Changing from 10 mbs to 100 mbs line

[rich pinder]

RH 7.0
Intel SBT2 server board with embedded Intel Express ethernet. Originally set up the box using a 10 mb connection to our network
(assume the speed/params were auto sensed from the install) Now I want to connect it to the 100 mb

I've looked at ifconfig (and a few other places!) and don't see what parameter I need to change (let alone where to change it!) to get the 100 mb speed. Also may need to
set the card to full duplex.

any thoughts ?

thanks

rich pinder

[Craig McPherson]

When the network interface is brought up, the card will automatically auto-negotiate based on whatever it's connected to. If it's connected to a hub that can handle 100/Full, it'll auto-negotiate 100/Full.

If your card isn't doing that, then it's possible that autonegotiation is actually disabled in the firmwear of the card, and you'll need to use the configuration disk that came with the system to reset it. That should be pretty rare in modern times, however.

[DMR]

As Craig said, the card should auto-negotiate to the highest speed possible, but there are options that can be passed to modules to force certain modes of operation if need be. Check the scyld (http://www.scyld.com/network) site for module-specific information on these parameters.
Your infrastructure must be entirely 100Base-T capable. This means (again, as Craig said) that any switches/hubs/routers in you network must be able to operate at 100MB, but it also means that your wiring must be CAT5; CAT3 is only rated for 10MB.

[Craig McPherson]

Actually, you can run a 100BTX network on Cat3 cable -- you'll just get an ungodly number of dropped, garbled, or mangled frames. :) The hardware has no idea that it's plugged into crappy cable, so it'll try valiantly -- and fail -- to operate at 100 megabits. On the other hand, auto-negotiation is done by sending out a signal over the cable to whatever the card is directly connected to (a port in a switch, another network card) to see what sort of transmission it supports.

You can have a mix of 10BaseT and 100BaseTX on the network -- in fact, you can mix any types of Ethernet together (Thin, Thick, fiber, etc), but the only way for two computers to communicate at 100Mbit is for all the hubs, switches, and other devices between them to operate at 100Mbit.

[DMR]

Originally posted by Craig McPherson:
<STRONG>Actually, you can run a 100BTX network on Cat3 cable -- you'll just get an ungodly number of dropped, garbled, or mangled frames. :) The hardware has no idea that it's plugged into crappy cable, so it'll try valiantly -- and fail -- to operate at 100 megabits. On the other hand, auto-negotiation is done by sending out a signal over the cable to whatever the card is directly connected to (a port in a switch, another network card) to see what sort of transmission it supports.

You can have a mix of 10BaseT and 100BaseTX on the network -- in fact, you can mix any types of Ethernet together (Thin, Thick, fiber, etc), but the only way for two computers to communicate at 100Mbit is for all the hubs, switches, and other devices between them to operate at 100Mbit.</STRONG>Yes, but that was my exactly my point- you can try to run full 100MB/s on a crappy or less capable infrastructure, but you will not reach full performance if you do. When I said that the entire infrastrucure needs to be 100Base-T capable, I was assuming that the guy wanted to see *full* performance, and not the bottleneck of dropped packets/frames/etc. which would happen in the scenario you described

[Craig McPherson]

Yes, substandard cable will definately kill your performance. That was a joke, by the way.

However, having a few 10BaseT devices on the network won't hurt the performance of the 100BaseTX devices on the network. Two 100BaseTX devices will still communicate with each other at full speed even if there are 10BaseT devices connected to some of the switches along the way. Of course, when a 100BaseTX device has to talk to a 10BaseT device, it'll be slower than 100Mbit, because the switch the 10BaseT device is plugged into will have to translate the 100BaseTX frames into 10BaseT frames. But as long as no 10BaseT devices have to be passed through, two 100BaseTX devices will talk to each other full speed even if slower types of Ethernet are on the network.

[DMR]

Alright Craig,

Joke taken (and appreciated), and I know you that like to have the last word, but don't you agree that we're both trying to tell the guy the same thing?

Oh, sh!t, I've just given you the chance to have the Last Word ;)

[Craig McPherson]

word