Re: Looking for L4 switch-off info

From: Joseph Mack (mack.joseph@epa.gov)
Date: Wed Apr 11 2001 - 11:30:29 MDT


Alex Rousskov wrote:

> > it's a big difference. One cable to the clients and one to
> > the servers limits you to 100Mbps. An unlimited number of
> > cables means the sky is the limit. These are two different
> > categories of L-4 switches.
>
> I was thinking one (or a few) Gbit cables versus many 100Mbit cables.
> I am sure we would have to allow for total throughput that exceeds
> 100Mbit levels.

I'll be aiming for one box at 100Mbps and possibly another
in the sub 1Gbps range.

Presumably for the 100Mbps box, I would get one cable to
the clients and another cable to the servers (and you would
provide the switch for me to plug into on both sides?).

> The primary difference, IMO, is the number of ports that a switch will
> be able to use. Different switches have different designs that will
> benefit (or not) from many ports being utilized given the same total
> load. I expect some serious fights among vendors before we can reach a
> consensus or decide to use two hard-to-compare configurations.

If I want to enter something in the sub Gbps range, do
I have the choice of getting it via either

o single 1Gbps card on client side and server side
o multiple 100Mbps NICs (eg quad NICs) on each side

I assume this is the problem you are talking about.

(My equipment is 100Mbps and I can increase
throughput by combining 100Mbps links.
I don't have switches etc to setup a 1Gbps
installation.)

Thanks Joe

-- 
Joseph Mack PhD, Senior Systems Engineer, Lockheed Martin
contractor to the National Environmental Supercomputer Center, 
mailto:mack.joseph@epa.gov ph# 919-541-0007, RTP, NC, USA



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