Date: Mon, 7 Jun 1999 14:00:50 -0400 (EDT) From: Bill Paul <wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> To: abourov@alt.net (Anthony Bourov) Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Q: xl0: no memory for rx list -- packet dropped! Message-ID: <199906071800.OAA18098@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu> In-Reply-To: <4.2.0.56.19990607091352.030eb820@mail.addr.com> from "Anthony Bourov" at Jun 7, 99 09:22:58 am
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Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, Anthony Bourov had to walk into mine and say: > Hi, > > I am running a FreeBSD server, and I am running into this problem very > often. The machine stops responding and instead outputs 1000s of > xl0: no memory for rx list -- packet dropped! > xl0: no memory for rx list -- packet dropped! > xl0: no memory for rx list -- packet dropped! > xl0: no memory for rx list -- packet dropped! > messages. The machine is usually pulling about 4-5 megabits but there is > usually a traffic spike right before this happens so an attack is not out > of the question, but I was wondering if there was any way I can raise the > threshold for this (would more BUFFERs do the trick?). You don't say what version of FreeBSD this is, or what driver version you have. Sorry, but my mind reading helmet is in the shop this week. If you're running something older than 3.2-RELEASE, try the latest driver from http://www.freebsd.org/~wpaul/3Com. The newer version has a larger RX and TX ring sizes. If you are running 3.2-RELEASE or later or changing the ring sizes doesn't help, then try compiling a new kernel with a larger value for NMBCLUSTERS, i.e.: options "NMBCLUSTERS=20000" Actually, for newer versions of FreeBSD, you may have to do: options NMBCLUSTERS="20000" If config(8) complains about the first syntax, try the second. This will greatly increase the size of the mbuf cluster pool, which should at least hold off the starvation condition for a while longer. You might want to check the traffic on the line with tcpdump. I would look for lots of ICMP or UDP traffic, or maybe lots of TCP segments directed at ports where there's nothing listening. Note: each mbuf cluster is 2K in size. 20000 * 2048 == 40MB of RAM, so you better have a lot of memory in this server. If not, try something smaller. -Bill -- ============================================================================= -Bill Paul (212) 854-6020 | System Manager, Master of Unix-Fu Work: wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu | Center for Telecommunications Research Home: wpaul@skynet.ctr.columbia.edu | Columbia University, New York City ============================================================================= "It is not I who am crazy; it is I who am mad!" - Ren Hoek, "Space Madness" ============================================================================= To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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