Originally Posted by
unmesh
Congratulations! Like magic, isn't it?
Try not to obsess about why you're not getting theoretical performance.
I generally dislike "magic" - I'm never comfortable with stuff that "just works", 'cuz, if it goes south, I'm at a loss as to what to do. And I know why you never get the theoretical max out of a comm link.
Originally Posted by
gfunkdave
The switch doesn't know anything. It's just a pipe that connects your computer and RAID. Well, a smart switch would be able to do some processing of the data, but a standard dumb switch doesn't really, beyond inspecting each packet to see which MAC it's going to and directing the packet to the appropriate port on the switch. In contrast, a hub (which you don't really see anymore) would broadcast all packets to everything connected to it.
At the very low level, I think that your PC will send a broadcast over the local network to ask who has the IP address of the RAID server. The RAID server will reply with its MAC address, and then your PC connects directly using that.
OK - I now have a mental picture of what's going on (in a gross sense, at least). No magic.
So - long and short, I should be able to pump stuff back and forth to/from my RAID server (and/or the other desktops) without having to upgrade the router.
The wireless is G, so the laptops are limited to 54 MB/s max (which they'll never see) but they don't use the other computers much anyhow.
Perfect!
PS - This little discussion has saved me a lot of googling and time spent sussing out what the "gurus" are really saying. The problem is, they have to address a wide range of readers and the discussion isn't really interactive. Ol' Dave, though, is usually hanging around and jumps in with answers to specific questions. Gotta love it. ^