Re: Power System vs. The Hub

Just a quick question. Why would you choose to put an enterprise class server on a LAN that is managed by a dime store switch/hub?

Jack is most likely correct about the duplex/speed combination of the line description. If it is set to *AUTO then of course that old LAN device will never tell IBM i what its expecting and no communications will happen.

Why not splurge just a touch and get an enterprise quality switch? Cisco and Juniper make great low end 12 port switches that have the backplane speed and processing capability to match the needs of your new POWER system.

This sounds a bit like putting the cheapest tires you can find at the local discount tire mart on an Indy Car and then expecting the car to hold the turns at race speeds. It just don't compute.

Jim Oberholtzer
CEO/Chief Technical Architect
Agile Technology Architects, LLC


On 1/3/2011 1:30 PM, Jack Kingsley wrote:

Rich, did you try to tweak your line description to half on duplex to see if
it would have worked.

On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 2:13 PM, Rich Loeber<rich@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Charles,
>
> I must admit that I thought there would be no difference between a hub
> and
> a switch, but when I plunked down $30 for an inexpensive 5 port switch at
> the local Radio Shack and plugged it in, then the network connection came
> right up. The IBM hardware guy told me that the older hub that I was
> using was probably just not fast enough for the new ethernet card.
>
> Rich Loeber - @richloeber
> Kisco Information Systems
> [1]http://www.kisco.com
> SDG
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On 1/3/2011 1:52 PM, Charles Wilt wrote:
>
> Rich,
>
> I'm not a network guy...but that seems like a very strange requirement to
> me....
>
> Did they give you any reason? The only thing I can think of would be
> that the Ethernet card is designed only for full-duplex opertaions
> which a hub would not support and a switch would.
>
> Otherwise, I don't know how there would be any difference from the
> card's perspective between a switch and a hub.
>
> Charles
>
> On Tue, Dec 28, 2010 at 12:11 PM, Rich Loeber [2]<rich@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Just installing my first Power i and I've run into a snag. I am
> installing a Power 6 8203-E4A but the ethernet line will not vary on.
> IBM
> support is recommending that I replace the hubs that run the office
> network with switches because the ethernet card in the Power 6 is not
> compatible with a connection to a hub. The hub I'm using is a 10/100
> dual
> speed Office Connect from 3 Com and has been in use here for about 10
> years. Our trusty old i5 520 running V5R3 gets along with it just fine.
>
> Has anyone had any experience with getting the Power 6 to work in an all
> hub environment? This is pretty foreign to me. I don't want to lay out
> money for a new office network topology if I don't have to.
>
> Rich Loeber
> Kisco Information Systems
> [1][3]http://www.kisco.com
> SDG
>
> References
>
> Visible links
> 1. [4]http://www.kisco.com/