tool crashes on windows server about ostinato HOT 16 CLOSED

Varun,

Is there a reason why you start drone.exe and not ostinato.exe? Normally you 
just need to run ostinato.exe which in turn will automatically start drone.exe

I run ostinato regularly on a Windows XP PC with 4 interfaces (phy and virtual 
both included). I don't have access to a Windows Server 2003 PC, and hence I'd 
like your help to debug this.

Can you install DebugView 
(http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896647.aspx) and run 
debugview before you start drone.exe. After it crashes, copy the log from 
debugview and paste it here.

Regards,
Srivats

i have attached a log file from Debugview. i have 12 interfaces and 5 enabled. 
ostianto just crashes whenever i start it. can you help me out here.

Varun,

Thanks for the DebugView log - I can see the bug in the code now - it is not 
able to handle so many interfaces. Till the time I fix it, I want you to try 
this workaround -

You say you have 12 interfaces out of which 5 are enabled. By "enabled", I 
assume you mean "connected and operationally up". I want you to 
administratively disable atleast 3 out of the 12 interfaces - once it is 
disabled, it will not be visible to Ostinato - one way to check is to run 
Wireshark, goto Capture | Interfaces and count how many interfaces are listed. 
If you disable 3 out of 12, you will see 9 interfaces (plus one additional 
Adaptor for generic dialup) listed. Now try running Ostinato.

Let me know how it goes.

Regards,
Srivats

hey hi,
thanks for a quick response. i tried disabling 3 and keeping 9 interfaces and 
it works.:)
so, what is the problem with more than 9 interfaces and is it fixable?
one more important question, when i apply a new stream to any interface, it 
takes too much time if i increase the number of packets to say 1000000. is 
there any specific reason for it?

THANKS and REGARDS

Varun,

There is a buffer overflow for a large number of interfaces - it is fixable of 
course - but it might take a couple of days before I get some time to do it. 
Till that time continue with the workaround.

Regarding the time delay when you click "apply" for a stream with 1000000 
packets, it is because it prebuilds all the 1 million packets in a buffer. I 
will look at reducing the time - btw how much time does it take for you (on my 
core2duo it takes around 15 seconds)?

If you have only one stream, instead of configuring 1 million packets, you can 
just configure one packet in a loop - that way you won't face the time delay

Regards,
Srivats

it takes more than 100 seconds for me, and it kind of hangs after that. but 
thats not a problem, i think you have already given the solution.

so, after you fix this bug, how many interfaces would it support??

Regards,
Varun

Varun,

I hope to fix it in a way so that there isn't a max limit on the number of 
interfaces.

Regards,
Srivats

heyy, is there any way i can have a look at the code and fix this bug??

Regards,
varun

@varun: Sure! Go ahead! It's open source after all :-)

Go to the source tab for instructions on how to download the code or browse it 
online

To start you off, here are some pointers -
- you need to look at the RPC Server and Channel code in the rpc directory
- the problem is the value of MSGBUF_SIZE currently defined to 4096
- When serializing/parsing messages we use an array sized as per MSGBUF_SIZE
- the quick fix is to increase MSGBUF_SIZE; although this doesn't really solve 
the problem
- the correct solution is to use the protobuf serialize/parse to/from stream 
API instead of the array APIs

Let me know if you need help

@varun: any luck with the changes?

hey.. hi i couldn't compile the code on my machine because of QT stuff. i was 
having problems compiling the Qt code.:(

@varun: You don't need to compile Qt. You should be able to get a binary QT 
package for your platform. What platform are you using? 

i am running ostinato on windows.

@varun: You can download the Qt SDK from http://qt.nokia.com/downloads. For 
complete instructions on how to compile from source, see 
http://code.google.com/p/ostinato/wiki/BuildingFromSource

This issue was closed by revision 35f0b0a58c.