Re: cheap 4-port tulip-based cards available

Karen Shaeffer wrote:

On Sat, Oct 19, 2002 at 02:32:10PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:

quoted

Karen Shaeffer wrote:

quoted

On Sat, Oct 19, 2002 at 02:06:51PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:

I make traffic generators out of them (www.candelatech.com)

They are also good for firewalls and routers, as well as more
exotic network devices.  Using linux for a switch does not make so
much sense these days when you can buy a 16 port switch for under $100,
but with bridging code it can be done.

Actually, I think linux based switches could be quite interesting in
a pipelined, beowulf-like or openmosix cluster. (Of course, GigE would
probably be employed rather than FE.) You could then integrate traffic
shaping/monitoring functionality into the switch that could be designed
to interoperate with the cluster nodes to assist in optimizing data flow
and subsequent processing. With openmosix, this could also be used to
migrate processes towards optimum node placement, based on network
traffic analysis as well as nodal resource availability.

It's a subject I've been thinking about quite a bit lately. This is most
interesting in adaptive, pipelined clusters that will be processing
real-time streaming data. That's certainly a niche market at the present
time.

Right now, you'll have a tough time getting a single GigE NIC to run line
speed, full duplex.

However, I've thought about writing a controlling process that monitors
and dynamically configures a switch though SNMP or some other API.  That way,
you could migrate machines across LANs/VLANs to better distribute your traffic.

And, you could keep all your traffic running line speed (or however fast
your switches run)

cheers,
Karen

-- 
Ben Greear [off-list ref]       <Ben_Greear AT excite.com>
President of Candela Technologies Inc      http://www.candelatech.com
ScryMUD:  http://scry.wanfear.com     http://scry.wanfear.com/~greear