Re: [cobalt-developers] 2nd NIC

["William L. Thomson Jr." <support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pretty much all RaQs come with 2 nics, if my memory serves me correctly.
I assume there are two so one can be used for an internal interface and
the other external. So the RaQ can be used as a firewall.

Now when I had a RaQ4r, due to the nics using Intel chipsets I had
wanted to upgrade the driver from the one that ships by default (can't
remember which one it was) to Intel's e100, and using Intel's IANS to
use both nics as one with a single IP and MAC. However due to only
buying the RaQ4r as a temp server till XTRs were back on the market, I
never got around to it. Since my XTR arrived sooner than expected I was
busy doing other things.

The XTR has a different chipset and the nics/driver I do not care for
much. I looked into channel bonding, but that would require me to
possible modify the kernel, or recompile it. Something I do not feel to
comfortable with doing on the RaQ. So I have some what given up on using
both my RaQ XTR nics as one. God knows it would be nice, since it seems
the main bottleneck on my XTR is it's nics. For some reason I can't seem
to force them to stay 100 full duplex. They seem to only want to be auto
duplex. I have 100 full set on the switch, and tried passing the
necessary params in the modules.conf file

alias eth0 dp83815
alias eth1 dp83815
options dp83815 full_duplex=1,1

But still not go, and at times when transferring large amounts of data
on or off the XTR takes forever. Slower than another machine of mine
that also runs software RAID, RAID 1. So I do not believe RAID is the
bottle neck. I am pretty sure the nics are.

I am not sure about the RaQ550's chipset on the nics? If someone could
inform me of that, or do a lsmod to see what driver is loaded. I would
be curious to know whether they used the same chipset as on the XTR or
went back to the Intel chipset or another.

If any RaQ has a Intel chipset card, and you are not using the RaQ as a
firewall. I would look into compiling and installing the latest e100
driver from Intel. Then you can also compile and install IANS. Depending
on the switch you are using with the RaQ, you can use both nics as one,
with a single IP and MAC. Or at worst with IANS you can still use both,
but the second will be a spare to the first. So if one get's unplugged
the other will take over. Not as effective, but puts both to use.

I use e100 on all my other servers, and prefer Intel Pro 100 S nics,
they absolutely scream. I also use IANS on several other machines, one
with two nics, and one with a dual nic. I get some decent speeds in/out
of them. Not exactly twice as much as a single nic. But I definitely get
better speeds, than if I used a single nic on them. So using e100 with
IANS from Intel is worth it. When you are using one or more Intel nics.

You could always use a dedicated nic for a site being hosted with a 
static IP. But depending on the use of the RaQ it may not make much
difference or sense?

On Fri, 2002-08-09 at 19:35, Jorge Ballesteros M. wrote:
> Somebody know's wich is the use for the second NIC in a RAQ550?
> 
> Jorge Ballesteros Muñoz
> 
> Tel. 52(81)8363 2416/17
> Fax. 52(81)8363 2413
> e-mail: jballest@xxxxxxxxxx
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> cobalt-developers mailing list
> cobalt-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://list.cobalt.com/mailman/listinfo/cobalt-developers
> 
-- 
Sincerely,
William L. Thomson Jr.
Support Group
Obsidian-Studios Inc.
439 Amber Way
Petaluma, Ca. 94952
Phone  707.766.9509
Fax    707.766.8989
http://www.obsidian-studios.com