Re: Intel X540-AT2 and Debian: intermittent connection
On 11/18/22 05:23, hw wrote:
On Tue, 2022-11-15 at 16:42 -0800, David Christensen wrote:
On 11/15/22 07:15, hw wrote:
On Tue, 2022-11-15 at 12:38 +0100, hw wrote:
On Mon, 2022-11-14 at 13:21 +0100, hw wrote:
Any ideas? Backups over an 1GB link are excruciatingly slow ...
Update: I booted a Fedora live system and the connection is also
intermittent.
So it's not a Debian issue. It's still an issue, though ...
What is the cable type? Length? Factory or home made?
I got a new cable today which is rated as cat 8.1. It's only 1.5 meters long.
I have tried 3 different cables now, two of them about 1.5 and another 10 meters
long. Before I got the new cable, I tried the other port on the nic, and it
made no difference.
Even with the new cable, the connection is intermittent :(
Different category cables have different characteristic impedance, and
the NIC's are designed for specific cables. The EE buzzword is
"transmission line". You want to use the cables that Intel designed for
-- Category 6A or Category 6, 100 meters or 55 meters maximum
(respectively):
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007404/ethernet-products.html
I do not see a specification for minimum length; either on Intel or
STFW. Back in the day of 10BASE-*, I seem to recall hearing, reading,
and/or learning 2 meters minimum.
So, I suggest trying a Category 6A factory patch cable at least 2 meters
long.
What is connected to the other end of the cable? If it is a NIC in
another server, what happens if you swap the two NIC's?
It's connected to a Broadcom NetXtreme II BCM57810 in another server. The other
server has an identical mainboard and CPU in it, and the other port on the
Broadcom is connected to a client with the same card, and that connection works
fine. So I'm assuming that the Broadcom card is ok.
What OS's for the various machines?
Do you compile your own kernels and/or NIC drivers?
I'm about to move the client into a new case in a couple days and then I might
swap the Broadcom from the client into the backup server.
If you have another Broadcom NIC, what happens if you swap it with the
Intel NIC in the backup server?
Maybe I can reseat the heat sink on the card with new thermal paste.
Overheating might explain why the connection is intermittent.
Do you have any diagnostic information that indicates the Intel NIC is
overheating?
David
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