[Info-vax] Sudden problems with slow sftp transfers and slow disk accesses

Colin Butcher colinDOT.butcherAT at xdeltaDOT.coDOT.uk
Tue Feb 18 09:31:16 EST 2014


>
> The switch is an auto-sensing Netgear 16-port FS116.  I don't see how
> I can check what the switch is set to.
>

It's almost certainly the switch. Back when some of the Alpha NICs were 
designed, auto-negotiation wasn't a fully-formed standard. DEC went with 
their interpretation (well engineered), others chose different strategies.

Standard rule of thumb for data centre class equipment - use data centre 
class switches which you can fully manage and have control over.

You probably have something lying around that is fully managed and 
100Mbit/sec. Go grab it!

If not, buy something like a HP 1810-24G web managed 24 port switch and 
explicitly set the speed & duplex on the ports.

If this is a production system, do the job thoroughly and put in a pair of 
decent switches (eg: 3500yl-24) with dual NICs in the Alphas and use LAN 
failover.

Cheers, Colin.
Legacy = Stuff that works. Properly! 





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