Public bug reported:
A user reports that using an i40e with intel_iommu=on with the Xenial GA
kernel causes data corruption. Using the Xenial HWE kernel or an out-of-
tree driver more recent than the version shipped with Xenial solves the
issue.
[Impact]
Corrupted data is returned from the network card intermittently. This is often
noticeable when using apt, as the checksums are verified. If often leads to
failure of apt operations. When there are no checksums done, this could lead to
silent data corruption.
[Fix]
This was fixed somewhere post-4.4. Testing identified b32bfa17246d ("i40e: Drop
packet split receive routine") which is part of a broader refactor. Picking
this patch alone is sufficient to fix the issue. My theory is that iommu
exposes an issue in the packet split receive routine and so removing it is
sufficient to prevent the problem from occurring.
[Test]
A user tested a Xenial 4.4 kernel with this patch applied and it fixed their
issue - no data corruption was observed. (The test repeatedly deletes the apt
cache and then does apt update.)
[Regression Potential]
It's a messy change inside i40e, so the risk is that i40e will be broken in
some subtle way we haven't noticed, or have performance issues. None of these
have been observed so far.
** Affects: linux (Ubuntu)
Importance: Undecided
Status: Confirmed
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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1802421
Title:
Xenial: data corruption when using i40e with iommu
Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
Confirmed
Bug description:
A user reports that using an i40e with intel_iommu=on with the Xenial
GA kernel causes data corruption. Using the Xenial HWE kernel or an
out-of-tree driver more recent than the version shipped with Xenial
solves the issue.
[Impact]
Corrupted data is returned from the network card intermittently. This is
often noticeable when using apt, as the checksums are verified. If often leads
to failure of apt operations. When there are no checksums done, this could lead
to silent data corruption.
[Fix]
This was fixed somewhere post-4.4. Testing identified b32bfa17246d ("i40e:
Drop packet split receive routine") which is part of a broader refactor.
Picking this patch alone is sufficient to fix the issue. My theory is that
iommu exposes an issue in the packet split receive routine and so removing it
is sufficient to prevent the problem from occurring.
[Test]
A user tested a Xenial 4.4 kernel with this patch applied and it fixed their
issue - no data corruption was observed. (The test repeatedly deletes the apt
cache and then does apt update.)
[Regression Potential]
It's a messy change inside i40e, so the risk is that i40e will be broken in
some subtle way we haven't noticed, or have performance issues. None of these
have been observed so far.
To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1802421/+subscriptions
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