Bug #4203
closed
Default loader tunables for DMA and write caching changed on FreeBSD 10.x
0%
Description
Some of the old ATA subsystem tunables are still used in loader.conf that should be updated and changed on upgrade. Or we could remove the old tunables and not add the new ones in. If people have been running 2.2 fine without them, perhaps they are not necessary on FreeBSD 10.x like they were in the past on older hardware.
Primarily affects NanoBSD and the default source:boot/loader.conf_wrap
Write caching control:
Old: hw.ata.wc
New: kern.cam.ada.write_cache
Disable DMA:
Old: hw.ata.ata_dma=0 and hw.ata.atapi_dma=0
New: hint.ata.0.mode=PIO4
(Needs set once for each controller, so perhaps put in at least 0-6 to cover the most likely culprits?)
Updated by Jim Pingle almost 10 years ago
If we choose to remove them, for reference the new tunables are documented at https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Boot_Troubleshooting for those who may need them.
Updated by Chris Buechler almost 10 years ago
- Status changed from New to Feedback
I removed them entirely for the time being. Having a note in the docs will probably suffice.
I don't believe we've seen any issues introduced by having DMA enabled, unlike earlier base OS versions. I think if we were going to see issues along those lines, it would have happened by now. Disabling it now might cause problems that never previously existed, so we probably ought to leave things as is.
Updated by Chris Buechler almost 10 years ago
- Status changed from Feedback to Resolved
this should be fine as is now. Not going to retain the previous default setting since we haven't seen any problems that this previously fixed, and changing it could introduce problems.