At 02:07 PM 1/13/2006 -0800, Kevin wrote:
>I've also seen problems like this happen using a hub instead of a switch
>(always use a switch), and I have also seen problems like this when the
>servers were running mixed speeds (gigabit to a switch that then feeds a
>100MBit router/modem), try forcing all connections to run at 100MBit (or
>make all connections match the lowest speed on the network) and see if that
>helps. Bad NICs can also cause this, try a different NIC if you can.
Just an FYI, but a switch looks at your ethernet MAC address
and passes directed traffic to it. A hub basically passes all traffic.
That's not the bad part. The bad part is that ethernet essentially
works for voltage levels using four wires, so if two devices talk at
the same time the voltage goes up and they detect a collission. That's
how ethernet determines if what was said might have been unclear.
In a hub, everybody gets what everybody else gets. The only
way to detect a collission is to run at half-duplex and listen for
that voltage spike. With a switch, you can run full-duplex and not
fret because the pair that look for collissions can now be used to
transmit data. Naturally, you can't use one pair and two pair in
a hub without clobbering this feature.
As a side effect, there's no real standard for auto-negotiation
on a switch. You can take a $200K Nortel Passport 8600 full of 10/100
ethernet ports and get duplex mismatching. You can do the same with
a generic 4-port unit. If you can manage the switch, lock the port at
100 Full and do the same in your network card properties. This will
solve a lot of CRC errors, bad frames, etc... If you're into a hub,
lock at max port speed and half duplex for the same reasons.
If you have gigabit, don't worry -- it uses all 4 pairs so
duplex issues aren't a problem.
You'd be amazed at how many latency issues are solved by
simply setting port speeds the same on both switch and server.
- Dan
* Dan Sorenson DoD #1066 A.H.M.C. #35 [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Vikings? There ain't no vikings here. Just us honest farmers. *
* The town was burning, the villagers were dead. They didn't need *
* those sheep anyway. That's our story and we're sticking to it. *
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