Problems occur when you use Windows Server 2003 to implement Winsock Direct (WSD) in a fast System Area Network (SAN) environment

When you use Microsoft Windows Server 2003 to implement Winsock Direct (WSD) in a fast System Area Network (SAN) environment, you may encounter one or more of the following problems:

• WSD-based applications stop responding when you change the IP address.
• WSD-based applications crash when you perform Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) operations.
• Data that you receive is corrupted.
• WSD-based applications run out of memory when you perform RDMA read operations.

These problems occur because of a problem in the Winsock Direct module.

Update information

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Windows Server 2003
Download the 938680 package now.

Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems
Download the 938680 package now.

Windows Server 2003 for x64-based Systems
Download the 938680 package now.

Windows XP x64 Edition
Download the 938680 package now.

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Prerequisites

To apply this update, you must have Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2 installed on the computer. For more information about how to obtain Windows Server 2003 SP2, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Restart information

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this update.

Update replacement information

This update does not replace any other updates.

Registry information

You do not have to change the registry.

File information

The English version of this update has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Windows Server 2003 with SP2, x86-based versions

Windows Server 2003 with SP2, x64-based versions

Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Itanium-based versions

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

If you have server applications that use the Winsock API, you can use WSD to deploy the server applications in a SAN environment. WSD bypasses the kernel networking layers. In a SAN environment, WSD communicates directly with the SAN hardware to provide faster communication between servers. WSD is supported in the following Windows operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Windows 2000 Advanced Server Service Pack 2 (SP2)
• All versions of Windows Server 2003

Before you implement WSD in a SAN environment, you have to make sure that you have the appropriate hardware devices that support WSD. You can install multiple hardware devices that support RDMA. For example, you can install multiple network adapters that support RDMA. Or you can use InfiniBand to enable WSD.

By the end of April 2005, no hardware devices and the corresponding drivers exist to support WSD. However, many vendors plan to provide hardware devices and the corresponding drivers to support WSD. If you obtain a hardware device and the corresponding driver that support WSD, make sure that you use Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to implement WSD. The reason is that other Windows operating systems that support WSD may not work with this hardware device and with the corresponding driver.

For more information how to use Windows Server 2003 SP1 to implement WSD in a SAN, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about WSD, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For more information about SAN, click the following article numbers to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: