[rescue] Gigabit Ethernet SBus & Gigabit Ethernet Sun 420R/220R

[Shannon Hendrix]

On Apr 25, 2008, at 00:09 , Sridhar Ayengar wrote:

> Shannon Hendrix wrote:
>> On my gigabit LAN, I seem to max out usually around 20MBytes/sec.
>> That's going from a Mac Pro to a Dell T105.
>> Neither of them is using enough CPU to even show up during a  
>> transfer, so I'm not sure why I can't get better.
>> Of course, my NAS box maxes out at less than that, around 14MBytes/ 
>> sec, but it has a tiny 200MHz embedded CPU.
>> Seems to me CPU isn't the issue, nor should the bus be an issue  
>> with my Mac and my Dell, both of which have gigE on PCI Express.
>> My switch is an HP 1800 24-port, which is supposed to have 48Gbit/ 
>> sec of bandwidth.
>
> I get the same kind of numbers on the same model switch.  Maybe the  
> switch just sucks.  I should check if there's a firmware upgrade  
> available for it.

I don't think it is the switch, since it came recommended by some guys  
who work with them a lot and said that, for the money, it is one of  
the best you can get.

The truth is, if you really want a great gigabit switch, they still  
cost well north of $1000.

This one was $450.

I think the NIC in the Dell unit is fine.  Broadcom NetXtreme is not  
the best, but it isn't terrible.

One problem is that I cannot enable jumbo frames in Solaris.  I can't  
figure out how to do it.

Other people report this NIC can do it, so there must be a way unless  
the Solaris driver just can't do it.

I can also look at it this way: before getting the gigabit switch, the  
old 3Com Superstack I had was barely able to do 5MB/sec...






-- 
Shannon Hendrix
shannon at widomaker.com