Intel Pro 1000 GT Quad port adapter issues

[bhirsch]

I am currently using an Intel Pro 1000GT quad port adapter in my ESX 3.0.1 host. The issue I'm seeing is when i use ports 3 or 4 on the adapter my ping response times to the virtual machines are around1000ms, and network responses are extremely slow. When i reconfigure the vswitch to use ports 1 or 2 of this adapter my ping responses go down to <1ms as expected. I have investigated our physical switch and used the same ports on the physical switch for all the ports on the adapter during testing. I even went as far as changing the cables out. I'm looking to see if anyone else out there may be using this same adapter and has noticed this same behavior, and if they were able to correct it. This adapter is installed in an IBM x365 server.

[CiscoKid]

I am seeing the same issue with the Intel Pro 1000PT. See my posting here

http://www.vmware.com/community/thread.jspa?threadID=81978&tstart=60

[bhirsch]

Yes I saw that post. What kind of hardware are you using that card in? I just got off the phone with IBM support and they said that if the card is not on their compatibility list for the server then chances are it will not work as expected. I'm running an x365 server, and it supports the Pro 1000 GT, but only the dual port flavor. I suppose i'll have to purchase 2 of those since that seems to be supported. It seems that this server does not support any quad port adapters even though the adapter supports the slot. I would check with your hardware mfg to see about supporting quad port ethernet cards.

[bhirsch]

I solved this issue with my hardware manufacturer.

[CiscoKid]

I am using the 1000PT (PCI-Express) in a whitebox server that has an Intel 5000PSLSATA motherboard. I also have 2 Intel Pro 1000MT quad ports in the system and they are operating fine on all ports. What mainboard is in the IBM?

[bhirsch]

IBM Designs their own system boards. They do this to add their own technology for performance improvements and to try to differentiate themselves from the pack. Some times it is good other times it is bad.

[K2teknik]

I solved this issue with my hardware manufacturer.

But how ?

New HW, only use a 2 port version ?

/Hans

[fscked]

Which ports are you guys considering A, B, C, and D?

or 1, 2, 3, and 4?

I have some of these cards and I am not getting expected performance out of them. I am currently doing some throughput tests to see if changing to a single port NIC helps.

[CWedge]

Which ports are you guys considering A, B, C, and D?

or 1, 2, 3, and 4?

I have some of these cards and I am not getting

expected performance out of them. I am currently

doing some throughput tests to see if changing to a

single port NIC helps.

Top 2 ports being 1 and 2?

[fscked]

huh? Top in relation to what? Mine are like this:

___________________________________________________

\| |

\| |-----| |--| |--| |-----| |

\| | | | | | | | | |=== | |-----| |--| |--| |-----| |

\| |

\----

---

With the right edge being the pci slot (this is looking from the back).

So is it 1 2 3 4?

And the vmnic numbers are

2 7 8 9

Message was edited by: Mashed ASCII rofl

fscked

Message was edited by: bah you get the idea...

/hates web post ascii...

fscked

[CiscoKid]

A=Top port when PCI-E card is installed with a motherboard sitting horizontally and D port is the closest to the Slot port on the motherboard.

[fscked]

Sweet, thanks.

[CiscoKid]

I had a fun-filled weekend trying to troubleshoot my 1000PT quad-ports...at the end of the weekend I was back where I started...there is definitely an issue with VMware ESX addressing the 1000PT quad ports as I had just one 1000PT quad-port NIC and a LSI 320-2E and still saw performance issues with C (3) and D (4) ports on the NIC. I completely disabled the USB, I/OAT and the IESR in the system BIOS and did a fresh install of ESX fully patched to 3/29/2007 patches. No dice. Let me know what your results are like. Also, what kind of switch are you connected to? Can you post an example of your switchport configuration?

[fscked]

Well, mine is in a Dell PE2950 and I increased the TCPWindowSize in the registry of the VM (to 64k) and now everything is good. I haven't moved it back to the C or D port yet because I am testing with a device known as an "Avalanche" ( http://www.spirentcom.com/documents/664.pdf ) to check how many sessions and data I can shove though it.

So far it looks good with 190Mbits IN and 190 MBits OUT with 18k sessions. There is only 50 ms latency doing that.

It is doing a bunch of proprietary work with the data also.

As a side note, when it was running on the integrated NICS, single port gigE nic or any port of the quad it was doing the same thing. I can rerun the test on ports C and D later today or tomorrow.