problem. I'd internalized that one so long ago id didn't even occur to me :( Sorry.

Not that it helps, but the RAM limit for the NC510 is higher under Linux.

Also, there is another "standup" PCIe 10G NIC on the HP CPL - the AD386A. It is there for HP-UX/Integrity systems but has been known to work under Linux/ProLiant. I cannot say if it has been tried under Windows/Proliant.

Of course that would all fall under:

Supported, known to work -> warm fuzzies all around
Supported, not known to not work -> an HPite may be in trouble
Supported, known to not work -> an HPite is in trouble
Unsupported, known to work -> lucky today, unlucky tomorrow?
Unsupported, not known to not work -> there but for the grace of Turing
Unsupported, known to not work -> no, it was not deliberate ;-)

Under Linux the card is driven by the cxgb3 driver - at its heart the card has a Chelsio T3C chip.

[KarloChacon]

hi guys

I know this kind old thread but..

I got Dl380 g5 - NC510C
When files transmitting files like 10 - 15 GB size it takes long time to transmit the files almost 3 minutes

latest driver - firmware same issue

these are the NIC values

802.1p QoS Packet Tagging = 0
Maximum Frame Size = 8014 Bytes
Flow Control = 1
Tx IP Checksum Offload = 1
Rx IP Checksum Offload = 1
Tx TCP Checksum Offload = 1
Rx TCP Checksum Offload = 1
Large Send Offload = 0
Number of Tx Descriptors = 1024
Number of Rx Descriptors = 8192
Number of Rx Descriptors (Jumbo) = 4096
TaskOffloadLSOMaxOffloadSize = 64000
TaskOffloadLSOMinSegmentCount = 2
TaskOffloadLSOIPOptions = 0
TaskOffloadLSOTCPOptions = 1
TaskOffloadChecksumIPv4TxIPOptions = 0
TaskOffloadChecksumIPv4RxIPOptions = 0
TaskOffloadChecksumIPv4TxTCPOptions = 0
TaskOffloadChecksumIPv4RxTCPOptions = 0
Receive-Side Scaling = 0


any idea what could it be?
is there any table performance comparison to check if my NIC is OK? I mean maybe you guys are getting same time like

thanks a lot

[KarloChacon]

sorry I forgot to add W2003 x64 bits

[Rich Bryant]

Windows 2003 SP2? is the SP2 slipstreamed or did you add it after? The reason I'm asking is becuase SP2 has the Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) that slows the nic down significantly. If it's slipstreamed like mine was I couldn't disable it. I had re-installed Win2k3 SP1 I think if you installed SP2 manual you can disable the SNP. Google it.

[KarloChacon]

Rich interesting I will check that out

[sgadsby_1]

vivpau,

I am looking to deploy a similar solution on same hardware with Datacore SANmelody & wondered whether you could expand on the CPU issue & performance you were seeing.

Is your 10GbE NIC now stable? Are you getting good iSCSI performance? Has your CPU utilisation settled down? Are you running ESX/Xen on it at all?

This may be a bit off topic so if so let's start a new thread.

Thanks,
Simon.