From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Jun 13 19:29:59 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: questions@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3EADB16A46D for ; Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:29:59 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from mail.potentialtech.com (internet.potentialtech.com [66.167.251.6]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C50C413C468 for ; Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:29:58 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from wmoran@potentialtech.com) Received: from vanquish.pgh.priv.collaborativefusion.com (pr40.pitbpa0.pub.collaborativefusion.com [206.210.89.202]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.potentialtech.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 00815EBC7F; Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:29:57 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:29:57 -0400 From: Bill Moran To: "Michael K. Smith - Adhost" Message-Id: <20070613152957.c0562886.wmoran@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <17838240D9A5544AAA5FF95F8D52031602171721@ad-exh01.adhost.lan> References: <17838240D9A5544AAA5FF95F8D52031602171721@ad-exh01.adhost.lan> X-Mailer: Sylpheed 2.3.1 (GTK+ 2.10.11; i386-portbld-freebsd6.1) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Ethernet Card Limitations to Number of Connections? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:29:59 -0000 In response to "Michael K. Smith - Adhost" : > Hello All: > > Are there any physical limitations to the number of connections > (TCP/UDP) that are determined by the physical interface itself? We have > a PF load-balancing solution in place in front of a large number of mail > servers and we're considering using the same boxes to front our Name > Server/Name Resolvers. I'm concerned that the single uplink port on the > PF box will be overloaded with the number of connections. A single ethernet card is going to be limited by available bandwidth, and knows nothing about connections. As long as you've got enough bandwidth on the card to handle the traffic, the physical card will be fine. A single IP address is limited to ~65,000 connections due to the nature of IP networks. You can put multiple IPs on a single NIC and increase that if you need to, but configuring it can be a challenge. Hope that answers your question. -- Bill Moran http://www.potentialtech.com