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Issues with second physical interface on 2P X710 using SR-IOV

PLamb5
Beginner
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Hi,

 

I am seeing some issues with SR-IOV on 2P X710s.

 

When using the second Physical port, I am not seeing traffic being balanced across the 4 Tx/Rx queues when running NVM 6.80 or later.

 

This issue wasn't present on 4.53 to my recollection, however it isn't possible to downgrade to validate this. I am in the process of trying to locate some cards with an appropriate NVM for this, but in the mean time, has anyone experienced the same issues?

 

So all traffic on Port1 is balanced across the 4 queues, allowing me to set cpu affinity in my VM and handle much higher load than with Port2, which appears to put everything on the first queue.

 

I have tried various ESXi driver versions, from 1.7 to 1.9.5 and see the same behaviour regardless of driver version.

 

Looking for some guidance!

 

Thanks,

Paul

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,812 Views

I can confirm that this issue is NOT present on NVM 4.53 as mentioned above.

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,812 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities. 

 

Please provide the following information for us to check on your query.

1.) What is the operating system used?

2.) Please provide the exact model of the adapter. You may provide the PBA of the adapter so we can double check on it. Please refer to the link below on where to find the PBA. It consist of 6-digit number located at the last part of the serial number.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007022/network-and-io/ethernet-products.html

3.) What is exact driver version loaded on your system.

 

Looking forward to your response.

 

Best regards,

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,812 Views

Crisselle,

 

1) The operating system being used is ESXi, and the issue is present regardless of version, I have tried 6.5 and 6.7.

2) The cards I am seeing this on are:

  • Intel Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710-DA2
  • Also present on both Dell and HP branded cards with equivalent firmware versions.

3) The driver in use has had no impact. I have used 1.7.11, through 1.9.5

 

Any combination of Driver plus NVM later than 4.53 (17.0.12 for the Dell branded versions), causes this issue. Reverting to NVM 4.53 (I found some cards that weren't upgraded beyond 6.80 that could be reverted), eliminates the problem. Obviously, that NVM version is over 4 years old and as such there are no doubt vulnerabilities and recommended updates - but as a massive cost of performance.

 

Thanks for your assistance,

Paul.

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,811 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Thank you for the reply.

 

We would suggest to submit a request on the links below for further assistance.

 

VMware support

https://www.vmware.com/support.html

 

or VMware Communities

https://communities.vmware.com/welcome

 

Mentioned on this link Technical support for VMware driver and operating system issues are provided by VMware Support or through the VMware Communities.

You may visit this link for Intel® Ethernet Adapters Compatibility with VMware*

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005693/network-and-io/ethernet-products.html

 

Would it be possible to share the PBA number of the adapter so we can identify if you are using a Retail or OEM version of Intel Ethernet adapter. As the NVM package provided by Intel are intended for Intel Retail adapters only. In case that it is an OEM, we would suggest to contact your OEM vendor for an appropriate package.

 

Please also share the link on where the NVM package was downloaded.

 

Awaiting to hear from you.

 

Best regards,

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,807 Views

Given the issue appears to be related to the NVM and not the Driver, this seems more like an Intel issue than it does a VMware one.

 

This is the download link: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24769/Non-Volatile-Memory-NVM-Update-Utility-for-Intel-Ethernet-Network-Adapter-700-Series

 

PBA is J11367-005

 

Paul.

 

 

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Appreciate your swift response.

 

Please allow us to check on this. Rest assured that we will give an update update within 1-3 business days.

 

Hoping for your patience. 

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Good day!

 

While we are checking on this, we hope you don't mind sharing how many adapters are affected by this issue. This will help us in further checking the issue.

 

Looking forward to your response.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,807 Views

Hi Crisselle,

 

Sure, I have seen the issue, so far, on every adapter I have tried... 12 Intel branded and 10 Dell branded X710-DA2, and 12 HP Branded 562 SFP+ (their equivalent part, running equivalent NVM/firmware).

 

Kind regards,

Paul.

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Appreciate your update on this matter.

 

Please allow us to continue to investigate on this issue. Rest assured that we will provide an update within 1-3 business days.

 

Hoping for your patience.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Good day!

 

We hope you don't mind sharing the steps done on your configuration. This would help us in further checking your request.

 

Looking forward to your response. 

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

How are you today?

 

We'd like to follow up the requested information for us to further check on your query.

 

Awaiting to your reply.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,807 Views

Hi Crisselle,

 

I am not sure what you are looking for here.

 

I have an environment with ESXi (I have tried 6.0, 6.5 and 6.7) with Intel/HP/Dell NICs. I enable SR-IOV, with 8 VF's per device (the number of VF's has no impact).

I then map the VF to my VM.

I have the tx/rx queues on the VF mapped to individual cores within my VM (4 per physical port).

I run performance testing through it with Ixia Breaking Point.

With NVM 4.53 (or equivalent for Dell OEM), I see that both the first and second physical ports on the device balance interrupts across the 4 tx/rx queues.

With NVM > 4.53 (6.01, 6.80, 7.10), I see that physical port one continues to balance interrupts across the 4 queues, but the second interface only hits the first of the 4 tx/rx queues.

Driver version has no impact.

 

The only thing that is different between a working environment and a non-working environment is the NVM.

 

Obviously, with NVM 4.53, I lose functionality, and gain potential risks, but performance capability is significantly higher, as I don't get restrained by interrupts.

 

Kind regards,

Paul.

 

 

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Thank you very much for the reply.

 

Please allow us to continue to check on this. Rest assured that we will provide an update within 3-4 business days.

 

Hoping for your patience.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,807 Views

Hi Crisselle,

 

Have you been able to make any progress on this issue?

 

Many thanks,

Paul

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

We sincerely apologize for the delay on this matter.

 

After further checking, this appears to be a valid issue. We have assigned this to the appropriate engineering team for reproduction. We will update you when we have further information.

 

Thank you for the patience and kind understanding.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Good day!

 

Please provide the VF driver version used (you may also provide the link where the driver was downloaded) and the guest OS information as this would help us in further investigating the issue.

 

Looking forward to your response.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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PLamb5
Beginner
1,807 Views
Hi Crisselle, This is a Fortinet FortiGate Virtual Machine, running i40evf v3.6.15. Kind regards, Paul.
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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Thank you for the reply.

 

Please allow us to forward this our engineering team. Rest assured that we will get back to you when we have further information.

 

Hoping for your patience and kind understanding on this matter.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,807 Views

Hello Paul,

 

We appreciate your patience on this matter.

 

Kindly try out the iavf driver version 3.7.61.20 link below. The i40evf driver name has changed to iavf.  

https://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000/files/iavf%20stable/3.7.61.20/

 

Looking forward to hear an update from you.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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Caguicla_Intel
Moderator
1,619 Views

Hello Paul,

 

Good day!

 

Please let us know if you have read our previous post and share the result after trying it out.

 

Awaiting to your response.

 

Best regards

Crisselle C

Intel Customer Support

A Contingent Worker at Intel

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