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Cell Relay Retreat>List Archive>month:1998-Jul> msg00263



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Re: What PC 155/622 Mb ATM Card to buy ???

  • From: "Graham Abbott" <gabbott@fore.com>
  • Date: Wed, 22 Jul 1998 23:56:28 +1000

[Shameless advert]

>   I knew that a PC could not fill a OC-12 pipe...
>
>   I hoped to use it to debug.  A new OC-12 switch needs to be shaken
>   out by a large number of engineers.  If a PCI OC-12 NIC were available,
>   I would have a really cheap way of debugging it.
>
>   Just dreaming :-)

No need to dream!  FORE Systems have released the HE-622 adapter, a PCI card
that currently has drivers for Solaris and NT (Intel & Alpha).  Other
drivers are not far off.

This card is an pretty awesome, particularly with large MTUs.  If you're
interested in the capabilities of the card don't take my word for it, check
out the Tolly report (Tolly document 8277).  Testing for this report
achieved an aggregate bi-directional throughput of over 1.0 Gbps on the Sun
platform.

Hope this helps...

Best Regards

Graham Abbott
Senior Network Consultant
Melbourne Office
FORE Systems Australia

Level 11, 580 St Kilda Road
Melbourne VIC 3004 Australia

Ph:     +61 3 9526 3611
Fax:    +61 3 9526 3686
Mobile: +61 4 1759 1116
Email:  mailto:gabbott@fore.com
Web:    http://www.fore.com

FORE Systems - building Networks of Steel


**************************
FORE Systems, Inc. ForeRunner HE 622 ATM OC-12 PCI Adapter NT and Solaris
TCP/UDP Application Performance and
Traffic Management Evaluation

Reference Number:
8277

Abstract:
In order to satisfy the insatiable demand for increased server performance,
ATM network interface cards (NICs) must not only provide high throughput,
but also
minimize their impact on server CPU consumption. Using large frame sizes
helps to both increase application throughput and minimize an adapter’s use
of CPU
resources. Providing guaranteed bandwidth and predictable data delivery
across ATM networks also requires sophisticated Quality of Service
technology at all
points from end-station to end-station. ATM’s traffic management capability
allows industry standard end-to-end control of QoS parameters such as
bandwidth
allocation. FORE Systems, Inc. commissioned The Tolly Group to evaluate its
ForeRunner HE 622, a PCI adapter that transfers data at OC-12 rates (up to
622.08
Mbit/s). The Tolly Group tested the adapter on a Sun Microsystems Ultra 30
workstation and a Sun Ultra Enterprise 450 server (running Solaris 2.6) and
Intel
Corp. (formerly Digital Equipment Corp.) Alpha (NT 4.0) platforms. Testing
probed the effect of extended packet size on both server throughput and the
adapter’s
impact on CPU utilization. Additionally, The Tolly Group exercised the HE
622’s ATM traffic management capabilities, referred to by FORE as LAppQoS
(Legacy
Application Quality of Service).


Download full report in Adobe Acrobat PDF format:

FORE Systems, Inc. ForeRunner HE 622 ATM OC-12 PCI Adapter NT and Solaris
TCP/UDP Application Performance and Traffic Management Evaluation

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-cell-relay@newstone.ucs.indiana.edu
[mailto:owner-cell-relay@newstone.ucs.indiana.edu]On Behalf Of Shaheen
Ali
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 1998 11:49 AM
To: cell-relay@cell.ucs.indiana.edu
Subject: CR: Re: What PC 155/622 Mb ATM Card to buy ???


"Tom Lawrence" <tom @ argustech . com> writes:

> > > > Why would you want a 622Mb card for a PC?
> > >
> >
> > You may just want to be able to attach to a switch port for debug or
> > management.
>
> I know of almost no switches that don't support a mixture of OC-3 and
> OC-12.  PC-based servers connecting at OC-3 make sense...  PC-based
servers
> connecting at OC-12 translates into about 470Mb of wasted bandwidth.

I knew that a PC could not fill a OC-12 pipe...

I hoped to use it to debug.  A new OC-12 switch needs to be shaken
out by a large number of engineers.  If a PCI OC-12 NIC were available,
I would have a really cheap way of debugging it.

Just dreaming :-)

Shaheen