[Discuss] Future-proofing a house for networking -- what to run?

[dsr at randomstring.org (Dan Ritter)]

On Wed, Sep 13, 2017 at 09:39:02PM -0400, Richard Pieri wrote:
> On 9/13/2017 3:23 PM, Dan Ritter wrote:
> > So, no, you don't need jumbo packets to get 900+Mb/s
> > out of your 1000Mb/s ethernet connection. That's through
> > a very boring Netgear $50 switch.
> 
> Information is missing.
> 
> 1000Base-T is 500Mbps each way (theoretical maximum), but it works with
> Cat 5e. You cannot get 900Mbps throughput with 1000Base-T. It's
> physically impossible. Real world throughput with file data is around
> the 300Mbps I previously cited.
> 
> 1000Base-TX is 1000Mbps each way (theoretical maximum), requires full
> duplex switches (I believe but don't quote me on that), and Cat 6 or Cat
> 7. You can get nearly 1000Mbps throughput with 1000Base-TX if your
> equipment meets all of these criteria. And the NICs involved have
> enterprise class features like all of the various CPU offloading
> capabilities which consumer grade equipment typically does not have.
> Again, since this is "future-proofing a house" and not a corporate data
> center I'm figuring a majority of the equipment in use is going to be
> consumer grade and not enterprise grade.

I just showed you measurements. One end is an AMD FX-4130 with a
Realtek 8168/8411 gig-e port, built-in to the motherboard. The
other end is an Intel G3258 with an Intel I218-V gig-e port,
also on the motherboard. They are connected via Cat5e cables to
a Netgear GS316, a 16 port gig-e switch that you can buy from
NewEgg for $60 now; it was on sale for $50 or so when I bought
it.

Transmission speed as measured by netperf is 930-940 Mb/s. The
MTU is 1500 -- I had it set at 7000 for some months, but it
caused problems with a new machine, so I sighed, backed off, and
did not notice any real-world difference.

Your "300Mb/s" is an artifact of your disk subsystems.

-dsr-