Subject: [netatalk-admins] (Fast) Ethernet speed survey

From: Andras Kadinger <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 05:25:30 +0100

Dear netatalk users,

I am considering to switch to 100Mbit Ethernet (in fact, I've done a
couple of tests already), and would like to know, what speeds are, are
not, and should be possible.

I am mainly interested in Linux/intel [someone please supply me the
linux/atalk list address], but we also have other (off-topic) commercial
solutions, which I would like to be faster than if possible.

I kindly ask the gathered publicum here, to provide me with rumors,
assumptions, estimations, test/benchmark results, etc.; in case of
popular demand, I am willing to compile and repost the (privately)
received benchmark results. (10Mbit and non-netatalk results are also
welcome.)

Do you think, it is really worth to buy e.g. Asante's PCI Fast Ethernet
adapters, where there exist inexpensive PC ones for the fraction of the
price, using the same Tulip chipset; I suppose the driver software must
be faster and faster as the price increases - I can't think of any
notable hardware differences.

Thank You in advance.

Sincerely,
Andras Kadinger
[email-masked]

---

From: David Kelly <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 24 Dec 1997 18:46:54 -0600

> notable hardware differences.

Z'nyx and Kingston also offer DEC based PCI ethernet cards. At least 
Z'nyx, probably others also support the same card in Macs. No changes 
to the card.

The DEC 21X4X "Tulip" based cards were once highly recommended by the 
FreeBSD gurus. Now the current favorite is the Intel 10/100B.
http://www.cdrom.com/ is connected with only one of the Intel cards, 
supports 2750 simultaineous users. And last time I heard a new record 
had been set of 231,879,944,507 bytes served in 24 hours (Nov 2, 1997).

If I understand the current preference of Intel over DEC is due to less
restrictions on DMA for the Intel card. While the DEC DMA's into memory,
often (maybe never) its not the exact final resting place for the data
so it has to be copied again. The Intel card is apparently able to DMA
directly into the waiting data buffer. Maybe not always, but more often
than the DEC.

--
David Kelly N4HHE, [email-masked]
=====================================================================
The human mind ordinarily operates at only ten percent of its
capacity -- the rest is overhead for the operating system.

---

From: "Joakim Ahlen" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 28 Dec 1997 18:00:42 +0000

> not, and should be possible.

If you are not willing to run asun's appleshareip implementation with
netatalk, it is a complete waste to upgrade to 100Mbit. However, you
do gain some performance, from about 500K/sec to 900K/sec in my case. 

If you use the netatalk+asun version of netatalk, you can get an
incredible performance boost. I've made the following table, all based
on files copied from a server with P150, netatalk+asun17, 3com 3c595
Vortex, and with only one single client connected at each time. I used
a lantest program to check the speed. (I don't remember which one)

Client				NIC
PMac 9600/200MP		AsanteFast 100Mbit			3300K/sec
PMac 8500/150			Dayna Bluestreak 100Mbit		2500K/sec
PMac 7500/120			Dayna Bluestreak 100Mbit		2400K/sec
PMac 6600/66			Farallon 100Mbit (Nubus)		1300K/sec
PMac 6100/60			Farallon 100Mbit (Nubus)		900K/sec

The hub used between all of the above is a 3com 100Mbit 12 port.

These speeds are the actual speeds i get when i copy files to/from the
server too.

//Jocke

Joakim Ahlen
MediaPrint, Uddevalla AB

Fax: +46 522 19276
Email: [email-masked]