Slow network problems.

[Zane C.Bowers]

I have two identical boxes. Each have a built in VIA Rhine II and a pci
Realtek 8139. When doing bandwidth tests between them, I am just getting
about 84/5Mbps on the VIA and mid 70's on the Realteks. I am testing
using udp packets with iperf v. 1.7.0.

We have several other of these boxes that get in the mid 90's.

Any suggestions on what to check?

[John Summerfield]

Zane C. B. wrote:
> I have two identical boxes. Each have a built in VIA Rhine II and a pci
> Realtek 8139. When doing bandwidth tests between them, I am just getting
> about 84/5Mbps on the VIA and mid 70's on the Realteks. I am testing

Presumably, you mean Mbits/sec:-)
> using udp packets with iperf v. 1.7.0.
>
> We have several other of these boxes that get in the mid 90's.
>
> Any suggestions on what to check?

What do you see as your problem?

[Zane C.Bowers]

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:44:55 +0800
John Summerfied  wrote:
> Zane C. B. wrote:
> > I have two identical boxes. Each have a built in VIA Rhine II and a

pci
> > Realtek 8139. When doing bandwidth tests between them, I am just

getting
> > about 84/5Mbps on the VIA and mid 70's on the Realteks. I am testing
>
> Presumably, you mean Mbits/sec:-)

Yeah, that is why I used a lower case b instead of a upper case b.
> > using udp packets with iperf v. 1.7.0.
> >
> > We have several other of these boxes that get in the mid 90's.
> >
> > Any suggestions on what to check?
>
> What do you see as your problem?

The fact that we have other similar boxes deployed, but am getting far
better performance on them, than these to. Wondering if any one had
any suggestions on things to check.

[Alexander Dalloz]

Am Di, den 17.01.2006 schrieb Zane C. B. um 21:52:
> > What do you see as your problem?
>
> The fact that we have other similar boxes deployed, but am getting far
> better performance on them, than these to. Wondering if any one had
> any suggestions on things to check.

Other similar PCs or identical ones? Other NIC models or any kind of
differences regarding OS/distribution/release, hardware in general
(motherboard)?

Btw. both NIC/chipset types you named are known to be not the best
performers, just cheap and more or less robust.

Alexander

[Zane C.Bowers]

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 22:00:13 +0100
Alexander Dalloz  wrote:
> Am Di, den 17.01.2006 schrieb Zane C. B. um 21:52:
> > > What do you see as your problem?
> >
> > The fact that we have other similar boxes deployed, but am getting

far
> > better performance on them, than these to. Wondering if any one had
> > any suggestions on things to check.
>
> Other similar PCs or identical ones? Other NIC models or any kind of
> differences regarding OS/distribution/release, hardware in general
> (motherboard)?

All the same, except for the BIOS. Found that is what has changed. Fixed
now.
> Btw. both NIC/chipset types you named are known to be not the best
> performers, just cheap and more or less robust.

Yeah, but work for what we need though.

[Aaron M. Hirsch]

On Tuesday 17 January 2006 14:52, Zane C. B. wrote:
> On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:44:55 +0800
>
> John Summerfied  wrote:
> > Zane C. B. wrote:
> > > I have two identical boxes. Each have a built in VIA Rhine II and a
>
> pci
> > > Realtek 8139. When doing bandwidth tests between them, I am just
>
> getting
> > > about 84/5Mbps on the VIA and mid 70's on the Realteks. I am testing
> >
> > Presumably, you mean Mbits/sec:-)
>
> Yeah, that is why I used a lower case b instead of a upper case b.
> > > using udp packets with iperf v. 1.7.0.
> > >
> > > We have several other of these boxes that get in the mid 90's.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions on what to check?
> >
> > What do you see as your problem?
>
> The fact that we have other similar boxes deployed, but am getting far
> better performance on them, than these to. Wondering if any one had
> any suggestions on things to check.

Okay...have you checked for any potential duplex problems?  I would almost 
guarantee that, unless you've forced it, the NICs are coming up at 
half-duplex.  Use mii-tool or ethtool.

[Zane C.Bowers]

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 15:13:54 -0600
"Aaron M. Hirsch"  wrote:
> On Tuesday 17 January 2006 14:52, Zane C. B. wrote:
> > On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 04:44:55 +0800
> >
> > John Summerfied  wrote:
> > > Zane C. B. wrote:
> > > > I have two identical boxes. Each have a built in VIA Rhine II

and a
> > pci
> > > > Realtek 8139. When doing bandwidth tests between them, I am just
> >
> > getting
> > > > about 84/5Mbps on the VIA and mid 70's on the Realteks. I am

testing
> > > Presumably, you mean Mbits/sec:-)
> >
> > Yeah, that is why I used a lower case b instead of a upper case b.
> > > > using udp packets with iperf v. 1.7.0.
> > > >
> > > > We have several other of these boxes that get in the mid 90's.
> > > >
> > > > Any suggestions on what to check?
> > >
> > > What do you see as your problem?
> >
> > The fact that we have other similar boxes deployed, but am getting

far
> > better performance on them, than these to. Wondering if any one had
> > any suggestions on things to check.
>
> Okay...have you checked for any potential duplex problems?  I would

almost
> guarantee that, unless you've forced it, the NICs are coming up at 
> half-duplex.  Use mii-tool or ethtool.

Forcing the onboard interface to any thing actually caused problems.
Leaving it set to autonegotiate worked fine. Neither were coming up in
half-duplex.

Found what was cuasing the problems was a change in the BIOS.