Updating Network Drivers for MD

[usaf-lt-g]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Correct, the biggest contention in a network of this type, is the backplane of the switch.

-Thom

[nosebreaker]

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]

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.