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  • 1.  GX270 SLOW multicast start (multiple retransmits) (not SATA!)

    Posted Nov 23, 2006 06:43 PM
    I have had this multicast problem for approx 1 year now, and am trying to find a solution!

    We have 60 GX270 with IDE drives (not SATA!) and integrated Intel Pro 1000 NICs. Multicasting to more than one client is extremely slow to begin - clients connect to the ghostcast server session ok, get sent a few Mb perhaps (if at all), then there is a considerable delay - up to one hour or two hours, depending on the number of clients in the session, before the bulk (or any) of the image is sent (which succeeds - it was only by accident I decided to wait.. and wait.. when eventually the session seems to start normally and it goes to completion. Previously, with eg. optiplex GX240s, sessions would start immediately and take 30 mins for a 4Gb transfer).

    After the one or two hour delay start, the image transfers normally and at a reasonable rate. I have tried multiple revisions of the Intel Pro 1000 NDIS2 driver with no effect, and command-line switches such as -fni, -noide, -ffx have no effect. I am using Ghost Solution Suite 1.0 (ghost 8.2). I have tried (temporarily) hosting ghost on a different server with a different type of NIC, and it has the same effect.

    Example:
    Transferring a ghost console to 5 clients. Around 7Mb image, should take around 5 seconds (normally), but takes around 10 minutes to start, then transfers in around 5 seconds. When we are transferring normal images (~4Gb), there is a about a 1.5hour delay before normal transfer (which takes around 30 mins)). A typical portion of the log:

    ....

    4367780 R: ACK SEQ=2283 ACK=4059584 WIN=17172 LEN=0 ADDR=131.217.36.41:7777
    Recv would block

    Wait(660) timed out after 661 ticks
    4368441 Retransmit timeout
    Slow start threshold 2862
    Congestion window 2862
    S: ACK SEQ=1 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    Timing of 1 abandoned
    S: ACK SEQ=1432 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    S: ACK SEQ=1 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    S: ACK SEQ=1432 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    4375451 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4376453 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4377454 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4378455 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4379457 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4380458 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4381460 Wait(990) timed out after 991 ticks
    4382451 Retransmit timeout
    Slow start threshold 2862
    Congestion window 2862
    S: ACK SEQ=1 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    S: ACK SEQ=1432 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    4383453 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4384454 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4385455 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4386457 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4387458 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4388460 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4389461 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4390463 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4391464 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4392466 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4393467 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4394468 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks
    4395470 Wait(1000) timed out after 1001 ticks
    4396471 Wait(1000) timed out after 1002 ticks

    .... repeated quite a bit, then eventually:

    4429499 Wait(955) timed out after 961 ticks
    4430460 Retransmit timeout
    Slow start threshold 2862
    Congestion window 2862

    S: ACK SEQ=1 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    S: ACK SEQ=1432 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=

    Wait(1000) returned (R) after 20 ticks

    4430480 R: ACK TOK SEQ=2283 ACK=2863 WIN=17172 LEN=0 ADDR=131.217.36.42:7777
    Congestion window 3577
    Recv would block

    S: ACK SEQ=2863 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=
    Timing of 2863 commenced
    S: ACK SEQ=4294 ACK=2283 WIN=17150 LEN=1431 ADDR=

    Wait(1000) returned (R) after 0 ticks

    R: ACK TOK SEQ=2283 ACK=5725 WIN=17172 LEN=0 ADDR=131.217.36.42:7777
    Congestion window 4149
    RTT for 2863 is 5 ticks
    Retransmit timeout 20 = 5 + 4 * 2
    Recv would block

    etc (we then get normal, non-excessive delay, transfer)

    ....

    Retransmits on Timeout: 61
    No Response Timeouts: 4
    Lagging Clients: 6
    Token Switches: 10


    I suspect the "Timing of 1 abandoned" is the point where the delay starts..

    Short of upgrading to ghost 8.3 (which I suspect will have the same issue judging by other posts), does anyone have any suggestions? I have tried PRODOS revisions from 2002,2003,2004,2005,2006 (October this year!).


  • 2.  RE: GX270 SLOW multicast start (multiple retransmits) (not SATA!)

    Posted Jan 23, 2007 05:46 PM
    I heard that there was some problem with GX270 with SATA disks. It is interesting that it is with IDE drives. Can you try with external network card? I don't know whether it is the problem with intergrated intel pro 1000 NICs or not.


  • 3.  RE: GX270 SLOW multicast start (multiple retransmits) (not SATA!)

    Posted Mar 28, 2007 01:26 PM
    When I first started working with our GX270s I had the same problem. However, we found out it wasn't the GX270s, it was our Cisco switches. On our Cisco switches, the GX270s were timing out after a minute or two. I never let them sit and run, so I don't know if they would have eventually cloned or not. We did find out that the Cisco switches/routers had a bad line of code in the software and Cisco had to send a tech out to correct the code. After that, the GX270s ran fine. I never found out exactly what they had to do, but if you are running Cisco switches/routers, it's worth a look.
     
     


  • 4.  RE: GX270 SLOW multicast start (multiple retransmits) (not SATA!)

    Posted Aug 21, 2007 02:16 PM
    We are having this issue, with SATA though, using ver 2.0 (11.0/1) on GX270s. From what I've seen, the -FNI switch is a workaround, but it was supposed to have been "fixed" in later versions (after 7.5) - Is there any definitive guidance for GX270 users?
     
    Thanks!


  • 5.  RE: GX270 SLOW multicast start (multiple retransmits) (not SATA!)

    Posted Apr 21, 2009 04:41 PM
    I am having the same problem with Optiplex 755 computers. I was NOT having this problem a week ago. I have been ghosting this model (17 of them) for over a year without problems. I've ghosted Windows and Linux. We recently installed some Windows patches and things are behaving as you have indicated here. The pathces were installed on the machine that has Ghost Server installed. Nothing has changed with Ghost Server. Nothing has changed with the Ghost client that the 17 Optiplexes are using to boot.

    Naturally, I blame the Windows patches. Unfortunately, the patches cannot be uninstalled, since they are critical vulnerability patches. Something is causing this and should be fixable without uninstalling security patches. Using version 2.5.