Author Topic: Updating Network Drivers for MD  (Read 3471 times)

usaf-lt-g

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Updating Network Drivers for MD
« on: December 01, 2008, 06:04:16 am »
Hey guys,

So I've been dinking around on my setup, and realized today that one of my MD's actually only has a built-in 10/100 ethernet card (on-board). I originally thought it was a 1000 gig-e, but after further review... it's not. Seems that since I got version 1.0 of the board (MSI CN700t), they only had 10/100 ethernet cards integrated to the board, it wasn't until the new revision of the board contained a gig-e card.

In any case, it's a small form factor mini-itx to be precise, which means adding a simple PCI card for gig-e isn't an option. However I came across a USB Gig-E ethernet adapter that I thought might do the trick but wanted to find out what drivers I would need to use to get it working in LMCE 710. It's called the "Sabrent USB-G1000" and offers data speeds up to 2000 Mbps.

I'm curious if it's as simple as disabling the on-board NIC, plugging in the USB NIC, and going. Or If i'll need to edit the /usr/pluto/diskless/43/etc/initramfs-tools/modules file to add the correct driver and run the Diskless_InstallKernel.sh script?

What's the easiest way to update to this NIC, and what drivers should I use?

Marie.O

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #1 on: December 01, 2008, 11:37:12 am »
There is a wiki page about unrecognized nics detailing exactly what needs to be done.

rgds
Oliver

PS: Why do you think the 10/100 link is not fast enough?

usaf-lt-g

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #2 on: December 01, 2008, 05:01:43 pm »
I'm experimenting with streaming blu-ray media even though playback is unsupported at the moment. 10/100 isn't fast enough to stream content of this nature.

Marie.O

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #3 on: December 01, 2008, 05:43:57 pm »
Interesting. According to my informaton, the maximum bandwidth needed by bluray is 53.95MBit/s, so you would still have some bandwidth left for a media director playing stuff from a core.

In my experience, the switches have problems with those higher bandwidth. Since I went to 3Com managed switches, I don't have any more problems (in that regard).

For a core, it is something different, but for the MD onboard 100mbit should be fine.

rgds
Oliver

tschak909

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2008, 06:03:39 pm »
Correct, the biggest contention in a network of this type, is the backplane of the switch.

-Thom

nosebreaker

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #5 on: December 01, 2008, 06:26:21 pm »
I'm fond of Dell 5324's myself, they're out of production now so you can get them for a lot cheaper!  24 gig-e ports and a true layer2 switch.

skeptic

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Re: Updating Network Drivers for MD
« Reply #6 on: December 01, 2008, 09:03:14 pm »
Interesting. According to my informaton, the maximum bandwidth needed by bluray is 53.95MBit/s, so you would still have some bandwidth left for a media director playing stuff from a core.

For a core, it is something different, but for the MD onboard 100mbit should be fine.
I forget the exact numbers, but when i looked into this in the past I also found that 100Mbit should be ok for streaming HD as long as the core/switch can keep up with this as well as any other traffic.