Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2010 11:04:33 -0800 (PST) From: Barney Cordoba <barney_cordoba@yahoo.com> To: George Sanders <gosand1982@yahoo.com>, Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com> Cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 10gigE link with FreeBSD hosts ? Message-ID: <422185.59153.qm@web63903.mail.re1.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <2a41acea0912111851x598a4f5bsccf013e0c8107743@mail.gmail.com>
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--- On Fri, 12/11/09, Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com> wrote: > From: Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: 10gigE link with FreeBSD hosts ? > To: "George Sanders" <gosand1982@yahoo.com> > Cc: freebsd-net@freebsd.org > Date: Friday, December 11, 2009, 9:51 PM > Can't get 10 gigabit thru a PCI-X > slot, it doesnt have the bandwidth, you > need PCI Express, in > fact you will find that lots of factors will come into play > and might keep > you from achieving > optimal thruput. > > For a two port adapter you will need an 8x PCIE slot, > preferably Gen 2, and > if all three systems > don't have that its gonna slow everyone down. > > Further, once you involve packet forwarding it gets even > more demanding. > > Trying to do it 'on the cheap' and you might get 3 or 4 Gb, > maybe even worse > depending. > > Takes quality to get real performance, sorry :) > > Jack > > > On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 2:30 PM, George Sanders <gosand1982@yahoo.com>wrote: > > > > > > > I am seeing Sun Microsystems branded 10gigE adaptors > (pci-x) on ebay > > nowadays for $500. > > > > So ... let's say I took some plain-jane, modern-ish PC > (intel core, or c2d, > > pci-x, etc.) and set up this topology: > > > > > > a <-- cable --> b <-- cable --> c > > > > and on each of (a) and (c) put one 10gigE adaptor, and > on (b) put two > > 10gigE adaptors, and set up bridging on (b) > > > > Would it be reasonable to then expect to transfer data > from (a) to (c) at > > a, roughly, 10 gigabit/s rate ? > > > > If not, what is the limiting factor ? > > > > The idea is that I would use a commodity PC + multiple > pci-X slots as a > > "poor mans" 10gigE switch ... I can't afford an actual > 10gigE switch, but I > > don't need that many ports anyway. > > > > Any comments or field reports would be appreciated. > > > > Supermicro makes some cheap cards that are under $500. Part# is AOC-STG-i2 and they work with FreeBSD. You should be able to find them for around $450, so if you just need a 2 port switch its fairly inexpensive. The problem is that the FreeBSD ixgbe driver can't do close to 10Gb/s, so its not a very good switch. Barney
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