From owner-freebsd-net@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 12 03:34:32 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3E42816A421 for ; Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:34:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from pauls@utdallas.edu) Received: from smtp3.utdallas.edu (smtp3.utdallas.edu [129.110.10.49]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EEEF13C465 for ; Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:34:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from pauls@utdallas.edu) Received: from [192.168.2.102] (adsl-68-94-76-79.dsl.rcsntx.swbell.net [68.94.76.79]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp3.utdallas.edu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0E2EC654FF for ; Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:34:30 -0500 (CDT) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 22:34:17 -0500 From: Paul Schmehl To: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <200707111351.07733.josh@tcbug.org> References: <200707111230.24975.josh@tcbug.org> <0C1E29F62151D7884CFE26A2@utd59514.utdallas.edu> <200707111351.07733.josh@tcbug.org> X-Mailer: Mulberry/4.0.8 (Mac OS X) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=sha1; protocol="application/pkcs7-signature"; boundary="==========B8EE62A5AC511682BEA8==========" X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Subject: Re: Question about bce driver X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 03:34:32 -0000 --==========B8EE62A5AC511682BEA8========== Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline --On July 11, 2007 1:51:04 PM -0500 Josh Paetzel wrote: > > I was running the driver from STABLE until about March and it would > bounce the link up and down a couple times a day even under > relatively moderate load. (50-60 mbps) So perhaps there have been > improvements since then, but I gave up dealing with it. The driver > was utterly broken in 6.1-R (0.9.5), by the time 6.2-R was getting > rolled the driver in STABLE would at least not tip over under TCP > load, but it was trivial to wedge it with even moderate amounts of > UDP. > > I eventually reached the conclusion (correct or not) that you can't > fix crap hardware with a driver. No offense, but I think that's the incorrect conclusion. It pains me to=20 say it, but we have never had a single problem with the Broadcomms on=20 Windows servers, and we have a boatload of them (at least 100). That=20 seems to point to the driver being the source of the problem, not the=20 hardware. Furthermore, when I first got the 1950, the NIC was completely=20 unusable. It would lock up hard and require a reboot to function again.=20 That problem was fixed in the next iteration of the driver, and, except=20 for the link state problem, the NIC has functioned normally ever since.=20 (I don't use jumbo frames.) ISTM the driver is the source of all the problems associated with the=20 card(s). I wish I knew enough to work on driver code, but I do not. I=20 noticed that the guy writing the driver for FreeBSD works for Broadcomm.=20 Perhaps he could comment? Paul Schmehl (pauls@utdallas.edu) Senior Information Security Analyst The University of Texas at Dallas http://www.utdallas.edu/ir/security/ --==========B8EE62A5AC511682BEA8==========--