Document Audience:INTERNAL
Document ID:I1138-1
Title:The QFE network interface is reporting excessive input packet errors when running back to back stress tests.
Copyright Notice:Copyright © 2005 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Update Date:2004-11-05

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                        FIELD INFORMATION NOTICE
               (For Authorized Distribution by Sun Service)
FIN #: I1138-1
Synopsis: The QFE network interface is reporting excessive input packet errors when running back to back stress tests.
Create Date: Nov/05/04
SunAlert: No
Top FIN/FCO Report: No
Products Reference: Sun Fire /4800/4810/6800E4900/E6900 Servers
Product Category: Server / Diag-Doc-Service
Product Affected: 
Systems Affected:
-----------------  
Mkt_ID         Platform    Model       Description          Serial Number
------         --------    -----       -----------          -------------
  -             E4900       ALL        Sun Fire 4900              -
  -             E6900       ALL        Sun Fire 6900              -
  -             S12         ALL        Sun Fire 4800              -
  -             S12i        ALL        Sun Fire 4810              -
  -             S24         ALL        Sun Fire 6800              -


X-Options Affected:
-------------------
Mkt_ID    Platform     Model    Description                           Serial Number
------    --------     -----    -----------                           ------------- 
X1034A       -           -      Quad Fast Ethernet (QFE) PCI Adapter        -
Parts Affected: 
----------------------
Part Number             Description                         Model
-----------             -----------                         -----
501-5406-01             Sun Quad FastEthernet (QFE/P)         -
501-5406-06             Sun Quad FastEthernet (QFE/P)         -
501-5406-07             Sun Quad FastEthernet (QFE/P)         -
References: 
BugId: 5041625 - QFE is showing too many ierror pkts running back to 
                 back stress.
Issue Description: 
While running back to back configuration stress tests using TTCP on the 
PCI+ IO Board, the QFE interface reports excessive input packet errors 
"ierrors".  This has been determined to be a QFE issue, which possibly 
accentuates in operations utilizing the XMITS ASIC since XMITS has higher 
throughput.

This issue needs to be documented for PCI+ release, since customers who
upgrade their PCI IO assemblies to PCI+ IO assemblies, may still have
QFE NICs in their existing configuration.

Running back to back tests using the TTCP TCP/UDP benchmarking tool the 
user will observe that "netstat -i" will report many more Ierrs for the 
QFE interfaces than any of the other configured network interfaces being 
tested.  Testing only the QFE interface and not the other interfaces
yielded similar results. 

# netstat -i

  Name  Mtu   Net/Dest   Address    Ipkts   Ierrs     Opkts   Oerrs  Collis  Queue 
  ba0   9180  atmb-0     atmb-0    502593       0    472294     2       0      0     
  lo0   8232  localhost  localhost    299       0       299     0       0      0     
  ce0   1500  ceb-0      ceb-0    1194862       0   1062732     0       0      0     
  ce1   1500  ceb-1      ceb-1    1062132       0    983099     0       0      0     
  ce2   1500  kuhb-2     kuhb-2    305675       0    582944     0       0      0     
  ce3   1500  qgeb-3     qgeb-3   1154890       0   1001651     0       0      0     
  ce5   1500  qgeb-5     qgeb-5   1215951       0   1057197     0       0      0     
  ce6   1500  qgeb-6     qgeb-6   1238271       0   1042729     0       0      0     
  ge0   1500  gigb-0     gigb-0    448942       0    452411     0       0      0     
  hme1  1500  qads4-b    qads4-b     3704       0      1588     0       0      0     
  qfe0  1500  qfeb-0     qfeb-0   1034566    2390   1104153     0       0      0     
  qfe1  1500  qfeb-1     qfeb-1    934923    2397   1061761     0       0      0     
  qfe2  1500  qfeb-2     qfeb-2   1200896    1814   1154268     0       0      0     
  qfe3  1500  qfeb-3     qfeb-3    679806    2383    900015     0       0      0

Affected parts can be examined through either a recent explorer output
as in the following example: 

   # /explorer../sysconfig/prtdiag-v.out

Or run prtdiag on the system: (abbreviated output)

   # prtdiag -v
   
     System Configuration:  Sun Microsystems  sun4u Sun Fire 6800
     System clock frequency: 150 MHz
     Memory size: 24576 Megabytes

.....

========================= IO Cards =========================

                                Bus  Max                                            
             IO  Port Bus       Freq Bus  Dev,                                       
FRU Name    Type  ID  Side Slot MHz  Freq Func State Name               Model
----------  ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----- ----------------   ---------
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    0    33   33   1,0  ok   pci-pci1011,24.3/  pci-bridge
                                                        pci108e,1000                       
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   2,0  ok   pci-pci1011,25.4/  pci-bridge
                                                        pci108e,1000          
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   0,0  ok   pci108e,1000-pci108e,1000.1                               
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   0,1  ok   SUNW,qfe-pci108e,1001             
                                                                        SUNW,pci-qfe            
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   1,0  ok   pci108e,1000-pci108e,1000.1                               
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   1,1  ok   SUNW,qfe-pci108e,1001             
                                                                        SUNW,pci-qfe            
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   2,0  ok   pci108e,1000-pci108e,1000.1                               
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   2,1  ok    UNW,qfe-pci108e,1001             
                                                                        SUNW,pci-qfe            
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   3,0  ok   pci108e,1000-pci108e,1000.1                              
/N0/IB9/P0  PCI   30   B    1    33   33   3,1  ok   SUNW,qfe-pci108e,1001             
                                                                        SUNW,pci-qfe            

========================= Active Boards for Domain ===========================

           Board       Receptacle   Occupant                                                       
FRU Name   Type        Status       Status      Condition Info                                  
---------  ----------- ----------   ----------  --------- ------------------
/N0/SB3    CPU_V3      connected    configured  ok        powered-on, assigned                   
/N0/SB4    CPU_V3      connected    configured  ok        powered-on, assigned                   
/N0/SB5    CPU_V3      connected    configured  ok        powered-on, assigned                   
/N0/IB7    PCI+_I/O_Bo connected    configured  ok        powered-on, assigned                   
/N0/IB9    PCI+_I/O_Bo connected    configured  ok        powered-on, assigned                   

========================= Available Boards/Slots for Domain ===================

 ......

========================= HW Revisions =======================================

System PROM revisions:
----------------------
OBP 5.17.0 02/14/04 13:09

IO ASIC revisions:
------------------
                            Port
FRU Name        Model        ID  Status Version
----------- --------------- ---- ------ -------
/N0/IB7/P0  SUNW,xmits       26    ok      3      
/N0/IB7/P1  SUNW,xmits       27    ok      3      
/N0/IB9/P0  SUNW,xmits       30    ok      3      
/N0/IB9/P1  SUNW,xmits       31    ok      3      
/N0/IB7/P0  SUNW,sgsbbc      26    ok      2      
/N0/IB9/P0  SUNW,sgsbbc      30    ok      2

"ierrors" can happen for various reasons (parity error, alignment
error, fifo overflow, etc.).  The reason for ierrors in this case is
because the QFE hardware card has a 2 K byte receive buffer and the
receive (Rx) DMA engine could not get free Rx descriptors. As a result
the Rx DMA engine drops the packet.  In normal TCP network operations
the packets will be retransmitted and NO data will be lost.

This is not the issue in the QFE driver - this is a limitation of the
QFE hardware. Starting with Solaris 9 Update 5 and continuing with
Solaris 10, kernel/stream performance enhancements now allow the
network stress tests (TTCP, etc.) to generate higher packets rates than
Solaris 8 and earlier versions of Solaris 9.

The QFE/P network interface card is a EOL'ed NIC in E4900, E6900,
F4810, F4800 and F6800 midrange servers.  There are no plans to modify
the existing hardware.  If this issue is seen at a customer site after
upgrading to PCI+, the only option for the customer is to replace the
QFE IO card with one of the NICs currently available for these systems.
Implementation: 
---
        |   |   MANDATORY (Fully Proactive)
         ---    
         
  
         ---
        |   |   CONTROLLED PROACTIVE (per Sun Geo Plan) 
         --- 
         
                                
         ---
        | X |   REACTIVE (As Required)
         ---
Corrective Action: 
The following recommendation is provided as a guideline for authorized
Sun Services Field Representatives who may encounter the above
mentioned issue.

This is a hardware limitation of the QFE/P interface card.  Potential
customers should be aware of this issue and of the possibility that by
continuing to use a EOL'ed NIC that they are at risk of this issue
occurring because of the higher throughput possible with the new PCI+
IO assembly.

Customers should take this opportunity to upgrade the QFE interfaces to
one of the currently available and fully supported network interface
cards.
Comments: 
If a customer is considering upgrading their existing Sun Fire 6800 and
4800/4810 servers to the new PCI+ IO assembly they will be aware of this
issue.  If there is a chance that the customer may run into this
problem the field should suggest that the customer take this
opportunity to upgrade to a supported NIC.

============================================================================

NOTE: FIN Tracking Instructions for Radiance/SPWeb:
--------------------------------------------------

If a Radiance case involves the application of a FIN to solve a customer
issue, please complete the following steps in Radiance/SPWeb prior to
closing the case:
 
    o Select "Field Information Notice" in the REFERENCE TYPE field.

    o Enter FIN ID number in the REFERENCE ID field.
      For example; I1111-1.

If possible, include additional details in the REFERENCE SUMMARY field
(ie. implementation complete, customer declined, etc.)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Implementation Notes:
--------------------

In case of "Mandatory" FINs, Sun Services will attempt to contact
all known customers to recommend proactive implementation.

For "Controlled Proactive" FINs, Sun Services mission critical
support teams will initiate proactive implementation efforts for
their respective accounts as required.

For "Reactive" FINs, Sun Services and partners will implement
the necessary corrective actions as the need arises.


Billing Information:
-------------------

Warranty: On-Site Labor Rates are based on specified Warranty deliverables
          for the affected product.

Contract: On-Site Labor Rates are based on the type of service contract.

Non Contract: On-Site implementation by Sun is available based on On-Site
              Labor Rates defined in the Price List.

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