10gigE link with FreeBSD hosts ?

[Jack Vogel]

Can't get 10 gigabit thru a PCI-X slot, it doesnt have the bandwidth, you
need PCI Express, in
fact you will find that lots of factors will come into play and might keep
you from achieving
optimal thruput.

For a two port adapter you will need an 8x PCIE slot, preferably Gen 2, and
if all three systems
don't have that its gonna slow everyone down.

Further, once you involve packet forwarding it gets even more demanding.

Trying to do it 'on the cheap' and you might get 3 or 4 Gb, maybe even worse
depending.

Takes quality to get real performance, sorry :)

Jack


On Fri, Dec 11, 2009 at 2:30 PM, George Sanders <gosand1982 at yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
> I am seeing Sun Microsystems branded 10gigE adaptors (pci-x) on ebay
> nowadays for $500.
>
> So ... let's say I took some plain-jane, modern-ish PC (intel core, or c2d,
> pci-x, etc.) and set up this topology:
>
>
> a <-- cable --> b  <-- cable --> c
>
> and on each of (a) and (c) put one 10gigE adaptor, and on (b) put two
> 10gigE adaptors, and set up bridging on (b)
>
> Would it be reasonable to then expect to transfer data from (a) to (c) at
> a, roughly, 10 gigabit/s rate ?
>
> If not, what is the limiting factor ?
>
> The idea is that I would use a commodity PC + multiple pci-X slots as a
> "poor mans" 10gigE switch ... I can't afford an actual 10gigE switch, but I
> don't need that many ports anyway.
>
> Any comments or field reports would be appreciated.
>
>
>
>
>
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