Xen users - Jun 2008 - Poor network performance on Dom0 [2.6.18-6-xen-amd64]

I am experiencing poor network performance on Dom0. When i ping other
hosts on the same LAN, packets are out of order, and they show
response times ranging from < 1 ms to several seconds, and some
packets get lost.

For example, a typical ping result looks like this:

87 packets transmitted, 80 received, +3 errors, 8% packet loss, time 86038ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.080/5068.340/12502.274/4207.494 ms, pipe 13

If i listen for icmp traffic from a physical host that is between Dom0
and the one i''m pinging (i.e., on the same LAN), all icmp requests and
replies come and go timely and in perfect order.

However, when i listen for icmp traffic at Dom0 on peth3 (the
interface that is attached to the LAN switch), i can see the same
delays that show up when pinging.

As you can imagine, this problem does not affect only icmp traffic,
but also every tcp-based service running in Dom0 (such as smtp).

Processor load seems fine, and almost never goes above 0.1 (CPU is an
AMD dual-core 4200)

Is there anything that can be done in order to solve this problem? Are
there any known issues related to this kind of setup? (see below the
system configuration details for information about the operating
system, processor, and network adapters).

Another odd beahviour that i''ve seen on this system, is that when i
check the network adapter (mii-diag peth3), sometimes it shows the
following line:

"Link status: previously broken, but now reestablished."

If I run mii-diag a second time, it says:

"You have link beat, and everything is working OK."

One more thing that doesn''t seem quite right is the interrupt count
associated with the peth3 adapter (there seem to be 1.5 million
interrupt requests per hour, and this system is only being accessed by
one or two other hosts, with no network intensive activities).

I''d really appreciate any help you can provide to diagnose and solve
this problem.


Thanks in advance,
Alex


--------------------------------------
System configuration details
--------------------------------------

cat /proc/version

Linux version 2.6.18-6-xen-amd64 (Debian 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1)
(waldi@debian.org) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian
4.1.1-21)) #1 SMP Sun Feb 10 18:02:52 UTC 2008

dpkg -l | grep xen

ii  linux-headers-2.6.18-6-xen          2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
      Common header files for Linux 2.6.18
ii  linux-headers-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64    2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
      Header files for Linux 2.6.18 on AMD64
ii  linux-image-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64      2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
      Linux 2.6.18 image on AMD64
ii  linux-modules-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64    2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
      Linux 2.6.18 modules on AMD64
ii  xen-hypervisor-3.0.3-1-amd64        3.0.3-0-4
      The Xen Hypervisor on AMD64
ii  xen-linux-system-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
      XEN system with Linux 2.6.18 image on AMD64
ii  xen-tools                           2.8-2
      Tools to manage debian XEN virtual servers
ii  xen-utils-3.0.3-1                   3.0.3-0-4
      XEN administrative tools
ii  xen-utils-common                    3.0.3-0-2
      XEN administrative tools - common files

lspci | grep -i eth

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01) [1]
02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) [2]
02:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) [3]

[1] This is the adapter attached to the local network, shown in Dom0 as eth3
[2] This adapter handles a broadband connection
[3] This one is hidden from Dom0 (reserved for DomU)

cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 107
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 2365.072
cache size      : 512 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36
clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm
3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8_legacy
bogomips        : 5913.87
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc [6]

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 107
model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 2365.072
cache size      : 512 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36
clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm
3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8_legacy
bogomips        : 5913.87
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc [6]

cat /proc/interrupts | grep eth

           CPU0              CPU1
 18:    6302230          0        Phys-irq  peth3
 21:        826          0        Phys-irq  eth1

_______________________________________________
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Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

two things i can think of:

 1) did you ever test this machine''s networking performance before
installing xen?

 2) have you tried installed ''irqbalance''? i''ve had
to install that on dell
2650''s running xen 3.0.x

-randall

On Fri, Jun 20, 2008 at 8:07 PM, Alejandro Martini <
alejandro.martini@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am experiencing poor network performance on Dom0. When i ping other
> hosts on the same LAN, packets are out of order, and they show
> response times ranging from < 1 ms to several seconds, and some
> packets get lost.
>
> For example, a typical ping result looks like this:
>
> 87 packets transmitted, 80 received, +3 errors, 8% packet loss, time
> 86038ms
> rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.080/5068.340/12502.274/4207.494 ms, pipe 13
>
> If i listen for icmp traffic from a physical host that is between Dom0
> and the one i''m pinging (i.e., on the same LAN), all icmp requests
and
> replies come and go timely and in perfect order.
>
> However, when i listen for icmp traffic at Dom0 on peth3 (the
> interface that is attached to the LAN switch), i can see the same
> delays that show up when pinging.
>
> As you can imagine, this problem does not affect only icmp traffic,
> but also every tcp-based service running in Dom0 (such as smtp).
>
> Processor load seems fine, and almost never goes above 0.1 (CPU is an
> AMD dual-core 4200)
>
> Is there anything that can be done in order to solve this problem? Are
> there any known issues related to this kind of setup? (see below the
> system configuration details for information about the operating
> system, processor, and network adapters).
>
> Another odd beahviour that i''ve seen on this system, is that when
i
> check the network adapter (mii-diag peth3), sometimes it shows the
> following line:
>
> "Link status: previously broken, but now reestablished."
>
> If I run mii-diag a second time, it says:
>
> "You have link beat, and everything is working OK."
>
> One more thing that doesn''t seem quite right is the interrupt
count
> associated with the peth3 adapter (there seem to be 1.5 million
> interrupt requests per hour, and this system is only being accessed by
> one or two other hosts, with no network intensive activities).
>
> I''d really appreciate any help you can provide to diagnose and
solve
> this problem.
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Alex
>
>
> --------------------------------------
> System configuration details
> --------------------------------------
>
> cat /proc/version
>
> Linux version 2.6.18-6-xen-amd64 (Debian 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1)
> (waldi@debian.org) (gcc version 4.1.2 20061115 (prerelease) (Debian
> 4.1.1-21)) #1 SMP Sun Feb 10 18:02:52 UTC 2008
>
> dpkg -l | grep xen
>
> ii  linux-headers-2.6.18-6-xen          2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
>      Common header files for Linux 2.6.18
> ii  linux-headers-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64    2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
>      Header files for Linux 2.6.18 on AMD64
> ii  linux-image-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64      2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
>      Linux 2.6.18 image on AMD64
> ii  linux-modules-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64    2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
>      Linux 2.6.18 modules on AMD64
> ii  xen-hypervisor-3.0.3-1-amd64        3.0.3-0-4
>      The Xen Hypervisor on AMD64
> ii  xen-linux-system-2.6.18-6-xen-amd64 2.6.18.dfsg.1-18etch1
>      XEN system with Linux 2.6.18 image on AMD64
> ii  xen-tools                           2.8-2
>      Tools to manage debian XEN virtual servers
> ii  xen-utils-3.0.3-1                   3.0.3-0-4
>      XEN administrative tools
> ii  xen-utils-common                    3.0.3-0-2
>      XEN administrative tools - common files
>
> lspci | grep -i eth
>
> 01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01) [1]
> 02:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) [2]
> 02:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10) [3]
>
> [1] This is the adapter attached to the local network, shown in Dom0 as
> eth3
> [2] This adapter handles a broadband connection
> [3] This one is hidden from Dom0 (reserved for DomU)
>
> cat /proc/cpuinfo
>
> processor       : 0
> vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
> cpu family      : 15
> model           : 107
> model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
> stepping        : 2
> cpu MHz         : 2365.072
> cache size      : 512 KB
> physical id     : 0
> siblings        : 1
> core id         : 0
> cpu cores       : 1
> fpu             : yes
> fpu_exception   : yes
> cpuid level     : 1
> wp              : yes
> flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36
> clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm
> 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8_legacy
> bogomips        : 5913.87
> TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
> clflush size    : 64
> cache_alignment : 64
> address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
> power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc [6]
>
> processor       : 1
> vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
> cpu family      : 15
> model           : 107
> model name      : AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
> stepping        : 2
> cpu MHz         : 2365.072
> cache size      : 512 KB
> physical id     : 1
> siblings        : 1
> core id         : 0
> cpu cores       : 1
> fpu             : yes
> fpu_exception   : yes
> cpuid level     : 1
> wp              : yes
> flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mtrr mca cmov pat pse36
> clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt rdtscp lm
> 3dnowext 3dnow pni cx16 lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm cr8_legacy
> bogomips        : 5913.87
> TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
> clflush size    : 64
> cache_alignment : 64
> address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
> power management: ts fid vid ttp tm stc [6]
>
> cat /proc/interrupts | grep eth
>
>           CPU0              CPU1
>  18:    6302230          0        Phys-irq  peth3
>  21:        826          0        Phys-irq  eth1
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Randall, thank you for sharing those tips. The network card was working fine
on this system before installing Xen. At least i''ve never noticed any
problems like the ones i reported while i was setting up the base system
(Debian Etch, via netinstall).

Now i think that the problem might be related to the fact that Xen is not
loading the right module for this network adapter. I''ve googled around
quite
a bit, but wasn''t able to find a conclusive statement on what kind of
card
this is.

There are at least three possibilities, since:

- The manufacturer states that this is a Realtek RTL8111B (the motherboard
is an ASRock AliveNF5-eSATAII)
- lspci identifies it as "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
Express Gigabit Ethernet controller"
- udev seems to have detected it as 8169
- Xen loads the r8169 module for this card, even if r8168.ko is present and
r8169 is blacklisted.

So, i cannot tell for sure if i''m dealing with an 8169, an 8168B or an
8111B.

If i run modinfo, i can see that both modules (r8168 and r8169) have
matching aliases for this card type (10ec:8168), and then i don''t
really
know how the kernel decides which module to load, or how to tell it to
choose one over the other.

With regard to your other advice (installing irqbalance), the latest known
version for debian/stable is 0.12-7. I guess that it''s pretty outdated.
Anyway, if you think that it''s worth trying, i''ll install it
and see what
happens.


Thanks again!,
Alex

2008/6/23 randall ehren <randall@redigital.org>:
>
> two things i can think of:
>
>  1) did you ever test this machine''s networking performance before
installing xen?
>
>  2) have you tried installed ''irqbalance''? i''ve
had to install that on
dell 2650''s running xen 3.0.x
>
> -randall

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi!

If it helps but i found out which driver is associated with my p/ethx 
devices running ethtool like this

aix:~# ethtool -i peth1
driver: r8169
version: 2.2LK-NAPI
firmware-version:
bus-info: 0000:06:09.0

And to make sure wrong driver isnt getting in the way i sometimes just 
removed it from module tree under /lib/modules/... (or ramdisk i.e. 
initrd image) though there is obviously more appropriate way doing it.

I also run the same software and only thing which made it unstable was 
having multiple cpu''s in dom0 but it is know fact and workaround is to 
have in /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp

# In SMP system, dom0 will use dom0-cpus # of CPUS
# If dom0-cpus = 0, dom0 will take all cpus available
(dom0-cpus 1)


Best regards,

Imre



Alejandro Martini wrote:
> Randall, thank you for sharing those tips. The network card was working 
> fine on this system before installing Xen. At least i''ve never
noticed
> any problems like the ones i reported while i was setting up the base 
> system (Debian Etch, via netinstall).
> 
> Now i think that the problem might be related to the fact that Xen is 
> not loading the right module for this network adapter. I''ve
googled
> around quite a bit, but wasn''t able to find a conclusive statement
on
> what kind of card this is.
> 
> There are at least three possibilities, since:
> 
> - The manufacturer states that this is a Realtek RTL8111B (the 
> motherboard is an ASRock AliveNF5-eSATAII)
> - lspci identifies it as "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B
> PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller"
> - udev seems to have detected it as 8169
> - Xen loads the r8169 module for this card, even if r8168.ko is present 
> and r8169 is blacklisted.
> 
> So, i cannot tell for sure if i''m dealing with an 8169, an 8168B
or an
> 8111B.
> 
> If i run modinfo, i can see that both modules (r8168 and r8169) have 
> matching aliases for this card type (10ec:8168), and then i don''t
really
> know how the kernel decides which module to load, or how to tell it to 
> choose one over the other.
> 
> With regard to your other advice (installing irqbalance), the latest 
> known version for debian/stable is 0.12-7. I guess that it''s
pretty
> outdated. Anyway, if you think that it''s worth trying,
i''ll install it
> and see what happens.
> 
> 
> Thanks again!,
> Alex
>  
> 2008/6/23 randall ehren <randall@redigital.org 
> <mailto:randall@redigital.org>>:
>  >
>  > two things i can think of:
>  >
>  >  1) did you ever test this machine''s networking performance
before
> installing xen?
>  >
>  >  2) have you tried installed ''irqbalance''?
i''ve had to install that
> on dell 2650''s running xen 3.0.x
>  >
>  > -randall
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hi, thank you for those tips! If i run ethtool -i, this is the output that i
get:

driver: r8169
version: 2.2LK-NAPI
firmware-version:
bus-info: 0000:01:00.0

So i can see that the on-board network adapter is using the r8169 module.
However, i still cannot tell for sure if that is the right module for this
specific adapter.

A couple of days ago I tried blacklisting the module, and also tried
renaming the file to prevent it from loading. However, lsmod still reported
the driver being loaded. Obviously, the system must be loading it from the
initrd (i''ve checked and the module is present inside it).

Is there any way to stop that module from loading without having to modify
the initrd?

Meanwhile, i''ve modified my xend-config file, setting dom0-cpus to 1
(it was
set to 0). Then i restarted the server, and so far so good. I''ll keep
it
running for several days and see what happens.

The network adapter always works fine for some time when the system has been
restarted. And then, all of a sudden, it starts performing very poorly, or
it looses connection, having to reboot in order to get it working again.


Best regards,
Alex

2008/7/5 Imre Oolberg <imre@auul.pri.ee>:
> Hi!
>
> If it helps but i found out which driver is associated with my p/ethx
> devices running ethtool like this
>
> aix:~# ethtool -i peth1
> driver: r8169
> version: 2.2LK-NAPI
> firmware-version:
> bus-info: 0000:06:09.0
>
> And to make sure wrong driver isnt getting in the way i sometimes just
> removed it from module tree under /lib/modules/... (or ramdisk i.e. initrd
> image) though there is obviously more appropriate way doing it.
>
> I also run the same software and only thing which made it unstable was
> having multiple cpu''s in dom0 but it is know fact and workaround
is to have
> in /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp
>
> # In SMP system, dom0 will use dom0-cpus # of CPUS
> # If dom0-cpus = 0, dom0 will take all cpus available
> (dom0-cpus 1)
>
>
> Best regards,
>
> Imre
>
>
>
> Alejandro Martini wrote:
>
>> Randall, thank you for sharing those tips. The network card was working
>> fine on this system before installing Xen. At least i''ve never
noticed any
>> problems like the ones i reported while i was setting up the base
system
>> (Debian Etch, via netinstall).
>>
>> Now i think that the problem might be related to the fact that Xen is
not
>> loading the right module for this network adapter. I''ve
googled around quite
>> a bit, but wasn''t able to find a conclusive statement on what
kind of card
>> this is.
>>
>> There are at least three possibilities, since:
>>
>> - The manufacturer states that this is a Realtek RTL8111B (the
motherboard
>> is an ASRock AliveNF5-eSATAII)
>> - lspci identifies it as "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B
>> PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller"
>> - udev seems to have detected it as 8169
>> - Xen loads the r8169 module for this card, even if r8168.ko is present
>> and r8169 is blacklisted.
>>
>> So, i cannot tell for sure if i''m dealing with an 8169, an
8168B or an
>> 8111B.
>>
>> If i run modinfo, i can see that both modules (r8168 and r8169) have
>> matching aliases for this card type (10ec:8168), and then i
don''t really
>> know how the kernel decides which module to load, or how to tell it to
>> choose one over the other.
>>
>> With regard to your other advice (installing irqbalance), the latest
known
>> version for debian/stable is 0.12-7. I guess that it''s pretty
outdated.
>> Anyway, if you think that it''s worth trying, i''ll
install it and see what
>> happens.
>>
>>
>> Thanks again!,
>> Alex
>>  2008/6/23 randall ehren <randall@redigital.org <mailto:
>> randall@redigital.org>>:
>>  >
>>  > two things i can think of:
>>  >
>>  >  1) did you ever test this machine''s networking
performance before
>> installing xen?
>>  >
>>  >  2) have you tried installed ''irqbalance''?
i''ve had to install that on
>> dell 2650''s running xen 3.0.x
>>  >
>>  > -randall
>>
>>
>>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-users mailing list
>> Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>
>
>

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@lists.xensource.com
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users

Hallo!

..
> Is there any way to stop that module from loading without having to 
> modify the initrd?
dont know that, but actually just for sake of experiment it is not hard 
to make new ramdisk archive, for example like that for the running kernel

  bash# mkinitramfs -o /boot/ramdisk-20080705.img

and direct additional grub boot entry to use it.

In this way you could at least check how different drivers perform with 
your adapter. To look into ramdisk just unpack the archive

  bash# mkdir /tmp/ramdisk-20080705 && cd /tmp/ramdisk-20080705
  bash# gunzip -c ../ramdisk.img | cpio -dmvi
> Meanwhile, i''ve modified my xend-config file, setting dom0-cpus to
1 (it
> was set to 0). Then i restarted the server, and so far so good.
I''ll
> keep it running for several days and see what happens.
> 
> The network adapter always works fine for some time when the system has 
> been restarted. And then, all of a sudden, it starts performing very 
> poorly, or it looses connection, having to reboot in order to get it 
> working again.
Somehow i think there is some kind of unluck going on around your 
motherboard and adapter and perhaps easiest workaround is just to get 
new ethernet adapter and life is good again! :)

Or as an experiment boot again your system up with an ordinary kernel 
and stresstest network adapter. For example flood some traffic thru it 
with hping3 and monitor how it performs with iptraf.

And last but not least, Xen system shows up for the local switch as 
multiple mac addresses behind the same switch port. Maybe it has 
something to do with it. If you can, use only single ip address and mac 
address in association with that adapter. I.e. in dom0 leave the ethx''s
ip addres unconfigured and configure its ip address only in domU.

Also, perhaps you could load ethernet adpater module with some arguments 
or tweak something with ifconfig i.e. media options. With ethtool -s you 
could also change media options like speed, maybe it changes it somehow 
by itself.

And in ifconfig output look at the errors
...
RX packets:132854764 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:133486462 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

I am quite ordinary computer user, thats about all what i could possible 
help on this one, some network or xen hard core is of more help most 
probably. And good luck!


Imre

PS I have old good asus a8n-sli premium motherboard which has lost by 
now almost everything but its name, i.e. onboard sata ports start giving 
errors after running some weeks and also onboard ethernet adapters stop 
working. At the same time ethernet adapters as pci card work correctly 
although sometime they agree with switch on wrong speed.
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> Alex
> 
> 2008/7/5 Imre Oolberg <imre@auul.pri.ee
<mailto:imre@auul.pri.ee>>:
> 
>     Hi!
> 
>     If it helps but i found out which driver is associated with my
>     p/ethx devices running ethtool like this
> 
>     aix:~# ethtool -i peth1
>     driver: r8169
>     version: 2.2LK-NAPI
>     firmware-version:
>     bus-info: 0000:06:09.0
> 
>     And to make sure wrong driver isnt getting in the way i sometimes
>     just removed it from module tree under /lib/modules/... (or ramdisk
>     i.e. initrd image) though there is obviously more appropriate way
>     doing it.
> 
>     I also run the same software and only thing which made it unstable
>     was having multiple cpu''s in dom0 but it is know fact and
workaround
>     is to have in /etc/xen/xend-config.sxp
> 
>     # In SMP system, dom0 will use dom0-cpus # of CPUS
>     # If dom0-cpus = 0, dom0 will take all cpus available
>     (dom0-cpus 1)
> 
> 
>     Best regards,
> 
>     Imre
> 
> 
> 
>     Alejandro Martini wrote:
> 
>         Randall, thank you for sharing those tips. The network card was
>         working fine on this system before installing Xen. At least
i''ve
>         never noticed any problems like the ones i reported while i was
>         setting up the base system (Debian Etch, via netinstall).
> 
>         Now i think that the problem might be related to the fact that
>         Xen is not loading the right module for this network adapter.
>         I''ve googled around quite a bit, but wasn''t able
to find a
>         conclusive statement on what kind of card this is.
> 
>         There are at least three possibilities, since:
> 
>         - The manufacturer states that this is a Realtek RTL8111B (the
>         motherboard is an ASRock AliveNF5-eSATAII)
>         - lspci identifies it as "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
>         RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller"
>         - udev seems to have detected it as 8169
>         - Xen loads the r8169 module for this card, even if r8168.ko is
>         present and r8169 is blacklisted.
> 
>         So, i cannot tell for sure if i''m dealing with an 8169, an
8168B
>         or an 8111B.
> 
>         If i run modinfo, i can see that both modules (r8168 and r8169)
>         have matching aliases for this card type (10ec:8168), and then i
>         don''t really know how the kernel decides which module to
load,
>         or how to tell it to choose one over the other.
> 
>         With regard to your other advice (installing irqbalance), the
>         latest known version for debian/stable is 0.12-7. I guess that
>         it''s pretty outdated. Anyway, if you think that
it''s worth
>         trying, i''ll install it and see what happens.
> 
> 
>         Thanks again!,
>         Alex
>          2008/6/23 randall ehren <randall@redigital.org
>         <mailto:randall@redigital.org>
<mailto:randall@redigital.org
>         <mailto:randall@redigital.org>>>:
> 
>          >
>          > two things i can think of:
>          >
>          >  1) did you ever test this machine''s networking
performance
>         before installing xen?
>          >
>          >  2) have you tried installed ''irqbalance''?
i''ve had to
>         install that on dell 2650''s running xen 3.0.x
>          >
>          > -randall
> 
> 
>        
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> 
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> 
> 
> 
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