Where can I find more documentation for speed up my server?

[Paul L. Lussier]

In a message dated: Fri, 21 May 1999 08:26:50 +1000
"Stephen L Arnold" said:

>First make sure you get good network performance using
>other tools (ftp, NFS, etc.).  I found that my SMC
>switch and some of my fast ethernet cards were set to
>auto-negotiate and were actually negotiating the type
>of link on the fly (thanks to the folks at SMC).

Autonegotiation, on the surface, sounds like a good thing.  Unfortunately, the 
protocol is relatively broken, and can cause a lot more problems than it's 
worth.  Even between equipment from the same vendor, the the protocol often 
fails to work correctly, never mind between equipment of competing vendors.

On my network, all ports on each switch are hard wired to 10Mbs with the 
uplink from the switch to the routers being at 100Mbs.  That gives every 
person a dedicated 10Mbs switched port to play with.  Short of doing constant 
streaming media, there's little anyone in an office environment is going to do 
that can saturate even a dedicated 10Mbs link (I'm not saying that you can't 
do it, but you 1) have to know what you're doing, and 2) want to do it :)

If you can avoid autonegotiation within your network I highly recommend doing 
so.  It will save a lot of frustrating troubleshooting.
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
----
plussier at baynetworks.com
Broadband Technology Division - Bay Networks (now a Nortel Company, Eh? :)

	If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!