Subject: Slow network performance...
To: None <port-i386@NetBSD.ORG>
From: None <Geir.I.Jensen@Runit.Sintef.No>
List: port-i386
Date: 07/30/1998 11:36:43
Hi,

I am running current on an PII-266 system directly connected to a 100Mb
port on our Cisco switch. My network card, 3Com 3C905 should be capable
of handling that speed. However, the network performance I observe is
ridiculous. ftp transfer rates to another directly connected 100Mb
machine gives me just around 40KB/s throughput. This number is
consistent with other tests I have done (like scp, etc).

ftp from x to my machine: 11820072 bytes received in 04:25 (43.52 KB/s)
ftp from x to another: 11820072 bytes received in 1.34 seconds (8615.07 KB/s)

My machine is the only one running NetBSD in these tests. It doesn't
matter if the network line is configured for full duplex or not.

However, if I run som ttcp tests:

ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=9  tcp  -> other
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 12.75 real seconds = 1285.00 KB/sec +++

ttcp-t: buflen=8192, nbuf=2048, align=16384/0, port=9  udp  -> other
ttcp-t: 16777216 bytes in 2.78 real seconds = 5888.02 KB/sec +++

Ok, this is better than 40KB/s, but my tcp performance is still way to
low. I have tried 3 different network cards (all 3C905), so I don't
have a particular bad one. Of course, maybe the 3C905 isn't worth the
money.

My dmesg:

ep2 at pci0 dev 17 function 0: 3Com 3C905 Ethernet
ep2: MAC address 00:60:08:4c:c5:0a
ep2: 8KB word-wide FIFO, 3:5 Rx:Tx split, mii default mii, autoselect
ep2: interrupting at irq 14

and, 

# ifconfig ep2
ep2: flags=8863<UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
        media: 100baseTX status: active

Any clues to what I can do to increase the throughput? Buy a new card?


Regards,
-- 
Geir Inge Jensen                                    gij@jk.priv.no
                                                    http://www.jk.priv.no/