Xen devel - Jul 2009 - strange network related problem with Xen Windows GPL PV Driver 0.10.x version

Hi,
  For my windows xp domU, I have been used 0.9.12.pre13 version for a long
time without any major problem. 
  Since I have known there be some performance improvement in 0.10.x
verison for windows xp with PATCHTPR, then I uninstall 0.9.12 version,
and reinstall 0.10.86 version, first I got a bluescreen, after enable
/nogplpv and disable it, then it work.
  But I found my rdesktop session to my windows xp domU will "hang"
for some time, for example, if I watch a flash via a rdesktop session,
If I don''t move mouse, then the play will stall at some time, if I keep
moving my mouse, it will play ok.
  tcpdump on vif interface show there is no packet sent from the domU 
at the stall time. It seems some packets get lost at the driver layer?
  After revert back to the old 0.9.12.pre13 version, this problem
disapear.
  And more, when using 0.10.86 version, login in to a windows xp domU is
slower then the 0.9.12.pre13 version, you can feel the refresh of the
desktop. I suppose it is the same problem.
  I have tried  0.10.69 version too, the problem exist too.
  So I guess it is a problem in 0.10.x version?

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> 
> Hi,
>   For my windows xp domU, I have been used 0.9.12.pre13 version for a
long
> time without any major problem.
>   Since I have known there be some performance improvement in 0.10.x
> verison for windows xp with PATCHTPR, then I uninstall 0.9.12 version,
> and reinstall 0.10.86 version, first I got a bluescreen, after enable
> /nogplpv and disable it, then it work.
>   But I found my rdesktop session to my windows xp domU will
"hang"
> for some time, for example, if I watch a flash via a rdesktop session,
> If I don''t move mouse, then the play will stall at some time, if I
keep
> moving my mouse, it will play ok.
>   tcpdump on vif interface show there is no packet sent from the domU
> at the stall time. It seems some packets get lost at the driver layer?
>   After revert back to the old 0.9.12.pre13 version, this problem
> disapear.
>   And more, when using 0.10.86 version, login in to a windows xp domU
is
> slower then the 0.9.12.pre13 version, you can feel the refresh of the
> desktop. I suppose it is the same problem.
>   I have tried  0.10.69 version too, the problem exist too.
>   So I guess it is a problem in 0.10.x version?
> 
Can you please try disabling checksum offload and large send offload in
the adapter properties under XP and let me know if things get better?
The slow login could be caused by the same thing that causes problems
with your rdp session.

Also, do you have a Windows 2003 install to test against? I am wondering
if the problem is XP specific (unlikely) or general.

Thanks

James

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On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 11:23:33AM +1000, James Harper
wrote:
> Can you please try disabling checksum offload and large send offload in
> the adapter properties under XP and let me know if things get better?
> The slow login could be caused by the same thing that causes problems
> with your rdp session.
Hi,

I have tried disable checksum offload and large send offload, it
doesn''t
help.

I have tried on a Windows 2003 Enterprise Server SP2 too, it has the 
same problem. Using 0.10.0.86, the problem exists, reverting back to
0.9.12.pre13, the problem disapear.

Keep mouse moving will help.

And there is another unrelated problem, when using 0.10.0.86 
or 0.9.12.pre3 on Windows 2003, Before login, windows will complain "there
is
something wrong about your driver or application , please check it with  your
event viewer",

I check the event viewer, found there is a error related to "unable load
IntelIde driver"

Since I am using PV driver, I think the intelide chipset should be hided by pv
driver, but I don''t know why under versiion 0.10.86, windows 2003
complains about it.

There is no such error msg in my event log when I am using a old version
of pv driver under windows 2003.
> 
> Also, do you have a Windows 2003 install to test against? I am wondering
> if the problem is XP specific (unlikely) or general.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> James
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> 
> On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 11:23:33AM +1000, James Harper wrote:
> > Can you please try disabling checksum offload and large send offload
in
> > the adapter properties under XP and let me know if things get
better?
> > The slow login could be caused by the same thing that causes
problems
> > with your rdp session.
> Hi,
> 
> I have tried disable checksum offload and large send offload, it
doesn''t
> help.
Hmmm...
> 
> I have tried on a Windows 2003 Enterprise Server SP2 too, it has the
> same problem. Using 0.10.0.86, the problem exists, reverting back to
> 0.9.12.pre13, the problem disapear.
> 
> Keep mouse moving will help.
That is strange. Is there a measurable improvement when moving the
mouse, or just an impression that you get?

Can you email me (privately if you want) a screenshot of device manager
with all the interrupt assignments? (device manager, view ''Resources by
type'', and drill down to ''Interrupt Request (IRQ)''.
Failing that, tell
me what IRQ the XenPCI device is using, and what else is using that IRQ.
> And there is another unrelated problem, when using 0.10.0.86
> or 0.9.12.pre3 on Windows 2003, Before login, windows will complain
"there is
> something wrong about your driver or application , please check it
with  your
> event viewer",
> 
> I check the event viewer, found there is a error related to "unable
load
> IntelIde driver"
> 
> Since I am using PV driver, I think the intelide chipset should be
hided by pv
> driver, but I don''t know why under versiion 0.10.86, windows 2003
> complains about it.
> 
> There is no such error msg in my event log when I am using a old
version
> of pv driver under windows 2003.
> 
Yes. GPLPV used to completely hide the network and ide devices in 0.9.x
but there were some very subtle problems with it. Installing the drivers
could stall for ages. Booting would be slower. A few other things also.

The problem is that in order to identify the ide or network device,
windows has to know about it first (otherwise I can''t query it to find
out if it is the device I want to hide). Because of that, I''m hiding it
after Windows thinks it''s already seen it, and strange things happen.

Xen 3.4.x includes an update that allows the disks themselves and the
network adapters to be hidden in a way that doesn''t have these
problems.

James

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