Hi, I'm a happy Samba user. I've been working sucessfully in Linux for the past 6 months. I've built a Linux Server with very fast storage and I'm connecting it to many Windows XP "video editing workstations" via Gigabit Ethernet (all NICs using Jumbo Frames, by the way). Now I want to see if I can increase my data flow in and out of the Server so that more workstations to connect to it simultaneously. I'm pretty much maxing out on the amount of data that can flow through a single Gigabit Ethernet connection (from the Server to a single Gigabit Switch). So I'm wondering what's involved in adding a second NIC to my Server and dividing my workstations into two groups. Is this a difficult thing to configure? Would somebody be willing to tell me what are the crucial settings that need to be made (in smb.conf, for example, or in /etc/*.* stuff). Do I have to create subnets? I'm currently working on an internal network where all the workstations have 192.168.1.XXX static addresses. These workstations occasionally connect to the Internet through a Cable/DSL router that's also on the network and that serves as the gateway. Is it possible to give my server two fixed IP addresses (one corresponding to each NIC) and then connect each NIC to its own switch, which would then be connected to half of the workstations? I tried this today and had no luck. And how can I make it possible for each workstations to have access to the Internet. Presumably, only one switch can be connected to the cable/dsl router -- or else data traffic could go through the cable/dsl router to get from a workstation to the Server. But I suppose that's the least of my worries. I'm not looking for somebody else to do my homework. I've spent about 6 hours today googling around trying to figure out what's required and I'm coming up more confused with each article or discussion thread I read. I would sure appreciate it if somebody out there was willing to lend a hand. I'm sure this is basic stuff to an IT guy, but I'm just working on this networking stuff at a "hobby level" -- doing pretty well, but now a bit stumped. By the way, does anybody know if this scenario is covered in the new Samba cookbook? I'd be happy to purchase it tomorrow if I thought it would give me the recipe to do what I'm trying to accomplish. Regards, Andy Liebman
On Sun, 2004-04-04 at 18:23, AndyLiebman@aol.com wrote:> Hi, > > I'm a happy Samba user. I've been working sucessfully in Linux for the past 6 > months. I've built a Linux Server with very fast storage and I'm connecting > it to many Windows XP "video editing workstations" via Gigabit Ethernet (all > NICs using Jumbo Frames, by the way). > > Now I want to see if I can increase my data flow in and out of the Server so > that more workstations to connect to it simultaneously. I'm pretty much maxing > out on the amount of data that can flow through a single Gigabit Ethernet > connection (from the Server to a single Gigabit Switch). So I'm wondering what's > involved in adding a second NIC to my Server and dividing my workstations into > two groups. > > Is this a difficult thing to configure? Would somebody be willing to tell me > what are the crucial settings that need to be made (in smb.conf, for example, > or in /etc/*.* stuff). Do I have to create subnets? > > I'm currently working on an internal network where all the workstations have > 192.168.1.XXX static addresses. These workstations occasionally connect to the > Internet through a Cable/DSL router that's also on the network and that > serves as the gateway. > > Is it possible to give my server two fixed IP addresses (one corresponding to > each NIC) and then connect each NIC to its own switch, which would then be > connected to half of the workstations? I tried this today and had no luck. > > And how can I make it possible for each workstations to have access to the > Internet. Presumably, only one switch can be connected to the cable/dsl router > -- or else data traffic could go through the cable/dsl router to get from a > workstation to the Server. But I suppose that's the least of my worries. > > I'm not looking for somebody else to do my homework. I've spent about 6 hours > today googling around trying to figure out what's required and I'm coming up > more confused with each article or discussion thread I read. > > I would sure appreciate it if somebody out there was willing to lend a hand. > I'm sure this is basic stuff to an IT guy, but I'm just working on this > networking stuff at a "hobby level" -- doing pretty well, but now a bit stumped. > > By the way, does anybody know if this scenario is covered in the new Samba > cookbook? I'd be happy to purchase it tomorrow if I thought it would give me the > recipe to do what I'm trying to accomplish. > > Regards, > Andy LiebmanAndy, I'd have to say you've got yourself a bit of a conundrum. Basically at this point, if you want to double the capacity your server can output, I would recommend segmenting your network into two VLANs (or separate switches if your switches aren't capable of doing VLANs, although any switch worth it's snuff is). However, before I go into more detail about how to actually accomplish that, what kind of hardware is this running on? I'd be seriously concerned that you'd be wasting a lot of time and effort if your hardware isn't capable of capping two GigE cards. I'd attach one machine with a GigE interface via a crossover cable to the second GigE interface on your Samba server and leave the other interface connected to the switch you have now. I'd then try to cap the interface from the side connected to the switch and from the side connected to another computer via the crossover and see if you can actually exceed greater than the speed one GigE is going to give you (or at least what you were getting previously). Also, some details on your hardware would be helpful. Clint
I>n a message dated 4/4/2004 11:13:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time, clint@typhoon.org >writes:>Andy,>I'd have to say you've got yourself a bit of a conundrum. Basically at >this point, if you want to double the capacity your server can output, I >would recommend segmenting your network into two VLANs (or separate >switches if your switches aren't capable of doing VLANs, although any >switch worth it's snuff is). > >However, before I go into more detail about how to actually accomplish >that, what kind of hardware is this running on? I'd be seriously >concerned that you'd be wasting a lot of time and effort if your >hardware isn't capable of capping two GigE cards. I'd attach one >machine with a GigE interface via a crossover cable to the second GigE >interface on your Samba server and leave the other interface connected >to the switch you have now. I'd then try to cap the interface from the >side connected to the switch and from the side connected to another >computer via the crossover and see if you can actually exceed greater >than the speed one GigE is going to give you (or at least what you were >getting previously). Also, some details on your hardware would be >helpful. > >ClintClint, Thanks for your reply. What I want to do is straightforward in concept (perhaps difficult in practice, though I doubt it). I want to put two Gigabit Ethernet Cards in one Linux server -- and have each card talk to half the Windows workstations in my place. In part, I'm looking for a way to get more data in and out of my server (the storage part can support it). Each workstation is running a video editing application and it's looking for about 4 to 4.5 MB/sec of data. The data is time critical. It HAS to arrive when needed, or the editing application stops. So far I'm doing okay with just one network segment, but I think I can add a few additional workstations if I split the network -- because my storage subsystem is capable of doing well over 100 MB/sec -- and that's a lot more than I'm going to push down one Gigabit Ethernet pipe. In part, I want to configure the two Ethernet cards differently so that one can talk to workstations that are optimized for "Gigabit Ethernet and Jumbo Frames" and the other can talk to workstations that only have "normal Ethernet" capabilities. I'm NOT looking to get more data to a single workstation. I'm looking to get the maximum number of workstations that can all receive the 4 to 4.5 MB/sec that they need. By the way, my Server hardware is: 3.06 Ghz single processor Xeon, 1 GB RAM, Intel Gigabit nics, fast RAID arrays, two switches capable of supporting Jumbo Frames. Andy
Hello AndyLiebman, Monday, April 5, 2004, 5:23:43 AM, you wrote: Aac> Hi, Aac> I'm a happy Samba user. I've been working sucessfully in Linux for the past 6 Aac> months. I've built a Linux Server with very fast storage and I'm connecting Aac> it to many Windows XP "video editing workstations" via Gigabit Ethernet (all Aac> NICs using Jumbo Frames, by the way). Aac> Now I want to see if I can increase my data flow in and out of the Server so Aac> that more workstations to connect to it simultaneously. I'm pretty much maxing Aac> out on the amount of data that can flow through a single Gigabit Ethernet Aac> connection (from the Server to a single Gigabit Switch). So I'm wondering what's Aac> involved in adding a second NIC to my Server and dividing my workstations into Aac> two groups. Aac> Is this a difficult thing to configure? Would somebody be willing to tell me Aac> what are the crucial settings that need to be made (in smb.conf, for example, Aac> or in /etc/*.* stuff). Do I have to create subnets? Aac> I'm currently working on an internal network where all the workstations have Aac> 192.168.1.XXX static addresses. These workstations occasionally connect to the Aac> Internet through a Cable/DSL router that's also on the network and that Aac> serves as the gateway. Aac> Is it possible to give my server two fixed IP addresses (one corresponding to Aac> each NIC) and then connect each NIC to its own switch, which would then be Aac> connected to half of the workstations? I tried this today and had no luck. Aac> And how can I make it possible for each workstations to have access to the Aac> Internet. Presumably, only one switch can be connected to the cable/dsl router Aac> -- or else data traffic could go through the cable/dsl router to get from a Aac> workstation to the Server. But I suppose that's the least of my worries. Aac> I'm not looking for somebody else to do my homework. I've spent about 6 hours Aac> today googling around trying to figure out what's required and I'm coming up Aac> more confused with each article or discussion thread I read. Aac> I would sure appreciate it if somebody out there was willing to lend a hand. Aac> I'm sure this is basic stuff to an IT guy, but I'm just working on this Aac> networking stuff at a "hobby level" -- doing pretty well, but now a bit stumped. Aac> By the way, does anybody know if this scenario is covered in the new Samba Aac> cookbook? I'd be happy to purchase it tomorrow if I thought it would give me the Aac> recipe to do what I'm trying to accomplish. Can't explain my solution in detail but i will try to give you right direction. First of all take a look at the Advanced linux routing howto. We did things similiar to your request but with two FastEthernet interfaces. First of all we just install two interface cards and give to it ips within the same network. 10.10.10.40 and 10.10.10.41 for example (both mask 255.0.0.0). Next we setup a routing like that: # Deleting ordinary routes ip route del 10.0.0.0/8 dev eth0 ip route del 10.0.0.0/8 dev eth1 # Adding multipath route ip route add 10.0.0.0/8 scope global nexthop via 10.10.10.40 dev eth0 weight 1 nexthop via 10.10.10.41 dev eth1 weight 1 ip route flush cache After that got something like connection balancing for OUTGOING traffic over two our interfaces. It's just keeps balance of clients over interfaces, but not the clients bandwidth. But it's better than nothing. The more clients you have, the better balance you will reach. -- Best regards, Alexander mailto:shuras@dezcom.mephi.ru