[ale] Network issue that makes absolutely NO sense

Thu May 11 23:35:29 EDT 2006

wonder what version of fimware you have on that switch.  One of the
bug fixed in a newer firmware indicates the the switch itself can't
handle well if the speed varies on different ports of the switch, with
the initial version 4.0.3.7.

Info can be found at http://kbserver.netgear.com/products/GSM7248.asp

Firmware Version 4.0.3.15       Published Feb. 10, 2006
Fixes
1. Fixed: Switch may crash and reboot if packets are forwarded from
lower 24 ports (1 to 24) to higher 24 ports (25-48) where the port
speeds are different, e.g., if one port is using 10M half duplex, and
the other is using 1000M bps full duplex.

On 5/11/06, Jerry Yu <jjj863 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> am not familiar with that model. a rule of thumb is to set both switch and nic to 'auto_negotiation' such that the best common speed/dupex combo can be automatically negotiated when the link comes up between the nic and the switch port. short of that,  one'd force a combo of speed/duplex on both ends. The bottom line is that both ends should be in sync in terms of auto_negotiation (or manual/forced), speed (1000 or 100 or 10), and duplex (full or half).
>
>
>
> On 5/11/06, Ryan Fish <FishR at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > The switch is a Netgear 7248.  It shows me that everything is in FD on all used ports (although I had to force some of them to FD even though the NICs are set at FD).
> >
> >
> >
> > My next step is going to be matching the NICs and switch ports at 100FD because the NIC in the Oracle box can only go that fast.  I just have to wait for a job to complete.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > -Ryan
> >
> >
> >
> >   ________________________________

> >
> > From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto: ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jerry Yu
> >  Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 9:31 PM
> >  To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> >  Subject: Re: [ale] Network issue that makes absolutely NO sense
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > to have a nice smooth communication,
> >  1) nic and the switch port it connects to should have matching speed/duplex/auto_neg|manual
> >  2) two-end points of a switched communication should have matching speed and duplex.
> >
> >  what's the model of the new switch?  You may find speed/duplex/auto_neg settings per port on the switch itself.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On 5/11/06, Ryan Fish < FishR at bellsouth.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > A bit more info that may be helpful:
> >
> >
> >
> > - The Oracle server only fails because it is unable to read from the NAS.  This causes the IOWait on the processors to hit the high 90% range and stay there until the box eventually is too busy to respond to requests from the application that uses it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Is there some way to test if a switch is truly using Full Duplex on a port?
> >
> > Does it make any difference if the NIC in the Oracle server is set to 100FD (the highest it can go) and the NIC on the server running the other backup scripts is set to 1000FD?  The NAS is set to 1000FD.  Is there something in the way 100FD and 1000FD work that keeps them from being able to truly work together properly?
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you again.
> >
> > -Ryan
> >
> >
> >
> >   ________________________________

> >
> > From:  ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto: ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Ryan Fish
> >  Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2006 8:53 PM
> >  To: 'Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts'
> >  Subject: [ale] Network issue that makes absolutely NO sense
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > I have found the following issue with two different backup processes after putting a new switch in place within the network:
> >
> >
> >
> > 1) RHEL3 AS/Oracle 9i server using RMAN and Export for backups.
> >
> >     - As long as the NIC on the NAS device to where all backup information is written is set to 100FD the backup processes will run as per normal and all is well.  Once the NIC on the NAS is set to 1000FD the backups fail because the Oracle server is unable to connect to the NAS device over the NFS mount.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2) RHEL3 ES server running multiple bash scripts to back up portions of almost every other box in the same network.  The backup scripts run fine when the NIC on the NAS is set to 1000FD but fail when I set it to 100FD.
> >
> >
> >
> > Prior to replacing the failed switch this was never an issue as all backups ran fine every night with the exception of one that ran fine most times.  Only the switch was swapped out did this network strangeness occur.
> >
> >
> >
> > What could/would cause this?
> >
> > Why would it matter when speed the NIC on the NAS is set to for particular backup processes to function properly?
> >
> > Is there anywhere within the RMAN and/or Export processes that the NIC speed on the receiving end could or would be hard coded to only accept 100FD?  If so, why?
> >
> >
> >
> > I am at a complete loss here and have been fighting this for two weeks already so any help will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > -Ryan
> >
> >
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