Comments on: Gigabit Ethernet Upgrade for Windows Home Server

By: Bart

Bart — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 07:57:21 +0000

Maybe this is a stupid question, but by changing to Gigabit router do anything to increase the speed on your wireless connections too? My wireless is 11n but the connection to the server doesn’t seem very fast but maybe that’s normal for 11n and 100 ethernet.

PS3 is 11g right? Is it worth getting an 11n access point or better to try powerline?

By: John

John — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:58:59 +0000

Your download speed (from the internet) is very likely much lower than 10/100 ethernet, so gigabit would not make diferrence for your 360 downloads.

By: rust11sp

rust11sp — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:08:09 +0000

The connection is via an outside aerial attached to the vehicle.;

By: Kelly Mayo

Kelly Mayo — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:05:49 +0000

Actually, there is gain in having a gigabit connection to a xbox 360. Have you never downloaded gigs of data to your xbox? I download demos and video promos all the time. Gigabit would definitely be better.

Kelly (just a computer enthusiast)

By: Lee

Lee — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:03:28 +0000

Just on the XBOX 360 gigabit statement… why on earth would you need gigabit in a 360, you would gain nothing because there is nothing that could make use of it.

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 23:24:50 +0000

Fezmid. Maybe this can Help.

http://www.ezlan.net/faq.html#transfer

Jack (MS, MVP-Networking).

By: Fezmid

Fezmid — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 21:25:01 +0000

Why not add info in the article on how to actually TEST your throughput between your host and the WHS box instead of just saying, “Gigabit is better!” Add some substance!

By: mr-data

mr-data — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 18:11:50 +0000

Thank for that answer, which I after my first post found myself. According to several sources, this was only the case with older hubs, whereas most modern switches could run with different speeds on different ports

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:20:22 +0000

No, it is Not the case.

Giga switches are smart enough to negotiate the traffic according to the capacity of the NIC that are plugged in.

I.e., the switch would allow Giga traffic between computers with Giga cards even if other computers and the Router are only 100Mb/sec. capable.

Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

By: mr-data

mr-data — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:04:18 +0000

Great article, with plenty of good advice and comments.

I do, however, have one question: In the article, you say that you have a couple of 100Mb/sec devices on your network. If I remember correctly, most switches and routers will choose to operate at the slowest speed of any device on ALL its ports.
So if, for example, you have a Gigabit switch, and attach a number of pc’s with Gigabit NIC’s and one 100Mb/sec device, the switch will only operate at 100Mb/sec.
Is this still the case, or . . . ?

By: Jack

Jack — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:37:54 +0000

There is a difference between the core Speed of the Network Cards and the actual Bandwidth that can be achieved in Real world Networks.

The least efficient of Network topology is Client OS’ peer-to-peer network .

While Windows Home server is a subset of Windows 2003 Server, it is a peer-to-peer server.
In “real life” 100Mb/sec. Network yields 8 – 10MB/sec. (b-bit, B=Byte 1Byte=8bits) of LAN transfer.

Giga peer-to-peer Network Yields about 35 to 45 MB/sec. transfer.

With good Giga switch and special TCP/IP optimization, it is possible to squeeze about 55MB/sec. Transfer.

This number in the table above might reflect, “Dreaming” but Not reality.

A 20GB file would take about 36-40 Minutes to transfer over 100Mb/sec. connection.

A 20GB file would take about 6-8 Minutes to transfer over 100Mb/sec. connection.

Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)