A stupid question...

[Greg Panula]

Eirik Oeverby wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I have the rl problem from time to time - it is as if the interface is
> unplugged from the HUB. However, I have no problem pinging it from the
> host itself, but it's gone to anyone on the outside.
> A "ifconfig rl0 DOWN ; ifconfig rl0 UP" usually solves the problem until
> it happens next time - which can be minutes, hours, days or weeks later.
> I suppose in average I have it happening two to three times per month.
> On another machine with the same FreeBSD version I do not have the same
> problem, but the hardware is entirely different. Only the NIC driver
> used is the same.
> 

Check network buffers 'netstat -m'.  If peak equals max, you should bump
up the amount of memory set aside for network buffers.  See 'man 7
tuning' for information about increasing network buffers.

Check your logs(e.g. /var/log/messages) for any interesting
messages&hints... maybe something related to rl0 losing connectivity,
buffer space, etc.

You might also want to try swapping out the nic.  RealTek nics are
fairly inexpensive.

good luck,
  greg