[Xen-users] xcp - windows networking problem

[Trygve Sanne Hardersen <trygve@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi,

I'm having problems getting the networking to work properly with Windows (Server 2003 R2 x64) on XCP 0.1.1. I have been working on this for a while, but I'm unable to find a consistent pattern. However this is what I've found so far:

The nature of the problem is that traffic some protocols (HTTP, JPDA) hardly gets through; parts of a web page will load, but the whole page never completes and the browser just hangs forever. The Java debugger will connect to a remote process, but it will be unable to step correctly through the code and eventually it looses the connection. Other protocols (RDP, ICMP ping) works fine AFAICT, though I am experiencing some disconnects when using RDP.

I believe the problem is caused by the Citrix XenServer PV Drivers, though not consistently. I now have two identical Windows 2003 servers, one where the networking is working with Citrix PV, another where it is broken using the same driver. When i uninstall the Citrix PV drivers on the "broken" server, so that the Realtek RTL8139 network driver is used, the problem goes away.

Strangely, the network on the "broken" server works fine when I connect directly from a different VM on the same LAN/pool. Only when I connect from the outside through a firewall (which is also running as a VM on the LAN) I experience the problem. Could it be that packets are sent too quickly, resulting in packet loss?

I suspected the problem being caused by two virtual machines running on the same host, but that does not seem to be the case either as I've moved the firewall to a different host than the Windows server is running on, without any impact on the problem.

A while ago I tried the GPLPV drivers but that did not solve the problem. I'll give this another shot at some point. I've also verified the problem on two distinctly different hardware platforms.

Has anyone had similar experiences, and do you have a suggestion for solving the issue?

Many thanks for your help!

Trygve

--
HypoBytes Ltd.
Trygve Sanne Hardersen
Akersveien 24F
0177 Oslo
Norway

hypobytes.com
+47 40 55 30 25

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