Re: GigE recommendations

[Henning Brauer <lists-openbsd_(_at_)_bsws_(_dot_)_de>]

* Breen Ouellette <the_(_dot_)_man_(_at_)_breeno_(_dot_)_net> [2004-11-06 21:50]:
> Theo de Raadt wrote:
> >The OpenBSD development networks (ie. my basement) are are mostly
> >switched gigabit.  i386, amd64, alpha, macppc, sparc64, and perhaps
> >even something else, are gigabit.  Using sk, em, bge, gem, and I dunno
> >what else.  Other developers in the group are using the other gigabit
> >cards in their networks.
> >Of course it works.  It's not non-free-firmware locked Windows-only
> >wireless crap.
> I realize that they don't have any firmware problems. Let me clarify my 
> question.
> With the recent posts about NFS problems being related to particular 
> NICs, I want to know if anyone has experience with the Intel GigE NICs 
> behaving badly under any particular applications. I am particularily 
> interested in the Intel PRO/1000MT Desktop Adapter (PWLA8390MT) and the 
> Intel PRO/1000MT Dual Port Server Adapter (PWLA8492MT). These use (em), 
> btw. They seem like good cards, I just want to be sure before I buy 20 
> and 2 of them, respectively.

I haven't seen the specific em(4) model making a difference - I didn't 
really bench, tho.

Of course there are performance differences between the various 
chipsets. That ones OpenBSD works on should Just Work (otherwise it is 
a bug). nge(4) sucks - the hardware sucks, we can't do anything about 
it. It is probably wise to not expect an extremely cheap card like the 
re(4) based ones to perform as well as em(4)s.

We have many em(4)s in use, they perform decent. We also have quite 
some sk(4)s in use, mostly the marvell ones, often found as onboard 
devices, they work decent too (except for issues with one particular 
amd64 board). bge(4) is said to play in the same league, but I don't 
run any here.