Slow networking on NOVA-vbox

[Igor]

Hi list!

I normally have 100 Mbps Internet, but on Nova-vbox it was initially about 10 Mbps. I revisited all network chain from iPXE Intel driver up to vbox/network.cpp. Ripped some (unneccessary for me) code from nic_drv, increased vbox prioprity to -1 (works great), use virtio instead of Intel PRO/1000, disable UART logging (on low level though). As a result, the best speed I've seen was about 25 Mbps while on my base Windows 7 I have exactly 100 Mbps in vbox for any guest.

So I have a question: is it Genode/NOVA architectural feature or I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

[Josef Söntgen]

Hi,

Post by Igor
I normally have 100 Mbps Internet, but on Nova-vbox it was initially
about 10 Mbps. I revisited all network chain from iPXE Intel driver
up to vbox/network.cpp. Ripped some (unneccessary for me) code from
nic_drv, increased vbox prioprity to -1 (works great), use virtio
instead of Intel PRO/1000, disable UART logging (on low level though).
As a result, the best speed I've seen was about 25 Mbps while on my
base Windows 7 I have exactly 100 Mbps in vbox for any guest.

There were issues with certain Intel nics that are fixed on the current
master branch [1]. Please give this commit a try.

[1] https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/commit/4506912f6e4c2fb2beedc4b680cc770b377b570c


Regards
Josef

[Igor]

Post by Josef Söntgen
Hi,

 I normally have 100 Mbps Internet, but on Nova-vbox it was initially
 about 10 Mbps. I revisited all network chain from iPXE Intel driver
 up to vbox/network.cpp. Ripped some (unneccessary for me) code from
 nic_drv, increased vbox prioprity to -1 (works great), use virtio
 instead of Intel PRO/1000, disable UART logging (on low level though).
 As a result, the best speed I've seen was about 25 Mbps while on my
 base Windows 7 I have exactly 100 Mbps in vbox for any guest.

There were issues with certain Intel nics that are fixed on the current
master branch [1]. Please give this commit a try.
[1] https://github.com/genodelabs/genode/commit/4506912f6e4c2fb2beedc4b680cc770b377b570c
Regards
Josef

Hi Josef!

I already have this commit, so it does not work for me. But it seems you gave me the right direction because some control bits used in iPXE driver either does not exist or even have different purpose for my cadr (I217-V btw).

Thanks,

Igor.

[Christian Helmuth]

Hello Igor,

Post by Igor
I already have this commit, so it does not work for me. But it seems
you gave me the right direction because some control bits used in
iPXE driver either does not exist or even have different purpose for
my cadr (I217-V btw).

Do I understand you correctly that the iPXE driver is buggy on your
i217-V NIC? If yes, is this fixed in iPXE upstream?

Greets

[Igor]

Post by Christian Helmuth
Hello Igor,

 I already have this commit, so it does not work for me. But it seems
 you gave me the right direction because some control bits used in
 iPXE driver either does not exist or even have different purpose for
 my cadr (I217-V btw).

Do I understand you correctly that the iPXE driver is buggy on your
i217-V NIC? If yes, is this fixed in iPXE upstream?
Greets
--
Christian Helmuth
Genode Labs
http://www.genode-labs.com/ · http://genode.org/
https://twitter.com/GenodeLabs · /ˈdʒiː.nəʊd/
Genode Labs GmbH · Amtsgericht Dresden · HRB 28424 · Sitz Dresden
Geschäftsführer: Dr.-Ing. Norman Feske, Christian Helmuth
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Hi Christian!

Short answer: no, it does not.

Long answer:

Most recent iPXE Intel driver has INTEL_NO_PHY_RST in intel_nics[] against several i217 and i218 controllers (it should has it against all of them). In fact it may or may not work under some circumstances. AFAIK iPXE used mostly after a cold system start. For me it does not work at all after a cold start, but works after Windows restart at 10 Mbps half-duplex. So I just plug in the discrete Ethernet controller on 82574l and disable onboard one.

No offence intended, but iPXE Intel driver is quite barbaric. It does not drive PHY layer at all, for example.

Side note: VirtIO vbox network access method works great for lubuntu 14.04 guest but does not work for Win7 guest even after the appropriate drivers installation (but it works for Win7 inside vbox running on Windows!). Probably it could be added into Genode master branch.

Best regards,

Igor