This server has been running like a dream since I got it about a year ago. Torrent slave, NGINX webserver, CUPS print server, game server, and it got great uptime.
This past month or so, I have started to get huge packet loss in my connections to the server. I was editing something on it with Gedit (forwarding X over SSH,) and all the sudden it locked up and started getting very unresponsive. It has basically never gotten better since then. This has gotten so bad that even text-only SSH sessions are frequently unusable. Other people joining the game server have confirmed that it is basically unplayable (one guy called it a "flashback to the 70s.") I got a new router, that didn't solve the problem. (Don't regret buying it though, it's a big improvement in other ways.) I know it's not my modem because it happens via my LAN as well.
OS is Ubuntu 8.04, which is up-to-date.
Load on the server seems fine, CPU usage is almost never over 25%, everything is normal.
My Internet connection as a whole is also fine.
CPU: Pentium II (Deschutes core) @ 400 Mhz
80 Gb HDD (new)
192 Mb RAM
360 Mb Swap
max@server:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
00:14.0 Multimedia audio controller: Ensoniq ES1371 [AudioPCI-97] (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3 (rev 01)
max@server:~$
There's a lot of different attributes of any system of course, and I'm not sure which ones are relevant– if you need anymore information don't hesitate to ask.
Have any "old hand" Linux server admins ever seen anything like this before, and if so what caused it?
Thanks,
-Max
EDIT: Error counter is pretty high:
max@server:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0e:2e:45:0c:a1
inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20e:2eff:fe45:ca1/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:9519234 errors:49527 dropped:0 overruns:1 frame:0
TX packets:13950328 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:6 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2429542473 (2.2 GB) TX bytes:3878514896 (3.6 GB)
Interrupt:9 Base address:0xd800
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:463089 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:463089 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:82642330 (78.8 MB) TX bytes:82642330 (78.8 MB)
max@server:~$
EDIT2: Maybe this could be helpful (it is the output of netstat -ees, and it is big enough that I put it on pastebin.)
http://pastebin.com/AWfkF8Vh
Best Answer
Well, you don't give a whole lot of info, so all I can do is offer a suggestion. Have you tried connecting directly to the server w/ a crossover cable to see if packet loss persists? Perhaps you have a bad switch port.