Windows Vista ReadyBoost destroyed a second thumb drive yesterday. For the past three months I've just been leaving my computer on at night instead of trying to make ReadyBoost work with Sleep/Standby. Yesterday I was trying something new and I put the system in Sleep mode. I woke it up two hours later and the thumb drive had stopped working. I unplugged the thumb drive and replugged it and I got a "write protect" error. I tried the thumb drive on another computer and got the same result.
I downloaded the Format utility from the Apacer web site. I successfully reformatted the drive, enabled ReadyBoost, and was working again. For a few minutes. Then the light on the thumb drive turned on steady and the drive completely died. I tried it on three different computers and three different versions of Windows.
This is the second thumb drive that's failed when using ReadyBoost and resuming from Sleep. I've heard reports from readers of this blog that they have had a similar problem. How about you? Leave a comment.
Note that I don't believe that this has anything to do with the number of write cycles, as some journalists have complained about. In both cases the drive died immediately after resuming from Sleep.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Dell PowerConnect 2708 Performance
Just a quick note to say that the Dell PowerConnect 2708 is fantastic. I was able to get a sustained 112MB per second (that's 112 megabytes, not megabits) between two Core 2 Duo machines (Vista/Windows 2003 Server R2) using PCATTCP. That means that the connection is completely saturated and that the Dell box is switching at the maximum possible speed. Sweet.
In more real world numbers, I was able to get sustained 2.2GB/minute transfer rate using normal Windows file sharing copying from Vista to the server when the file copy was initiated on the Windows 2003 Server side. That's close to the maximum read speed for the source disk, so presumably the disk was the bottleneck and not the network.
Oddly enough, when the file copy was initiated on the Vista side, I only got about 1.2GB/minute with the same file being copied to the same destination. I can't explain that.
[Edited 8/27/2007 to add information on the read speed of the disk.]
In more real world numbers, I was able to get sustained 2.2GB/minute transfer rate using normal Windows file sharing copying from Vista to the server when the file copy was initiated on the Windows 2003 Server side. That's close to the maximum read speed for the source disk, so presumably the disk was the bottleneck and not the network.
Oddly enough, when the file copy was initiated on the Vista side, I only got about 1.2GB/minute with the same file being copied to the same destination. I can't explain that.
[Edited 8/27/2007 to add information on the read speed of the disk.]
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Logo Certification - Success!
Last night we received word from Lionbridge that we had passed our Windows Vista Logo Certification test. Thus I've crossed the finish line of a journey that started in May of 2006, bringing to close a year-long project to make it all happen. It was a monumental effort to bring all of the pieces together because all of the vendors we rely on had to make their products Vista compliant before ours could pass certification.
There were several "firsts" to this project. I created an MSI installer for the first time. I installed a 64-bit version of Windows for the first time. We ported our code base to VC2005. I worked with Microsoft Consulting Services for the first time. And, not surprisingly, I did my first serious development work under and for Vista. So it's been quite an adventure.
The most important of these was our MSI install generator, Advanced Installer. You may wonder why we'd go with a relatively unknown install system instead of going with one of the "big boys" like InstallShield. The reason is that, between 1991 and 1998, I had to write several installers in InstallShield and and my company paid a lot of money for the privilege of doing so. I found InstallShield to be buggy and user abusive and The Stirling Group (the manufacturer) to be unresponsive. I stopped recommending them a long time ago.
The developers at Advanced Installer worked closely with all interested customers to make sure their installers could pass Vista certification. In several cases, they gave me information that the Vista Logo Certification tests were wrong and what they were doing was correct. In every one of those cases, Microsoft admitted that the Advanced Installer developers were correct.
There were several "firsts" to this project. I created an MSI installer for the first time. I installed a 64-bit version of Windows for the first time. We ported our code base to VC2005. I worked with Microsoft Consulting Services for the first time. And, not surprisingly, I did my first serious development work under and for Vista. So it's been quite an adventure.
The most important of these was our MSI install generator, Advanced Installer. You may wonder why we'd go with a relatively unknown install system instead of going with one of the "big boys" like InstallShield. The reason is that, between 1991 and 1998, I had to write several installers in InstallShield and and my company paid a lot of money for the privilege of doing so. I found InstallShield to be buggy and user abusive and The Stirling Group (the manufacturer) to be unresponsive. I stopped recommending them a long time ago.
The developers at Advanced Installer worked closely with all interested customers to make sure their installers could pass Vista certification. In several cases, they gave me information that the Vista Logo Certification tests were wrong and what they were doing was correct. In every one of those cases, Microsoft admitted that the Advanced Installer developers were correct.
Monday, June 4, 2007
Isolated COM
One of the worst documented features of Visual Studio is Isolated COM. Actually, there's lots of documentation on Isolated COM, but none of it is particularly useful. The mechanics of making Isolated COM work under Visual C++ are actually pretty easy, so this short article tells you what to do.
Isolated COM allows your application to use ActiveX components without having to register them. The original vision of this was to allow XCOPY deployment of the application, but Isolated COM has many benefits. You can have a private copy of the DLL without worrying that another application will install an older or newer copy that breaks your application. Isolated COM also allows you to successfully install and run on non-Administrator accounts.
A short history of how activation works: In Windows 9x and NT, ActiveX components were found by looking in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, which was really a link to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. Windows 2000 added support for also defining components in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT became a merged view of HKLM and HKCU. Finally, Windows XP and Windows Vista added support for looking for COM information in the manifest of the executable. This means that the manifest contains the DLL name, CLSID information, interface information, and type library pointers - most of the information that would normally appear in HKCR.
As you might guess, these definitions can be quite lengthy and creating them by hand is error prone. Visual Studio 2005, which supports manifests, includes support for automatically generating and embedding the correct XML declarations.
To switch from "old fashioned" ActiveX usage to Isolated COM, follow these steps:
1. First, make sure components are created with their CLSID and not the ProgId. In other words, don't use Word.Document, use {F4754C9B-64F5-4B40-8AF4-679732AC0607}. If you are using the #import command in Visual C++, you can use the __uuidof operator instead of a string. For example:
HRESULT hr = pDoc.CreateInstance("Word.Document");
HRESULT hr = pDoc.CreateInstance(__uuidof(Word::Document));
2. If you made any changes for #1, test your code with the DLL registered the normal way and make sure it works. Also make sure that your code checks and handles all HRESULT return values.
3. Unregister the ActiveX DLL using: regsvr32 /u waycool.dll
4. Copy the DLL to be in the same directory as your executable.
5. In Visual Studio 2005:
Once you've added support for Isolated COM, don't forget to update your installer so that ActiveX components aren't automatically registered under Windows XP and Vista. Also don't forget to retest your software under Win9x and Win2K if you support those versions of Windows.
Isolated COM allows your application to use ActiveX components without having to register them. The original vision of this was to allow XCOPY deployment of the application, but Isolated COM has many benefits. You can have a private copy of the DLL without worrying that another application will install an older or newer copy that breaks your application. Isolated COM also allows you to successfully install and run on non-Administrator accounts.
A short history of how activation works: In Windows 9x and NT, ActiveX components were found by looking in HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, which was really a link to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes. Windows 2000 added support for also defining components in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes and HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT became a merged view of HKLM and HKCU. Finally, Windows XP and Windows Vista added support for looking for COM information in the manifest of the executable. This means that the manifest contains the DLL name, CLSID information, interface information, and type library pointers - most of the information that would normally appear in HKCR.
As you might guess, these definitions can be quite lengthy and creating them by hand is error prone. Visual Studio 2005, which supports manifests, includes support for automatically generating and embedding the correct XML declarations.
To switch from "old fashioned" ActiveX usage to Isolated COM, follow these steps:
1. First, make sure components are created with their CLSID and not the ProgId. In other words, don't use Word.Document, use {F4754C9B-64F5-4B40-8AF4-679732AC0607}. If you are using the #import command in Visual C++, you can use the __uuidof operator instead of a string. For example:
HRESULT hr = pDoc.CreateInstance(__uuidof(Word::Document));
2. If you made any changes for #1, test your code with the DLL registered the normal way and make sure it works. Also make sure that your code checks and handles all HRESULT return values.
3. Unregister the ActiveX DLL using: regsvr32 /u waycool.dll
4. Copy the DLL to be in the same directory as your executable.
5. In Visual Studio 2005:
- Open the property sheet for the project.
- Click the plus sign next to "Manifest Tool"
- Click on "Isolated COM".
- Next to "Type Library File" enter "waycool.tlb"
- Next to "Component File Name" enter "waycool.dll"
- Build the project.
Once you've added support for Isolated COM, don't forget to update your installer so that ActiveX components aren't automatically registered under Windows XP and Vista. Also don't forget to retest your software under Win9x and Win2K if you support those versions of Windows.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Netgear GS108 GigE Switch Failure
I've had an unbelievably long run of hardware failures this year. First a Hitachi 500GB hard drive failed in my Windows 2003 Server, then the Apacer USB thumb drive I was using for ReadyBoost, and now my new GigE Ethernet switch, a Netgear GS108, is malfunctioning. Predictably, all of the failures have been after the 30 day mark, which means that I've had to go through an RMA process instead of a simple return.
The Netgear GS108 is particularly frustrating because it didn't do something simple like emit smoke and die. That would have been easy to diagnose. Instead it would alternate between a blinking failure mode and normal operation. In twenty years I've never seen an Ethernet switch or hub fail, so I wasted two days looking at everything except the switch.
The symptom is easy to see - all of the lights turn on for a second, then they all turn off, even on ports with nothing plugged in. Any PCs that are connected report that a network cable is unplugged. This may go on for a few seconds to a couple of minutes, then it will start working again, then it will fail again. The problem seemed to be most prevalent when 1000Mbps devices were mixed with 100Mbps devices. If all devices are 1000 or all devices are 100, then the GS108 worked fine.
Reviews on newegg.com show that a minority of other users have experienced the same problem I did.
I talked to Technical Support at Netgear. They immediately issued an RMA for the switch. Unfortunately, after waiting a week for the new GS108 to arrive, the new unit malfunctioned in the same way as the old unit. So I believe this problem is endemic to the GS108.
I've replaced the GS108 with a Dell PowerConnect 2708. It costs about 50% more than the GS108, but it is a fully managed switch that receives rave reviews from users. The Dell 2708 also includes a one year next-day parts warranty, as opposed to Netgear who charges you $50 for a next day exchange. You might as well order a new one from NewEgg.
I plugged in the Dell 2708 and it has worked flawlessly. I'm just running it in unmanaged mode since I have no need for VLANs or port aggregation.
The PowerConnect 2708 lists on Dell's web site for $158 if you just do a Google search, but that's the Medium/Large Business price. If you look in the Small Business section, the price is $109 with a $20 discount, or $89. Great deal:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pwcnt_2708?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
The Netgear GS108 is particularly frustrating because it didn't do something simple like emit smoke and die. That would have been easy to diagnose. Instead it would alternate between a blinking failure mode and normal operation. In twenty years I've never seen an Ethernet switch or hub fail, so I wasted two days looking at everything except the switch.
The symptom is easy to see - all of the lights turn on for a second, then they all turn off, even on ports with nothing plugged in. Any PCs that are connected report that a network cable is unplugged. This may go on for a few seconds to a couple of minutes, then it will start working again, then it will fail again. The problem seemed to be most prevalent when 1000Mbps devices were mixed with 100Mbps devices. If all devices are 1000 or all devices are 100, then the GS108 worked fine.
Reviews on newegg.com show that a minority of other users have experienced the same problem I did.
I talked to Technical Support at Netgear. They immediately issued an RMA for the switch. Unfortunately, after waiting a week for the new GS108 to arrive, the new unit malfunctioned in the same way as the old unit. So I believe this problem is endemic to the GS108.
I've replaced the GS108 with a Dell PowerConnect 2708. It costs about 50% more than the GS108, but it is a fully managed switch that receives rave reviews from users. The Dell 2708 also includes a one year next-day parts warranty, as opposed to Netgear who charges you $50 for a next day exchange. You might as well order a new one from NewEgg.
I plugged in the Dell 2708 and it has worked flawlessly. I'm just running it in unmanaged mode since I have no need for VLANs or port aggregation.
The PowerConnect 2708 lists on Dell's web site for $158 if you just do a Google search, but that's the Medium/Large Business price. If you look in the Small Business section, the price is $109 with a $20 discount, or $89. Great deal:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pwcnt_2708?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Gigabit Ethernet
Backing up a 250GB hard drive over 100Mbit Ethernet takes a l..o..n..g time. At 10 megabytes per second (theoretically), that's 600 megabytes per minute, or about eight hours. Compression can cut this number down, but the backup rate is severely constrained by the speed of the link.
In contrast, backing up to an external hard drive over Firewire or USB2 yields about 30MB/second, which brings it down to a manageable 2 1/2 hours.
I decided to take the plunge to Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), something I've been wanting to do for quite a while but was waiting for prices to drop. I brought in a contractor and upgraded my eight year old Cat5 wiring to Cat6. Strictly speaking, GigE is supposed to run over Cat5 for short distances, but I was having difficulties and it wasn't worth taking the time to individually check each wire.
I've learned several things. First, the "jumbo frames" that everyone gets so excited about are useless on a general purpose network. If you turn on jumbo frames, then every device on the network must support them and be set to use the same jumbo frame size. Since devices like printers and Tivos don't support GigE, much less jumbo frames, it means that jumbo frames are a non-starter. The place that jumbo frames *can* be useful is for a dedicated connection between servers or a backbone link.
The next thing I learned is that today's network application protocols don't scale well to GigE. When you upgrade from 10Mb to 100Mb Ethernet, your performance typically jumps almost 10x. However, when you go from 100Mb to 1000Gb, your performance typically only jumps 2.5x, even if you've optimized your system configuration. Ugh. That's not what I was hoping for.
The primary optimization required for Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP is to update the receive window size in the registry. This change isn't required for Windows Vista because Vista automatically tunes its networking parameters for optimal performance.
You can see what the practical maximum speed of your link is using pcattcp.exe. You run it on a server and on a client and it reports the speed at which it was able to send data. Most importantly, you can set the write buffer size, which allows you to determine the effect of larger buffers. In my case I determined that a 64K buffer provides throughput at 90% of the link capacity.
I still have more research to do, but that's the beginning.
[Update 6/20/2007] After spending far too many hours testing various GigE configurations, I've determined that the original Cat5 wiring was probably working fine. The problems I was having were a combination of the malfunctioning GS108 and a configuration error in my router/switch.
There's a great article at Hardware Secrets that describes how Gigabit Ethernet works and why Cat5 cables are sufficient.
In contrast, backing up to an external hard drive over Firewire or USB2 yields about 30MB/second, which brings it down to a manageable 2 1/2 hours.
I decided to take the plunge to Gigabit Ethernet (GigE), something I've been wanting to do for quite a while but was waiting for prices to drop. I brought in a contractor and upgraded my eight year old Cat5 wiring to Cat6. Strictly speaking, GigE is supposed to run over Cat5 for short distances, but I was having difficulties and it wasn't worth taking the time to individually check each wire.
I've learned several things. First, the "jumbo frames" that everyone gets so excited about are useless on a general purpose network. If you turn on jumbo frames, then every device on the network must support them and be set to use the same jumbo frame size. Since devices like printers and Tivos don't support GigE, much less jumbo frames, it means that jumbo frames are a non-starter. The place that jumbo frames *can* be useful is for a dedicated connection between servers or a backbone link.
The next thing I learned is that today's network application protocols don't scale well to GigE. When you upgrade from 10Mb to 100Mb Ethernet, your performance typically jumps almost 10x. However, when you go from 100Mb to 1000Gb, your performance typically only jumps 2.5x, even if you've optimized your system configuration. Ugh. That's not what I was hoping for.
The primary optimization required for Microsoft Windows 2000 and XP is to update the receive window size in the registry. This change isn't required for Windows Vista because Vista automatically tunes its networking parameters for optimal performance.
You can see what the practical maximum speed of your link is using pcattcp.exe. You run it on a server and on a client and it reports the speed at which it was able to send data. Most importantly, you can set the write buffer size, which allows you to determine the effect of larger buffers. In my case I determined that a 64K buffer provides throughput at 90% of the link capacity.
I still have more research to do, but that's the beginning.
[Update 6/20/2007] After spending far too many hours testing various GigE configurations, I've determined that the original Cat5 wiring was probably working fine. The problems I was having were a combination of the malfunctioning GS108 and a configuration error in my router/switch.
There's a great article at Hardware Secrets that describes how Gigabit Ethernet works and why Cat5 cables are sufficient.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
ReadyBoost Part IV
I finally ordered a 4GB Apacer HT203 and installed it. I also installed the Vista USB patch. The hang problem is now fixed (see my earlier blog entries about ReadyBoost.) I can browse the thumb drive after resuming from sleep without difficulty.
However, ReadyBoost still doesn't work reliably after resuming from Sleep. After the computer wakes up, ReadyBoost works for a while, then mysteriously turns off (as seen by opening the Properties for the drive and looking at the ReadyBoost tab.) If I reenable ReadyBoost, it just turns off again almost immediately.
At this point, I'm only slightly better off than I was before I applied the Vista USB fix. The computer no longer hangs, but ReadyBoost still becomes disabled after resuming from sleep. Doing a "Safe Remove" and then reinserting the thumb drive, even into another port, doesn't help.
However, ReadyBoost still doesn't work reliably after resuming from Sleep. After the computer wakes up, ReadyBoost works for a while, then mysteriously turns off (as seen by opening the Properties for the drive and looking at the ReadyBoost tab.) If I reenable ReadyBoost, it just turns off again almost immediately.
At this point, I'm only slightly better off than I was before I applied the Vista USB fix. The computer no longer hangs, but ReadyBoost still becomes disabled after resuming from sleep. Doing a "Safe Remove" and then reinserting the thumb drive, even into another port, doesn't help.
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