I'm considering using one of the xeon D boards as a replacement for a hp microserver. Possibly the X10SDV-4C-TLN4F. This board would have two gigabit ethernet ports, but also two 10 gigabit ports. I don't have any 10gbe hardware yet but it seems a shame to leave these unconnected.
I've looked at the prices for 10gbe switches and consider them difficult to justify. I'm therefore looking at cobbling something together in software instead. The common approach to this is to run point to point between 10gbe while also wiring everything as gigabit. I'm considering an alternative, which looks more sensible to me, but is difficult to find prior art on. I'd appreciate a second opinion.
1/ Attach 10gbe nic to one or two other computers.
2/ Create a virtual network interface on the xeon D system. Assign an IP to this virtual interface.
3/ Bridge the four external ports to the virtual interface.
4/ Connect one of the external gigabit ports to existing switched network.
5/ Connect the external 10gbe ports to the other computers.
The goal is for the new xeon board to look, to the rest of the network, exactly like a five port switch. Can the above plan achieve this? I don't want to have to reconfigure anything beyond this one box when connecting it to the existing network.
I don't know whether this will be based on freebsd or linux yet. I'm believe that either is capable of the above. It won't switch as efficiently as in hardware, but I'm OK with burning cycles on this.
I've looked at the prices for 10gbe switches and consider them difficult to justify. I'm therefore looking at cobbling something together in software instead. The common approach to this is to run point to point between 10gbe while also wiring everything as gigabit. I'm considering an alternative, which looks more sensible to me, but is difficult to find prior art on. I'd appreciate a second opinion.
1/ Attach 10gbe nic to one or two other computers.
2/ Create a virtual network interface on the xeon D system. Assign an IP to this virtual interface.
3/ Bridge the four external ports to the virtual interface.
4/ Connect one of the external gigabit ports to existing switched network.
5/ Connect the external 10gbe ports to the other computers.
The goal is for the new xeon board to look, to the rest of the network, exactly like a five port switch. Can the above plan achieve this? I don't want to have to reconfigure anything beyond this one box when connecting it to the existing network.
I don't know whether this will be based on freebsd or linux yet. I'm believe that either is capable of the above. It won't switch as efficiently as in hardware, but I'm OK with burning cycles on this.
