FTP Load Problem

[Frank4d]

I have a dual Xeon PC running XP Pro SP1 and is connected to a Linksys 10/100 switch ($50 switch). And I have a computer with three PowerPC cards running VxWorks, and three ethernet connections to the Linksys switch. I am running a FTP server (Texas Imperial WFTPD Pro 3.20) running on the XP computer. All four CPUs have static IPs, and all four have 100Mbps ethernet connections.

When I power up the PowerPC box, the three CPUs attempt to load VxWorks files via FTP from the hard drive on the XP computer... all at the same time. The three files are on one hard drive, but are in different directories.

One PowerPC card (a DY-4 SVME-712) loads, and the other two cards (DY-4 SVME-182) hang, and eventually time-out. If I disconnect any one of the three, then the other two will load. I only have a problem when all three are connected.

Disconnecting one of the three PowerPCs is not an acceptable solution. So, I have tried:
* Different ($50) 10/100 switch.
* Tried Windows XP Qos packet scheduling off and on.
* Set up WFTPD Pro as one server with three users.
* Set up WFTPD Pro to run three concurrent servers with each user accessing one server.
* Tried using Ethereal to analyze traffic. I don't see any difference when two PowerPcs are connected and load vs. when three PowerPcs are connected and fail to load.

I am running out of ideas. Tomorrow I am going to try a $500 "smart" switch. Are there any XP Pro TCP/IP registry tweaks that I should be aware of? Better TFTP setvers? Other free ethernet analyzers better than Ethereal?

(Sorry for double posting in the XP Pro forum, but my company has spent about $2M on this design and I have to find a fix or else a new job).

 

[SimonDavies]

Silly question but have you checked the system\application logs in the eventviewer to see if there is anything there?

Admittedly I do find it hard to believe it's the ftp server but more likely the switches.

You have set the cards to force 100 Full Duplex rather than auto negotiating haven't you?

I would concentrate more on the networking side of things rather than the server, after all ftp servers are used to accepting multiple client connections at the same time.

Give the more expensive switch a go and let us know how it goes but I think that's where the problem would be.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[Frank4d]

There is nothing in the logs in eventviewer, and I tried three other switches with same results. I also thought the hard drive could be slowing things down so I created a RAMDisk and attempted to load from it (same results).

I read on the DY-4 Systems website that my problem is known to occur with some FTFD servers when multiple CPUs try to load VxWorks. I am going to try to a few other servers today.

I'll also try your suggestion to force 100 full duplex. I remember we had a similar problem years ago and had to set it up using a managed switch.

And I need to ask the software engineers if they enabled the watchdog timer, and what it is set to.

 

[Frank4d]

I replaced the old WFTPD Pro server with GuildFTPD which has corrected the problem.