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Bug #3013

closed

regression: GPRS fatally unresponsive since commit 'Rewrite Packet Downlink Assignment'

Added by neels about 6 years ago. Updated almost 6 years ago.

Status:
Resolved
Priority:
Normal
Assignee:
Target version:
-
Start date:
02/27/2018
Due date:
% Done:

100%

Spec Reference:

Description

While testing code changes based on current osmo-pcu master, I have noticed severe service outage, symptom from the user experience: the remote hosts not responding. At first a web page may load, but soon after, loading any other pages will completely stop working -- the downlink completely stops for the remaining lifetime of the PDP Context.

Apparently receiving on GPRS_NS a FLOW-CONTROL-BVC + FLOW-CONTROL-BVC-ACK pair triggers the behavior, but that's just a hunch.

I have tried an earlier osmo-pcu version which not exhibiting this behavior, and bisected the failure down to:

commit 896574e92bea09ed8d39688b6fdf504e84521746
Author: Max <msuraev@sysmocom.de>
Date:   Tue Jan 9 18:45:41 2018 +0100

    Rewrite Packet Downlink Assignment

    Use bitvec_set_*() directly without external write pointer tracking to
    simplify the code. This is part of IA Rest Octets (3GPP TS 44.018
    ยง10.5.2.16) which is the last part of the message so it should not
    interfere with the rest of encoding functions.

    The tests are adjusted accordingly.

    Change-Id: I52ec9b07413daabba8cd5f1fba5c7b3af6a33389
    Related: OS#1526


Files

os3013_gprs_works__bts_master__pcu_neels-fix_regression-414fcbb0.pcapng os3013_gprs_works__bts_master__pcu_neels-fix_regression-414fcbb0.pcapng 2.31 MB after the reverts of branch neels/fix_regression: browsing osmocom.org works perfectly neels, 02/28/2018 12:11 AM
os3013_gprs_completely_unusable_1__bts_master__pcu_master_0.4.0.97-731e.pcapng os3013_gprs_completely_unusable_1__bts_master__pcu_master_0.4.0.97-731e.pcapng 2.67 MB osmo-pcu master (731e2bb3) -- can't get a single page to load. Note, from the moment of the PDP Context Accepts, I continuously refreshed osmocom.org / hofmeyr.de in the browser, nothing got through. Sometimes GMM messages go missing. neels, 02/28/2018 12:13 AM
os3013_gprs_almost_completely_unusable_2__bts_master__pcu_master_0.4.0.97-731e.pcapng os3013_gprs_almost_completely_unusable_2__bts_master__pcu_master_0.4.0.97-731e.pcapng 4.05 MB osmo-pcu master (731e2bb3) -- one osmocom.org page loaded, from then on nothing. Note, from the moment of the PDP Context Accepts on, I continuously refreshed osmocom.org / hofmeyr.de in the browser, only one worked. Sometimes GMM messages go missing. neels, 02/28/2018 12:13 AM

Related issues

Related to OsmoPCU - Feature #3014: fix re-apply patches reverted by #3013, related: UL and DL packet assignment, and Timing AdvanceResolvedmsuraev02/27/2018

Actions
Actions #1

Updated by neels about 6 years ago

Tried to revert the commit in question (with some conflict resolution) but it's still broken after that.
Note that the immediate parent commit of above regression is "Rewrite EGPRS Packet Uplink Assignment", which does sound similar. I haven't tested EGPRS.

I also notice that the commit in question says the rationale is to "simplify the code", yet the test expectations are modified along with it, particularly message octets. I would have expected code refactoring to not yield any PDU changes.

Short of understanding what exactly is going wrong, it seems that we need to "start over" from 2141962baf95bfaf11f19dacd59f7b8ac8d49ca3, cherry-picking commits that seem independent from the regression, and see if we can get osmo-pcu stable again that way. After that, we can re-evaluate the commits introducing the regression.

Unless of course someone is apt enough to fully understand the failure right now.

Actions #2

Updated by neels about 6 years ago

I've found a reasonably small set of commits to revert painlessly that renders osmo-pcu usable again:

https://gerrit.osmocom.org/#/q/status:open+project:osmo-pcu+branch:master+topic:fix_regression

=

https://gerrit.osmocom.org/6976 Revert "Use Timing Advance Index in UL assignments"
https://gerrit.osmocom.org/6977 Revert "Rewrite Packet Uplink Assignment"
https://gerrit.osmocom.org/6978 Revert "Rewrite Packet Downlink Assignment"
https://gerrit.osmocom.org/6979 Revert "Rewrite EGPRS Packet Uplink Assignment"

I'm creating a new ticket that asks for re-adding these patches: #3014 ... and (almost) closing this one.

Actions #3

Updated by neels about 6 years ago

  • Status changed from New to In Progress
  • Assignee set to neels
  • % Done changed from 0 to 90
Actions #4

Updated by neels about 6 years ago

  • Related to Feature #3014: fix re-apply patches reverted by #3013, related: UL and DL packet assignment, and Timing Advance added
Actions #6

Updated by laforge about 6 years ago

Enabling too much GSMTAP made the PCU unusable

Yes, that's expectedm and this is why running OsmoPCU on sysmobts-1xxx for R&D is not the best possible setup. There's simply not a lot of spare CPU cycles for additional debugging/logging in the code.

I suggest PCU development/debugging is primarily done on a different hardware platform, Either with osmo-bts-trx + osmo-pcu on a normal x86 PC, or e.g. on a sysmobts-2100 which has much more CPU and a PHY very similar to the 1002.

Actions #7

Updated by neels almost 6 years ago

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • % Done changed from 90 to 100

The reverts are merged, checking why the patches fail and re-committing them is tracked in #3014

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