if_de problem w/out Giant (was: Re: Weird network traffic issue with FreeBSD-5.3-Beta 5)

[Robert Watson]

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004, Forrest Aldrich wrote:

> I'm using a de0 interface (100TX) -- if I try to cvsup, it is dead slow
> -- however, if I put the interface into promiscuous mode, in another
> screen, it starts working fast. 
> 
> I don't understand what could be wrong.  I've hit a bug? 

There appears to be a problem with if_de when running Giant-free.  Until
it is fixed, you can set debug.mpsafenet=1 in /boot/loader.conf.  While
this will make some other elements of the stack run slower, the net
improvement if de0 is your interface of interest will more than make up
for it.  I have found an if_de card and once I return to Washington, DC
tomorrow, I'll sit down and figure it out.

Robert N M Watson             FreeBSD Core Team, TrustedBSD Projects
robert at fledge.watson.org      Principal Research Scientist, McAfee Research