NFS and Quality of Service issue

[Belinda Dermody]

I have a RP5470 running 11i and our network team has the following problem and they want to know some answer that I do not know how to provide, need some assistance on the following issue

Problem discoverd by Network Team:
We tried the changes recommended by Cisco for QoS and still had the problem with NFS. After a few hours on the phone with Cisco and learning that the 3550 and 3560 devices handle QoS different we decided our configuration was becoming very complex. When they came out with 3560 they made some great improvements on queue handling BUT they decided to change which queue was the priority queue as well as which COS/DSCP values go to each queue. In addition we don't know what the standard COS value is for NFS coming out of Tahoe to know what DSCP value to assign to send to a specific queue. So tomorrow we will have to sniff the traffic and get more info. Currently QoS is disabled so there should be no problems tomorrow.

Jim, it would be helpful if you could contact tech support to find out if the version of NFS your running has settings to configure COS(Class of Service), TOS(Type of Service) or IP Precedence. Or if they know what the default value should be for NFS packets.

The problem is that when they set it up, basic commands hang and the terminal window locks when you are in a NFS directory.

[Steven E. Protter · Accepted solution]

You have to take the machine off the network via shutdown or unplugging the cable while they are making changes to the switches.

HP-UX networking, which NFS relies on will not tolerate settings changes while running the services.

HP-UX 11i uses NFS v3. You should take the time to got to the patch database and get the latest NFS fixes. There are a substantial number of such fixes that you need to have installed.

Once fully patched, you should be able to bring the machine back online in any normal switch configuration and have NFS work.

Note: If you are using a Gigabit lan card the configuration of the card must be auto negotiate. The switch port settings must also be auto negotiate, in spite of any advice cisco gives.

If you are using a 100 BaseT NIC, then the switch port settings and lan settings must be manual, full duplex.

Anything else will hang or slow down networking.

It sounds like your colleages have a lot of confidence in Cisco. Cisco makes good switches, but they really don't know how esoteric settings will impact HP-UX.

As for gathering information for Cisco to look at (which they'll use to try and figure out where they messed up) try ethereal or tcpdump to a file.

SEP