[SLL] Ethernet Card Suggestions Anyone?

[Rob Smith]

First, Fast Ethernet is actually the term for 100Mbps (or 200 Mbps
full duplex), so I'm not sure where you got 132Mbps from...

There is nothing gained by using a Gigabit card on a 100 mbit network,
you'll only see speed improvements when you have Gigabit speeds.
(Other then any small ones from having a better card).

Some cards have on-card processors, some do not. It all depends on
what your after.

You can get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833342001
that has a 400 mhz cpu on the card and a full linux environment
(including iptables) to use as a firewall outside of your main os.

Or you can get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106114
Which has some on board TCP processing

Or you can get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106121
Which has about nothing at all other then a nice speedy chip.

Downside on 2 or 4 port cards is of course bus contention. If the bus
they're plugged into can't handle outputting full load for all of
them, max performance will suffer. That said, in your application, you
might not even notice.

In regards to mobos, you really want server class with multiple buses
to put all your interfaces on (that way you don't get the io
contention issues). Smaller mobos tend to sacrifice multiple buses for
smaller footprint. If you really want fast, you're unlikely to find it
in a small footprint.

Again, it all depends on what you are after.

Also keep in mind, the network backbone is a speed limiter as well. I
highly recommend the HP Procurve 2810 managed switches, as they work
really really well and have all the management features anyone really
needs (outside of very specialized setups). Bad networking cables will
drop your speed, as well as interference on the cables, so watch out
where you run your cables (next to powered cables is a bit no-no).

All in all, the best way to decide is to determine what you want the
end result speed to be, measure the quality of your cables, and then
buy the hardware that will meet your requirements.

On Jan 10, 2008 10:52 AM, Ralph Sims <ralph at sims.cc> wrote:
> Are there recommendations for PCI Ethernet cards?   While the network is
> Fast Ethernet, the GigE cards seem to offer 2000Mbps FDX speeds while the FE
> cards seem to go up to 132Mbps.  What's to be gained by using a GigE card on
> an FE network?  Do the cards have some type of pre-processor that offloads
> some functions?   Also, are there known downsides to using a 2- or 4-port
> cards?  The main requirement is that the later Linux kernels like the cards
> and that they are F A S T;  I don't know if we'll have PCI Express
> capabilities in the boxes.
>
> Along the same line, I'd look for motherboard suggestions that offer
> multiple GigE NICs--small form factor a plus.
>
> Thanks...