Help! Instable network on 6.06 based SuperMicro server with e1000 Intel driver

[Floris Vlasveld]

On 24 feb 2008, at 16:52, Nick Webb wrote:

> Floris Vlasveld wrote:
>>
>> And, the output of "ethtool eth0" and eth1:
>>
>> Settings for eth0:
>> Supported ports: [ TP ]
>> Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
>>                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
>>                        1000baseT/Full
>> Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
>> Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
>>                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
>>                        1000baseT/Full
>> Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
>> Speed: 100Mb/s
>> Duplex: Full
>> Port: Twisted Pair
>> PHYAD: 0
>> Transceiver: internal
>> Auto-negotiation: on
>> Supports Wake-on: umbg
>> Wake-on: g
>> Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
>> Link detected: yes
>>
>> Settings for eth1:
>> Supported ports: [ TP ]
>> Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
>>                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
>>                        1000baseT/Full
>> Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
>> Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
>>                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
>>                        1000baseT/Full
>> Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
>> Speed: 100Mb/s
>> Duplex: Full
>> Port: Twisted Pair
>> PHYAD: 0
>> Transceiver: internal
>> Auto-negotiation: on
>> Supports Wake-on: umbg
>> Wake-on: g
>> Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
>> Link detected: yes
>
> I have similar SuperMicro servers with no issues.  I'd look first at  
> the
> switch this server is connect to and make sure the ports are set to  
> auto
> negotiate just like your interfaces are.  If they are set to auto
> negotiation, then I'd force them to 100/full and do the same to your
> server's network cards.  I've seen speed/duplex mismatches cause  
> lots of
> odd problems before.
>
> Aside from that, I'd be looking for hardware issues.  See anything odd
> in the logs?
>
>
> Nick


Thanks for the tips Nick. I've first of all forced eth0 (the  
'external' interface) to operate at 100/Full. However, that didn't  
stop the problem. I then changed the settings so that eth0 was allowed  
to negotiate, but only up to 10/Full. Unfortunately, this didn't solve  
the problem as well. At this time, I'm not able to force the 3com  
switch to operate at 100/full only. However, it should be able to  
handle both 100/full and 10/full perfectly.

Output of ethtool eth0 at this time:

Settings for eth0:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Speed: 10Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 1
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	Supports Wake-on: umbg
	Wake-on: g
	Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
	Link detected: yes

Hardware issue is of course always possible. However, since both eth0  
and eth1 display this problem, that seems quite unlikely.

Do you or anybody else have any other suggestion?

Floris.