Poor send performance on DL380G5 with NC373i

[Suzanne Knott]

We are experiencing very slow performance on our new DL380 G5 server but only when the server is sending data. Receive times are comparable or faster than other servers on the network. When sending a 40MB file from this server the time estimate is over 120 mins while the same file sends from another server in just over 1.5 mins.
When testing copying to an external drive via USB the server has no problem so it appears to be a NIC issue.
We have updated the driver and are on boot version 1.9.6... We have switched NIC's, cables and ports, adjusted speed from Auto to 100MB/full, disabled RSS and offload....
Any other ideas? This is a critical database server for us and we purchased the new server to improve performance. The server is running Server 2003 sp2. I would appreciate any ideas

[Kedd Guyton]

Are any errors shown for NIC transmit in the SMH (System Management Homepage) or NCU (Network Configuration Utility)?

[Suzanne Knott]

Thank you both for your replies....we did ensure that our firmware and nic drivers were all up to date.
We have an open ticket now with HP and they are sending us a system board as they suspect a corrupt chip set.
I had tried running and then re-installing the HP support pack in order to run some diagnostics but even that would not interface properly with various components on the system. In fact, when I tried to uninstall the NIC driver to re-install a Broadcom version rather than HP it blue screened the machine....
So we will try the new board this week and hope that it really is the culprit..
Thanks for your input.

[Kedd Guyton]

From your description, it really does sound like replacing the system board will be the fix.

[ngon bui (Norman)]

we got a same issue but an able to identify the issue yet. We also found, the arp table on the switch has multiple MAC for this server (NIC). Those MACs confuse the traffic between other server to this as versa. This happened to 3 of 7 DL380 G5 we rebuilt. Any idea? The OS is WIN2K3 SP2.

[James ~ Happy Dude]

Hello,
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00806547

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00806549

Regards,
James.

[Suzanne Knott]

It definitely seems to be an issue with these Broadcom cards and the TOE (TCP Offload Engine). When this is turned off (must be done from command line) the file copy speed immediately returns to normal. (Changing the system board had no impact).
Problem with this solution is that the TOE is designed to enhance processor performance so I'm wondering what we are losing by turning it off. I don't believe this to be an issue with the Intel chip set as we don't experience this issue with other older DL servers running Server 2003 sp2.
I am continuing to follow up with HP on this issue as I cannot trust this server to put it back into production as service packs and windows updates can potentially enable TOE...When you turn off TOE at the command line, the Network Utility Configuration tool continues to show that it is enabled...go figure!
The other frustrating part is that HP has obviously known about this issue for some time and has never mentioned it in all of the communication and tickets that we have had open with them...
Thanks for all of the input...nice to know we are not the only ones experiencing this...

[DavidaPerry]

How exactly do you disable TOE from the command prompt?

What do I type? I have a DL380 G5 and I am having problems with TOE. I cannot map drives over a PTP circuit and I think TOE is the issue.

Is it true that the network configuration utility does not work to do this?

Thanks.

[Suzanne Knott]

I used the command for Server 2003 which is:
Netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED

I did not have any luck finding a spot to disable this in the Network Utility (neither did the HP technician that was on site). Also, even after using the command line command, the Network Utility still showed the TOE as enabled (even after repeated reboots)...although the send performance improved immediately.
It all seemed a little flaky to me....I have advised HP that we are not satisfied with this as a solution as the TOE does not seem to be stable in the DISABLED setting.
I would appreciate it if you posted whether or not this command works for you in your situation. Thanks,

[DavidaPerry]

I tried the command from the command prompt:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>netsh int ip set chimney DISABLED

But I got the following error:
The following command was not found: int ip set chimney DISABLED

Do I need to substitute for INT or IP?

Thanks.