Upgrade to Gigabit at next opportunity
The prime mover here is the low price of 10/100/1000Base-T cards, which offer Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet over Category 5 copper cable. Many of the cards sell for less than $300 each, and some are under $200. If there's the slightest chance you'll move to Gigabit Ethernet during a server's useful lifetime, you should install one of these cards to save you and your network administration team time and frustration later.
Similarly, if you're buying and deploying new servers, you should specify Gigabit Ethernet up front. Any additional cost is insignificant compared to the delay you incur shutting down, dismantling, upgrading, testing, and redeploying a working server when you're ready to make the high-speed jump.
So far, I've deployed Asanté Technologies' FriendlyNet GigaNix 1000TA and Intel's Pro/1000T cards under Windows 2000 Server and Red Hat Linux 7.0. Both cards, which are priced between $200 and $300, have worked seamlessly in my normal Fast Ethernet backbone, as well as with a Gigabit-Ethernet-over-copper switch, automatically moving between 100mbps and 1000mbps Ethernet depending on which switch they are connected to—and without a reboot, I might add.
There are some important caveats. First, don't expect to get 1000mbps performance out of a Gigabit Ethernet card, at least not while using today's Intel-based servers. The server's bus simply doesn't move bits fast enough. The best performance I've achieved in my lab to date is 325mbps on a dual-processor 800MHz Pentium III server. Still, that's better throughput than the 89mbps I got with a Fast Ethernet card (some performance is always lost due to overhead). You'll get the best throughput from a Gigabit Ethernet card if you install it in a 64-bit 66MHz PCI slot. Many cards will also slow down to work in a 33MHz slot.
Second, don't expect you'll be broadly deploying Gigabit Ethernet any time soon—that is, this year or next. The switches are just too darned expensive, at $200-$500 or more per switch port. I only have one, eight-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, which I use for benchmarking. I've left the rest of my LAN on Fast Ethernet.
If the history of Fast Ethernet's deployment is any guide, you can expect Gigabit Ethernet switches to be very affordable within two years, perhaps priced at where Fast Ethernet is today. At those prices, the temptation to migrate your server closet will be irresistible. You'll be glad, very glad, that your servers will be ready to rock—and that you won't have to spend time and money retrofitting those by-then archaic servers to take advantage of the bandwidth.
Alan Zeichick is principal analyst at Camden Associates. A former systems analyst, value-added reseller, consultant, and tech journalist since 1984, Alan has been evaluating enterprise computing hardware and software systems for nearly two decades. COMMENTARY--Next time you crack open one of your servers, do yourself a favor: Stuff a Gigabit Ethernet card inside of it. The move toward Gigabit Ethernet is accelerating, and it's only a matter of time before you're ready to flip the switch (literally!) and upgrade your 100Base-T infrastructure to 1000Base-T. When that happy day comes, your servers will be able to take advantage of the new bandwidth without any interaction on your part.
The prime mover here is the low price of 10/100/1000Base-T cards, which offer Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet over Category 5 copper cable. Many of the cards sell for less than $300 each, and some are under $200. If there's the slightest chance you'll move to Gigabit Ethernet during a server's useful lifetime, you should install one of these cards to save you and your network administration team time and frustration later.
Similarly, if you're buying and deploying new servers, you should specify Gigabit Ethernet up front. Any additional cost is insignificant compared to the delay you incur shutting down, dismantling, upgrading, testing, and redeploying a working server when you're ready to make the high-speed jump.
So far, I've deployed Asanté Technologies' FriendlyNet GigaNix 1000TA and Intel's Pro/1000T cards under Windows 2000 Server and Red Hat Linux 7.0. Both cards, which are priced between $200 and $300, have worked seamlessly in my normal Fast Ethernet backbone, as well as with a Gigabit-Ethernet-over-copper switch, automatically moving between 100mbps and 1000mbps Ethernet depending on which switch they are connected to—and without a reboot, I might add.
There are some important caveats. First, don't expect to get 1000mbps performance out of a Gigabit Ethernet card, at least not while using today's Intel-based servers. The server's bus simply doesn't move bits fast enough. The best performance I've achieved in my lab to date is 325mbps on a dual-processor 800MHz Pentium III server. Still, that's better throughput than the 89mbps I got with a Fast Ethernet card (some performance is always lost due to overhead). You'll get the best throughput from a Gigabit Ethernet card if you install it in a 64-bit 66MHz PCI slot. Many cards will also slow down to work in a 33MHz slot.
Second, don't expect you'll be broadly deploying Gigabit Ethernet any time soon—that is, this year or next. The switches are just too darned expensive, at $200-$500 or more per switch port. I only have one, eight-port Gigabit Ethernet switch, which I use for benchmarking. I've left the rest of my LAN on Fast Ethernet.
If the history of Fast Ethernet's deployment is any guide, you can expect Gigabit Ethernet switches to be very affordable within two years, perhaps priced at where Fast Ethernet is today. At those prices, the temptation to migrate your server closet will be irresistible. You'll be glad, very glad, that your servers will be ready to rock—and that you won't have to spend time and money retrofitting those by-then archaic servers to take advantage of the bandwidth.
Alan Zeichick is principal analyst at Camden Associates. A former systems analyst, value-added reseller, consultant, and tech journalist since 1984, Alan has been evaluating enterprise computing hardware and software systems for nearly two decades.