Gigabit Ethernet

[Ron Brown_2]

Can an L1000 running HP-UX 11.0 support gigabit ethernet? I'd like to get that server on par with the rest of our servers.

[Patrick Wallek · Accepted solution]

Yes it should.

A6825A - PCI 1000 Base-T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Uses Cat 5 cable)

A6847A - PCI 1000 Base-SX Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (Uses Fibre Cable)

[Jeff Schussele]

Hi Ron,

Although I'm not positive, I do think I remember that there may be slot limitations on these cards in the L-class - i.e. they may need to go into a Twin-Turbo slot.
The install docs should spell that out.

Rgds,
Jeff

[Jeff Schussele]

Here's the spec page on the GigE cards:

http://www.hp.com/products1/unixserverconnectivity/adapters/ethernet/specifications/gigabit_ethernet_specs.html

It does show the rp5400 (L-class) as supported.

Rgds,
Jeff

[Ron Brown_2]

OK, thanks. I'll take a look at the docs for that card. I would prefer two cards (or two interfaces on a single card), if possible, in order to load balance across the two interfaces.

[Jeff Schussele]

Well, if you're going to do that then you'll need the APA (Auto Port Aggregration) SW & that's a purchased product. Although you can put two NICs in the same subnet - it's *not* supported & won't do what you're wanting anyway. But APA will, but be advised that there are specific switches that it works with.
So do your homework.

Rgds,
Jeff

[doug hosking]

Ron, it looks like there is now a dual-port gigabit card (A7012A), but it doesn't show support for the L1000 or 11.00:

http://docs.hp.com/hpux/onlinedocs/J6371-90004/J6371-90004.html

I'm not sure if that's just because the L1000 is older hardware or if there is some technical reason.

[rick jones]

Likely as not the dual-port card would be in that "works" but not "supported" category. indeed the L1000 is a rather old system these days and may not have been qual'ed with the dual-port card.

There is indeed a preference to put the GbE NICs in the "Twin Turbo" slots if peak performance is your goal. It has been a long time - I'm not sure I'd expect to get link-rate out of GbE in an L1000 - particularly if it has the 360 MHz CPUs. Perhaps with the 440 MHz CPUs.