Networking weirdness in 7...

[Santilli]

Taking the advice of a few folks here, I bought an Intel Pro gigabyte card, connected that to the Beast, Gigabyte only ports, with a Crossover Cat 6 cable, and was getting 10 mb/sec throughput on data transfers????

First I tried a straight cat5 cable. Same result.
Connected the Cat6 crossover back in, same result.

Don't ask me why, but I figured what the heck, I swapped the two cables, the cat 5 that goes to the router, and the cat 6 that goes to the server, switching ports on the Beast.
I had to reasign IP addresses, switching the two.

VOILA! Consistent 25-90 MB/sec data transfer between the computers.

Why?

 

[Handruin]

Maybe there was some sort of weird issue with the auto negotiation? Try switching the cables back and set both cards to run at 1000mb full duplex and see what happens.

 

[Handruin]

Actually, I need some more details on your testing. When you transfer file from one system to the other, are they both dual NIC systems? Does the data have the potential to travel over either NIC to get to the same destination? Are you specifically transferring the files using the IP address of the 1Gb link?

 

[Santilli]

I have two G ports on the Beast.
The server has none, and, therefore has the NIC G card, Intel Pro, in it.

The Beast uses one port to connect to the router, net and other computers. I can connect using the router, to the server, and have in the past, but, at 10MB/sec or slower.

I added the NIC, left the existing connection to the router in place on both the Server and the Beast, and connected the two computers directly using a Cat6 crossover, between the open G port on the Beast, and the new NIC.

IIRC, I changed the IP addresses of the Cat6 connection to IP address, and Gateway, with no other entries, per instructions, on both machines. Still 10 MB/Sec.

I took the Beasts cables, switched them, readdressed the Beast's IP addresses for each card, and I'm now running at 20-90 mb/sec, huge difference.

Does that make more sense????

 

[ddrueding]

Vaguely. As I'm sure you are aware, you are now entering 200-level TCP/IP stuff. It gets tough to visualize stuff. If you feel like it, try creating a Gliffy diagram that includes both computers, the router, and all the IP addresses.

When you are accessing the share on the server from the beast, are you doing it by machine name or by the IP address of the Gigabit NIC?

 

[Chewy509]

When you are accessing the share on the server from the beast, are you doing it by machine name or by the IP address of the Gigabit NIC?

Further to this, is the gig connection between the 2 hosts on a different subnet to all the other connections? (It may be playing havoc with the routing engine, if both connections are on the same subnet)?

 

[Bozo]

Sometimes it helps to disable the network card before entering/changing addresses. Then re-enable when you are done.

 

[Sol]

I'm not sure I've got your network topology right but I think you have:

A router connected to the Internet doing DHCP for your network (Or all static IP addresses).
A server connected to the router (100mb) and the beast (1000mb)
The beast connected to the server(1000mb) and the router(100mb)
Some other computers connected to the router(100mb)

If this is the setup then you'd have to be pretty careful about how you specified the connections between the server and the beast in order to ensure you were actually using the gigabit connection at any particular time.

If you manually connect to the ip address assigned to the gigabit nic then you'll get gigabit, if you just use the host name you could get either.

If I'm not misunderstanding the situation then I think the simplest solution (Which is roughly what I do at home) is to get a gigabit switch and plug everything, including the router in to it (Only one port from the server and beast or use nic bonding). Then everything will automatically communicate at it's fastest available speed. But since you went out and got a new nic I'm guessing there is a reason you don't want to go that way.

I guess the easiest way to do it without a switch is to give the servers gigabit adapter a static ip and then manually enter that ip in the beasts hosts file. It's a bit ugly but should work fine.

Or I could be missing something important.

 

[Santilli]

The router is an old Linksys, one of the few that has decent reliability, and, is also wireless for three other computers connected to the network.

It is also doubling as the switch.

I guess I could add a gig switch, prior to the router, and hopefully keep both the internet and
wireless computers online, alone with getting full speed between the Beast and the Server.

Adds one more power cost, and I'm sitting here wondering if it's worth doing, considering
I can transfer data from one to the other by just removing a hotswap drive, and plugging it into the other computer.

Just did a multiple large file transfer, and unlike the prior transfer, at near 50 MB/sec, average, this one was more like under 10 MB/sec.

 

[Santilli]

Sometimes it helps to disable the network card before entering/changing addresses. Then re-enable when you are done.

Awesome tip. I have about 40-50 gigs of files to transfer.
It was crawling at 10mb/sec.

Disabled both nic ports on the beast, and, checked their IP addresses to make sure they are properly configure: IE internal has no Gateway, only IP and DNS.

The file transfer that was going to take an hour is cooking along at about 66 MB/SEC and,
I went back enabled the NIC to the router, and I'm back on line as well.

If, for some reason, I get more weirdness, I'll remember to disable the internet connection,
and transfer the files...

 

[Santilli]

Shut the Beast off, and restarted, and was transfering files. Back to 10 MB/SEC?

Disable the internet connected
Realtek RT18168D/8111D PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC, and we are back to high speed file transfer on the other NIC.

?????

 

[Santilli]

Whenever the NIC with the cat 5 is enabled, the connection speed reverts to 10 mb/sec???

 

[Handruin]

Maybe you need to adjust the Adapters and Bindings advanced settings and set the NIC connection you want to be used as first. See attached example image. There you can select the network connection and move it up based in priority of the network services that will use them.

I don't really have a good understanding of your networking to offer much more. If you were to put up a visual diagram like David suggested it might help.

 

[Bozo]

Whenever the NIC with the cat 5 is enabled, the connection speed reverts to 10 mb/sec???

Maybe you need a CAT6 cable???

 

[Handruin]

Also to clarify, it would be very helpful if you're consistent with how you write your speeds. Pay attention to the upper and lower casing of the second 'B' or 'b'.

For example you write 10MB/sec in one post and then soon after you wrote 10mb/sec. I'm think you meant 10MB which is significantly faster than 10Mb, but if your connection is dropping to 10Mb, there might be a bigger issue.

 

[Stereodude]

Whenever the NIC with the cat 5 is enabled, the connection speed reverts to 10 mb/sec???

If I had to guess that's because Windows is defaulting to the NIC that runs through the 100Mb/sec switch in your router instead of the one that connects to your gigabit crossover cable. There are several ways around this (at least in XP).

The easiest would be to get a 5 port gigabit switch and use only the gigabit NIC in your PC.

 

[Sol]

If the 2 NICs on each box have different IPs (Probable) then you could try putting the host name of the server in the hosts file on the beast against the IP for the gigabit NIC and the beasts host name in the host file of the server against its gigabit NICs IP.
I.e.Beasts host file contains:

... existing host file entries ...
servers-host-name servers-gigabit-nic-ip

That way the host name should always resolve to the right IP and the default routing config should route via the faster NIC.
Alternatively manually changing the routing tables to ensure that all traffic for other machine went through the gigabit nic regardless of IP should work. (On Windows this would be something like

route add [i][100Mbit server ip][/i] 255.255.255.255 [i][gigabit  server ip][/i]

I'm not 100% sure that'd work but the theory is sound...)

I'm not sure what OS you are running on the server so I'm not sure what you'd need to do there.

I agree that a switch is easier, but I would recommend at least an 8 port. (Server, Beast, router and at least one other PC would only leave one spare port on a 5 port and using the router for extra ports could result in reduced speeds...)

 

[Santilli]

I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate on both machines.

It takes about 4 clicks to disable the NIC that is slowing the file transfers down. Transfer the files, then reenable the NIC.

For the number of file transfers I do, it's worth it. Takes maybe 20 seconds to disable, less to enable the NIC.

The time saved is about 5 times between 15-10 MB/sec and the 90-20 MB/sec with the G6.

It would be nice to figure this out, but, for the time being, that solution works...

 

[Stereodude]

It would be nice to figure this out, but, for the time being, that solution works...

Because buying a decent 8 port gigabit switch is clearly too much money. :scratch:

 

[Handruin]

I'm using Windows 7 Ultimate on both machines.

It takes about 4 clicks to disable the NIC that is slowing the file transfers down. Transfer the files, then reenable the NIC.

For the number of file transfers I do, it's worth it. Takes maybe 20 seconds to disable, less to enable the NIC.

The time saved is about 5 times between 15-10 MB/sec and the 90-20 MB/sec with the G6.

It would be nice to figure this out, but, for the time being, that solution works...

There has to be a way to get this working. When you begin the file transfer without messing with the NICs, what exact steps do you take? Are you using a UNC path, or are you browsing the network neighborhood via hostname?

What happens with you do this:

1.) Open start menu and type \\<ip address of GigE NIC>\sharelocation\ (don't use the hostname)
2.) Press enter and the share should open in a window.
3.) Copy files to that share location on the other machine.

Are you still getting slower speeds? If you have a point to point crossover cable from machine A to machine B with no switch in between and the NIC is negotiating at 1000Mb, your system has no other choice but to communicate using that link since you specified the IP address.

 

[Handruin]

Because buying a decent 8 port gigabit switch is clearly too much money. :scratch:

That's the Netgear that I just had die on me after 3.5 years. :-( This HP 1810G-8 is probably worth the extra money for the lifetime warranty.

 

[Stereodude]

That's the Netgear that I just had die on me after 3.5 years. :-( This HP 1810G-8 is probably worth the extra money for the lifetime warranty.

Are you sure it died and not the wall wart? I have two of those Netgear units. One 8 port and one 5 port. The 8 port is in use and still works. I assume the 5 port still works though it's not being used. :bomb:

 

[Handruin]

It probably was the power adapter. I checked inside and the caps were not bulged at all. I checked the output voltage and it was ~7.5V where as the adapter says it should be 12V. Netgear wants $26 to replace and I haven't yet called them to see if they'd cover it.

 

[Santilli]

There has to be a way to get this working. When you begin the file transfer without messing with the NICs, what exact steps do you take? Are you using a UNC path, or are you browsing the network neighborhood via hostname?

What happens with you do this:

1.) Open start menu and type \\<ip address of GigE NIC>\sharelocation\ (don't use the hostname)
2.) Press enter and the share should open in a window.
3.) Copy files to that share location on the other machine.

Are you still getting slower speeds? If you have a point to point crossover cable from machine A to machine B with no switch in between and the NIC is negotiating at 1000Mb, your system has no other choice but to communicate using that link since you specified the IP address.

I have a shared folder from the Server on The Beast's desktop. I have a holding folder on The Beast. I transfer files from one folder to the other on the Beast's desktop.

I've been checking the IP addresses, and, everything seems correct.
I've even tried merging the two networks that show up, on as home, the other as public.
I can't seem to change the public one to home, even though that is the direct connection between the two computers.

 

[Handruin]

Did you try the three specific steps I suggested?

 

[ddrueding]

Greg, what you are doing won't make a difference. What Handruin is suggesting will make it work.

 

[Santilli]

Greg, what you are doing won't make a difference. What Handruin is suggesting will make it work.

I entered the following:

\\192.168.1.110\\Downloads

the window popped up, and, the file transfer was at 90 MB/sec, then went down a bit, but,
THANK YOU. IT WORKED..!!!

Plus, you solved in another way one of the things that really frustrates me about 7:
finding Run.
I pinned it to the taskbar, and that delights me no end...

 

[ddrueding]

I just use the keyboard shortcut win+r to do run

 

[Handruin]

Why bother with the run dialog, just type it right into the search bar, it will do the same thing. That or open an explorer window and at the top just enter your UNC path there.

 

[Santilli]

I just use the keyboard shortcut win+r to do run

That's one of the reasons I want another keyboard:
It doesn't have a Windows key.
It's the Logitech with the Bluetooth,for about 80 bucks.

 

[Santilli]

I just use the keyboard shortcut win+r to do run

That's one of the reasons I want another keyboard:
It doesn't have a Windows key.
It's the Logitech with the Bluetooth,for about 80 bucks.
Not to mention the shift key is starting to stick...

I hate to say it, but the el cheapo MSFT keyboards for OEM builds I get from Buck
are just fine for about 99% of what I use a keyboard for.

 

[Santilli]

Why bother with the run dialog, just type it right into the search bar, it will do the same thing. That or open an explorer window and at the top just enter your UNC path there.

Must be this keyboard, but, entering it into the search in the search didn't work.

 

[Handruin]

Try the top of a normal windows explorer bar. That should work. That's normally how I access network shares.

 

[Stereodude]

It probably was the power adapter. I checked inside and the caps were not bulged at all. I checked the output voltage and it was ~7.5V where as the adapter says it should be 12V. Netgear wants $26 to replace and I haven't yet called them to see if they'd cover it.

I bet you can get an equivalent replacement for under $10 shipped on ebay.

 

[Santilli]

Odd. Now it triggers a warning message that these files may threaten the computer. Looks like it's a standard warning that has to be turned pretty much off by lowering the local security standard in of all places, Internet Explorer 8?

Well, now it's good for two things: first doing windows updates, and changing security settings???

 

[Santilli]

OK:
How do you turn the stupid warning off?????

 

[Handruin]

First link should have the answer.

 

[Santilli]

PERFECT. Entered Local Group Policy Editor, and fixed it. It was really annoying, since when I started the file transfer, they would not start until I got rid of the stupid warning.
It was really annoying, since when I do the file transfers the main screen is being used by the Server, and the secondary screen is where the actual transfer takes place, gui wise. However, the warning would pop up the primary monitor, which was at the time, being used by the server. That means using the remote, switching HDMI ports again, to get back to the Beast on both screens, hit the stupid warning, and then switch ports again to get back to the server.

 

[Handruin]

Glad it worked. I was seeing the same warning when I tried copying data from my NAS or even when I would right mouse click on files. I haven't tried it, I just looked it up today.

 

[Santilli]

I copied this address into the window,

\\192.168.1.110\\Downloads

along with the suggested regedit progam list,...
Enabling that feature, low risk, did not require a restart, either.

Just double checked, no warning...and, the window opened much faster...