NT Crashes when doing large network file Xfers (was Re: NT crashes during smbtar)

[Ernie Oporto]

This is a common problem for us.  During the winter months, folks will often
work at home, and will copy large installation folders (not a single large
file, but many files constituting a large transfer). Over a 28/33/56k
connection, this was known to take close to 8 hours on some systems.
Somewhere during that time (it was random, but reproducible), the NT
server's networking subsystem would fail.  The server would stay up, and act
as if all were right in the world, but things were not so.

We also have 100BaseT 3COM 3c595 cards in those servers running full-duplex,
and were going to ditch the NICs soon =).  We originally thought it was our
Cabletron MMAC+ hub, which gave us some trouble at the time, but has since
been very good to us.  The port the server is connected to is running at
100BaseT.  The local router is only 10BaseT.  It's definitely the NT Server.
NT Workstation has never displayed this behavior.  What to do?

-Ernie

http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Park/9276
   _____/           ____         /        / Ernie "Shokk" Oporto-SysAdmin
_____      ____    /    \    __ /     __ /  Mentor Graphics Corporation
\______/ __    __ \______/ __  \___ __  \___  Ernie_Oporto at MentorG.Com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rick Flower [mailto:Rick.Flower at trw.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 1998 11:53 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Cc: Amanda-Users
> Subject: NT Crashes when doing large network file Xfers (was Re: NT
> crashes during smbtar)
>
>
> Ok.. Just for the record, I STAND CORRECTED!  The problem does
> appear to be NT.. The thing that irritated me was that nobody was
> interested in giving any backup data!  Everyone just wanted to blindly
> admit that it must be NT. Ok.. Enuf bitching.. On to the better stuff...
>
> Anyway, David Mansfield and I are trying to narrow down the machine
> configurations where this happens.. Currently, we've found that even
> without a Samba server in the picture that NT's networking subsystem
> will crash (leaving the rest of the OS working fine) when copying large
> files (around 40mb) from one NT box to another.. This leads me to
> wonder why this information isn't commonly known (ie. it isn't in the NT
> FAQ, etc).  Has anyone reported this BUG to Microsloth?  Are there
> any known workarounds?  Could it be a bug in the NIC if the only NICs
> effected are 3com cards?  Currently our failure machines are running
> 3com 3c595's in 100mb mode.
>
> So, if you see the NT network subsystem go DOA on you, can you tell
> us what network card you are running along with other vital stats (ie.
> 10mb / 100mb mode, full/half duplex, make/model of NIC, NT version,
> is the local subnet router in full or half duplex, etc.).
>
> Thanks!
>
> -- Rick
>
> P.S. I've CC'd this message over to the Amanda mailing-list just for
>        those other users that may not be aware of this conversation..
>        Please post any followups on the samba mailing list if possible.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: David Mansfield <david at cobite.com>
> To: Multiple recipients of list <samba at samba.anu.edu.au>
> Date: Monday, June 29, 1998 3:03 PM
> Subject: Re: NT crashes during smbtar
>
>
> >On Mon, 29 Jun 1998, Rick Flower wrote:
> >
> >> David,
> >>
> >> You are not the only one that sees this problem.. I posted another
> message
> >> about this approx. 1 month ago (or less).  We see it here frequently
> using
> >> Samba in conjunction with Amanda.  All of our machines are NT 4.0 with
> SP3
> >> (or in some cases SP2).  Everything you say it true -- no networking
> layer.
> >> I've talked to one other individual that saw this problem.  I suspect
> that
> >> if and
> >> when more people start seeing this problem, then and only then will it
> get
> >> addressed...  For now, nobody appears to be too interested in
> finding out
> >> WHY it happens..  Like I wrote in my last message, I had some
> idiot reply
> >> to my initial message saying that it must be NT's fault!  Yeah right!
> >>
> >> -- Rick
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: David Mansfield <david at cobite.com>
> >> To: Multiple recipients of list <samba at samba.anu.edu.au>
> >> Date: Thursday, June 25, 1998 9:37 PM
> >> Subject: NT crashes during smbtar
> >>
> >>
> >> >I have been regularly crashing my NT boxen trying to back
> them up via an
> >> >smbtar (smbclient).  The crash is not complete - the network
> layer on NT
> >> >goes away.  You can still operate the console, but no net
> traffic.  This
> >> >is NT workstation and server 4.0 with sp3.  The UNIX samba server is
> >> >Solaris 2.5 with the latest samba version (1.9.18p8?) also with other
> >> >samba versions.
> >> >
> >> >I tried updating the NT tcpip stack with the teardrop fix (hoping that
> >> >someone would have found this little bug) but no go.  The
> machine has a
> >> >3c595 NIC in case that matters.
> >> >
> >> >I don't THINK the machine crashes except when being accessed like this
> via
> >> >smbclient, although it did crash once when copying from this
> machine to
> a
> >> >samba server via a third party nt workstation (does this copy
> go through
> >> >the intermediate machine or is it smart enough to copy direct?)
> >> >
> >> >Any clues?
> >> >
> >> >Please cc direct to me in case I miss responses in the digest.
> >> >Thanks.
> >> >
> >> >*==============================*
> >> >| David Mansfield              |
> >> >| david at cobite.com             |
> >> >|                              |
> >> >| (212) 536-9115               |
> >> >*==============================*
> >> >
> >> >
> >>
> >
> >*==============================*
> >| David Mansfield              |
> >| david at cobite.com             |
> >|                              |
> >| (212) 536-9115               |
> >*==============================*
> >
>