Re: Max Devices on ethernet adapters -- MIDRANGE-L

Pat,

Andy is right. THe true answer is "It Depends." On: How fast is the adaptor? 2617 10M? 2723 10M? 2838 or 2849 100M? GB? It also depends on what machine it's in. In a 170, 620, 720 ia 2838 maxes out around 33 Mb because of the bus in those boxes. In an 810 you can push them to the limit. Also do you have hubs or switches in your network? Hubs will kill you. If switches are they configured along with your ethernet line description for Full Duplex? Do they both report full duplex (DON'T ASSUME ANYTHING HERE. Don't Trust, Just Verify!) Just last week I found an i810 conneted to a cisco switch where the i810 claimed full and the switched (while set in auto) claimed half duplex. Link speed was about 20KB! And of course on the iSeries itself. Essentially if you are watching the line with either iSeries Navigator, Mangement central reporting, a sniffer, or an SNMP monitor tool like PRTG, then you have a fair idea how busy the line is and can reasonably know when it needs a twin. Realisticaly though If you are on V5R2 I would absolutely get a second adaptor and configure them to be redundant and allow OS/400 to load balance them. It's really quite simple, and it avoids many many problems with virtually *zero downside.

- Larry

ps: Paul can have his root-canal, I'll handle the overloaded network! ;-)

Andy Nolen-Parkhouse wrote:

Pat,

It's probably better to think in terms of throughput than actual numbers of
devices.  Your telnet devices are going to send their requests to an IP
address and the adapter will receive them.  The AS/400 will send responses
(or print streams or file transfers) out to the network and the network will
route them to the appropriate device.  So things aren't really attached in
the traditional sense of the word.

When your peak throughput load approaches or starts to exceed the rated
throughput of your adapter it is time to consider an additional adapter.  So
yes, I believe you just keep adding them until it hurts.

Regards,
Andy Nolen-Parkhouse

Is there a real max values on a single adapter or
do you just keep adding devices until it "hurts" ???

At what point do you add the second adapter ???

I recall some older writeup on ethernet "load factors"
but this was back in the days of the infamous thin client.

Is there a practical limit to the number of PC's on a
single adapter ???

Would a bunch of high speed(1100lpm) line printers really
crush an adapter ???

What's the largest number of devices you have on a "single" ethernet adapter ???

-- Larry Bolhuis IBM eServer Certified Systems Expert: Vice President iSeries Technical Solutions V5R2 Arbor Solutions, Inc. iSeries LPAR Technical Solutions V5R2 1345 Monroe NW Suite 259 iSeries Linux Technical Solutions V5R2 Grand Rapids, MI 49505 iSeries Windows Integration Technical Solutions V5R2 IBM eServer Certified Systems Specialist (616) 451-2500 iSeries System Administrator for OS/400 V5R2 (616) 451-2571 - Fax AS/400 RPG IV Developer (616) 260-4746 - Cell iSeries System Command Operations V5R2