Bug 213 - ping -f localhost on 2.1.x kernels shows high packet loss
Summary: ping -f localhost on 2.1.x kernels shows high packet loss
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED CURRENTRELEASE
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Linux
Classification: Retired
Component: netkit-base
Version: 5.2
Hardware: i386
OS: Linux
medium
medium
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Jeff Johnson
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
: 146 1284 2238 (view as bug list)
Depends On:
Blocks:
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 1998-11-28 09:59 UTC by Marc MERLIN
Modified: 2008-05-01 15:37 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version:
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 1999-05-11 15:55:45 UTC
Embargoed:


Attachments (Terms of Use)

Description Marc MERLIN 1998-11-28 09:59:18 UTC
I added the following information to bug 146, but since it
was marked at DISCARDed, I don't known if my edits made
it to anyone (I didn't receive mail confirmation from
bugzilla).

This is an FAQ on linux kernel:
moremagic:~# ping -f localhost
PING localhost (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
--- localhost ping statistics ---
677 packets transmitted, 338 packets received, 50% packet
loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.4/443.7/708.2 ms

There is a known problem with the ping binary that comes
with most distributions, and I was hoping RH 5.2 would have
the fixed version.
Please look at:
http://www.egroups.com/list/linux-kernel/77859.html
http://www.egroups.com/list/linux-kernel/78066.html

(If you don't know who Alexey Kuznetsov is, he did a _lot_
of TCP/IP work in the 2.1 kernels)

Comment 1 Jeff Johnson 1999-03-09 04:49:59 UTC
*** Bug 1284 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

{1252}$ sudo ping -f localhost
Password:
PING localhost.localdomain (127.0.0.1): 56 data bytes
............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................---
localhost.localdomain ping statistics ---
1596 packets transmitted, 1 packets received, 99% packet
loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.567/0.567/0.567 ms

I have heard the latest ping in iputils works properly, alan
cox seems to know the details.

Comment 2 Preston Brown 1999-03-30 17:01:59 UTC
Jeff this is still screwed in netkit-base-0.10-26.  Do you have that
patch from alan?

Comment 3 Marc MERLIN 1999-03-31 06:47:59 UTC
It wasn't a piece of cake to find the patch, but here is the message
you're looking for:
http://www.uwsg.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/9811.2/0818.html
and the patch:
http://www.alfie.demon.co.uk/download/ping.diff.gz

Comment 4 Jeff Johnson 1999-03-31 14:15:59 UTC
Apparently ping flood can transmit faster than it can receive
so the patch "staunches the flow". Thanks for the patch.

I don't understand the Kusnetsov ping. The code is seriously
different and I'm reluctant to fix ping if it ain't broke ...

Comment 5 Jeff Johnson 1999-04-17 17:21:59 UTC
*** Bug 146 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Try

ping -f localhost as root it should be obvious:

--- localhost ping statistics ---
1847 packets transmitted, 177 packets received, 90% packet
loss
round-trip min/avg/max = 0.9/42.4/84.9 ms

90% is bad...

------- Additional Comments From pbrown  11/20/98 06:44 -------
Not a bug, you are flood pinging.  Not every ping request will come
back.

You are hammering the networking code in the kernel, it can't keep up.

------- Additional Comments From marcsoft  11/28/98 01:59 -------
Actually Pavel is most likely using a recent 2.1 kernel. There is a
known problem with the ping binary.
Please look at:
http://www.egroups.com/list/linux-kernel/77859.html
http://www.egroups.com/list/linux-kernel/78066.html

(If you don't know who Alexey Kuznetsov is, he did a _lot_ of TCP/IP
work in the 2.1 kernels)

Comment 6 Jeff Johnson 1999-04-17 17:23:59 UTC
*** Bug 2238 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

The ping in netkit-base is bad.  See the endless
discussion on linux-kernel for more info.

A well-behaved ping is part of iproute utils.  I forget
the url, but it's listed in the Changes file.

Comment 7 Marc MERLIN 1999-04-21 18:54:59 UTC
Here's a recent message from Alexey about ping in linux-kernel:
---
From: kuznet.ac.ru
Newsgroups: lists.linux.kernel
Subject: Re: Linux ping flood on localhost
Date: 16 Apr 1999 11:50:21 -0700
Organization: Magic Mail <-> News Gateway

Hello!

> So where do I get a ping later than what is shown in
/linux/Documentation

Debian includes more or less sane ping.
Redhat folks are less reactive, but I did not see 5.9 yet.

Good ping may be found at ftp://ftp.inr.ac.ru/iputils-current.tar.gz,
though it will not compile for linux-2.0. Debian's one is more
"portable".

Alexey
---
Another message later says that a correct URL is:
http://ftp.sunet.se/ftp/pub/network/ip-routing/

BTW, it'd be nice if bugzilla would let me add something to a bug
without re-opening it...

Comment 8 Jeff Johnson 1999-05-11 15:55:59 UTC
netkit-base-0.10-30.src.rpm contains Kuznetzsov ping.


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