Need info on "packet errors" reported while the test is running.

NTDEV
1

Hi,

I am new to using IoMeter and currently using IoMeter to test
our NIC
(network) driver on Windows.
While running the IoMeter test for “network targets” I see
“Packet Errors”
in the “results display” window of IOMeter GUI.

Can someone throw light on what these “packet errors” mean and
what are the
reasons under which this occurs?

On Windows how does IoMeter application get the values for
packet errors?

I see the following code for Linux in IoPerformanceLinux.cpp:

if (kstatfd > 0 && ioctl(kstatfd, IM_IOC_GETNIDATA, &raw_net) >=
0) {
for (network_interfaces = 0; network_interfaces <
MAX_NUM_INTERFACES;
network_interfaces++) {
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_IN_ERRORS][snapshot] =
raw_net.in_err[network_interfaces];
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_OUT_ERRORS][snapshot] =
raw_net.out_err[network_interfaces];
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_PACKETS][snapshot] =
raw_net.nr_pkt[network_interfaces];
}
return;
}

But not sure how does Iometer collect similar information on
Windows OS (Vista) ?
What is the interface used by IoMeter to get this information
from Windows OS?
What these “packet errors” mean and what are the reasons under
which this occurs?

Can someone pls throw some light on this?

Thanks,
-Praveen

2

I’ve never seen IoMeter, but the mechanism that is used to report errors is
via querying NDIS “Object Identifiers”.

For Vista grep the WDK help for OID_GEN_STATISTICS.

For pre-Vista grep for OID_GEN_RCV_ERROR and friends. Pay particular
attention to the description of each OID. If the OID is not marked as
“Mandatory” then the NICs miniport may not actually collect and report the
statistic.

OIDScope can be used to explore NDIS OIDs. See
http://pcausa.com/Utilities/ndistools.htm.

The IP Helper API can fetch IP-specific statistics. Grep the MSDN for
GetTcpStatistics and friends.

Thomas F. Divine

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com [mailto:bounce-312293-
xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Praveen Kumar Amritaluru
Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:36 PM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Need info on “packet errors” reported while the test
is running.

Hi,

I am new to using IoMeter and currently using IoMeter to
test
our NIC
(network) driver on Windows.
While running the IoMeter test for “network targets” I see
“Packet Errors”
in the “results display” window of IOMeter GUI.

Can someone throw light on what these “packet errors” mean
and
what are the
reasons under which this occurs?

On Windows how does IoMeter application get the values for
packet errors?

I see the following code for Linux in
IoPerformanceLinux.cpp:

if (kstatfd > 0 && ioctl(kstatfd, IM_IOC_GETNIDATA,
&raw_net) >=
0) {
for (network_interfaces = 0; network_interfaces <
MAX_NUM_INTERFACES;
network_interfaces++) {
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_IN_ERRORS][snapshot] =
raw_net.in_err[network_interfaces];
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_OUT_ERRORS][snapshot] =
raw_net.out_err[network_interfaces];
raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_PACKETS][snapshot] =
raw_net.nr_pkt[network_interfaces];
}
return;
}

But not sure how does Iometer collect similar information
on
Windows OS (Vista) ?
What is the interface used by IoMeter to get this
information
from Windows OS?
What these “packet errors” mean and what are the reasons
under
which this occurs?

Can someone pls throw some light on this?

Thanks,
-Praveen

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3

I think the code is getting this information using performance counters. Do
you recollect any performance objects/counters to get this info.

#define PERF_NI_OUT_ERRORS 540

This seems to be the value corresponding to the counter/object number (540).

Will check if the value returned by OID_GEN_STATISTICS matches the value
returned by IoMeter though
I think it was not the same.

Thanks,
-Praveen

“Thomas F. Divine” wrote in message
news:xxxxx@ntdev…
> I’ve never seen IoMeter, but the mechanism that is used to report errors
> is
> via querying NDIS “Object Identifiers”.
>
> For Vista grep the WDK help for OID_GEN_STATISTICS.
>
> For pre-Vista grep for OID_GEN_RCV_ERROR and friends. Pay particular
> attention to the description of each OID. If the OID is not marked as
> “Mandatory” then the NICs miniport may not actually collect and report the
> statistic.
>
> OIDScope can be used to explore NDIS OIDs. See
> http://pcausa.com/Utilities/ndistools.htm.
>
> The IP Helper API can fetch IP-specific statistics. Grep the MSDN for
> GetTcpStatistics and friends.
>
> Thomas F. Divine
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com [mailto:bounce-312293-
>> xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of Praveen Kumar Amritaluru
>> Sent: Monday, January 21, 2008 11:36 PM
>> To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
>> Subject: [ntdev] Need info on “packet errors” reported while the test
>> is running.
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am new to using IoMeter and currently using IoMeter to
>> test
>> our NIC
>> (network) driver on Windows.
>> While running the IoMeter test for “network targets” I see
>> “Packet Errors”
>> in the “results display” window of IOMeter GUI.
>>
>> Can someone throw light on what these “packet errors” mean
>> and
>> what are the
>> reasons under which this occurs?
>>
>> On Windows how does IoMeter application get the values for
>> packet errors?
>>
>> I see the following code for Linux in
>> IoPerformanceLinux.cpp:
>>
>> if (kstatfd > 0 && ioctl(kstatfd, IM_IOC_GETNIDATA,
>> &raw_net) >=
>> 0) {
>> for (network_interfaces = 0; network_interfaces <
>> MAX_NUM_INTERFACES;
>> network_interfaces++) {
>> raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_IN_ERRORS][snapshot] =
>> raw_net.in_err[network_interfaces];
>> raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_OUT_ERRORS][snapshot] =
>> raw_net.out_err[network_interfaces];
>> raw_ni_data[network_interfaces][NI_PACKETS][snapshot] =
>> raw_net.nr_pkt[network_interfaces];
>> }
>> return;
>> }
>>
>> But not sure how does Iometer collect similar information
>> on
>> Windows OS (Vista) ?
>> What is the interface used by IoMeter to get this
>> information
>> from Windows OS?
>> What these “packet errors” mean and what are the reasons
>> under
>> which this occurs?
>>
>> Can someone pls throw some light on this?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> -Praveen
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> —
>> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>>
>> For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
>> http://www.osr.com/seminars
>>
>> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
>> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer
>
>