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Need good Gigabit NIC for small office server use...

Started by NNYITGuy, 2008.04.28, 15:56:38

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NNYITGuy

Hello All,

I just completed a transfer of 1.7 million files to a new SATA drive on a second machine.  I did not want to use PEER and did not want to install SAMBA just yet.  I used RSync port from Paul Smedley.  My original computer NIC configs did not work.  I completed the task by using a Intel/DEC 21041 10/100 NIC / driver with no problems.  But with such a large load for data replication I really wanted to use a gigabit NIC.

The Realtek 8169 or its driver originally as NIC#1 froze repeatedly.  I did not have a TRAP, but could not ping anything outside of the computer.  Other computers could ping all resources, but could get a response from the the Realtek NIC.  I have a gigabit switch plugged in to use the gigabit NICs.  I then used a 10/100 switch and the whole Rsync process went even farther but the Realtek NIC / driver quite yet again.  I swapped out the original Realtek NIC with another new Realtek NIC.  It failed the same way as the first.  I have used Realtek for so, so many projects and never had a problem with eCS or w32 based technologies.

So, after that long wind...  CAn someone make a recommendation on a rock solid NIC / driver for eCS?

Thank you,
Todd
Todd J Simpson (IT Consultant)
Business Automation Technologies
(Professional Products and Services.  Business to Business...)


The Blue Warper

Hi, Todd,

if you're using eCS with ACPI, then there's a setting you should probably set in your PROTOCOL.INI, according to ACPI docs.  The "ACPI Drivers compatiblity list" (which you can find here: http://en.ecomstation.ru/projects/acpitools/?action=acpi-smp-drv) lists your NIC with the required change.  Here's a quote of the section relevant to this topic:
------------------
Realtek 8168/8169   
    Don't forget enable APIC:
    x:\IBMCOM\PROTOCOL.INI ->  [RTGNDA_nif] -> IRQ15OVR = "YES"
------------------

Hope this helps...

Andi

Please read here -

http://en.ecomstation.ru/hardware.php?action=item&id=832

You can contact the author of the RTL816x driver, or try genmac2.x, or use another card. Seems there is something really bad in the irq handling of the rtng... driver.

On the other hand, the drivers for the slower Realtek chips (8139, 8029) worked without problems for me for years.

RobertM

Quote from: NNYITGuy on 2008.04.28, 15:56:38
Hello All,

So, after that long wind...  CAn someone make a recommendation on a rock solid NIC / driver for eCS?

Thank you,
Todd

Hi Todd,

I am currently using an Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop Adapter. Driver support for this series is included in eCS (and I believe OS/2 WSeB at least as early as CP2), and drivers are downloadable (for earlier versions of OS/2 that didnt contain them) from various places on the Internet. The v3.6x are apparently better than the newer v4.x release. I use two of these in my main server (one for NetBIOS, one for TCP/IP). The NetBIOS performance isnt the best (though I havent tuned NetBIOS yet as I dont use it that much on the server - and the default settings seem to be more geared to slower networking connections - and using the Performance Tuning Tool results in the NetBIOS settings being tuned to 10Mb connections - not gigabit).

There are also versions of this driver on the eCS Downloads Area. They support a wide range of the PRO/1000 series, including the fiber cards.

The cards (when I bought mine) could be found on eBay relatively cheaply (I think I paid around $12 a card a year ago). If you decide to go with a card of these series - be warned you need to ensure you are getting the copper based cards (unless of course you happen to have a fiber optic network), as they come in both copper and fiber variants.




I have heard (but not used or confirmed) that the Broadcom gigabit NICs are also very good. Those drivers can be found online either at Hobbes or in Chuck M's NICPAK driver package (not sure which).




Though I have an RTL8169 "card" (onboard) on a couple machines, I have not played with it. When I set up that machine, there was no driver support, so I installed one of the Intel PRO/1000 cards, and (as I have 10 more sitting on a shelf, and the system is working fine) I havent bothered taking out the current gigabit card and trying the RTL8169 card.

In general, I have been very happy with the Realtek based cards (onboard or PCI based), particularly the 8139 series. I do not know how the 8169 series compares to the 8139 series when it comes to performance or reliability, but if it is as rock solid as the 8139 series, then the best route for you may be to see if the driver maintainer can provide tips on how to get the Realtek card working for your setup.

HTH,
Robert


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Kirk's 5 Year Mission Continues at:
Star Trek New Voyages
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NNYITGuy

Thank you all!  I will take everything in and check it all out.  It feels real good to get back this kind of positive response from the community.  I know we all really do have a good community here.  But I hear of other OS communities that get really do not have the team effort that we really show one and other here!

I will be testing the Intel and Broadcom and new 8169 drivers in the RC4 release.  I hope to post back in the future after I have tested.

Thanks Again!
Todd
Todd J Simpson (IT Consultant)
Business Automation Technologies
(Professional Products and Services.  Business to Business...)

thomas0008

HELP!!!
Where to download Intel 21041 driver for OS/2?

I use OS2 Warp Server C-Pak2 for e-business.

But I found no Intel 21041 driver in disk.

Who can tell me what I can do?

Thanks.


thomas0008


NNYITGuy

Hi All,

I have settled on the Intel PCI Card PRO/1000 Part #PWLA8391GTLBLK (Low Profile) and Intel PCI Card PRO/1000 Part #PWLA8391GTBLK (Normal PCI Profile).  These cards are from the GT series chipset.  The nic drivers that are found in normal eCS archives.  The eCS drivers do load but do not work with these cards.  I went to Intel and found the archives.  I did not document where I found them at the time.  I do have the files.  I can give them to anyone who needs them.  But I do not believe that I can put them in an online storage like hobbes.  

Best regards,
Todd
Todd J Simpson (IT Consultant)
Business Automation Technologies
(Professional Products and Services.  Business to Business...)

herwigb

With the Intel Pro/1000 GT PWLA8391GT*  there are 2 options:

- The Intel drivers version 3.62 (neither later nor earlier ones work),
- GenMAC in unsupported mode

However both options exhibit some problems: The Intel drivers show unexpectedly low write speeds, while operation with GenMAC is generally faster in both ways. However with GenMAC there are problems with OpenVPN on the same machine (OpenVPN speed limited to about 4 KB/s).

Regards,
Herwig
Kind regards,
HerwigB.

NNYITGuy

I found the following:

v3.62 - This set does work and the throughput over SAMBA and PEER appears to be exceptional.
04-29-05  3:12p            376      0 a---  E1000.MSG
10-14-05  4:28p         1,890      0 a---  E1000.NIF
07-02-04  1:03p        27,700      0 a---  E1000.OS2

v4.17 - This set seems to show that it will work on the boot messages from config.sys.  But, never operated with TCP/IP.
2-28-05 12:51p           376     31 a---  e1000.msg
2-28-05 12:52p         1,890     31 a---  e1000.nif
2-28-05 12:51p        28,212     31 a---  e1000.os2

I have not tried genmac because I found the first mentioned driver worked.  Also, I tried to understand genmac, and I used the v1 of genmac successfully in years past, but I could not make heads or tales of genmac v2.20


Best Regards,
Todd
Todd J Simpson (IT Consultant)
Business Automation Technologies
(Professional Products and Services.  Business to Business...)

herwigb

The Intel 4.17 driver has the following odd behaviour:

- It works normally if you limit speed to 100MBit.

Alternatively you may

- Unplug the network cable before boot,
- boot the machine and
- replug the network cable, when boot has completed.

This way it will work normally with 1 GBit  speed.

Both is not acceptable for daily operation, just for the records.
Kind regards,
HerwigB.