[NTLUG:Discuss] ntlug.org back from the dead again

[Leroy Tennison]

Chris Cox wrote:

>I think theplanet.com folks have a very poor
>understanding of 802.3 auto negotiation.
>
>Anyhow, they hard code all of their ports
>to 10BaseT-FD.  That's not going to work exactly
>right with a card doing auto negotiation.  I
>put in code to hard code our ntlug.org interface
>to 10BaseT-FD (otherwise it will collapse to
>10Bast-T half duplex).
>
>We're plugged into a really ugly switch (an old
>Intel switch).  I've worked with switches from
>that generation and can tell you absolutely beyond
>a shadow of doubt, that is NOT a good switch.
>
>Paying customers get Cisco, but all ports are
>HARD CODED to 10BaseT-FD as well.... which I still find
>very interesting.  Maybe somebody can enlighten
>me on why that is a "best practice"... seems to
>me that will only cause trouble when the client
>is auto-negotiating.
>
>Anyway, hopefully things are back up again for
>awhile.
>
>Regards,
>Chris
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>https://ntlug.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
>
>  
>
The reason hard coding is "best practice" (actually it is "least worst") 
is because NIC auto-negotiation falls in the same category as 
plug-and-pray and advanced-power-MISmanagement.  The earlier 3Com 
drivers (didn't matter whether it was Novell or Microsoft - equally bad) 
were particularly problematic.  The card would work but due to it's 
mis-guessing of the correct speed and duplex there would be a lot of 
physical layer errors which would surface as a performance problem.  I 
too have heard about the horrors of Intel switches, unfortunately they 
weren't alone with their problems.