Jumbo Frames problem in Windows XP

[akent]

Currently trying to set up Gigabit network between various computers (running ubuntu and windows xp).

I am having a problem sending a frame size any larger than 1500 on the windows machine. The onboard NIC currently in use is Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller. I currently have jumbo frames set to 9014 Bytes on this NIC.

For testing purposes, I am currently directly connected to another machine with a crossover cable through this NIC. I can successfully ping this machine using the default packet size. However, everytime I attempt to send a larger frame, I get the following message:

cmd: ping <ipaddr> -f -l 5000
msg: Packet needs to be fragmented but DF set.

Using Wireshark, i can tell that traffic never leaves this machine. no activity is detected on the wire when i run this command.

Has anyone run into this problem before? Is this NIC known for issues with jumbo frames? I have been doing searches on both of these issues and turned up very little information. Are there any known software limitations in Windows XP (and can they be fixed?)

Thanks.

Al

 

[00Roush]

I had that Marvell NIC on a motherboard that was previously in my server. I never really used jumbo frames much but I don't recall having any problems with enabling it on Win XP when I was testing different configurations.

When setting up jumbo frames I always recommend making your changes and then restarting each device. Also try to set all computers involved to use the same size frames or as close as possible.

If you don't mind me asking why were you trying to get jumbo frames up and running?

00Roush

 

[akent]

I am setting up an isolated gigabit network to be used for a small render farm. the array consists of one linux machine to be used a file server, and the rest (win xp) as render nodes to process large video files. A lot of time is lost in file transfer between these machines considering the original files are typically in the 10s of gigs. I was hoping to get jumbo frames working on these systems since the file sizes are so big. We've really cut down a lot of time just adding the gigabit switch, but haven't been able to see the true power of the network without jumbo frames.

still have been unable to ping out with a frame size larger than 1472 (1500 - 28 overhead). attempted to use DrTCP to set frame size on the NIC with no success. anything larger gives the same message (packet needs to be fragmented) and no traffic leaves the NIC.

i have also been unable to get the jumbo frames up and running on any of the win xp machines using an Intel Pro gigabit NIC. The one linux machine we have on the network (our file server) uses the same Intel Pro NIC and sends jumbo frames just fine. I'm only lead to believe that it must be a software problem.

in addition, all of the winxp machines do have a 3rd party firewall installed (comodo) but prior to any testing, it is has been disabled and closed. windows firewall is also off during testing. could something have been screwed up simply on comodo installation?

very frustrating and still can't find a solution. I feel like there is just some undocumented setting i am completely unaware of that can turn this around.

 

[00Roush]

Not sure why Jumbo frames wouldn't work for you. Does your switch support Jumbo frames? You could try using TCP Optimizer. I have found it is pretty good and also can reset your settings back to windows defaults. You might try first to reset to windows defaults. I recommend trying to do jumbo frames between two of the windows machines first through a switch if possible. Note: on my switch (Netgear GS108T) I had to actually enable jumbo frames in the web interface before it would work. Then I enabled jumbo frames on both the client and server. After that I was able to ping with sizes larger than 1500 bytes.

If you can't get it to work I would not worry too much. In my experience jumbo frames only make a small difference on most modern computers. If you are looking at improving performance I might be able to help. What kind of transfer speeds are you getting right now?

00Roush