[mdlug] Maxing out on 10/100 LAN

[Dan Pritts]

The naive answer to your question is that any modern hard disk can deliver 50MB/sec == 400Mb/sec on bulk writes, i.e. significantly faster than 100Mb. 

that said,  Without knowing more about your application I cannot say whether SSDs would be useful.  If it is a lot of IOPS but not a lot of bytes, then the hard disk is likely your limit and switching to SSDs will likely make a big difference.  If it is bulk copies then any hard disk can keep up and the network or the network filesystem is likely your limit.  

As you look at this your next thought will probably be 1GE.  1Gb ethernet is pretty cheap nowadays but be aware that not all 1Gb cards and switches are created equal.  The cheap crap that we all buy off of newegg is unlikely to support full line-rate 1Gb.   

A $30 Intel "desktop" ethernet card is worth the money vs. the cheap crap on your motherboard, and the $125 Intel "server" ethernet card may very well be depending on your application.  Similarly a real switch will make a difference vs. a $30 one.  

On Sep 20, 2011, at 10:16 AM, Robert Adkins II wrote:

> My Google-Fu hasn't been successful with this, quite yet.
> 
> In speccing out the new server to be built, I am wanting to maximize hard
> drive reads/writes to at least the point where I could theoretically max out
> the 10/100 LAN.
> 
> I am considering the following:
> 
> OS Installation - Standard Platter HD (Mirrored)
> 
> Active Job Drive - SSDs Mirrored+Striped or possibly RAID 5
> 
> Less active Folders and Archived Jobs - Mirrored+Striped or RAID 5
> 
> Will there be any percieved performance difference off the Active Jobs Drive
> through a single 10/100 LAN Port on the server or should I just stick with
> standard HD platters all around?
> 
> Thanks,
> Rob
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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