Macosx server ethernet problems

M

mambosan

Registered
I've a macosx 10.0.4 server (Summer 2001 G4 733 Mhz/640Mb Ram) running only file + print services with two internal ata/ide hd plus an adaptec pci 39160 (driver 1.0 beta 9)with 4 scsi hd in an apple network with 32 mac and powermac connected:
When we copy from the server through our fast ethernet we can get 3,5 Mb per second, when we copy to the server we get only 256 k per second.The server is a natural upgrade to an a/share 6.3.1 still in work that works very well on the same network.Does anybody know how to help how to copy to the Xserver faster?
Thanks
mambosan
 
Hey,

We have seen this problem before. What we have found is that it has to do with the switch you plug it into in most cases. If it is a Cisco switch, there is a built in protocal called Spanning Tree that is on by default. The problem is that Spanning Tree is such a new technology that most networkable stuff does not know how to use it or craps out when it's on. So if you have a Cisco switch, turn off the Spanning Tree which should help out with a lot of networking issues.

The other thing we have done is the port that the server is pluged into, we force the port to do the highest speed (100Mb Full Duplex) and that also helped out. Sometimes some switches confuse the network card in the Mac's and so you get worse performance. But if you force it to do what you want, then that problem goes away. Let me know if this helps. If not, I'll see if we have run into any other issues dealing with this.

Brian
 
Spanning Tree is not very new but indeed kills the Mac's network performance. Spanning Tree is a redundant protocol and self learning. It is meand to create redundant connections between 2 switches (or in port fast mode between a switch and a CPU), but Mac's just can't handle it. It's by default on in almost every switch, not just Cisco.

There are ofcourse cases where Spanning Tree is configured and operational. If this is the case you'll have to fool the protocol. Configure your redundant ports between your switches to act as "port fast mode". In this way you'll fool it by pretending it aren't 2 switches but a switch and a CPU. Do this only on the ports neccessary and disable it on other ports.

Works alle the time ;)

If you can't beat it, cheat it
 
I'm having the same problem with macosX server 10.0.4. I can serve files extremely fast but when i upload to the server its kilobytes a second. I tried this in mac OS 9.1 and the problem disappears. Whats the deal?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top