Networking [was Re: NFS Question]

[pll at lanminds.com]

In a message dated: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 16:19:21 EDT
"Derek D. Martin" said:

>We were using (actual genuine bonifide) Tulip chips with Cisco
>switches; this combination of hardware is known to have issues with
>autonegotiation, according to some post I found by Donald Becker
>somewhere on some website.  :)

Actually, I've come to the conclusion that the combination of any NIC 
and auto-neg with Cisco gear is a recipe for disaster.

I actually had a Cisco rep tell me *today* that:

	"There has been nothing in the last 2 years related to
	 auto-negotion problems where we've been able to identify
	 it as a problem specific to Cisco.  It has always
	 been a problem with the NIC driver!"

Yet I remember quite clearly at MCL, the networking guys getting an 
IOS bug report telling them to upgrade to version 11.mumble of IOS to 
eliminate the auto-neg problem with Intel EEPro100 NICs.

The same guy also told me that no matter what NIC you use, if you 
hard-set one side and leave the other side auto-neg, you will always 
end up getting an auto-neg conflict on the duplex side.  He blames 
the spec, which it might be, since it is a crappy spec.  Yet I've 
never seen this with *any* other vendor combination; Bay/Nortel, 
3Com, Allied Telesyn, etc.
-- 

Seeya,
Paul
--
	It may look like I'm just sitting here doing nothing,
   but I'm really actively waiting for all my problems to go away.

	 If you're not having fun, you're not doing it right!