From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Jul 26 11:11:51 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: arch@FreeBSD.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 7FA2916A41F; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:11:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from cyrus.watson.org (cyrus.watson.org [209.31.154.42]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2DF9B13C48D; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:11:51 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from rwatson@FreeBSD.org) Received: from fledge.watson.org (fledge.watson.org [209.31.154.41]) by cyrus.watson.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1CA0446E85; Thu, 26 Jul 2007 07:11:50 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:11:49 +0100 (BST) From: Robert Watson X-X-Sender: robert@fledge.watson.org To: Kris Kennaway In-Reply-To: <20070726105358.GA43979@rot26.obsecurity.org> Message-ID: <20070726120713.Q15979@fledge.watson.org> References: <20070724110908.T83919@fledge.watson.org> <20070726102328.GA12293@fupp.net> <20070726105358.GA43979@rot26.obsecurity.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Cc: arch@FreeBSD.org, Anders Nordby , jkim@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Removing NET_NEEDS_GIANT: first patch X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:11:51 -0000 On Thu, 26 Jul 2007, Kris Kennaway wrote: >> I've used and still use debug_mpsafenet to get rid of watchdog timeout >> problems on a lot of HP Proliant servers, particularly with the bge driver: >> >> Dec 21 06:42:51 videovm1 kernel: bge0: watchdog timeout -- resetting >> Dec 21 06:42:51 videovm1 kernel: bge0: link state changed to DOWN >> Dec 21 06:42:54 videovm1 kernel: bge0: link state changed to UP >> >> This problem goes away with debug.mpsafenet="0", for me. >> >> I can try to turn off this setting, and see how it goes. I remember there >> was something one could do, to get more information about the watchdog >> error, but can't remember what. > > Please do. There is no sense in crippling your network for the sake of an > unre{solved,ported} driver bug. I agree with what Kris said, only more so. :-) By masking the bug using debug.mpsafenet, whatever bug is the root of the problem isn't getting fixed, and instead keeps going out in releases. This sounds like it's most likely a driver bug, although I wouldn't rule out some sort of interrupt problem. It looks like jkim might be someone to talk to about this (CC'd). Robert N M Watson Computer Laboratory University of Cambridge