Mark Russinovich On Vista Network Slowdown

koro666 writes "In his latest blog post, Mark Russinovich analyzes the network slowdown experienced by some users when playing multimedia content. 'Tests of MMCSS during Vista development showed that... heavy network traffic can cause enough long-running DPCs to prevent playback threads from keeping up with their media streaming requirements, resulting in glitching. MMCSS' glitch-resistant mechanisms were therefore extended to include throttling of network activity. It does so by issuing a command to the NDIS device driver... [to] pass along, at most 10 packets per millisecond (10,000 packets per second)... [T]he networking team is actively working with the MMCSS team on a fix that allows for not so dramatically penalizing network traffic, while still delivering a glitch-resistant experience.'"

Aaah

[caluml]

Aaah, it's those pesky DPCs in the MMCSS. It's so obvious really.

Oblig

[phasm42]

10,000 packets/second ought to be enough for anyone.

No problems here

[Anonymous Coward]

I have [Cancel][Allow] no idea [Cancel][Allow] what slowdowns they [Cancel][Allow] could possibly be [Cancel][Allow] talking about!

Re:Okay...

[Reverend528]

So why can my Windows 98/95/2000/ME/XP computers play mp3s without this happening?

Slower Network Cards.

Re:Okay...

[HalifaxRage]

Stop living in the past! Sure you can put your old "XP" records on the jukebox, grandpa, but this is 2007! It's the future man! Now I'm off to take the flying car to dinosaur island!

I can hardly wait

[bunhed]

Can't wait until the "glitch-resistant mechanisms" migrate throughout the rest of the Vista. It's gonna be awesome!

Completely Unfair Scheduler

[Cyberax]

Microsoft should hire Con Kolivas to fix their Completely Unfair Scheduler :)

Re:Failed engineering

[morgan_greywolf]

Cause no one needs more then 100 mb.

Yeah, I seem to remember Bill Gates saying something like "A 100 megabits ought to be enough for anybody!"

Err...or was that something else? ;)

Re:Failed engineering

[daeg]

On the contrary, network and media playback have a lot to do with each other. Don't forget Microsoft has a home media server coming out soon. What good is great media playback if you can't play it over the network?

Re:Hmmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, I use and love some MS software like the next guy.

You mean, not at all?

Re:Completely Unfair Scheduler

[Anonymous Coward]

Well he would have to remove their "completly unfair" OS with their "completly unfair" solutions at first. :-p

So it would be a completly "unfair" task for him as well :-]

Don't forget to pay your carbon indulgences...

[Anonymous Coward]

you polluting whores! When a coin in Al Gore's coffer rings, a soul from environmental purgatory springs. Every knee must bow to the church of Gaea!

Resulting in glitching? Oh noes!

[Anonymous Coward]

Tests of MMCSS during Vista development showed that... heavy network traffic can cause enough long-running DPCs to prevent playback threads from keeping up with their media streaming requirements, resulting in glitching. MMCSS' glitch-resistant mechanisms were therefore extended to include throttling of network activity.

Oh noes, don't let this guy [kontek.net] get his hands on it!

Pocket Watch

[raijinsetsu]

My pocket watch plays MP3s while keeping time, as well as keeping track of my schedule, so why is it my top of the line dual-core machine with 4gb of ram, the fastest disks on the planet, and the newest, most innovative, most secure, and best operating system there ever was can't do the same? OMG... It's a virus... "format c:"... all better... *wry sarcasm*

Re:Dumb dumb dumb

[rbochan]

...But shouldn't I, the user, get to decide what's more important?

Apparently not, if you use Microsoft products.

Re:Failed engineering

[splutty]

Let's do some math, 10,000 packets, at a standard ethernet packet size of 1.5 K, you would get a transfer rate of 1.5 MB/s, or in more appropriate data transfer units, about 12 Mb/s.

Uhm....

My *internet* link is 20Mb... So yeah. I won't notice...

Re:Failed engineering

[click2005]

One thing I don't get is how he managed 41.61% CPU utuilization while transferring a file

4.4% to draw the moving file animation (it re-reads it every time the anim loops).
3.8% to report to MS about the file you're copying.
2.1% is wasted on old code that constantly scans memory for pictures of rabbits (Balmer is scared of them)
1% is needed for WGA.
2.5% because Vista constantly swaps all application code in and out of the first 640k. Bill still believes its enough.
1.7% to actually copy the file.

the rest is just wasted to make CPU graphs look pretty.

Re:never trust anyone over 40...

[DannyO152]

Oh fuss and bother. Another apparent glitch in my plan to pass as young. It's back to the drawing board to get out the slide rule and adding machine.

Re:Failed engineering

[Just Some Guy]

1% to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. In the land of buffers, where the packets lie.

Re:Never Mind the Bandwidth, Feel the Vibe

[hxnwix]

There's good reasons to attack Slashdot. Its business practices, internal workings, and products have a history of abuse, contradiction, and stupidity behind them. I wave no flag for Slashdot and Subscriptions are a pain in the ass that's priced itself out of the market but the look and feel of Digg is heading for the basement. I'd be careful of this because when Slashdot sort themselves out the only thing you'll be left with is hate. As that has nothing to grip on people will see it for what it is and walk away.

Slashdot is focused on improving its products and reaching out to new markets. Meanwile, the comments on Digg continue to get less informative and relevent to people outside its core audience. From being some great visionary power that could tear down someone's server with the mere waving of a hand it's become the problem. It has no clear forward vision and most servers just shrug off the famed Digging. Slashdot has changed. The world has changed. Meanwhile, Digg just tears itself up in frustration.

Wake up.

Re:Failed engineering

[_KiTA_]

One thing I don't get is how he managed 41.61% CPU utuilization while transferring a file. Did he have the ethernet equivalent of a winmodem?

No, he had the OS equivalent of a Winmodem.

Re:Aaah

[qualidafial]

And they would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids!

Not just piracy!!!

[marcosdumay]

P2P is also widely used to dowload free software! Mainly Linux distros! Oh... Nevermind.