Interface Errors

[David Backeberg]

I've heard that Dell switches are absolute pieces of garbage, and that you
get exactly what you pay for when you buy them. Do you have any non-Dell  
switches you can put in place to see if the interface errors will go away
then? You can get little five-port GigE switches from Netgear for about
$50 these days. I realize I'm recommending a crap switch to isolate what
was more expensive hardware, but you haven't ruled out your switch as a
problem yet. Just swapping a Dell switch with another Dell switch doesn't
rule out that their hardware can't handle your load.

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/thread/437041-1.html
gs "dell ethernet switches crap" for more entries like that

If everything in your datacenter is Dell, you can put a non-Dell switch 
between your server and the next switch, and see if the error gets 
isolated by the intermediate non-Dell switch instead of getting passed on 
to the server. You could accomplish the same thing with a dual-nic linux 
bridge box. That way, you could use ifconfig / iptables / ebtables to 
monitor both sides of the connection and isolate errors to one side.

Dell server <> bridge box eth0 <> bridge <> bridge box eth1 <> Dell switch
http://linux-net.osdl.org/index.php/Bridge

I'm also assuming you haven't done anything idiotic, like run your 
ethernet cables on the floor and had given tours to people in high-heels, 
or run your ethernet cables along flourescent lights, or quick-tie the 
ethernet cables to high-current power cables, and wonder why you're 
getting errors.

-- 
David Backeberg (dave at math.mit.edu)

On Mon, 19 Jun 2006, Matt Shields wrote:

> I've been having a problem for about a week where the interface on my
> server slowly collects errors (~4 or 5 errors/minute). This server (Dell
> Poweredge 1850) is our firewall and is connected via GigE to our Dell
> PowerConnect 5324.  The Powerconnect has an uplink to our provider that
> is Gig Fiber.  I'm using CAT6 cable and I have replaced it numerous
> times.  I've also changed the switch port.  Can anyone offer any
> suggestions?  Don't know if this matters, but we're passing 60-80 Mbits
> outbound, 15-20 MBits inbound.  
> 
> 
> Also, I'm monitoring the errors with ifconfig, not SNMP.  NET-SNMP seems
> to have a problem with 64-bit counters, which we need since we pass such
> a large amount of traffic.
> 
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> 
> Matthew Shields
> Sr Systems Administrator
> NameMedia, Inc.
> (P) 781-839-2828
> mshields at namemedia.com
> http://www.namemedia.com
> 
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