realtek nics are generally best to avoid due to bugs in the oss drivers and realteks reluctance of being open makes them a "Cheapo" solution. Try sticking to intel pro nics, esp. if using them for VM. Another good thing to look at is the option flags the nics support.. VLAN MTU/HW(de)Tagging, TSO etc. These things take load of your host when guests are savaging I/O.
Daniel Llewellyn <diddle...@gmail.com> wrote: >Hi all, > >I'm trying to find some PCI Gigabit Network Interface Cards that I can use in >a virtualisation server (32bit i.e. NOT PCI-X) - the server(s) are two >re-tasked desktop machines which I doubt the ability to run PCI-e x4 in the >spare PCI-e x16 (x8 electrical) slots. While there are plenty of el-cheapo >gigabit adapters I wonder about their ability to keep-up with server duties >(several VMs with public-facing services and a router/firewall software >appliance - all hobbyist though). Ideally I would like 4 gigabit ports split >between the two PCs (2 in each), and have the aforementioned PCI-e x16(8 >electrical) slot available in both machines (though the ability to run non-gfx >is in question), and two spare 32bit PCI slots in each. > >Thoughts? > >Would el-cheapo realtek 8169-based be suitable for server duties? > >Thanks for reading this and any help you may give, > Daniel >-- >Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk >Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire >LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk >-------------------------------------------------------------- -- Please post to: Hampshire@mailman.lug.org.uk Web Interface: https://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/hampshire LUG URL: http://www.hantslug.org.uk --------------------------------------------------------------
