"NO BUFFERS" value on NC553i NIC stats increasing

[Tobie AMSA]

We are running SAP ERP 6.0 on an RX8640 with HP-UX 11.31 and Oracle 10.2.0.2.0 as database server and HP BL460c G7 X5670 blades on Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise x64 as application servers. We have noted a sudden drop in SAPGUI response times on the application servers after the application servers have been up and running for about 4 to 5 hours.

On the BL460c blades we have noticed a steady increase of the "NO BUFFERS" value on the Advanced Adapter Statistics of the network card (NC553i). This is happening on all the application servers. (These exact same application servers were connected to another database server HP-UX Superdome 11.11 without this problem occuring). We suspect the problem could be located on the database server (AD337-60001 network card).

What is the reason for the "NO BUFFERS" value rising? Is there a way to trace the source of the problem? What can I do to fix the problem? We have already tried to increase the value of "RECEIVE BUFFERS" on the network card without success.

Best regards
Tobie

[JHealing]

Hi Tobie,

We are experiencing the same issue on several of our BL460c blades which exhibit poor network response to the financial application installed on them. We can also see the "no buffers" value increasing in the adapter properties. We have investigated extensively with Microsoft (we are running Windows 2003 R2 Std x64) and have come to the conclusion it is a problem with the network card or driver. We are currently working with HP to establish the route cause and wondered if you managed to resolve the issue on your servers?

Thanks,

James

[rafnie]

Hi James,

We are seeing the same issue on a newly purchased batch of BL460c G7 blades with NC553i network cards. Were you able to get to the bottom of the problem when you were experiencing it?

Thanks,

Raf

[iWork2Much314]

We seem to have a similar issue.  It even goes as far asthe link becoming permantently unusable.  We used to see some lack of response from the server for inbound connections (pauses of 1-4 seconds).  We are still seeing some of that now, but are now seeing team failures.  I see "No Buffers" errors on these connections.

Any updates from HP on this?

[rafnie]

Hi,

We haven't been able to get very far yet. Can you please give me some more details of the environment you're experiencing the issue on? What's the exact version of the OS you're using and how are the servers used? Have you got a database you're connecting to (if so, what version is it?). Maybe we should get in touch with each other directly so we can check if we can get any further if we work on it together?

Thanks,

Raf

[iWork2Much314]

App-tier is Windows 2003 x64 Standard (web service running in IIS) (BL460c G7)

DB-tier is Windows 2008 x64 Ent running Oracle 11 RAC. (DL380 G6)

Same app-tier runs fine on DL380 G5 and BL460c G6 (Broadcom NICs).  We had to revert to these platforms to continue production operation.

The issue on the BL460c G7s cropped up all of a sudden after the platform had been runnin steady for 3+ months.

[rafnie]

The issue was related to NIC firmware / driver bug. HP have given us beta drivers + firmware and that resolved the problem. It may not be on their official page yet though...

[AkeyTech]

We are suffering the same issues with network performance. Our HP contact could find no reference to any Beta drivers, did you log a standard support call as we are getting nowhere fast? Or do you have an SP number for the files?

[rafnie]

We have logged a standard call and we requested assistance from our HP account manager which seems to have helped. The version of the driver that works for us is 4.0.388.6001 and firmware is 4.0.388.1.