Linking 2 PCs over 10G query

[hawker1986]

Hi Guys,

After some networking advice. I want to link my PC with our home server using a 10G connection to improve transfer speeds. Currently accessing the server as a network drive and both are running windows.

My plan is to buy two 10G NICs and directly connect the two PCs whilst still using the onboard 1G NICs connected to the router for internet and the rest of the network.

I know I will need to assign the 10G NICs IP addresses off the main domain base address to give them their own network but how do I make sure they talk to each other via the 10G connection rather than going via the router over the 1G links?

Many thanks in advance.

Hawker

 

[hawker1986]

Assuming you are transferring files big enough and between storage devices that actually will benefit from a 10Gb connection?


Switch would obviously be the better option. 2.5Gb might also be worth a consideration (e.g. if your router already has it etc)


If you assign the 10Gb NICs an IP on a completely different range (e.g. if your normal IP range is 192.168.0.x, then you could use 10.0.0.x), then access them via IP address in windows explorer etc.

Thanks for the reply. Yes I am ripping my video library so will make use of the speed.

My longer term plan is to get a 10G switch but I need to get some ethernet cabling run round the house to make proper use of this.

Will that let me map the drive via windows explorer?

 

[hawker1986]

While it's not answering your question directly... is 10GB needed or would you be happy with something more than 1?

A 2 port PCIe NIC (giving each machine 3 full interfaces) would have windows automagically bond the connections (SMB3.x "just works" when it comes to spotting teaming opportunities, it'll team ethernet and wifi too or whatever else is available as complete, separate circuits between 2 nodes) and give around 2900Gb/sec.

Edit: Actually, as this goes, it should ALSO spot the 10Gb link between the 2 and give 11 total, don't worry about the 1Gb via router link "being seen when moving files" it'll use that AND the 10Gb when doing file transfer. Said with 100% the 3x 1Gb link option being one I've used, all via an 8 port switch with the 1 link from that to router for internet.

Yeah I would rather just future proof the system and go all the way to 10G

Thats interesting, would I need to give them static IPs on the same range (i.e. all on 192.168.0.x for example) for it to work this out or would it work on different range i.e. router on 192.168.0.x and these two on 192.0.0.x)

 

[hawker1986]

I will have a play with it when the cards come and report back

 

[hawker1986]

You need to set the routing priority. To do this you give different routes different metrics; TCPIP should choose the connection with the lowest metric . For best speed enable jumbo frames.

However, why not make it easy on yourself and get yourself a switch with two - or more - 10 Gb ports? I have 8 port TP-Link switches.

Thanks Quartz, will jumbo frames affect data transfer to other devices on the network? I.e. a streamer reading from the server with with 1gb connection? I read there could be issues.

I will get a switch at some point but wanted to set this up in the interim. Which TP-link switch do you have and how is the fan noise? Atm if I get one it will need to sit under my desk and I’ve heard they can be loud!

 

[hawker1986]

Thanks, I guess it will be fine the way I am going to set it up now as the two 10G NICs will only talk with each other so jumbo frames wont interfere with anything else but down the line if i sort out the home network and introduce a switch and its trying to stream to a firestick or something it might be a problem?

 

[hawker1986]

Jumbo frames is.... pretty much a standard thing since about 2005. There'll be some weirder/older stuff that'll be a little less uniform in it's use but it's pretty standard in everything (Gigabit Ethernet at VERY least) for a decade or 2 at this point. I'd generally not even consider it a thing to be wroth checking/worrying about unless you notice speeds not where they'd be expected.
In some business/heavy server type settings you get issues around MTU sizes ("how big can a single packet be?"/OS network packet buffers, all related to jumbo frames) but for chucking a card in each of a couple of home machines, I'd not expect to have to touch anything there.




If it's NVMe - which... is probably most of us by this point, 1250MB/sec would be the max 10GbE can handle (10 gigaBIT) - most single NVMe drives would be able to saturate that. Even an Intel 660p (PCIe 3 - intended at it's prime as a "slow nvme" drive) does 1800MB/sec (on paper at least).

Thanks that really helpful I will play with the jumbo frames and see if it causes any trouble.

...yes running NVME drives so should definitely make use of the increased bandwidth.

 

[hawker1986]

Yeah I cant be bothered with the 2.5/5GbE stuff, might as well just go all in to 10GbE.

Currently other than my desktops nothing else needs that sort of throughput here and ive got a 24port 1GBE switch which I bought many many years ago and is still rock solid so hoping to get CAT6A run round the house and set up a rack, out of the way. Then think about an 8port 10GbE switch for future expansion. Hence I wont mind too much if it has a fan but I dont really want it under my desk

 

[hawker1986]

Well my cards have come and for some reason the two PCs wont talk to each other, or at least they did briefly and it worked perfectly but then connection disappeared when I restarted the PC and I dont seem to be able to get it back. there seems to be data being sent up and down from both pcs looking at the status

Ive set the IPs in the TCP/IPv4 as 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 with sub nets of 255.255.255.0, any thoughts?

Also ive tried a different cable with no benefit. Ive also connected the new NICs to the switch and they are working fine talking to the internet etc

EDIT:

I think ive worked out the problem, windows seems to think its a public network rather than private and has the connection labelled as unidentified network…I dont know how to change it?

 

[hawker1986]

Ok so I have sorted the problem I think. I am using Win11 on both computers FYI.

So ive had to add the other machine's IP address in both the gateway and DNS server in the settings, this let me change the network to a private network. The first time when it was working the windows tool came up asking me about network sharing and it worked but seems on restart it wouldnt keep the settings?!

I also had to manually enter network bindings with the 10G adapter as a lower value or it wasnt using it to access the server. Not quite as straight forward as one might like...

 

[hawker1986]

Faster isn't always better if you're running plex or jellyfin etc

I'm only using 2.5Gb so when I transfer a movie across it writes at 280MB/s. If somebody it watching something on plex this write speed to standard spinning HDDs will cause their stream to buffer. I either need to wait until nobody is watching anything, or slow the transfer down. Upgrading to NVME is not an affordable option when you have 40TB or storage

If you'll be using your server for something similar to this, 10Gbs is overkill.
I can see why it would be fun to have though

Surely you will run into problems either way? You saturate the network bandwidth with 1g or the drives read ability on 10g