How to know the network card speed

[hangyu]

we have two same model 100/1000 network card that plug into two different servers , but I found that their transfer speed is different , one is 2,xxx/minutes , another one is 1,1xx/minutes , I am not sure whether the setting have problem , can advise how do I check what speed (100 or 1000) is enabled ? thx

[Stuart Browne]

Use 'ethtool ', i.e. 'ethtool eth0'.

The output will be something similar to:

Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ MII ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 100Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: Twisted Pair
PHYAD: 1
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: g
Wake-on: d
Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
Link detected: yes


This is stating that it's a Gigabit-card running in 100Mb mode at full-duplex.

Given what you're saying, I'm picking that the auto-negotiation has picked half-duplex. Double check the switch ports to make sure they're at full duplex, then re-negotiate the conenction, or use ethtool to force full duplex.

[hangyu]

thx reply ,

the switch is set to support 1000bit/s

the below is the output of the command , server 1 ( slow ) seems the transfer speed of this server is slow while server 2 ( fast ) seems the transfer speed of this server is fast , can advise do I need to change any setting ? thx


server 1 ( slow )
---------------
Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ MII ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: Twisted Pair
PHYAD: 1
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: g
Wake-on: d
Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
Link detected: yes

server 2 (fast)
---------------
Settings for eth0:
Supported ports: [ TP ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: Twisted Pair
PHYAD: 0
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: on
Supports Wake-on: umbg
Wake-on: d
Link detected: yes

[hangyu]

thx ,

I alo check with demsg , both servers have the same result

dmesg |grep eth0
tg3: eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex.

[Hemmetter]

Hi hangyu,

can you give
$ ifconfig eth0

for both servers, are there errors/drops etc?


rgds
HGH

[hangyu]

thx reply ,

no drop and error found , both server is very very stable , but speed is acceptable but I just would like to know why the speed have great difference.


Server 1 (slow)
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:06:5B:F6:1F:0A
inet addr:192.168.0.1 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:323113163 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:445493740 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3026881068 (2886.6 Mb) TX bytes:3954808375 (3771.5 Mb)
Interrupt:28

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:222959 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:222959 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:30363458 (28.9 Mb) TX bytes:30363458 (28.9 Mb)


Server 1 (fast)
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:43:E6:11:42
inet addr:192.168.0.2 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:77898326 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:266921310 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1509990853 (1440.0 Mb) TX bytes:1904061972 (1815.8 Mb)
Interrupt:48 Base address:0xecc0 Memory:dfbe0000-dfc00000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:3931491 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3931491 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:275038573 (262.2 Mb) TX bytes:275038573 (262.2 Mb)

[Stuart Browne]

That all looks good.

What are you using to do the speed timing? Is it possible there's a routing issue between the devices you're doing the test with?

[Hemmetter]

Hi hangyu

There are lots of factors that may affect your transfer.

How differ the two systems?
Is the server hardware the same?
Due to the MAC-addresses of your NICs you have DELL hardware, right?

Do they have the same NICs and Firmware?
OS-Release? The same driver?
Are the systems connected to the same switch?

Are the systems under different load?
Do you r/w your transfer-data from/to disk?


rgds
HGH

[hangyu]

thx

How differ the two systems? they are RHEL3
Is the server hardware the same? the same server series
Due to the MAC-addresses of your NICs you have DELL hardware, right? Yes, they are dell

Do they have the same NICs and Firmware? they are same series server model , I think the NIC should be same model
OS-Release? The same driver? RHEL3 , build-in driver
Are the systems connected to the same switch? Yes

Are the systems under different load? , the loading is very low
Do you r/w your transfer-data from/to disk?
Yes


I would like to said , I have 5 Dell server ( similiar grade ) , only one server is very fast ( 2,xxx transfer rate ) , but all others are similiar speed ( around 1,xxx ) .

[hangyu]

I am not sure whether the server1's driver , setting etc is different so its transfer rate may up to 2,xxx bit /s , can advise how to check it ? eg . NIC driver ver , setting , fireware ver ? thx